A huge new turn in the advance of passenger trains in the United States. With the advent of for-profit passenger trains just this year, they actually do not need legislative approval at the federal or state level.
With Congress deadlocked over everything, and certainly unlikely to fund trains in the next few years, this is good news. Here's how a columnist for the Dallas News phrased it last week, "
"Texas Central doesn’t need the Legislature to approve the rail line; it just needs lawmakers in Austin to not halt it,..." Here's the article.
Certainly for-profit trains need to meet regulations, but since they own the track and the trains, they have to be stopped, not approved. That's a big difference.
Sunshine, blue water,colorful leaves and snow all at the same time. It's so beautiful.
It might be necessary to stop a private railroad, but that doesn't mean people won't try:
https://www.facebook.com/floridanotallaboard/?fref=ts
https://www.facebook.com/citizensagainstthetrainfl/?fref=ts
Of particular note are the accident stories, with trains labelled as "dangerous," but in reality, the incidents are mostly people either driving on tracks or walking on tracks where they don't belong, even on bridges.
If those people walked in the middle of a highway, or ran a red light and got hit by a truck, they would be labelled morons. If they are walking on a railroad bridge, or they run past the flashing lights and even a lowered gate and get hit by a train, they are victims of a dangerous, killer railroad.
Damned double standard is what it is!
Posted by: David Lubic | November 01, 2015 at 11:58 PM