Disclaimer: I am not demonizing high-speed rail. I am for privately run high-speed trains by private

Disclaimer: I am not demonizing high-speed rail. I am for privately run high-speed trains columbus travel utah by private columbus travel utah railroads. I do not believe that passenger trains should not receive subsidies. I also believe the bureaucracy is regulating the trains too much. We had more trains when private companies ran railroads and there were free-market competition. Plus, the trains were innovative back then too. I am a railfan and I love trains.
Are you joking columbus travel utah about the title? I honestly wish I was not. For the past eleven years, Amtrak has been using Incremental Train Control System (ITCS) by General Electric for Amtrak s Michigan Service Trains (Wolverine, Blue Water and Pere Marquette) that run above 79 miles per hour (mph). Here in the USA, we have been running trains at above 79 mph since the 1930 s without cab signaling . The Canadians columbus travel utah were also running trains above that speed since the 1950 s without cab signaling on certain lines. Canada still does not need cab signaling to run trains at 100 mph. Matter columbus travel utah of fact, VIA Rail Canada runs trains to and from Windsor, Ontario, Canada (across to river from Detroit, MI) at 100 mph on its Chatham Subdivision between Suburban Windsor, ON and Chatham, ON. The United States is the only country in the world that has a limit below 100 mph for trains without cab signaling or other train control features . Why does the United States need cab signaling to run trains above 79 mph? Well a late 1940 s act limited trains from running above 79 mph without having a cab signaling system, auto train stop system or an auto train control system. Last year, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) granted Amtrak the right to run trains at 110 mph on Amtrak s Michigan Line between Kalamazoo, MI and Porter, IN with ITCS. Why did it take so long to update a rail line by 20 mph? Here is what I found from an Amtrak report released last year:
Currently, Amtrak is operating passenger trains at 95 mph under a waiver from FRA on the Michigan Line and is seeking an ITCS certification from FRA in order to increase the speeds to 110 mph. (pg. 10)
I honestly did not believe the Amtrak employee about that at first. So why will the feds will go out and purchase a new cab signaling system and not use it? That sounds stupid! Why would Amtrak Engineers not use ITCS on the Michigan Line? Well a 2007 report by Amtrak found out that ITCS was faulty and needed improvement. Here is a list of problems found and supposedly fixed in that report:
The Chicago Tribune reported a couple of months ago that an Amtrak train derailed  on a portion of track where ITCS was installed on in Michigan. The worst parts of the story are that the engineer had a green signal allowed for maximum speed , hit a misaligned track bswitch , and the engineer missed hitting a freight train by 21 feet . I forgot to mention that misaligned tracks and signal problems caused the wreck of the Sunset Limited in 1993 and 1995 on conventional signaling . Just imagine for a minute how bad that disaster would have been if the train was doing 95 mph or 110 mph and hit that misaligned switch. The results would have been brutal. Does cab signaling prevent engineers from not looking at the signals? No, just check out what happened in the Chevy Chase train crash in 1987. The State of Michigan recently purchased Norfolk Southern Railway s (NS/Norfolk Southern) Michigan Line from Kalamazoo, MI to Dearborn, columbus travel utah MI to update it for speeds of 110 mph. I always thought columbus travel utah the State of Michigan, Amtrak and Norfolk Southern Railway were playing Hot Potato: columbus travel utah Railroad Edition since it took them 13 years to reach a deal.
Hot Potato is a game in which kids gather around in a circle to toss an object around until the timer stops or the music has stops. The railroad edition of what I call Hot Potato is when railroads and states gather around for a discussion to toss responsibility for anything railroad related until the citizens get furious about it. The State of Michigan, Norfolk Southern Railway and Amtrak has been playing Hot Potato: Railroad Edition here with the Michigan Line for the past 13 years. Norfolk Southern Railway constantly lost the game though. I mean Norfolk Southern has been trying to sell the line since it acquired Conrail in 1999. Here are the two why reasons listed below:
1.) The freight columbus travel utah line is unprofitable to operate. Norfolk columbus travel utah Southern Railway hardly runs any mainline trains down the entire line . It s really columbus travel utah a branch line now with freight trains using certain portions of the line . The Michigan line has been in decline since the Conrail s days as you can see in here in this video . Amtrak is the only user of the entire line.
2.) The Butler, IN Junction/Connection and NS Detroit Line killed running freight trains down the entire Michigan Line. When Norfolk Southern acquired Conrail in 1999, they got the busy Chicago Line (Former New York Central's Railroad Water Level Route Mainline) between Cleveland and Chicago. This line crosses over Norfolk Southern s Detroit District Line between Detroit to Montpelier, OH (Former Wabash Railroad s Kansas City to Detroit Mainline). Norfolk Southern decided to build a junction to connect both lines in Butler, IN in 2005. Norfolk Southern also received the busy Detroit Line (Former New York Central Railroad Line) from Toledo, OH to Detroit, MI. Most of the Norfolk Southern trains that come to Detroit use these two lines instead of the Michigan Line .
Why did it take NS so long to sell the line? Real simple, nobody wanted to buy it (including Amtrak). Amtrak has owned the western end of the NS Michigan Line (Kalamazoo, MI to its junction with the Chicago Line in Porter, IN) since its inception. So, Norfolk Southern downgraded the line until Amtrak or the State of Michigan bought it.
I read recently that the State of Michigan have to subsidize all three of its Amtrak Routes. Why? Well the feds came up with an act that requires a state to subsidize its busiest Amtrak route. Michigan cannot afford that on top of buying the Michigan Line. Here is a list of reasons why Michigan cannot afford it:
How much did the Michigan Line cost? Well about a good $140 million dollars . The line between Kalamazoo, MI and Dearborn, MI is only 135 miles and is nearly 180 years old . So Michigan paid $1, 037,037.04 (rounded) per mile for the Michigan Line. Not to mention Michigan s cost of running Amtrak is going up. Now, I see why Michigan s sales tax is going up to pay for Michigan roads. Why would the state purchase a rail line with all the conditions listed above? I think these excerpts will help from a 2011 MDOT Environmental Assessment Report will help:
Improve access for the communities in Michigan that will support existing industries, foster growth of new small businesses and encourage large businesses to distribute their operations more widely throughout Michigan; and (pg 7)
Provide an enhanced alternative to auto and air travel that will promote environmental benefits which include: reduced air pollutant emissions, improved land use options, and fewer adverse impacts to surrounding habitat and water resources . (pg 7)
Automotive congestion along the I-94 corridor that runs parallel to the NS Railway Section between Dearborn and Kalamazoo, and resulting travel delays and increased transportation costs for users of other transportation modes such as automobiles; (pg 8)
Substandard and unsafe conditions for those using the passenger rail service and users of other transportation modes resulting from existing congestion, degraded infrastructure columbus travel utah and signals, lack of positive train control (PTC), and air toxins resulting from bus and auto emissions. (pg 8)
While the HSIPR program has provided funding to services around the entire country, Amtrak and the states of Michigan, New York and Illinois are focusing columbus travel utah on the following routes for major increases in speed, trip-time reductions, and capacity enhancements:
Important communities such as Ann Arbor are served by this line, which is poised to contribute to the redevelopment of Detroit by providing a high-speed route between Chicago and Detroit – a benefit not only for the terminal columbus travel utah cities, but for all of the communities along the line. (pg 16)
Is it a coincidence that high-speed rail has been in the planning columbus travel utah stages in the USA since 1965 ? Even though high-speed rail has bankrupt areas and constantly needs government subsidies everywhere it is tried . California will go bankrupt columbus travel utah   from its high-speed rail project. For high-speed rail to work you will have to stop at every major population center along a route. So, maybe this has to do with those development columbus travel utah schemes I constantly mention in my articles? You bet ! I find it funny how this has to deal with the redevelopment of Detroit . These politicians and bureaucrats always try their schemes in economically depressed area like New York, Illinois and Michigan because they know these areas are desperate for any economic activity. The states regulations, taxes and bureaucracies columbus travel utah are why these areas are economically depressed and the average citizen does not know that. But, I guess this scheme might be the reason why our roads in Michigan hardly get fixed . Our state government and federal government are too busy buying railroads while the state declines economically. In the 1950 s, 7 passenger trains between columbus travel utah Chicago and Detroit took about five hours on the Michigan Line. Today, Amtrak trains on the Michigan Line take 5 hours and 30 minutes between Chicago and Detroit ( without delays ). Now we are going to pay over a quarter billion dollars for this entire new infrastructure to reduce travel times by 18 minutes to 30 minutes . The original columbus travel utah goal for buying the line is to get time under four hours . Then the bureaucrats in Lansing realized that was impossible.
Why is it impossible? Well check out this map here by Michigan Association of Rail Passengers. There are more detailed map from the 2011 MDOT Environment Assessment Report here (go to page 4). The Michigan