$800 million spectacular (Photo credit: peretzpup)
Barky's administration gave Washington state $800 million for high-speed rail. Just don't look for any bullet trains; they sued the money to fix up the tracks - which doubtless makes the freight companies happy, but it doesn't do a lot for passengers. Prior to the upgrade, AmTrak managed an average speed of 45 mph. Now, they can go as fast as an average of 47 mph., shaving a cool ten minutes off a trip between Seattle and Portland. That trip now takes only three and a half hours, more or less. You can save an hour of travel time by driving - or you can take a bus, and still get from one to the other faster and less expensively.
Griffin asked the State of Washington’s former Secretary of Transportation Paula Hammond how this could possibly count as high-speed rail. “Ten minutes doesn't sound like a lot of time,” she said, “but when you think about the fact that you have more options for more round trips, that you know that the train will come and go reliably and on time, that to us is what our passengers tell us is the most important thing.”
Can't you hear the whistle blowing?
