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| Georgia DOT: High Speed Rail Network 'Feasible' (1163369) | |||
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Georgia DOT: High Speed Rail Network 'Feasible' |
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Posted by WillD on Sun Jun 24 18:21:14 2012 But details are sorely lacking.None but HNTB's finest handwaving engineering: Georgia DOT Presentation Curiously absent are mentions of maximum speeds, average speeds, headways, or ridership assumptions which must have been made to arrive at the conclusions about operational and capital costs, and ticket prices that they reached. But from the cost estimates either they're massively overestimating the cost of a 110mph diesel line, or slightly underestimating the cost of a 186-220mph new build electric line. A 2009 study by GDOT foolishly recommended the construction of a 150mph diesel line, completely ignoring the onerous requirements of the FRA's Tier II regulations. Even more unfortunate, that study performed nothing in the way of ridership studies to confirm that the ridership and revenue would more than likely triple or even quadruple with a 200mph corridor's halving of travel times when compared to 90mph line. Unfortunately from the cost estimates for both studies it looks like they may be plotting a new-build, diesel high speed rail line. If Georgia DOT is counting on manufacturers to deliver on a Tier II compatible, fossil fueled locomotive for their HSR they're going to be waiting a *very* long time as even Bombardier has sworn off those beasts after the JetTrain fiasco. They'll end up with units like the NJT DPs, with a premium price that completely erases the supposed capital cost reduction from not electrifying, while providing none of the operational cost savings the electrification and corresponding bump in performance would bring with it. But I suppose if the Red States figure they can get a few more pork barrel dollars out of the Feds with their own High Speed Rail lines, and if it'll break the Republican obstructionism to anything and everything rail based, then it'll be worth it in the long run, even if Georgia's plan may be the worst yet floated. |
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