My proposal for near-future inter-town/city passenger rail expansions in Vermont! (MAP)patsboston t1_j6jr4u5 wrote
Reply to comment by contrary-contrarian in My proposal for near-future inter-town/city passenger rail expansions in Vermont! (MAP) by DrToadley
How would we get federal funding for that when there is currently no line between Houston and Dallas? Nashville and Atlanta? Las Vegas and LA? Cincinnati to Cleveland? Rural lines in Vermont would be like 200th on the list.
The places that would get funding first would be higher population areas and areas with higher economic output.
patsboston t1_j6k7lnm wrote
Not sure why I am downvoting for mentioning the current state of rail funding in the US.
contrary-contrarian t1_j6jsowz wrote
Gotta start somewhere! I'm not saying it's going to happen tomorrow, but if there is political will in the state, and our federal reps are up for it, we can get that money.
I'm not sure if you're aware, but Vermont received 1.25 billion dollars in coronavirus relief funds (actually more than that if you count other programs). Despite being a small state, we have a decent amount of influence and could be a pilot project for the rest of the country.
goldenlight18 t1_j6jwkac wrote
This was really a one time funding coupled with Leahy's seniority in the senate pulling weight. With him retiring it will be a while before we have that influence again.
contrary-contrarian t1_j6jz241 wrote
This is mostly true, but it shows that large investments in small states is possible.
We could cut military spending by 1/64th and have enough funding to build light rail in most of the country...
cbospam1 t1_j6kfya0 wrote
From what I could find only Wyoming received less in Covid relief funds than Vermont, so while we got a lot of assistance it’s not much as all in context.
The govt will never dump big money into a rural mountainous state to build rail. If they won’t do it in Texas or California it’s not happening here.
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