Tag Archives: High speed train

High Speed Rail; Plans or Planning?

Question….

The chemical train goes through Ashland VA

Trains carrying trash and chemicals traverse through Ashland, Virginia every day

Should CSX build a new high speed rail , and how should it skirt Ashland, Virginia?

This is a big question that I believe deserves a lot of consideration, but lets start with a brief history lesson:

In 1956 a bill was signed by President Dwight Eisenhower that created a “National System of Interstate and Defense Highways” Eisenhower stated the need to eliminate unsafe roadways, inefficient routes and traffic jams, along with the need to permit quick evacuation of target areas, and that an elaborate expressway system was essential to national interest and security. For these reasons, the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 was created. Under the terms of this Act, the

building the beltway

Building highways destroys more then communities, much wild life is misplaced as well.,

Federal Government would pay for 90 percent of the cost of construction and allocated $26 billion, the remaining funds would come from an increase in gasoline tax (0.03) that went into a highway trust fund.

By 1960 people began to revolt against the unpleasant consequences, displaced people, communities sliced in half, abandonment and decay in city after city. During the 1960’s activists in New York, Baltimore, Washington DC and other cities managed to prevent construction from eviscerating their neighborhoods and these urban interstates or “roads to nowhere” still exist today.

According to Wikipedia

traffic on 95

To many cars and not enough pavement.. no quick exit out of town here!

Interstate 95 (I-95) is the main Interstate Highway on the East Coast of the United States, running largely parallel to the Atlantic Ocean and U.S. Highway 1. I-95 is one of the oldest routes of the Interstate Highway System, The southern terminus of I-95 is at U.S. Route 1 (US 1) in Miami, Florida, while the northern terminus is at New Brunswick, Canada.

I-95 is the longest north–south Interstate, and passes through more states than any other Interstate Highway at 15 states, According to the U.S. Census Bureau, only five counties along the route are completely rural, while statistics provided by the I-95 Corridor Coalition suggest that the region served is “over three times more densely populated than the U.S. average and as densely settled as much of Western Europe” Parts of I-95 carry 200 to 300 thousand vehicles a day.

 

From CSX Website: www.csx.com

  • Vision: To be the safest most progressive North American railroad, relentless in the pursuit of customer and employee excellence
  • Purpose: To capitalize on the efficiency of rail transportation to serve America
  • Core Values: At CSX we believe that living by a set of fundamental core values helps to define the true measure of a company. When all employees are aligned with fundamental guiding principles, companies consistently serve their customers and other stakeholders and deliver superior financial results that ensure long term success.
  • Fact-Based: Use customer-based performance measures. Fix the problem, not its symptom. Improve performance with facts. Validate-don’t speculate.
  • Right Results, Right Way: Reward our Shareholders. Be a positive influence on communities and the environment. How you get there matters. Avoid fault-fixing

So here are the facts:

I-95

traffic on 95

The interstate parking lot…

  • Out interstate system is antiquated. If a mass exodus was necessary along the north south corridor of Interstate 95, the shear volume would create one long parking lot along Interstate 95.
  • People and /or groups of people can stop “progress” in the name of commonsense.
  • Interstate 95 is one of the oldest and longest highways, it passes through more states then any other interstate and travels through the most densely populated areas in this country.

and CSX;

Although CSX strives to be safe and efficient, supportive of employees and shareholders, and be a positive influence on communities and the environment, I was unable to find any information on their web site about how they consider communities

turtles on the track

Tracks in rural communities impede more then traffic..

and the environment, and how they assess when it is necessary to destroy such places.

What / Who gives CSX the power to destroy private property? The Greater Good? Please correct me if I am wrong, but I was told the new High Speed Rail would cut 15 minutes off of the travel time from DC to Richmond.. Really? All this for that? That does not sound like High speed rail.. Where is the new technology?

This problem of where the new High Speed Rail will go is not just Ashland’s problem. This IS a problem for all inhabitants along the north south corridor of the Eastern United States and IS a major infrastructure problem. Building a High Speed rail along the existing tracks with a bypass around Ashland is merely a band aid. CSX is already facing problems Including installing Government mandated “Positive Train Control” technology, designed to slow or stop trains before accidents occur, lagging coal shipment volume and a decline in stock values. A massive update of our interstate and rail systems is in desperate need. According to GoEuro (a travel search engine) The US ranks 19th out of 20 in ranking of high-speed rail networks by nation.

So, What do we do?

We learn from History. Automobiles as we know them will change, but they will still need roads of some sort to follow. There is some remarkable technology out there and if we can let go of the oil industry a bit, we can move into the 21st century a bit more gracefully. Check out these solar roadways: www.solarroadways.com, Think of the possibilities.! High Speed Rails? Well they should travel train and raodsdown the 1-95 corridor as well and should be as straight as possible, not curving around any little towns, I mean, we are talking HIGH SPEED Rails.!

So come on People… Government Officials.. where is your backbone? Lets spend a little less on foreign ground and a little more here at home..

let’s get er done!

 

Plans are nothing; planning is everything. Dwight D. Eisenhower

Shelley Whittington

High Speed Rails are Anti-turtle

Box turtles are in trouble. . .

Specifically, the Eastern Box Turtle that is found in Central Virginia.  75 years ago, local children playing  in Hanover County could spend a summer collecting and marveling at these gems of the forest. In the woods around their homes, they could collect more than 100 in one summer, and then let them go back to the woods to be turtles. The genetic diversity in colors and shell patterns was like gathering snowflakes under a microscope, No two were alike.box turtle train tracks

50 years ago, as communities sprang up among the woods, and more and more trees were logged to fuel the need for building materials, habitats disappeared.  An occasional lone turtle was found wandering around the new developments, looking for the habitat, the food sources, and the water holes he used to know. A curious child would pick him up and marvel at the way he closes himself up in a box, how the colors of his shell blend perfectly with the light and shadows under the old remaining oak tree, and at the way he carefully  peeked out of his shell as he slowly opens the hinged flap on the bottom, almost like a door, to see if the new intruder is friend or foe.  The Child leaves him to run to the house to get the others, and returns minutes later, to find the turtle has disappeared and is nowhere to be seen.

25 years ago, in neighborhoods where fields are farmed, trees are logged, dogs run loose and the automobile is a necessity, the Eastern Box turtle is a rare site. Fortunately, Central Virginia is a land of rivers and along rivers habitat survives. Private lands, kept by those who grew up finding turtles still offer hope of surviving habitat for small populations of turtles, but this too is quickly disappearing as generations change and land is sold off. The Eastern Box Turtle has all but been forgotten.

vulnmod-statewide

Red is already developed, yellow and orange highly vulnerable to develpoment due to ease of travel. http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/natural-heritage/vaconvisvulnerable

Indiscriminate  building, logging, farming and clearing has damaged our planet to the point of global distress. Land is a resource that we cannot replace and our continued abuse of it will affect the lives of generations to come.  What will it take for us to see that with every project that we undertake we destroy more natural habitat which puts us deeper and deeper into the destruction phase of our planet?

Virginia is certainly not immune to the destruction of habitat.  From the rolling hills of the Blue Ridge Mountains to the shores of the Atlantic, the center of our incredible diverse state is one of the most exploited and developed areas in this country. According to the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, the counties that run north and south along the 95 corridor are highly vulnerable to development. Yet, this area of Virginia is one of the most unique areas in this country, the  Atlantic Seaboard Fall Line.

The Atlantic Seaboard Fall Line

Runs parallel with Interstate 95 through Virginia. This Fall Line is a zone rather than a narrow line and the rapids and waterfalls

The Fall line runs through the center of Hanover, Henrico and Richmond.

The Fall line runs through the center of Hanover, Henrico and Richmond. http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/natural-heritage/natural-communities/ncoverview

created by the change from hard bedrock to the soft sediments of the Coastal Plains provides a large diverse environment for many inhabitants. These irreplaceable lands, and the rivers that run through them, provide benefits in terms of open space, recreation, cultural and historic relevance along with natural resource protection, water quality control, and economic benefits associated with these functions.

In the last 15 years, more development has taken place in Virginia then in the previous 400 years. As the pressure of a growing population increases, land conservation must become a prominent consideration in all future  planning at the local, regional and commonwealth levels if we are to preserve land for future generations.

Long term or short term fix?

recmodel-state

Green areas represent Virginia Recreation Lands needs assessment, 2015, Notice the lack of green space in Hanover, Louise, Henrico and surrounding counties. http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/natural-heritage/vaconvisrec

I ask you,  As our now antiquated infrastructure corrodes into disrepair, is it in our best interest to even consider the necessity of building new rail lines that bypass the real issue of our decaying  network?   Who will benefit from a High Speed Rail  anyway?

Any Project that is worth building, is worth considerable thought and planning, not just for us,  but for all future generations to come. There is so much more to be gained by preserving what land we can  for all the inhabitants in the center of this beautiful state. Please, before we go forward with  destruction in the name of progress, consider the legacy we could leave by initiating a program where we rebuild our great country by updating our infrastructure with new and modern technology, that is ecologically  and environmentally friendly, and  preserve land and waterways for generations of all inhabitants,  especially those that have been here for more than 250 million years, the turtle. It is time for the healing to begin.

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