Treasure Valley leaders pushing for passenger train service, Amtrak CEO in Boise

Boise hosted the Greater Northwest Passenger Rail Summit bringing the Amtrak CEO to town. The Treasure valley lost Amtrak service in 1997.

[@julieraichart7961]

It was great then and it will be great again

[@petey3965]

Railways need to be 21st century standard, not 20th. Look at Japan, France etc.

[@Brianrockrailfan]

really hope this can happen

[@FrederickJenny]

And once you have a single connection to those major cities you can start to add more trains to connect more smaller cities to Boise! Utah needs to do this as well, connect Salt Lake to the major and minor cities in the state with rail. They also need to build a great central station, the Rio Grande Plan is the way to do that!

[@TheBandit7613]

The money for that does not exist. Hundreds of billions. US property is owned by people, one lot at a time. For those distances, rail operators will need to buy properties from tens of thousands of people. Billions will be spent without a single rail in place.

[@FrederickJenny]

@@TheBandit7613 It can be done, we did it when we built all the Highways. We can do it again.

[@TheBandit7613]

@@FrederickJenny Look at California's north-south high speed rail project. It's a 20 year nightmare. This is not Europe. We can't take people's property easily. Everything turns into a lengthy court battle.

[@DougCrosby]

Do you think some cities would take advantage of this to assist in moving homeless populations to other cities?

[@torquetrain8963]

@@guardianangel9517 alot of people are working but homeless because they're forced to drive in order to participate in a car centric society. They have to choose between housing and a personal vehicle. It's very expensive to own and maintain a vehicle. If there are alternative like public transportation and trains that are a fraction of the cost, then some folks wouldn't have to live out of their vehicle and possibly be able to afford housing.

[@TheBandit7613]

It's expensive. Money comes from the Idaho road funds. Roads will suffer, for that you can be sure. Gasoline taxes are normally the budgets that are raided and rail ain't cheap. Think carefully what you want. Look at Denver and Colorado, the worst potholed roads in the country since they decided to add commuter rail. Rail sucks up road dollars like crazy.

[@JohnJohnson-kg4ek]

I want to have transportation options besides a car. Cars are the most inefficient form of transportation there is. Getting drivers off the road and into a train will reduce traffic and damage to the roads

[@TheBandit7613]

@@JohnJohnson-kg4ek I worked for the Colorado road dept for 20 years. I retired early and moved to Nevada and work for the road dept here. I will get 2 pensions. Go drive in Colorado. There are places that the roads are worn to the rebar. Maintenance and new roads stopped as soon as the rail projects passed. There are rail projects all over Denver. Traffic still sucks. Trains have eaten up all the transportation funds. Colorado has the worst beat up roads in the west. Road rage is bad in Denver because the roads are so crowded, people are frustrated. Be careful what you vote for. Read carefully how projects will be funded. Times like this is when the sharks come out of the woodwork to profit from YOUR hard work.

[@JohnJohnson-kg4ek]

@@TheBandit7613 Denver's trains were funded by a 1 percent sales tax. They didn't take any money away from road maintenance.

[@TheBandit7613]

@@JohnJohnson-kg4ek Who told you that? FasTracks has 6 different sources of funding. DRCOG (Denver regional council of governments) collects and distributes money from sales tax, federal grants, fuel tax (local) fuel tax (federal) rail grants (federal) toll roads, and other sources. They direct the funds where they are required to be spent. RTD is entitled to fuel taxes, no one is breaking the law. Where the money is spent is not set in stone. They are trying to finish the rail projects that are years behind schedule. For this, the roads suffer. The roads are receiving a minimal amount to stay functional. The 1% sales tax in nowhere near enough to fund the projects that were promised to voters. Not even close. I left the Colorado road dept 19 years ago and many changes have taken place. But not that many.

[@JohnJohnson-kg4ek]

@@TheBandit7613 I understand what you are saying now. Regardless, the roads are receiving $750 million per year from CDOT just to maintain a C+ grade. That's over half the total transportation budget. Three quarters of a billion dollars per year is an enormous waste of money. Trains are more efficient at moving people, cost less to maintain, emit fewer pollutants per passenger and reduce road traffic. It is time that we start spending more money on efficient transportation solutions instead of more car infrastructure.

[@kjnightbird121]

It would be a nice option. Especially, as Electric Cars will continue to be pushed upon us. Everyone loves a Train ride. 🚅 🛤️ 👍

[@torquetrain8963]

I drive delivery truck all day for a living. The last thing I want to do is drive home. Bring on the trains. Less stress.