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(AP News)   Long-time Amtrak rider finally raises the money they need to fix that crumbling 150-year-old tunnel in Baltimore   (apnews.com) divider line
60
    More: Giggity, Amtrak, New York, Tunnel, Joe Biden, Train, Rail transport, United States Senate, Delaware  
•       •       •

2366 clicks; posted to Politics » on 30 Jan 2023 at 5:35 PM (8 weeks ago)   |   Favorite    |   share:  Share on Twitter share via Email Share on Facebook



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beezeltown [TotalFark]
2023-01-30 12:02:51 PM  
There's a lot of weird, crumbling infrastructure around Baltimore, you'll have to be more specific than that...
 
null [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2023-01-30 1:20:32 PM  
This is where I wish Elmo was not screwing off with Twatter and instead applying his money to "The Boring Company" in the same way SpaceX made rocket launches cheap and safe, so they could just drill baby drill these tunnels quickly and safely and cheaply instead of turning into these ten year multi-billion boondoggles full of graft, bribery, mobbed-up contractors, and so on that then fall apart because someone was on the take and used under-specced bolts or something.
 
beezeltown [TotalFark]
2023-01-30 1:23:56 PM  

null: so they could just drill baby drill these tunnels quickly and safely and cheaply instead of turning into these ten year multi-billion boondoggles full of graft, bribery, mobbed-up contractors, and so on..


Um, this is, essentially, the only reason anything is ever done in Baltimore.
 
null [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2023-01-30 1:25:39 PM  
And while I'm at it, make sure the tunnels are cleared for full double stacks plus catenary.
 
null [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2023-01-30 1:27:08 PM  

beezeltown: null: so they could just drill baby drill these tunnels quickly and safely and cheaply instead of turning into these ten year multi-billion boondoggles full of graft, bribery, mobbed-up contractors, and so on..

Um, this is, essentially, the only reason anything is ever done in Baltimore.


Or Boston (Big Dig), or NYC (Hudson tunnels), or...

Farking tired of it and I'm a union member so fark the unions being in on it for all the overtime and grievances they can milk.
 
Karma Chameleon
2023-01-30 5:38:46 PM  
Biden says he loves Amtrak but he rides around in a limo. Now you tell me who's out of touch
 
mistahtom
2023-01-30 5:43:29 PM  
Fox News: Railroad-gate
 
Gin Buddy
2023-01-30 5:43:39 PM  

Karma Chameleon: Biden says he loves Amtrak but he rides around in a limo. Now you tell me who's out of touch


Right?

He was VP for 8 YEARS and never once proposed running some tracks to the White House or Congress...
 
Halfabee64
2023-01-30 5:46:16 PM  

Karma Chameleon: Biden says he loves Amtrak but he rides around in a limo. Now you tell me who's out of touch


Tell me you know nothing about Joe Biden without telling me you know nothing about Joe Biden.
 
null [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2023-01-30 5:46:49 PM  

Gin Buddy: Karma Chameleon: Biden says he loves Amtrak but he rides around in a limo. Now you tell me who's out of touch

Right?

He was VP for 8 YEARS and never once proposed running some tracks to the White House or Congress...


About that: https://untappedcities.com/2016/02/04/behind-the-scenes-at-the-us-capitol-subway-system-in-washington-d-c/
 
Senseless_drivel
2023-01-30 5:47:36 PM  
Boondoggle! Another one of the president's pet projects.

Collapsing tunnels give communities character.
 
ScrimBoy
2023-01-30 5:52:57 PM  
Fark user imageView Full Size
 
blastoh
2023-01-30 5:56:47 PM  

null: This is where I wish Elmo was not screwing off with Twatter and instead applying his money to "The Boring Company" in the same way SpaceX made rocket launches cheap and safe, so they could just drill baby drill these tunnels quickly and safely and cheaply instead of turning into these ten year multi-billion boondoggles full of graft, bribery, mobbed-up contractors, and so on that then fall apart because someone was on the take and used under-specced bolts or something.


actually, this is how we know Elmo is just another egotistical businessman and not any kind of great visionary.

Fark user imageView Full Size
 
Mrtraveler01
2023-01-30 5:56:58 PM  

beezeltown: There's a lot of weird, crumbling infrastructure around Baltimore, you'll have to be more specific than that...


Not the crumble infrastructure at M&T Bank Stadium.
 
Dr Dreidel
2023-01-30 5:57:57 PM  

beezeltown: There's a lot of weird, crumbling infrastructure around Baltimore, you'll have to be more specific than that...


i.imgur.comView Full Size


// in fairness, stuff like the exteriors of the hospital where they kept Hannibal in Silence of the Lambs (part of which was damaged by fire in 2003ish) is like 150 years old
// used to be a functioning hospital, now it's just offices for the modern building next door
// no excuse for the Domino sign ever being down a light
 
blastoh
2023-01-30 5:58:38 PM  

Gin Buddy: Karma Chameleon: Biden says he loves Amtrak but he rides around in a limo. Now you tell me who's out of touch

Right?

He was VP for 8 YEARS and never once proposed running some tracks to the White House or Congress...


and this is why I could never be president.

I would find a small choo choo train like you see at the zoo to run this route and insist all trips between the Whitehouse and Congress be made in the choo choo.

And yes I would call it the choo choo and not the train.
 
soopey [OhFark]
2023-01-30 5:58:41 PM  

null: This is where I wish Elmo was not screwing off with Twatter and instead applying his money to "The Boring Company" in the same way SpaceX made rocket launches cheap and safe, so they could just drill baby drill these tunnels quickly and safely and cheaply instead of turning into these ten year multi-billion boondoggles full of graft, bribery, mobbed-up contractors, and so on that then fall apart because someone was on the take and used under-specced bolts or something.


Let me tell you about tunnels. They're all unique and the equipment used to bore them have to be designed from scratch to match the designed diameter and types of material they're cutting through. That tunnel boring machine in Seattle that got stuck and had to be rerouted then lifted out of a rescue pit and rebuilt? The boring machine couldn't handle an unexpected impediment it hit and toasted the main bearings in the cutting head.

Massive earth moving that is safe for the workers and future users and quick and easy don't go together.
 
fragMasterFlash [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2023-01-30 6:04:56 PM  
I'd like to make a joke about Baltimore only crumbling when the Ravens play a home game but that was definitely not the case this past season.
 
null [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2023-01-30 6:05:08 PM  

blastoh: null: This is where I wish Elmo was not screwing off with Twatter and instead applying his money to "The Boring Company" in the same way SpaceX made rocket launches cheap and safe, so they could just drill baby drill these tunnels quickly and safely and cheaply instead of turning into these ten year multi-billion boondoggles full of graft, bribery, mobbed-up contractors, and so on that then fall apart because someone was on the take and used under-specced bolts or something.

actually, this is how we know Elmo is just another egotistical businessman and not any kind of great visionary.

[Fark user image image 425x324]


Yes, I know.  Like I said, applying his money.  Not his brains or vision or management skills.  See also the penis rocket cake story.
 
Tipperary
2023-01-30 6:10:52 PM  
I guess after studying it for ten years, they finally decided they can't milk the tax payer for anymore "studies", huh?

https://www.baltimoresun.com/maryland/bs-md-amtrak-tunnel-20131122-story.html

Govmint...moving at the speed of Amtrak
 
What in The [BareFark]
2023-01-30 6:11:09 PM  
"With the bipartisan infrastructure law..."

Now that's funny.
 
robertus [TotalFark]
2023-01-30 6:19:10 PM  

null: This is where I wish Elmo was not screwing off with Twatter and instead applying his money to "The Boring Company" in the same way SpaceX made rocket launches cheap and safe, so they could just drill baby drill these tunnels quickly and safely and cheaply instead of turning into these ten year multi-billion boondoggles full of graft, bribery, mobbed-up contractors, and so on that then fall apart because someone was on the take and used under-specced bolts or something.


That's not the Baltimore I know, mister
 
robertus [TotalFark]
2023-01-30 6:20:19 PM  

fragMasterFlash: I'd like to make a joke about Baltimore only crumbling when the Ravens play a home game but that was definitely not the case this past season.


i.pinimg.comView Full Size
 
nartreb
2023-01-30 6:31:21 PM  
"This is a 150-year-old tunnel. You wonder how in the hell it's still standing."

It's a farking tunnel.   You dig a hole, you roof it with solid stone, and it will last thousands of years, if you don't fark up the drainage.

Sure, sometimes it makes economic sense to use non-waterproof concrete and non-rust-resistant rebar, and that will start crumbling in a few decades, but a tunnel built in 1873 is not going to cheap out like that.  Maybe the materials used in the expansion projects in the 1950s and 1980s are getting long in the tooth by now, but that's not the reason for the new project.

The tunnel is too narrow, small, curvy, and steep to be any use for high-speed trains or for bulky freight.  The plan is to create a totally new tunnel that will be bigger and less demanding on the trains.
 
dailygrinds
2023-01-30 6:32:39 PM  
♫ Joe Biden takes the morning train
He works from nine to five and then
He takes another home again to find me waitin' for him ♫
 
Roastbeast Sammich
2023-01-30 6:33:41 PM  

null: This is where I wish Elmo was not screwing off with Twatter and instead applying his money to "The Boring Company" in the same way SpaceX made rocket launches cheap and safe,


A Boring Company, eh? Sounds exciting!
 
dailygrinds
2023-01-30 6:34:20 PM  

nartreb: "This is a 150-year-old tunnel. You wonder how in the hell it's still standing."

It's a farking tunnel.   You dig a hole, you roof it with solid stone, and it will last thousands of years, if you don't fark up the drainage.

Sure, sometimes it makes economic sense to use non-waterproof concrete and non-rust-resistant rebar, and that will start crumbling in a few decades, but a tunnel built in 1873 is not going to cheap out like that.  Maybe the materials used in the expansion projects in the 1950s and 1980s are getting long in the tooth by now, but that's not the reason for the new project.

The tunnel is too narrow, small, curvy, and steep to be any use for high-speed trains or for bulky freight.  The plan is to create a totally new tunnel that will be bigger and less demanding on the trains.


I wonder if the existing tunnel will remain. Sounds like it would make a cool rail-trail.
 
Someone Else's Alt [TotalFark]
2023-01-30 6:34:45 PM  

Tipperary: I guess after studying it for ten years, they finally decided they can't milk the tax payer for anymore "studies", huh?

https://www.baltimoresun.com/maryland/bs-md-amtrak-tunnel-20131122-story.html

Govmint...moving at the speed of Amtrak


No Commissioners ever want to he the ones that say"we need to raise taxes to cover this infrastructure bond"

So they keep asking for new engineering reports and estimates hoping they get a better. Cheaper answer, and or just kick the can down the road a few more years. All the while it just gets more and more expensive to build shiat.
 
Kris_Romm
2023-01-30 6:39:39 PM  

null: beezeltown: null: so they could just drill baby drill these tunnels quickly and safely and cheaply instead of turning into these ten year multi-billion boondoggles full of graft, bribery, mobbed-up contractors, and so on..

Um, this is, essentially, the only reason anything is ever done in Baltimore.

Or Boston (Big Dig), or NYC (Hudson tunnels), or...

Farking tired of it and I'm a union member so fark the unions being in on it for all the overtime and grievances they can milk.


NY is odd.  They had those Hudson tunnels that took decades to get off the ground.  They had multiple new subway lines that just fizzled out partway done.

But they also had a humongous replacement Grand Central Station (technically a supplement I guess) under the current Grand Central that actually quietly got done with very few people talking about it.
 
mrwhippy
2023-01-30 6:41:53 PM  
Looks perfectly fine to me

railwayage.comView Full Size
 
jjorsett
2023-01-30 6:43:05 PM  
Current and future Presidents will be able to store a lot of illegally-appropriated classified documents in there.
 
Tipperary
2023-01-30 6:44:18 PM  

Someone Else's Alt: Tipperary: I guess after studying it for ten years, they finally decided they can't milk the tax payer for anymore "studies", huh?

https://www.baltimoresun.com/maryland/bs-md-amtrak-tunnel-20131122-story.html

Govmint...moving at the speed of Amtrak

No Commissioners ever want to he the ones that say"we need to raise taxes to cover this infrastructure bond"

So they keep asking for new engineering reports and estimates hoping they get a better. Cheaper answer, and or just kick the can down the road a few more years. All the while it just gets more and more expensive to build shiat.


You aren't wrong. A great example is one from the New York times article that explains how subway construction  costs in New York City are SIX TIMES as costly as comparable work in Paris. The status-quo isn't working.

https://ny.curbed.com/2017/12/29/16829746/mta-nyc-subway-construction-costs-investigation
 
UltimaCS
2023-01-30 6:46:03 PM  
"jobs for folks I used to think about as I took the train home at night."

"I hope none of these ungrateful peons think about getting sick."
 
jscart
2023-01-30 6:48:20 PM  
Is that the same tunnel that was the cause of a major internet outage when a freight train derailed inside it? that was in the early 00's
 
thorpe [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2023-01-30 6:48:21 PM  

nartreb: "This is a 150-year-old tunnel. You wonder how in the hell it's still standing."

It's a farking tunnel.   You dig a hole, you roof it with solid stone, and it will last thousands of years, if you don't fark up the drainage.

Sure, sometimes it makes economic sense to use non-waterproof concrete and non-rust-resistant rebar, and that will start crumbling in a few decades, but a tunnel built in 1873 is not going to cheap out like that.  Maybe the materials used in the expansion projects in the 1950s and 1980s are getting long in the tooth by now, but that's not the reason for the new project.

The tunnel is too narrow, small, curvy, and steep to be any use for high-speed trains or for bulky freight.  The plan is to create a totally new tunnel that will be bigger and less demanding on the trains.


Also, the tunnel is leaking and is sinking.
 
nartreb
2023-01-30 6:49:33 PM  

dailygrinds: nartreb: "This is a 150-year-old tunnel. You wonder how in the hell it's still standing."

It's a farking tunnel.   You dig a hole, you roof it with solid stone, and it will last thousands of years, if you don't fark up the drainage.

Sure, sometimes it makes economic sense to use non-waterproof concrete and non-rust-resistant rebar, and that will start crumbling in a few decades, but a tunnel built in 1873 is not going to cheap out like that.  Maybe the materials used in the expansion projects in the 1950s and 1980s are getting long in the tooth by now, but that's not the reason for the new project.

The tunnel is too narrow, small, curvy, and steep to be any use for high-speed trains or for bulky freight.  The plan is to create a totally new tunnel that will be bigger and less demanding on the trains.

I wonder if the existing tunnel will remain. Sounds like it would make a cool rail-trail.


Unlikely.  A) cities don't like people wandering into dark underground places, especially ones with loose plaster overhead.  B) there's not much room for an entrance or exit, at either end.  There's a narrow ditch for a while before it becomes an actual tunnel, and a lot of that ditch will still be in use by the railroad which will go right past the entrance of the old tunnel.

Fark doesn't like the URL for some reason, but there's a map here:
image link
 
valkore
2023-01-30 6:50:48 PM  

dailygrinds: nartreb: "This is a 150-year-old tunnel. You wonder how in the hell it's still standing."

It's a farking tunnel.   You dig a hole, you roof it with solid stone, and it will last thousands of years, if you don't fark up the drainage.

Sure, sometimes it makes economic sense to use non-waterproof concrete and non-rust-resistant rebar, and that will start crumbling in a few decades, but a tunnel built in 1873 is not going to cheap out like that.  Maybe the materials used in the expansion projects in the 1950s and 1980s are getting long in the tooth by now, but that's not the reason for the new project.

The tunnel is too narrow, small, curvy, and steep to be any use for high-speed trains or for bulky freight.  The plan is to create a totally new tunnel that will be bigger and less demanding on the trains.

I wonder if the existing tunnel will remain. Sounds like it would make a cool rail-trail.


It'd be a great path for sprint training based on the neighborhood it runs through.
 
UltimaCS
2023-01-30 6:52:02 PM  

Tipperary: Someone Else's Alt: Tipperary: I guess after studying it for ten years, they finally decided they can't milk the tax payer for anymore "studies", huh?

https://www.baltimoresun.com/maryland/bs-md-amtrak-tunnel-20131122-story.html

Govmint...moving at the speed of Amtrak

No Commissioners ever want to he the ones that say"we need to raise taxes to cover this infrastructure bond"

So they keep asking for new engineering reports and estimates hoping they get a better. Cheaper answer, and or just kick the can down the road a few more years. All the while it just gets more and more expensive to build shiat.

You aren't wrong. A great example is one from the New York times article that explains how subway construction  costs in New York City are SIX TIMES as costly as comparable work in Paris. The status-quo isn't working.

https://ny.curbed.com/2017/12/29/16829746/mta-nyc-subway-construction-costs-investigation


That article didn't really explain anything about why these projects cost so much. Just a collection of gripes like the idea that government engineers sometimes move onto private consulting. Big whoop. Their comparison is to other countries, but they don't try to compare it to other American cities because they know the whining would fall apart.
 
Tipperary
2023-01-30 6:58:04 PM  

UltimaCS: Tipperary: Someone Else's Alt: Tipperary: I guess after studying it for ten years, they finally decided they can't milk the tax payer for anymore "studies", huh?

https://www.baltimoresun.com/maryland/bs-md-amtrak-tunnel-20131122-story.html

Govmint...moving at the speed of Amtrak

No Commissioners ever want to he the ones that say"we need to raise taxes to cover this infrastructure bond"

So they keep asking for new engineering reports and estimates hoping they get a better. Cheaper answer, and or just kick the can down the road a few more years. All the while it just gets more and more expensive to build shiat.

You aren't wrong. A great example is one from the New York times article that explains how subway construction  costs in New York City are SIX TIMES as costly as comparable work in Paris. The status-quo isn't working.

https://ny.curbed.com/2017/12/29/16829746/mta-nyc-subway-construction-costs-investigation

That article didn't really explain anything about why these projects cost so much. Just a collection of gripes like the idea that government engineers sometimes move onto private consulting. Big whoop. Their comparison is to other countries, but they don't try to compare it to other American cities because they know the whining would fall apart.


Meanwhile  $ X 6
 
misanthropicsob [OhFark]
2023-01-30 7:06:18 PM  
If there's any doubt whether or not Joe Biden loves Amtrak, one only needs to look at how he busted rail unions to make sure the companies earn a profit.
 
Aar1012 [TotalFark]
2023-01-30 7:12:31 PM  

Gin Buddy: Karma Chameleon: Biden says he loves Amtrak but he rides around in a limo. Now you tell me who's out of touch

Right?

He was VP for 8 YEARS and never once proposed running some tracks to the White House or Congress...


I'm picturing Biden outside the white house with a giant hammer, some spikes, wood planks, and rails.
 
brantgoose [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2023-01-30 7:28:47 PM  
Kuel! You go Brandon!

And to think Trumpe wanted to build the Great Wall of China on the Mexico border, forget about the Canadian border and damn the Pacific and Atlantic (and Arctic) in defiance of Mongols on short-legged ponies.

There's no fool like an old fool. Fans of Trump and Biden agree (only) on that.
 
brantgoose [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2023-01-30 7:32:29 PM  

Aar1012: Gin Buddy: Karma Chameleon: Biden says he loves Amtrak but he rides around in a limo. Now you tell me who's out of touch

Right?

He was VP for 8 YEARS and never once proposed running some tracks to the White House or Congress...

I'm picturing Biden outside the white house with a giant hammer, some spikes, wood planks, and rails.


Just in time to revive the Underground Railroad to Canada for the exclusive use of black people. It's the most segregated road in America, but just you wait for 2024.
 
LordJiro [OhFark]
2023-01-30 7:41:37 PM  

null: This is where I wish Elmo was not screwing off with Twatter and instead applying his money to "The Boring Company" in the same way SpaceX made rocket launches cheap and safe, so they could just drill baby drill these tunnels quickly and safely and cheaply instead of turning into these ten year multi-billion boondoggles full of graft, bribery, mobbed-up contractors, and so on that then fall apart because someone was on the take and used under-specced bolts or something.


Given that Musk outright admitted that his 'Hyperloop' proposal was never intended to actually happen and was purely a way to sabotage efforts to get high-speed rail in California, I don't see that happening even if Musk WASN'T having his finances farked by his dumbass decision to buy Twitter.
 
SeedFreak
2023-01-30 8:00:19 PM  
I love Balto and HATE Amtrak. Win win. I hope this goes through and they get the jobs, it will help the economics of the region. As to RATTS, don't they know when you live by a train you get used to it mighty fast.
 
DoctorCal
2023-01-30 8:13:46 PM  
The thing I don't understand about tunnels is how the avoid hitting the third rail while they are digging.
 
NuclearPenguins [TotalFark]
2023-01-30 8:46:24 PM  

GOSH BARN IT: I figured it out.  Finally.
And now Fark subby descends to click bait.

Expectations met.


How many threads will you post this stupid comment on?
 
natazha [BareFark]
2023-01-30 10:13:27 PM  

LordJiro: Given that Musk outright admitted that his 'Hyperloop' proposal was never intended to actually happen and was purely a way to sabotage efforts to get high-speed rail in California,


The simple fact that it's California is all it takes to ensure high-speed rail won't happen. Musk is nowhere near as powerful as some think.
 
baltimoreblonde
2023-01-30 10:16:01 PM  

Karma Chameleon: Biden says he loves Amtrak but he rides around in a limo. Now you tell me who's out of touch


The SS has a thing about presidents riding public transportation. Biden was a bit miffed when he was told he couldn't do it anymore.
 
hershy799
2023-01-30 10:47:15 PM  
FTFA:

It will be named for Frederick Douglass, who escaped from slavery in Maryland

Talk about an... underground railroad
 
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