I have decided to scribble in a map of all the cities that have announced their participation in the corridor ID program in March so you can see what may happen over the next few years
Dashes are line that aren't be considered but should, red is a real line, I just can't change the color, and Montana has some plans but no other states have voiced interest in restoring the north coast Hiawatha
The current lines that are coming in the corridor I'd program if all goes well and nobody changes their mind looks to be:
- Boise to Salt Lake (orange)
- Downeastern extension to Bangor (yellow)
- Gulf coast service(both shades of light blue)
- 3C+D(pink)
- Madison extension(purple)
- Hiawatha extension to Greenbay(dark blue)
What senators do I need to badger to lock down the 3D+C?
That's the neat part, you don't!! You just need to threaten the 70th governor of the US state of Ohio, Richard Michael DeWine until he agrees to finally send a fucking application to the FRA. The funding is already available, he's just a little indescive piss baby who can't seem to make up his mind on weather or not to fund a train that would improve the lives of tens of thousands of Ohioans
Red is a real line, but has an absolutely stupid path through southern oregon. There desperately needs to be a branch through Medford/Ashland, not just a line through klamath falls, because right now if I want to drive to Portland, it’s 4 hours. If I want to take the train to portland, it’s two hours of driving and five hours on the train.
Okay yeah something should definitely go to Medford and Ashland, but I would say that an extension of the Cascades line would make more sense than moving the entire coast starlight
Counterpoint, we put the Coast Starlight ON the coast the whole way down. (which is also a dumb idea, as the population masses are 100% Not There, but also Portland to the Actual Coast by train would be an awful lot of fun.) I'll settle for a Cascades extension that gets farther than Eugene IF I can also demand that it goes through the redwoods in Northern California too.
Okay, I may have messed up the locations slightly but here you go a route connecting southern Oregon and Northern California, It probably wouldn’t work as part of the Cascades line anymore due to the length so I am calling this the redwood line.
