"Ramblin Wreck from Georgia Tech"

The old Georgia Tech song has significance in the ongoing collapse of transportation into and out of New York. Over 1 million people will be without a means of transportation. I guess there is a "wall" around New York keeping the aliens from without from getting within! It was also a free wall, just let the system collapse! Oh yes, Georgia Tech, that was where the CEO of Amtrak was trained. Economists from MIT and Train Managers from Georgia (getting paid almost $10 million a year!)....the end of civilization as we know it is upon us.

As the NY Times reports:

After two derailments at Pennsylvania Station in New York, Amtrak officials are considering closing tracks at the station for an extended period to make long-term repairs — a drastic move that would cause huge disruptions for tens of thousands of commuters, according to officials who were briefed on the plans. Officials at Amtrak, which owns and operates Penn Station, say the infrastructure at the terminal has become so brittle that it urgently needs an overhaul. The closings would probably prompt extensive delays and route changes for two of the nation’s largest railroads, New Jersey Transit and the Long Island Rail Road, which rely on Penn Station. A decision to upend the lives of so many riders would follow years of failures to invest adequately in aging infrastructure even as ridership boomed in the busiest region of rail travel in the country, and it would be a break from Amtrak’s traditional strategy of trying to minimize disruptions.

Yep, that's it folks, just close Penn Station and allow the in my opinion grossly incompetent Amtrak do its thing! Are these folks out of their minds? No, they apparently have no minds. The Times shows the CEO in a photo op wearing the compulsory green vest and hard hat. The CEO should be out of there, gone, get a new one, someone who has some competence!

And then there is the US DOT! Where is the Secretary of Transportation? Dinner in DC? Get a hard hat and joint the team. 

It is insane to think you can close Penn Station. But not to the Government. The economic costs, direct and otherwise, will be monumental. The lost taxes. Gov. Christie started the process by cancelling the new tunnel. But he is gone soon. Yet not one of his replacements is commenting. Even the NY Governor should be concerned due to the potential loss in tax dollars from lost employment.

On and one more thing. NJ Transit has still not repaired Hoboken station which collapsed months ago when a train engineers apparently went to sleep on approach and crashed into the station and killed a woman. Imagine, half the capacity gone due to Amtrak and 30% of the remaining  capacity gone due to NJ Transit. And you want Government Health Care!