tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9158467536239735339.post619656203325962911..comments2023-10-19T05:19:01.550-08:00Comments on American Dirt: When the first one out the gate is also the last.AmericanDirthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04600555386886915000noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9158467536239735339.post-69624748115805678232013-05-03T09:36:31.310-08:002013-05-03T09:36:31.310-08:00We were able to run trains in the 100+ MPH range b...We were able to run trains in the 100+ MPH range back in the 1920s, and those sorts of speeds would take care of most of the regional travel corridors we have today. High speed rail is a good thing, but the cost goes up non-linearly with speed, so I would rather see a larger network of "fast" trains than a few short lines that meet the high speed criteria. <br /><br />Anyway, more on topic, I was thinking of Cincinnati as an example (of course), whose Union Terminal was one of the last two major new train stations build in the country. Though it saw anemic use when it was brand new, opening in 1933 at the height of the depression, even the huge resurgence of rail travel during WWII only brought it to about half its actual capacity (I think its design capacity was technically lower, but it was so well engineered that it could've handled many more trains than they actually designed it for). So, much like these newly upgraded and expanded airports, it was never strained in the least, and a lot of investment was poured into building capacity that was really never needed or used. It was only 40 years old when abandoned, which is younger than most airports today. Jeffrey Jakucykhttp://www.jjakucyk.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9158467536239735339.post-60518810679820919372013-05-02T16:05:54.084-08:002013-05-02T16:05:54.084-08:00Thanks for your observation, Jeffrey. While I'...Thanks for your observation, Jeffrey. While I'd like to think downtown train stations didn't reveal their obsolescence until the 1960s, you could very well be right. And what if airports become white elephants?<br /><br />I'm usually a skeptic of High Speed Rail. But if we should ever get to the point where air travel declines to irrelevance, it is possible that the US could seriously suffer for its low levels of investment in HSR. Then again, that could be a sign of an even bleaker economic forecast, since it would mean we have essentially returned to a previously antiquated means of transportation. It would imply global resignation. Let's hope the next transit mode that might supplant air travel is something we cannot yet conceive. AmericanDirthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04600555386886915000noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9158467536239735339.post-14615903786434103912013-05-02T11:57:01.417-08:002013-05-02T11:57:01.417-08:00I suspect this is similar to how many downtown tra...I suspect this is similar to how many downtown train stations looked in the 1950s, or even the 1930s. We have no idea if air travel will come back to the levels of the past, especially in an uncertain energy future. Expensive fuel hits airlines very hard, and they can't switch to alternatives nearly as easily. One wonders if we might be looking at the early stages of these buildings becoming white elephants.Jeffrey Jakucykhttp://www.jjakucyk.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9158467536239735339.post-75578165338909613962013-05-01T09:43:05.296-08:002013-05-01T09:43:05.296-08:00Hi Mark--
Thanks for your comments. I made it pre...Hi Mark--<br />Thanks for your comments. I made it pretty clear that I know 9p is off-peak...no number cooking needed. What really got me is not just that the screens were pulled on all the storefronts in the concourse, but the lights were off and the employees were all gone. They weren't merely in the process of closing. At 9pm, the restaurants had all been closed for quite some time.<br /><br />However, I've flown at many of the other times you've listed and I still question your definition of "hopping". The airport definitely has people, but throngs? Never that I've seen. Several of the retail outlets in the two concourses have shifted tenants multiple times in the airports <5 years in operation, and a few have remained vacant now for months.<br /><br />The moderate crowd levels are partly what make IND low-stress, as we both can acknowledge. And if you want to see an empty airport, it sounds like Cincinnati (CVG) is the way to go. I haven't flown there in almost a decade, but it's a considerably larger airport than IND, but in recent years, due to the outrageous cost of flying there, it now has fewer enplanements than IND.AmericanDirthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04600555386886915000noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9158467536239735339.post-1037683064517096452013-05-01T09:20:50.778-08:002013-05-01T09:20:50.778-08:00Umm, you were traveling at 9PM on a Friday night -...Umm, you were traveling at 9PM on a Friday night - remember? Talk about cooking the numbers on this article.<br /><br />You may want to try a more peak time - perhaps a Thursday at 3, Monday morning at 6, or a Saturday afternoon. You'll find Indy to be pretty hopping. <br /><br />As a frequent traveler I can tell you I would much rather be departing from IND rather than ORD or LGA. <br /><br />Markhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07811365399747529995noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9158467536239735339.post-74579918046662014052013-05-01T03:32:27.828-08:002013-05-01T03:32:27.828-08:00Good point, and obviously it is better to build wi...Good point, and obviously it is better to build with future traffic needs in mind rather than the current doldrums. But the mergers were routine long before the building broke ground, and passenger traffic, despite its vicissitudes, has trended low for quite some time.<br /><br />As a subset of overall commerce, it is still hard not to analogize American airports (loosely) to the enclosed shopping mall: nurture the ones that are thriving, but don't fixate on aggregate growth of the facilities. I will concede that the airport has a more auspicious future than the mall, since I can currently think of no competitor likely to dethrone them.AmericanDirthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04600555386886915000noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9158467536239735339.post-84511062568944793082013-05-01T02:07:47.866-08:002013-05-01T02:07:47.866-08:00Keep in mind that the new IND terminal was designe...Keep in mind that the new IND terminal was designed to last somewhere around 40 years. It was built with the future in mind, not just present traffic. Though I agree Indy has rather anemic air traffic.The Urbanophilehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18094204641794131438noreply@blogger.com