Posted on 05/09/2014 9:49:39 PM PDT by Cronos
Ain’t the government grand? Used to be a shorter rail route from New York to Atlantic City through the Pine Barrens. They let Conrail (the government-owned freight railroad) abandon that.
The infrastructure of roads has come at a tremendous... cost to the taxpayer. Nothing is free.
I still want my flying car that Back to the Future said would be here by now! Actually, just gasoline at real market prices would be pretty cool, and just as imaginary.
I really want to spend three days on a train from SF to PHL at three times the price of a 4 hour air flight. Makes perfect sense to me.
Talk about DUH!!
Cars are freedom, and even very poor people in the US can avail themselves of the highway. and they can take their kids and their gear.
I love train rides, but I never want the roads, and cheap used cars, to go away. They are a leg up in the world, not just a means to a destination.
Trains are successful in certain corridors with the right distance and shape. Take St Louis to Chicago, for instance, or New York to DC.
Other regions, not so much.
True...and I also prefer to take the chopper to avoid ground-level traffic. Let’s face it: you have a much better chance of finding a helipad near your destination than a train station.
Our cities also have something theirs don’t.
No doubt. The Eisenhower Interstates enhanced bidness.
They stink!
“Too expensive, too slow, too remote.”
You forgot it doesn’t go where you want to go.
So first, I don't ride trains because I don't trust unions to run them safely.
Second, I don't ride trains because they're incredibly expensive for long trips.
Third, I don't ride trains because they're always late and never deliver me where I need to go. And because I don't trust unions.
It’s because willie green was taken to the gulag on the last train
Bingo.
Exactly!
The US currently moves 38% of freight by rail vs. 10% in Europe. Take over the freight railroads to move people and there could be a 4x increase of the number of Trucks on the road. I don’t think passenger rail would is the environmental panacea the commies seem to believe.
I rode trains as a 14 year old kid going to and from boarding school. They used to wind through the back woods of our nation, a path where you would see things you couldn’t from other vantage points. Talk about a lovely trip from Joplin, Missouri to Siloam Springs, Arkansas. It was about as beautful as you would ever want to see.
I’ve ridden them to Kansas City a few times.
If you have the shekels and the time, it’s a romantic way to travel.
Other than that, no thanks.
Some commuter trains are doing pretty good here in Los Angeles. I’m not sure they’re turning a profit, but it sure gives the local politicos something to brag about.
BTW, the cost of the California Super-Train just went up again. I know, I know, who could have believed it would? /s
If it’s too far to drive (time constraints), we fly there and rent a car.
The article answers its own question. Why don’t Americans ride trains more? Because the freight trains control most of the track.
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