Why do Americans seem to not like trains?
The government should be encouraging the use of mass transit, a sentiment increasingly shared by a public reeling from an increase in gas prices of approximately 70 cents in just one year. And there is no end in sight for those increases and even more. Pundits ask why Europeans are happy taking trains and Americans seem opposed. In a word, service and on-time records, both of which the new plans address.
[The Record - News - 01/09/2006 - Time for people to get on board this rapid transit idea ]
Yes, service and on-time performance are the big issues. Europeans also wouldn’t like trains if there was only one train per day and that train would regularly be delayed at least a couple of hours. How can you possibly want to take the train in a situation like that? If your train is delayed by 28 hours as recently happened on the east coast, it’s not even fun anymore… So what this country needs is frequent, on-time rail service. And it wouldn’t hurt if it was fast and convenient, too. Then - as certain examples show - even Americans will take the train.
Posted in: Uncategorized | January 11, 2006 11:23 pm
6 Comments »
Aaron Hockley, on January 12, 2006 @ 9:02 am
Europe has spent the money to create a viable passenger rail infrastructure. America has almost zero passenger rail infrastructure outside the Northeast. Long distance Amtrak is a joke. Europe is densely populated. If all of the US population lived in one area the size of Texas, we’d have decent rail infrastructure too. Long distance train travel in America is dead.
Marcel Marchon, on January 12, 2006 @ 9:07 am
Well, yes, obviously, in order to have frequent, on-time, reliable service you need to have the necessary physical infrastructure. This is certainly still something that can be done for certain corridors and areas, like California. I agree it does probably not make sense to build a high-speed line across Montana or something like that - there’s just not enough people there.
adron_bh, on January 24, 2006 @ 9:58 am
This post has been removed by the author.
adron_bh, on January 24, 2006 @ 9:59 am
I commonly Blog on the same topic (Adron’s Blog). The US will only have great rail service the day the Government stops dumping cash on roadways, start tolling and using bonds to pay for this stuff (i.e. not run on debt, and only allocate evenly or not at all.) and allow competition to not be fettered by one subisidy here and another here.
rp2000, on February 2, 2006 @ 10:26 am
I just finished producing a new project called the “Men of the Rail” a documentary. Some would ask why am I posting this? Well thats easy, a lot of folks like N and W trains. Also this documentary has a tour of a newly restored train Depot. So if you like trains and train stories about the rails of Southwest VA the check out the “Men of the Rail”. This documentary is part of the Fine Arts Center for the New River Valley (a non-profit arts gallery) All of the proceeds from the film will go to them. So get your copy today !!! The price is $12.18 for the name of the Train the 1218.
find more information on how to get your copy at http://www.facnrv.org/menoftherail
or call the Arts center at (540) 980-7363
Thanks!
Paul
W. J. St. Christopher, on February 10, 2006 @ 1:06 pm
When I was a child, my family took many trips back and forth across the country by train. Unfortunately, as an adult, I just don’t have the time to deal with train travel. I still love it, though, and since my brother is a Union Pacific conductor, I still get to spend a lot of time around the industry. All these years later, I still find trains fascinating!
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