I’m a romantic about certain things, like drive-in movies and train travel. It’s been sad to see the demise of US train travel. We have fallen so far behind Europe and Japan in modern train travel. Amtrak can still get you where you’re going, but it’s painfully slow and surprisingly expensive. I am encouraged by the Obama administration putting some money and thought behind modernizing train travel in this country. Modern trains are cleaner, fast and a more elegant way to travel.
Being a west coaster, I would love to see a fast train running from Seattle to San Diego. Of course we need a cross country route and several east coast runs. Unfortunately this would cost an incredible amount of money and Obama’s proposed 8 billion is barley a drop in the bucket. Maybe a private company should be encouraged to do it but with the costs involved it could take a very long time just to make your money back so maybe a government/private sector partnership. The Infrastructurist website has a great article on how passenger rail could be saved. Whichever, Amtrak is basically broke and is a broken system. I would hate to see train travel go away so I hope against hope someone can spur a great revival in train travel.
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