Philadelphia Train Derailment
 

Hope none of you or your families were on that train.

Just heard preliminary report indicating the train was traveling at 100MPH in a 50MPH zone. :mad:

Rail travel in the good old USA.

Back in June 2012, 5 of us took the TGV from Paris to Nice. It was delightful. No airport hassles, comfortable, fast, quiet, and scenic. And at many points during the ride at least 2 or 3 of us looked at each other, shaking our heads, that somehow the French can have this and we can't. Just another reminder of how screwed up this country has become.

American passenger rail sucks, but American freight rail is the envy of the world. Given the size of our country, this is probably as it should be.

http://www.economist.com/node/166361...n/tw/te/rss/pe

Just say No! :rolleyes:



Carl

nice post

I had no clue.

(I felt like Whelly :D)

Yep, great article. Too bad we aren't talking about private jets here.


Carl

It'll all boil down to cost and convenience. Most Americans I suspect would rather drive or fly than take a train, even a high speed version. Gas is still relatively inexpensive and airfares are still pretty decent.

In Countries with high speed rail, gas is taxed at the pump and passenger rail is in turn subsidized not only for initial construction but also ongoing operation. Elsewhere in the world, high speed rail lines often barely break even or are money losers.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...021605977.html

Given the US's geography, preponderance of wide open spaces and limited areas of population density, high speed rail lines would have limited application in this country anyway.

I believe that this Amtrak train had just under 300 people on board, just about what an average wide body jet can carry. So in terms of efficiency, airplanes are far more efficient and economical mode of transportation compared to trains. But what about accessibility to people living in small towns even within in a high traffic corridor? Greyhound?

Wonder how much we subsidize the airlines with TSA, airport construction and maintenance, air traffic control, emergency services and other infrastructure investments.

We do subsidize both airlines and trucking. Who builds the airports? Who builds the roads? But do we help freight railroads - not bloody likely. If you have never gone overnight by rail first class then you have missed out - rail passengers are quite civilized unlike airplane passengers. I swear airport boarding ramps are time machines - put a reasonably civilized human in the top end and out comes a Neanderthal at the bottom.:rolleyes:

I have been going back and for from Portland to the Bay Area via Amtrak/Coach Starlight forl fifteen years. When our daughter was going to school in Boulder, CO. took the Zephyr a few times to Denver. Both these trains have killer scenery that I will miss if I am the driver.