Amtrak. Save America's passenger rail.

[Tightwad]

Every year congress seeks to cut more money from Amtrak's
budget. Train ridership has gone down much in the last 30+years
due to the constant assault by automotive & truck freight firms
for their own self serving reasons.

There is a growing awareness that America MUST cut our oil use.
However, what is America to use if no rail system?

I've just returned to the rails after a 30yr absence and find it
to be in sad shape but still a great and WORRY FREE way to
travel. No real hassles as one would find on planes or airports.
When I say sad shape I mean that it's very apparent that the
trains are kept up BASED ON THE MONEY CONGRESS ALLOWS.

It, to me, is absolute lunacy NOT to have a robust rail system as
America once had. America will never cut our oil habit as long as
we spend billions on road and war projects and pennies on a decent
rail system.

Trains is to important and practical to let it die off in America. The rest
of the world knows the value of trains full well.

[jim]

As a side note, I see multiple very long freight trains following the I35 Corridor north every day here in Central Texas. They are hauling millions of tons of freight every day on each train from the looks of it. I've never in my life seen this much freight traffic on the rails. I agree on the stretegic importance of rail, and have felt for years that there should be no long haul trucking. Rails can and should handle everything and trucks should handle short hauls from regional rail centers.

Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson is roundly criticised here in Texas as the best friend that Amtrak has.

jim

[lost1]

I've often wondered why this country is so determined to tear out the railway system while the rest of the world brags about their "super trains" and such.
I suspect there's a "dollar" behind it somewhere and some rich guy wants it.
We use Amtrak when we can.

[Tightwad]

I've never in my life seen this much freight traffic on the rails. I agree on the stretegic importance of rail, and have felt for years that there should be no long haul trucking. Rails can and should handle everything and trucks should handle short hauls from regional rail centers.

Jim, I may be a bit older than you because I remember the days
of box cars loaded with freight and the "piggy back" semi trailer was
yet to be invented. Short haul trucking was just about all the trucking
used in America then too. Trucking from the rail yard to the local
business makes lots of sense in my book. That would get 90%
of the delbert dumbutt truckers off the highways for sure.

As to why rail disappeared..........
One only has to study the stunt GM pulled in the early 1950's to
discover that GM deliberately lobbied to get rail killed so they could
sell more cars and trucks. GM even bought up small rail then shut
them down to force more automotive use. Just google this topic
to get a story that will make your blood boil due to big business
outright greed.

I saw my first rail TV ad this week and was floored that rail is
now trying to fight back for freight business. It's about damn
time!

[Thomas]

Have you tried to ride Amtrac? They are their own worst enemy. A couple of years ago I tried to get from San Antonio to Alpine. The website was so complex as to be usless. Talking to the people at the San Antonio station was worse. They would not give me a firm time the train would be there, or even if I could get tickets when it did get there. After a while I finally gave up. A later attempt to get to New York state met the same fate. A couple of months ago the paper carried a story of a family that took it from Austin or San Antonio to Dallas. It took them forever to make the return trip. Seems the passenger trains must give to freight which is what is paying the bills. So you may sit on siding for a few hours only a couple of miles from home. Its no longer like it used to be where passenger trains took the right of way.

[Thomas]

By the way, we live on the main east-west cross country rail line. Next time you see a freight train, watch the containers, 90 percent of them seem to be from China.

[bee_pipes]

My moms told me once, many years ago, that the trains alienated the passenger trade after WW II. They found there was more money to be made on freight with fewer complaints. That leaves Amtrak standing as the only line left that carries passengers.

It does seem like the height of idiocy to destroy the rail system, but it is a work in progress that has been going on for years. I can believe the bit about GM trying to usurp the rails. A few years ago 60 minutes or one of those other TV news shows did a piece about the LA trolley system being dismantled, a conspiracy to make people ride on GM buses with Firestone tires. All you have to do is try to drive through the LA region (even in the wee morning hours) to see the result of that.

When I lived in Indiana, there was a push on to keep money in the state. A friend of mine working for the local electric company told me about how it was impossible to get coal from the beds in southern Indiana to the northern end of the state - it was cheaper to get coal from the Dakotas. The rail lines between the north and south end of the state made it cost prohibitive, if not impossible. This is on the outskirts of Chicago, where you'd think rail would be king.

We've got a few tracks criss-crossing middle Tennessee. I don't know much about what they connect, but I-65 is full of trucks loaded with steel and other freight. All this stuff will skyrocket in price when diesel gets back to selling for more than unleaded.

CNN in the last few months did a piece on how shipping containers were being used for building houses in California. They pile up because goods flood in from China and exports can't even put a dent in the number of empty containers. In some places the piles are getting so high that sunset comes and hour or two earlier for nearby houses. A sorry state of affairs.

Regards,
Pat

[Tightwad]

Everybody remember that rail DOES NOT have to stay
in the sorry state that it's in now. Get on your congress
men to redo America's rail systems.

[pancho]

Why not have the companies get their rails in shape. Why should we have to pay for any company to keep them in competition?
If you can't compete some one else will take over and do the job. Do not subsidive incompetance.

[Thomas]

Well, you know we already susidized the competition when we built the interstate highway system under the guise of "national defense". So probably before you time pancho, we spent tax dollars to boost the trucking industry in its competition against rail. Somewhere a while back I read an article talking about the big industy/government corruption that lead to the creationg of the interstate system. Dont remember where though.

[velojym]

Though I'll agree that the highway system was/is highly subsidized, it seem Amtrak has become an obvious welfare industry.
I'd rather fly, and not in the big 'luminum people tubes. I'll take my own, thanks. infrastructure-wise, private airplanes are probably the cheapest bet, though over-litigation and low volume, as well as nearly no subsidation at all hasn't helped airplane prices any...
which is one of the reasons I'm a fan of experimentals.