re: #214 Honorary Yooper

We do have a very viable rail transporation system in America. It’s a myth that we do not have any what-so-ever. A large percentage of freight is transported by rail rather than by air or truck. Most containers that go to the coasts, for example, wind up on huge trains that take dozens of these containers (usually double-stacked) inland. What we do not have is a really viable passenger rail network outside of the Northeast (Bos-Wash). There are several reasons for this, and none of which will be resolved anytime soon. One of the major reasons has to do with distances. Unlike densely populated Europe, we have huge distances between cities. As stated before, we also carry far more feight by rail that Europe. US railroads carry four times as much freight as EU railroads.

I’m well award of the freight system and the Northeast corridor. I was talking more of passenger rail. For certain areas, like California, it would be sensible to have a good passenger rail network. Part of the problem lays in updating the grade of the rails to carry passengers, or having exclusive tracks for passengers to avoid freight and passenger confrontation. In highly-congested and populated areas, passenger rail could work well for the populace.