re: #592 Spiny Norman

For those who talk of bringing back inter-city passenger rail, as if it were some panacea, remember the reason why the Federal government took over passenger rail service (AmTrak): the railroads were losing so much money on passenger service it was threatening to bankrupt them all. It was a Federal bailout that was quite controversial at the time.

Yup, and then they built some nice new pretty passenger cars and sent them down the same old tired out rail lines that would not support speeds greater than about 50mph. Big step forward from the stage coach - not. Rail will never be viable in this country. If it were, there would have been private players long before now. What a stupid anachronism.