As fuel costs continue to rise, will passenger rail become a more popular mode of interstate travel in the US?

Question

At present it's not much cheaper to travel by train than it is to fly, but because rail is significantly more fuel efficient per passenger than air we can expect rail to become relatively cheaper in the future. Any thoughts?

Answer 1

Yes, In fact my state opened up the UTA Frontrunner Goes from Salt Lake to Ogden. To me it's like ressurecting the Bamberger Railroad, though not as much track miles. Yet, sometimes I wish Railroads like the Union Pacific, could haul passenger trains like the City of San Fransisco or the Santa Fe with the Super Cheif. I wish we could return to those times.

Answer 2

it already is gaining in popularity for the exact reasons you have given and several more

ridership is up in virtually every sector of

Amtrak and people are demanding more from their representatives.

Answer 3

The price of Amtrak is more dependent on funding from Congress than anything else.  Ridership will go up, so perhaps cost will decrease, but only if Congress continues its support.

Answer 4

That's a good question and I honestly don't know if prices will drop or not, although I would not be surprised if they did.  Having said that, regardless if they do drop, passenger rail popularity will continue to rise along with fuel costs as Amtrak just broke its all-time ridership record in 2007 and continues to see high ridership numbers this year.  Hopefully, as the above poster said, we will not only see more LRT (light rail transit) systems come online over the next few years but increased services by Amtrak to meet demand.

Answer 5

I hope so, but we also need light rail in the cities.