What can we do to improve the rail system in this country?

Question

Privitize? Increased funding? Europeans are way, way ahead of us on this one, and since federal allocations are about the same as they were 25 years ago they're going to stay ahead. Next years' budget is facing a $500 million cut.

Trains use 1/5 less energy than cars or planes and usually can run in poor weather. In a global warming world, it seems we should encourage this mode of travel.

What can we do to bring America's train travel into the 21st century?

Answer 1

Have you tried Marketing on a wide scale ?  Thus getting the Rails to the people.  Also, updating where you need to.eg DVD Screens in your Sleeper Car.  You could also consider local input.  What would the local people like to see improved, that certainly would attract more to take Rails over Road.  Air Conditioning certainly does work, unless this throws a wobbly.  And goes on the blink.  I assume that this is

used, for the current Trains ??

How many of you have ever travelled on a Train ?  If not, you get to meet all kinds of people.  And, quite literally, "travel the world" by meeting bods ( people) from different parts of the world.  Without the need to leave home.

Rail IS safer than roads.  But you do get the idiots whom endanger the travelling public eg objects placed on rails, track realigned by the so-called thrillseekers whom do not care a fig about others.  This latter lot are deathdealers, and want to kill as many as their filthy hands can deal out.

Trains carry far more than do roads.  This is a fact, not a fanciful notion.

So here is the challenge. One that can be overcome.  United people move mountains.

Answer 2

we built highways to get around. why do you think global warming is caused by driving?  the earth was warmer in the 1300's to 1400's than it is today and I don't think they had many cars then

Answer 3

Read Parade magazine. Front cover.

Answer 4

That Parade was great PR for Amtrak, which is finally a breath of fresh air from the usual bashing and neglect passenger rail in general receives. Parade isn't the only mainstream media organization to point out the need for a better passenger rail system recently, however.

Along with a recent Harris poll released, which asked essentially the same question as the Parade poll and received something near 70% responses stating that more money should be allocated and a better system should be developed, also the Wall Street Journal recently printed a similar article, and Don Phillips, who writes a monthly column for Trains (and a well-known journalist) just recently did two excellent pieces pointing out how our transportation infrastructure has been neglected for years and something has to be done before we enter a state of complete gridlock (better funding for passenger rail was one of his points, although he also said that the Interstate system needs to be updated as well).

In any event, I digress...

First and foremost, privatizing would be a disaster, a proper passenger rail system would have to be federally and state funded because passenger rail is not profitable, and never has been (this was the very reason why the private freight railroads ditched the service and allowed Amtrak to pick up what was left in 1971, it was simply losing too much money).

I think that the Lautenberg-Lott bill is a good start and hopefully it will pass.  And, hopefully the money will indeed be used to develop corridors between major cities like the article mentioned because one of the biggest issues I have personally had with the current setup is that Amtrak uses private freight lines, which will never work and this is why its trains have always been habitually late outside of the Northeast. Why would freight railroads ever want another entity using their main lines? It only takes up capacity, earns them nothing, and which they could be using themselves to haul more profit-earning freight trains. It has often been said that if they somehow could, the freight carriers would ditch Amtrak from their systems. The only way a proper passenger rail system will work is for it to operate via its own lines, like with the NEC (Northeast Corridor) setup.  

One idea to develop a passenger rail system with its own rail lines would be to redevelop abandoned railroad right-of-ways found across the country. Obviously, there have been thousands of miles of railroad abandoned over the last 30+ years, some of which probably never should have been, and could still be used as key corridors (heck, an idea might even be to connect these segments with new railroad where need be). In any event, this apparently works as the State of North Carolina has embarked on just such a plan by purchasing abandoned right-of-ways throughout the state that it wishes to preserve for future redevelopment (i.e., Wilmington - Raleigh and Greensboro - Asheville). And, if Washington needs some pointers on how to properly develop a passenger rail system I think that they should first look to North Carolina. In my opinion, NC is far and above everyone and every state in both developing such a system and understanding how crucial it is needed (California would be another example).

Answer 5

I think that America should look at how the British run their trains.

OK so the Train Operating Companies (TOC's) here seem to be grabbing money, but if you look at Network Rail why are set up so any profits made are reinvested in the infrastructure, so meaning less money from the government & a smaller chance that sortcuts are taken when work takes place. I think that the same rules go for the the TOC's then we would see lower ticket prices & a better investment in the roling stock.

I do not realy know what your network is like, but here in the UK we are the quickest growing railway network in Europe so lots of countries are looking at what we are doing to see if they can replecate us.

Answer 6

Decrease prices of train tickets.  Have you priced them lately.  It costs as much as a plane and way more than bus or car, yet they are not as convenient.

Answer 7

hello. Trains are a 'good' way to travel. However comma, we as Americans 'love' our automobile and the 'freedom' we receive in driving them. We as freedom loving Americans make many choices, with different results in each way. capish? : } I think we should accept the 'fact' the world is running short of the energy to run our cars, so we NEED to become wiser and accept the NEED of being closer. Travel, homes, there are so MANY of us now.

Chris in LA

Answer 8

One SIMPLE way would be to raise taxes on luxury cars/ SUV's and the gas they guzzle. Also, make the requirements for license more strict (ie drivers have to be tested annually, ticket illegal driving more often, and raise fines). FORCE people out of their cars for silly useless trips.

I have always driven an efficient MPG car (VW, Nissan, Honda) since I grew up during the Gas Crisis of the 70's.  Today, I commute by train and bicycle and I walk to the store since it's less than a mile round trip.

The way to get the SYSTEM improved ? Grab some of the unused right-of-ways, and create corridors between the larger cities with sub-routes to smaller cities.

I ride the Altamont Commuter Express (ACE) from San Jose to Stockton California... an 120 mile trip that takes 2.5 hours on the train... or 2.2 hours by car (unless it's rush hour, then it's 3-4 hours).  The ride costs me $12 per day... less than the gas would.

Answer 9

There are some major psycho-social barriers to be overcome:

Americans are afraid of each other, and they prefer not to ride common carriers because they don't want to risk having to sit beside somebody that doesn't smell right.  Europeans are much more intelligent about things like social differences.

This can be overcome to some extent just by education, but education won't improve until the neocon count in the government has been greatly reduced.

Also, private compartments, as on European lines, would help.  Me, I'm a major extrovert, and I would like to travel on trains with conversation rooms for various subjects, where you could meet new people.  But most people are afraid of that sort of thing.

Also, we live under the neo-capitalist banner of "greater worker productivity," which puts lots of people under schedule pressure that is harder for rail service to accommodate.  Jetliners give the impression of providing faster travel over long distances, though it isn't necessarily true, and people drive so they won't have to wait for the train.  Lots and lots more trains in service would largely solve that one.

Also, trains go to stations, and cities are no longer organized so that everything revolves around the railroad station, as it did 70-100 years ago.  To fix that one, I would like to see a transportation system in which for a flat monthly fee, you get a small electric car with a range of maybe 50 miles.

That way, if I want to go to the next town, 20 miles away, I just drive my electric buggy.  But if I need to go to Washington, I drive down to the railroad station, park the buggy at a recharging point, grab my bags and get on the train.

On the train I can watch a movie, sit in the bar, join a conversation (sports in one car, politics in another, science and technology in the next, and so on...) or sleep, or catch up on my paperwork, surf the internet, or anything else I need to do.

When we get to our destination, we are relaxed and rested, and we just slip our card in the slot and check out an identical electric car at the other end.  Drive wherever we need to go, and, when our business is done, bring it back to the station to jump a train home.

Pay monthly, never worry about maintenance, travel cheaply, and make reservations on the Internet.  This is the future of the transportation system, but we have to win a large portion of the population over to this idea first.

That means overcoming greed, fear of social equality, and other psychological problems that have become a part of the American landscape.  The first step is to improve education and work for Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity.

And the first step in that process is to vote intelligently in all future elections.  Our future depends on eliminating the neocons.  Get out the vote!

Answer 10

Well, do you mean freight rail or passenger?

Freight is doing quite well, although we subsidize the trucking industry quite heavily so being able to compete on a level playing field would make a huge difference, both to the economy and environment.

For passenger it is a bit different. for passenger travel to be affordable it has to be subsidized somehow.

Amtrak has it's troubles but we need someway to make th travel affordable, and that is the best we have for now.

I know this seems odd but we need to increase funding but at the same time we also need to increase accountability.

For the gov't to directly take over would be a disaster.

IN the past when we had first class passenger rail service the railorads hauled the majority of U.S. mail and that is how it remained profitable.

Avio's answer has a lot of great points, there seems to be quite a bit of mindset against rail travel, and the railroads are partly to blame for this, the freight railroads dont really want to be in the passneger rail business and really dont promote it and neither does Amtrak for the most part.

We are terribly addicted to our private automobiles in this country.