I’ve frequently noted here that the rest of the world has had the right idea about passenger rail for a long, long time … with government investing heavily in high-speed systems linking major urban centers. Over the same span, we here in the U.S. we have allowed our rail system to stagnate. As a people,…
It was fashionable during the Bush years to denigrate the French, their unforgivable offense being to disagree with Dubya’s foreign policy. Congressional Republicans weren’t about to stand for that, of course, and they retaliated by changing the menus in the House and Senate dining rooms to read freedom fries instead of french fries. By golly,…
Those of us who have been advocating more and better and faster passenger trains have spent the past decade or two shouting into the wind. The last eight years have been particularly frustrating since the late-and-unlameted Bush Administration was overtly anti-rail in general and anti-Amtrak in particular. During the recent presidential campaign, however, Barack Obama…
Earlier today, I caught a an interesting report on NPR about the very serious commitment the Spanish have made to their high-speed rail system … called AVE. Billions of dollars have been spent over a relatively short period of time, and there are now high-speed rail links connecting many Spanish cities. And more in the…