It’s hard to believe, but the first shinkansen, Japan’s famous bullet train, went into service between Tokyo and Osaka more than 50 years ago. Before then, conventional trains made the run in six hours and forty minutes; less than a year after beginning the high-speed service, the run time was cut to just over three…
It takes a while to notice a groundswell. Gay marriage, for example. Just a few years ago, this was an issue no one discussed. Or, if they did, it was in opposition and with apoplexy. Suddenly, 60-some percent of the country says, “No problem.” The same thing could be happening when it comes to…
SIENA, ITALY–Fifty-plus years ago, the gag definition of “mixed emotions” was watching your mother-in-law drive off a cliff in your brand new car. I’ve got a new one: “Mixed emotions is traveling from Tirano to Siena on three different trains and comparing that experience to Amtrak.” Each of those Italian trains departed and…
After a while, you begin to notice. It could be a state Department of Transportation in the Mid-west or a citizens’ group somewhere in the South. But people are starting to talk about passenger rail as the best, most practical, most cost-efficient solution to relentlessly growing traffic and infrastructure problems. Consider, as just one example…