While traveling abroad, many Americans have experienced true high-speed train rides. Most of them have come home thinking, “What the hell is wrong with the U.S.? Why don’t we have high-speed trains?” Amtrak’s Acela trains are capable of running at around 150 miles-per-hour, but there are only a few short stretches of track in the…
The obstacles facing high-speed rail in this country are mostly without merit and almost entirely political in nature. The on-going example of that foolishness is the relentless effort in Texas to stop the proposed high-speed train linking Houston and Dallas. Some of the opposition is coming from shameless politicians who are cheerfully misinforming their…
We’re constantly subjected to news stories, opinion columns and letters-to-editors from people who believe that passenger trains should either operate at a profit or cease to exist. “Subsidy” is anathema to those folks. Setting aside the inconsistency of that position given that all other forms of public transportation are subsidized, operating rail passenger service without…
For some time now, we’ve been reading about the proposed high-speed train linking Los Angeles and San Francisco. Much of the reporting has been about the continuing objections to the project which are, mostly, based on the cost of the project. (Does anyone ever add up the cost of the studies, the attorney fees,…