Vice President Joe Biden … He GETS It!
As just about everyone knows, Joe Biden is a big supporter of Amtrak. Throughout his entire career in the U.S. Senate, Biden continued to live at home in Wilmington, Delaware, commuting by train every day to his Washington office.
There’s an excellent piece written by Biden in Arrive magazine – published by Amtrak for Acela passengers on the Northeast Corriidor. Here’s a brief excerpt:
“Support for Amtrak must be strong–not because it is a cherished American institution, which it is–but because it is a powerful and indispensable way to carry us all into a leaner, cleaner, greener 21st century.
“Consider that if you shut down Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor, it is estimated that to compensate for the loss, you’d have to add seven new lanes of highway to Interstate 95. When you consider that it costs an average of $30 million for one linear mile of one lane of highway, you see what a sound investment rail travel is. And that’s before you factor in the environmental benefits of keeping millions and millions of cars off the road.”
Right on, Joe!
Uh … sorry … Very well said, Mr. Vice President.