Quote:
Originally Posted by waltlantz
We all know that passenger rail needs to be improved.
But the current situation isn't working, so what can be done about it?
Amtrak is a hobbled behemoth which is riddled with problems. What's more I don't know if true coast to coast service is feasible. Chicago to San Fran and such type of service might have to be phased out. As it stands it can't compete with the airlines.
I think that Amtrak should be pared down into various regional bodies. Kinda how Bell Telephone used to be. Or kind of like British/National Rail. That way it can focus on serving individual regions better. We all see the importance and success of the NEC.
I think that similar success could be duplicated in the Midwest and to a lesser extent the West Coast. It won't be true high speed rail. But if we could get strong inter-city service comparable to what they have in England or France, I think people would be actually willing to buy into the high speed rail thing more.
I don't think many americans frankly care about High Speed Rail. Why would they, most haven't seen a rail system that actually works. If we had trains that could get people to and fro major regional cities that are competitive with the airlines, I think there would then begin to be a bigger groundswell for High Speed service OUTSIDE of transit advocates.
But we gotta start somewhere.
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Your right , most Americans don't care about HSR. Most advocates in the Northeast and other regions want other services expanded or enhanced before HSR. I think if we expanded the regular Regional commuter Rail systems to serve every part of each state in the Northeast or Midwest people would jump on board the HSR wagon , but that's not the case. NJ is behind on several projects that would have expanded service to 80% of the state , other Northeastern states are worse then Jersey. Most of us Transit / Rail advocates did support HSR , intill we saw the need for a complete Regional system to be built first before HSR. As for Amtrak there slowly upgrading in this region , so I can't complain. But they need so much more , like a complete upgrade of the Northeast Corridor from New York to DC....the New York to New Haven section is getting upgrading as we speak along with several smaller sections in NJ and DE. But the whole line needs a huge injection. We are getting newer trains and locomotives by 2013-2016 so that alone solves have the issues.