Friday, July 4, 2008

Remember When We HAD Great Passenger Trains?

I came across a great article the other day, reporting that there has been a dramatic surge in people making use of Trains to get from one city to another. It was reported that statistically, a train an move a person a mile and use 17+percent less fuel to do it over the automobile, and about 32 percent less fuel than planes. One has to wonder why more of us don't use Trains. The answer to THAT is--- Amtrak is losing about a billion dollars a year, congress insists that Amtrak should do what it has to become cost effective----to do so, it has cut routes, cut schedules, minimized ordering new equipments so that today, with a sudden surge of increased traffic, our passenger rail system is unable to meet the demand.

Like most congress over-sight programs, (instigated by our friends the liberals who feel the government should oversee all aspects of our lives) they have allowed the railroads to fall in dis-use, as such the industry that builds the equipments to keep the railroads running as shrunk, now, its almost impossible for the railroads to grow to meet the demand fast enough. Maybe if we can wake up our elected flunkies in the congress, we can recreate the excitement that JFK created with putting out the challenge of putting a man on the moon----h0w about something like "United by Rail by 2020"----picture this America---electric trains speeding between our cities and across the country, lowering our demand for oil, and at the same time, letting us travel to our destinations cleanly and efficiently----bring back the Passenger Trains, Like The Super Chief, The El Capitan, ----there is a lot to see at ground level---that you don't see at 39,000 feet and higher.

3 comments:

  1. Why do you keep blaming the Liberals for the down falls of our nation when you know or should know that it's the conservatives who've let this nation go to hell. The first part of the word should give you a clue. CONSERVE means not to spend. They, not the Liberals are the ones responsible because it was during the Reagan administration that the old slasher cut their budget.

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  2. I would say the sad state of our railroads is a perfect example of bipartisan stupidity. Both sides have ignored and placed America's Rail network in that hind tit category. This is not a Liberal or Conservative problem. Not any more.

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  3. Your both correct. Yes Reagan got the program to cut taxes through the congress, but then the same liberal (aka democrates) refused to cut spending accordingly, therebye creating the huge deficits. and yes the congress (both parties)have neglected Amtrak and here we are today,---with gas costing close to $5.00/gal, nobody in congress is suggesting we take the train instead of drive or fly----we need new bums in congress, lets replace em all.

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Speak up, don't be a nebish---your opinions do count.