tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5811749743523633503.post3731725557681599291..comments2024-03-16T10:50:18.912+00:00Comments on Restoring Mayberry: An Open Letter to AmtrakBrian Kallerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11082602126850605083noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5811749743523633503.post-33010612801957652042009-09-15T07:26:50.681+01:002009-09-15T07:26:50.681+01:00I just read this post on Energy Bulletin. Reminde...I just read this post on Energy Bulletin. Reminded me of the train ride in the movie "Dr. Zhivago". ;^)<br /><br />I'm a US citizen living in Japan for the last 5 years, so your experiences on Amtrak are very interesting in comparison to my experiences with the marvelous Japan railway system.<br /><br />Somehow oil companies can spend US$150 billion on a pipeline system to bring Canadian tar sand into the US to keep the cars rolling, but the government can only find $8 B for "high speed" rail.Pandaboniumhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08352197350806179930noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5811749743523633503.post-23824020923161190012009-09-08T06:09:16.367+01:002009-09-08T06:09:16.367+01:00Great stuff, and sadly all too true. My experience...Great stuff, and sadly all too true. My experiences with Amtrak staff parallel yours. Once, when I was traveling with an infant and toddler all by myself and both were asleep, a conductor even offered to bring me dinner from the dining car knowing I couldn't leave my sleeping children. <br /><br />Sadly, Amtrak is relegated to using freight lines and has to divert onto sidings to let the freight trains go by, thus causing the endless delays that Amtrak is known for. Still, we try to use it as much as we can because that's the only way it will get better is if the ridership continues and people make a fuss, write their congressmen, etc.Robinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17297237900094898777noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5811749743523633503.post-9120849598097516562009-09-05T10:59:56.929+01:002009-09-05T10:59:56.929+01:00Very good article! I can agree with almost everyth...Very good article! I can agree with almost everything you say about this point.<br /><br />The real problem is not only that car comanies were able to buy off railways at the very time they began to have enormous influence in government. What will make passenger rail over <i>any</i> distance unviable is, quite simply, <i>excessive road capacity</i>.<br /><br />One can look at the experience of Melbourne, whereby the Tullamarine Freeway (built in 1972) has cut off-peak patronage on the parallel Broadmeadows train line by as much as <i>ninety-five percent</i>. With age, and some of the most radical climate changes in the world since 1997, I have become a firm believer in radical road demolition. If there were rigid laws forbidding multi-lane highways (even if privately built) the incentive to invest in rail would grow exponentially and the demand from restricted road capacity woudl rise, especially if Australia's fuel taxes refelcted its ecology (which would make them <i>orders of magnitude</i> higher than what you pay in Europe, or petrol for $50 per litre!jpbenneyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02664829103165280260noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5811749743523633503.post-75589392380113188612009-09-04T11:13:37.728+01:002009-09-04T11:13:37.728+01:00Hear, hear!
Welcome back to civilization, Brian.Hear, hear!<br />Welcome back to civilization, Brian.Ronald Langereishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04226493110042483164noreply@blogger.com