On Friday, January 31, 2003, at 07:58 AM, Harmon Seaver wrote:
I'd love to see more and better train service in the US. Great way toBy the way, if this has anything to do with the security hassles of air travel (someone, maybe you, mentioned it as well a day or so ago), don't count on this difference lasting for long.
travel, work, read, watch the scenery. I don't mind at all taking a few days,
and, unless it's a real emergency, I'm very sure at this point I'll never fly a
commercial airline again.
Already there are calls to use "positive identification" for all train travelers.
"Amtrak also requires that each person buying a ticket has photo identification.
"Passengers traveling between Boston and Washington DC can no longer purchase their tickets on board the train."
<http://www.wokr13.tv/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=6D384AE3-F23C- 4E18-BACD-12A5E4A2F563>
Expect more such moves. Expect much tighter security if and when a train is seized in the U.S. or Europe the way peace-loving Indians have been seizing trains and killing the occupants in peaceful India.
(Securing entry points to trains will be even more difficult than with airplanes, for the obvious reasons. Ditto for securing transfer of weapons onto trains--in large amounts of baggage, through open windows, when people step off trains at many intermediate "whistle stops," etc.)
The police state will extend to trains. Count on it.
I don't know if this is your reason for expecting not to fly commercially again, but for anyone who thinks trains will somehow be exempted from the national security police state, think again.
--Tim May
