The only Motorail we have here in the US is Amtrak's AutoTrain from VA to
FL. As I understand, they inherited it when AutoTrain, inc. went bankrupt.
I found it an interesting way to travel taking my 1960 Studebaker to FL for
one of our International SDC Meets. However, I have since made the same
trip by road in the same vehicle and did it for less than half what I paid
for that trip!? However, the electrified NorthEast corridor of train
service from DC to Boston is unable to accommodate the use of these Motorail
cars because of safety with the overhead wires to power the train!? It all
comes down to infrastructure and cost in the end!?
Peter Crisitello
[email protected]
----- Original Message -----
From: "tomw" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, February 08, 2013 9:55 AM
Subject: Re: [EVDL] EV charging stations
"Alternatively, I still favour doing long EV trips by fast electric train
with special carriages so you can take your EV with you - used to be
called
Motorail here in the UK. I do wonder if the vast majority of Americans
have
forgotten the pleasure of train travel or simply never experienced it and
therefore just do not consider it a viable alternative to the road..."
As someone who has ridden the trains across a number of states in both the
eastern and western US in order to get me and my bicycle to where I was
doing bicycle rides for a few weeks, I must say they were not pleasant
experiences. Very inconvenient hours, long delays since the tracks are
owned by private freight companies resulting in Amtrak getting side railed
to give the freights priority, and poor service from nasty personnel.
Nothing like my experiences on trains in the EU, Japan, Singapore, and
Korea. I have long wondered why anyone could fault Amtrak for not being
on
time when they have no control of the tracks they run on. I've also
wondered why we let the private lines get away with that since the land
the
tracks are on were once publicly owned lands that were given to them along
with vast other tracks of land for them to lumber for railroad ties. If
we
want to have efficient passenger rail travel in the US that will have to
change.
--
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