PJ, The free market and distances destroyed rail transit. Cars and Gas were cheap and convenient ways to travel. People made the choice, not taxes. And they suited our population density much better. When you figure the distance from London to Paris is the same as Chicago to Springfield, Illinois, you recognize that air travel from hub to hub has distinct disadvantages in Europe. Rail becomes much more acceptable. If as a nation we all moved all 300 million into Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan, then we could support a good rail system. (Californians would give up some sunshine!) Regards, Bob S.
On Wed, Dec 3, 2008 at 4:48 PM, Rick Womer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > There are a number of state-run and regional commuter lines, such as those > around New York, DC, Chicago, Boston, etc. They certainly aren't a national > rail network of high-speed trains in the European sense. > > Amtrak is federally financed (about half their total budget, IIRC), but only > owns the tracks in the Northeast Corridor--elsewhere they lease freight > tracks (and guess which trains get priority). > > Conrail was cobbled together from failing eastern railroads in the mid-1970s, > with a Federal subsidy. It became a stockholder-owned profit-making > corporation a few years later, paid back the Feds, and then in 1998 was torn > apart in a corporate street fight between Norfolk Southern and CSX. It now > exists as a tiny entity that manages local deliveries and switching yards in > areas where N-S and CSX couldn't find a way to divide the spoils. > > Rick > > --- On Wed, 12/3/08, P. J. Alling <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >> Connecticut has a state "run" railroad, from Old >> Saybrook to New Haven, (runs on Conrail tracks though). New >> York, Connecticut and New Jersey jointly sponsor Metro >> North, I can't remember if it's fully owned or a >> "private" company simply subsidized by those three >> states... Then there's Amtrack which completely >> mystifies me, and I'm still not sure how Conrail works. >> Some private passenger rail service used to make money, >> however what really killed it was inflation. >> An example from light rail. In 1900 you paid a nickel, (5 >> cents), for a trolley ride and the wages on average were 22 >> cents an hour. The average daily wage through inflation in >> 1920 was 4.75, the price to travel on a trolley was still >> about 5 cents. Most of these services were regulated and >> people want something for nothing, so one by one they went >> bust. Sic transit light rail. >> >> The same analysis works for regular rail as well, I just >> can't find any numbers on line and I don't have my >> research notes from 30 years ago. >> >> John Sessoms wrote: >> > From: "Ken Waller" >> >>> The only places passenger rail is in >> half-decent shape in the US (which is > only >> quarter-decent, by European >standards) is in the >> "Northeast > Corridor" from Boston to >> Washington DC, around Chicago, and on the > California >> >coast. >> >> >> >> Oh, I don't know about that. >> >> Have you ever ridden on the Alaksa Railroad? >> >> I've been on it numerous times and have >> appreciated their on time running and the well maintained, >> clean stock. I've been told its the only state run RR. >> > >> > North Carolina has a state railroad, along with 2 >> daily trains between Raleigh and Charlotte supported by the >> NCDOT. >> > >> > http://www.ncrr.com/ >> > >> > http://www.bytrain.org/passenger/ >> > >> > OURS have bike racks BTW ... >> > >> > http://www.bytrain.org/bikesonboard.html >> > >> > And we're supposed to be getting a third daily run >> ... >> > >> > >> http://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/stories/2008/06/02/daily28.html >> > >> > >> > >> > -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List >> > [email protected] >> > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net >> > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link >> directly above and follow the directions. >> > >> >> >> -- You get further with a kind word and a gun, than with a >> kind word alone. >> --Al Capone. >> >> >> -- >> PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List >> [email protected] >> http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net >> to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link >> directly above and follow the directions. > > > > > > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > [email protected] > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow > the directions. > -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
