A few weeks ago, my brother took the train down from Syracuse for a professional networking event in the District. As he was traveling, I sent him an SMS saying that "Train is by far the most civilized form of transport." He replied, "Because it's slow and expensive?" Touché.
It's an unfortunate fact that rail transport in the US is far less efficient than it is compared to other places, Europe in particular. For all the complaints we hear about train schedules overseas, our European cousins have nothing on Amtrak. And for anyone who finds this an argument for car commuting, I say enjoy your stay on I-66 in Virginia, Loop 610 in Houston, or any number of fantastic examples of the wonders of American car culture.
Today's Wall Street Journal includes an interesting look at the effect of the stimulus bill on Amtrak, and the main obstacle to an efficient nationwide passenger rail system in the US - lack of infrastructure.
But as long as most Amtrak trains run on crowded freight-rail tracks, the U.S. will remain far from building a European-style network of bullet trains. Amtrak's swiftest offering, the Washington-to-Boston Acela service, briefly hits a top speed of 150 miles per hour but averages only 62 mph between New York and Boston. Many of its trains get bogged down on lines that are owned and operated by freight railroads. By contrast, the 190-mile Brussels-to-Paris trip averages about 140 mph.
"We're not Europe," Mr. Boardman said. "We have a huge and world-renowned freight rail system in this country, and that's where we run most of the miles we run on Amtrak."
The intentional creation of the interstate highway system in the US propelled America forward both culturally and economically. Opening interstate transportation dramatically allowed goods and labor to flow more efficiently, reducing costs and increasing productivity. It also allowed people to move around and experience more of the cultural diversity in their country.
But as efficient as we are, there are significant improvements that could be made. A key investment should be the creation of infrastructure to support a national passenger rail system. That Texans can't easily take a train from Houston to Austin is simply ridiculous. And that is costs as much or more to take the train from DC to New York as it does to fly points to serious problems in efficiency.
If we're going to be throwing around trillions of dollars to stimulate the economy, we would be wise to invest that money in sound projects that have proven returns on investment. National passenger rail service is one of those.
A well run rail service with adequate infrastructure would be faster than driving, more comfortable than flying, and provide more efficient transportation of human capital in a time when we need to be finding ways to make sustainable improvements to our economy that will keep us competitive in the global market.
Besides, it's just more civilized.
David Brooks may dream of Denver, but I dream of Leiden.
4 comments:
Took the train today to have sushi near St. James Palace. Smug smug smug smug.
I would shake my fist at you, but I had a pot of Fortnum & Mason TGFOP this morning so I'm in too good a mood.
I take the high speed train at least a few times a month. It's cheaper than the flight. And with the nightmare that air travel around the world has become, travel time door to door is about the same. Far less stress than airport check-ins, weather delays, etc..
The best thing about train travel is that sometimes you get to meet interesting people. The California car culture is so isolating.
Theres a good book by John Stilgoe out on this. Its called Traintime.
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