So, I naturally thought of my mother when I came upon this post by Kvatch about how we need to refocus on rail here in the US. It's an argument people have been making for years (though much to my mother's frustration, it's mostly fallen on deaf ears as Americans have continued their long-term romance with automobiles), but I think we might finally be at a pivot point when it comes to trains.
The days following the attack on the World Trade Center demonstrated how vulnerable we are when our airlines can't fly. And recent chaos at our airports has shown that it doesn't take a major disaster to effectively shut down air travel. We not only need a good backup transportation option for when air travel is disrupted, but we also need to seriously consider the environmental impact of flying and consider alternatives whenever possible. Trains fill both these needs.
I recently attended an information session about a Maglev train route that might eventually run from Savannah, Georgia to Chicago, Illinois (which would stop in Chattanooga), and the benefits are numerous. Maglev trains are quiet, efficient, very clean, and they can carry freight -- and especially when you factor in the typical delays involved in flying (like baggage check, endless waits at security checkpoints and required early arrivals), they can be just as fast as flights on many popular commuter routes. Americans are way behind Asia and Europe in developing high-speed train technology and routes, but now that gas prices have us looking for alternatives to riding all alone in gas-guzzling SUVs, we might see some progress toward the planning and implementing of some high-speed train routes.
As I said, I was planning on posting about all this tomorrow, but via mindful mission, I just discovered that today is National Train Day. Why May 10th? Because "on May 10, 1869, in Promontory Summit, Utah, the 'golden spike' was driven into the final tie that joined 1,776 miles of the Central Pacific and Union Pacific railways, ceremonially creating the nation's first transcontinental railroad."
So, happy train day, kids! Get your Choo-Choo on! :-D
7 comments:
I knew it would only be time for the Maglev to get going.
Kenny, as soon as the route opens, you and I (and anyone else who wants in on the fun) are taking the maglev up to Chi-town to hang with the Jamester and Sally Ann. And we'll drink a toast to the train goddess herself, Geffie, along the way. It'll be awesome.
What a nice combination: National Train Day and Mother's Day! My mother likes trains, too, especially historical ones.
Oh, our moms would have gotten on well, then. My mother was a walking encyclopedia of train info -- current and historical.
I gotta disagree. Maglev has been a flop at all attempts outside the very heavily subsidized short line in China (subsidized by the whole country for one line). Munich just gave up on their maglev project.
Maglev also locks you in to very proprietary patents and technologies by the vendor. I think French/Japanese-style TGV trains are the way to go. The technology is time-tested, just as fast in almost all situations, and you are not locked into a boondoggle situation with any one vendor. You can upgrade or switch rolling stock at any time. And assuming standard guage, you can also run almost any existing rolling stock as a backup or during non-peak hours.
Frankly, I think some of the people pushing maglev at the Georgia DOT (not the average joes) are using it as a red herring they know will fail.
Hell, any high-speed train is fine with me.
I'm tired of living in a city with no passenger train service. The fact that said city is the home of the "Chattanooga Choo Choo" makes it that much more absurd and frustrating.
Alice...thanks so much for the link to Ragebot. I'm becoming quite a fan of train travel despite living in an area of the country where train service is almost non-existent. Thank goodness for good public transit, at least.
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