 Last Train From Austerity Point As winter's long train keeps blasting through our northern office locations, the bitterly cold air has kept that portion of our staff indoors, working, and often listening to news and discussions on the radio.
One of the stories that stuck out last week, that the cable "news" channels seemed to pass right by, was a story on NPR, about how Amtrak passenger rail service in the U.S. is currently having to fight to use our nation's rail lines, thanks to both coal and oil companies hogging up the available space on the rails.
Maybe it's because some of our staff members have literally ridden trains from coast-to-coast across America, and we often ride the commuter trains near our Washington, DC offices. Maybe it's because we've also ridden trains across Europe, and have seen how large-scale, high speed rail can work well. What we are certain of, after looking into the story that NPR reported last week, is that America doesn't have enough rail lines - a problem President Obama has been attempting to remedy since the Recovery Act, enacted during his first year of office.
As of December, the Obama Administration, through efforts within the Congress, has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in expanding capabilities for rail lines. Investments from adding secondary spur tracks, to retrofitting or replacing bridges, have improved America's rail system significantly over the past five years - especially in areas like the Northeast corridor, where some high-speed passenger rail projects remain on schedule.
Unfortunately, outside of that Northeast corridor, the benefits of President Obama's push for investment have gone almost entirely to freight companies. Meanwhile, passengers across the U.S. have effectively been left sitting in their chairs at stations, playing "train," while they wait for the backlog of freight and oil trains to get off the tracks... |
