Amtrak, our national passenger railroad network, runs just a line or two over from the MetroLink platform seen yesterday. It's westbound, so it's going to Kansas City.
Amtrak, like our local transit system, leaves something to be desired. We can take it from here to Chicago or Kansas City but it's really slow. The network is better in the northeast between Washington and Boston but that's where population is most concentrated. Amtrak can't hold a candle to the trains in Europe or Japan (Japan's transportation system is incomparable) but we just don't have the population density. Too many big, empty spaces. With air service, why would you want to take a train from, say, here to Denver or San Francisco to Seattle?
How I've loved the TGV and the Shinkansen. But here we drive or fly.
Amtrak, like our local transit system, leaves something to be desired. We can take it from here to Chicago or Kansas City but it's really slow. The network is better in the northeast between Washington and Boston but that's where population is most concentrated. Amtrak can't hold a candle to the trains in Europe or Japan (Japan's transportation system is incomparable) but we just don't have the population density. Too many big, empty spaces. With air service, why would you want to take a train from, say, here to Denver or San Francisco to Seattle?
How I've loved the TGV and the Shinkansen. But here we drive or fly.
Population numbers drive many public services I guess Bob, bit of a shame for the population that actually is!
ReplyDeleteStill you have got one.
ReplyDeleteA lot of the traffic for our VIA rail network tends to be concentrated in the Windsor to Quebec City corridor- same thing, really, since that's where the largest concentration of population levels are.
ReplyDeleteEven the slow train is still fun to ride! I've taken it from New Orleans to Jackson - wheeee!
ReplyDeleteWhy would you take the Transsiberian, Transcanadian or the Orient Express when you could fly?
ReplyDeleteThat is a shame. But it's a big continent so I can see why people choose to fly.
ReplyDelete