When I was a kid growing up in Brooklyn I got all around the city via the elevated trains, trolley cars and the subway system. When I was 12 we moved out to Long Island and we got into the city on the Long Island Railroad.
I grew up loving trains and take them whenever I can. Whenever I go abroad I love the fact the Europe still has a great railway system.
Along the way, in our wonderful country, the powers that be got rid of the trolley cars and most of the trains in the US . We can probably put the blame on the auto manufactures, their lobbyists and our politicians.
Now is the time to put the rail road tracks back into the United States . With plane travel becoming more costly, unreliable and falling apart airline by airline, to say nothing of being treated by airport security as a terrorist and the fact that trains use 18% less energy than planes.
With gasoline hitting $4.00 a gallon or more and food prices going up and up the average American family has practically had to put their annual vacation on hold. Trains use 17% less energy than an automobile does. So let's see some more trains.
Trains are fun. They are roomy and the kids can wander around without getting lost. The dining cars are great, one gets to see amazing scenery and when one upgrades one can even get a sleeper car. They certainly are affordable and could become more affordable.
Amtrak is upgrading lots of its rail beds and since 2006 it riders have increased to 3.8 million passengers. In 2007 Amtrak riders grew 6.3 percent to over 26 million passengers and the latest report for 2008 says it is up almost another 11%, so people are riding the trains again. At least where there are train tracks.
However, that is not enough. We need more track and we need it all over this country like Eisenhower did for our highway system. However, today's president George Bush is a big opponent of rail travel and so is John McCain since both have oil interests. Jeb Bush of Florida convinced his voters to repeal a program for more train track in his state after it was approved.
With the FAA getting $2.7 billion in government subsidies and the Federal Highway getting $10 billion their lobbyists do not want to see any of that moving anywhere else. Why should it? Leave it be. Take it from someplace else. How about putting the skids on welfare fraud or aid to 3 rd world countries whose political leaders and black marketers skim most of it before it gets to where it is going?
We need high speeds trains on short runs between cities. We need more track crisscrossing our nation so people can take train vacations with their family. We need to have alternative methods of moving people and renewing people's interest in train travel and introducing train travel to a whole generation of young people who never have set foot on a train.
Get on your politicians to put America back on track at least on rail road tracks.
