My oldest son and his family, who live in California, and I were talking about the problems of getting from one part of the country to the other. The choices are flying or driving. For most people those choices are sufficient. However, in our family we have two people who can't fly for different reasons and a road trip is long and difficult. My son lamented that it was a problem that we don't have a national high-speed passenger rail system.
We did have a national passenger train system at one time, but the system came into disrepair as cars and airplanes offered more flexibility and speed. Trains were inconvenient and stopped too often to appeal to most long-distance travelers. Flying was much more cost effective. The market made the choice... and it wasn't for trains.
But let's suppose our Floundering Fathers in Washington, D.C. decided that having a high-speed train system was essential to reduce CO2 and imported oil. How would we go about recreating this long-distance passenger train system? It seems to me that the routes and rights-of-way are already in place.
It would be costly, but certainly not as costly as starting from scratch. The Interstate Highway System provides routes and land that could serve as the basis for a national high-speed passenger train system. The simplest approach would be to use the medians and lay two tracks. The trains could be powered by electricity. Some hubs would have to be built in cities to allow train crossings and passenger facilities. The long inter-city stretches would be already laid out.Sure, there would have to be significant upgrading of the track bed and modifications to bridges. Still, if the government wants to spend billions of dollars on make-work projects, why not spend it on a project that could give us 200 mph trains? My son would be pleased.
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