California Train Commute

Trains gaining as sensible alternative to cars - from the San Francisco Chronicle.

"The car may still be king in California, but with drivers tiring of traffic congestion and feeling the pinch of high gas prices, the train is quickly gaining popularity.
Ridership is booming on three intrastate Amtrak lines that are primarily managed and paid for by the state."

Give us high-speed rail from San Francisco to L.A.!

From my house in Oakland you could take one bus to the Amtrak station (ok it's a SLOW bus) and go to Sacramento, Seattle or San Diego from there. However, once you arrive at the station, you might find that the train is hours late, and may be further delayed after you board. Now we need to fund Amtrak so the trains run on time.

Remember that the government funds highways and airports - supporting the rail infrastructure is simply a different but equivalent choice, not a "new tax." I think many aspects of our quality of life will improve if we promote rail travel and reduce private car trips. We will continue to use the private car, don't get me wrong. But public transit builds community as well as saves the planet.

Comments

[Peter]

Incremental funding probably won't help Amtrak's on-time performance. The problem as I understand it is that years ago, a deal was cut where in the west, Amtrak shares the rails with freight, but freight gets priority. Freight volume has been increasing dramatically, and the promises made to Amtrak were basically ignored. Really what's needed is either a better operating agreement or separate passenger rail lines. For high-speed rail separate new passenger rail lines are required.

[Leila Abu-Saba]

See Paul Krugman's NY Times blog today - he says Europe is facing a transport crisis, because they've decimated their freight rail transport in favor of passengers. Most of their shipping is done by truck or by water.

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/02/europe-off-the-rails/

so they have the mirror image of our problem.

So what if we spent $$$ on improving freight AND passenger infrastructure? We have $3 trillion to throw away in Iraq, don't we? why can't we throw $3 trillion at our rail system? Or divert some of that space exploration money. Just sayin'

[arduous]

I believe that the only thing connecting LA and SJ right now is a bus, right? Blech, who wants to sit on a bus? I hope high-speed rail passes!

[Leila Abu-Saba]

I do think that the train from Seattle to L.A. goes through San Jose. But it takes forever and it is frequently hours off schedule.