We aren’t endorsing any candidates yet, but this column by David Beard from the Boston Globe offers some interesting insight into John McCain’s history of support for Amtrak. Or should I say, lack of support?
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Here come the threadjoack….
Have you seen this interview about transit from the junior senator of Md?
http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2008/6/30/111047/774
First off, train transportation works in Europe because geographically Europe is much smaller and major cities are all within a reasonable distance. This makes train travel cost effective and reasonable as a matter of time. However, the US is too large of a country to be viable for a pervasive passenger train system. Major cities are too far from each other. This makes train travel times too long compared to air travel and the distance causes train tickets to be prohibitively expensive. Airfare is comparably cheaper and gets you to your destination in a fraction of the time.
To an urban planner or regional official, issues like this are very important, regardless of their economic viability or common sense. However, Sen. McCain has to look at this from a different perspective. Economically, Amtrak is a disaster.
It’s understandable that McCain, who can fly in his wife’s private jet to a publicly-funded airport when he wants to visit one of their seven homes, isn’t feeling any pain in the transportation department.
However, this doesn’t make ’100 Years’ McCain a model of fiscal probity. It’s simply not true that America is “too large” for rail transportation or that planes always get you there in “a fraction” of the time.
There are at least five and more probably ten corridors where high-speed rail would take market share from air travel, largely because these are places where rail would be quicker than flying. Because so many flights are commuter flights, this would take a huge load ff our runways and air controller systems, which the Bush administration has consistently refused to fund or staff adequately.
At the bottom line, there is no evidence that McCain has ever given any thought whatsoever to our transportation needs, or to AGW, which is forcing us to re-evaluate the outcomes we’re looking for in transit. If elected, he would probably convene a secret transportation policy meeting, just as Cheney in 2001 convened a still-secret energy policy meeting. I think we can all see just how well that method of doing business has worked out.
check out this post on John McCain\’s Running Mate http://dirtyelection.com/colin-powell-as-john-mccains-running-mate/mccain/
Armando says:
July 4, 2008 at 1:30 pm
… train transportation works in Europe because geographically it is much smaller and major cities are all within a reasonable distance. … However, the US is too large of a country to be viable for a pervasive passenger train system. Major cities are too far from each other.
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Partly right, Armando, but actually, totally wrong.
Everything within about 5 or 6 hours of Chicago offers potential routes comparable to Europe’s — Ann Arbor, Detroit, Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Louisville, St Louis, Kansas City, Omaha, Des Moines, the Quad Cities, the Twin Cities, Milwaukee.
Or drop down to Texas and connect Houston, San Antonio, Austin, Dallas-Ft Worth, Oklahoma City, Shreveport, New Orleans.
Want a hub at Atlanta? Nashville, Knoxville, Chattanooga, Birmingham, Jacksonville, Savannah, Charlotte, and many other smaller cities.
All of the US lying east of the Mississippi has a population density quite similar to Europe’s. Or just subtract out Alaska’s vast empty territory and a few other big empty states — Nevada, Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, North and South Dakota, Kansas — and the rest of the U.S. is almost at European density levels right there.
But today, the ‘long distance’ trains that run NYC-Chicago, D.C.-Chicago, NYC-Miami, NYC-Savannah, NYC-New Orleans, Chicago-New Orleans, Chicago-San Antonio, and Seattle-L.A, all pass thru areas as settled as Europe.
Only the four trains that cross the mountain and desert west actually pass thru low-density areas.