Popular Mechanics Takes on Rail Travel

by Little Miss Attila on April 20, 2009

Via Insty.

Dear Readers:

I’ve gotten over my sensitive streak, so feel free to spank me hard for my romance with rail transit. But as you calculate the degree of boondoggle here, please be sure to amortize this over at least four generations of passengers.

Not to mention the fact that American students can tour Europe more cheaply than they can North America, as the latter requires that they have some sort of vehicle in decent operating condition.

My impression is that we need to mostly construct new tracks, so it’s a matter of searching out straight, level areas, and looking for the old routes that will tell us where the existing rights-of-way are.

All best,

Joy

P.S. Choo-choo! Choo-choo trains!

{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }

John April 21, 2009 at 4:40 am

One reason that Americans students can tour Europe more cheaply than America is because the places of general interest in Europe are much closer to each other than the places of general interest in the US. Our tourist destinations are mostly on the East Coast or West Coast, whereas Europe’s tourist destinations seem to be around every corner.

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Little Miss Attila April 21, 2009 at 5:56 am

Oh. Is this the “flyover country” argument, about how boring the middle of this continent is?

Boring like Yellowstone? The Grand Canyon? Mt. Rushmore? New Orleans? Chicago? Texas’s Hill Country, or Austin? Wyoming? Indianapolis? Boulder? The food and art scene in Santa Fe, New Mexico? Notre Dame University?

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