Where are all the high-speed trains we were promised? Where is a cohesive transportation strategy? With the current price of fuel we need better and efficient systems to move people; these gasoline prices are for the birds or Camels? For years they have been discussing High Speed Trains, between Los Angeles and Las Vegas and from Houston to San Antonio to El Paso, Houston to Dallas, Dallas to Austin to San Antonio, Dallas to Amarillo, Amarillo to Denver, Denver to Kansas City to Wichita to Oklahoma City to Dallas. Montana needs a high-speed rail and North, South Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska could all benefit from a high-speed rail system. Connecting the Mid West to all of the Texas markets and Texas to Los Angeles and Florida to Texas through the Southern States could vastly improve transportation and travel in this country. It would not hurt airlines. The discount airlines; such as Jet Blue, South West, America West, Air Tran; would continue to do well and time factors would be a reason to fly the long hauls or coast-to-coast routes. Discounters can cut price and stay in business due to the business model used as a major part of their overall growth strategy; Greyhound Company might suffer in the beginning from a National Network of high-speed rail in the US, but that bus line is now owned by a Canadian Company anyway; eventually they will be able to work with the network to fill in the gaps and actually make more revenue for connecting people to final destinations. More contacts, competition and intra nation trade means the increase in the flow of transportation would bring America closer together and stronger. The United States is often more representative of a United Countries with our myriad of regulations and rules which change the second you cross the border into a new state, even though we really are one country. Obviously with Snow serving as Secretary of Treasury these issues have been studied on this grand scale, especially considering the decade of railroad consolidation during his time at the Helm of CSX. With roads in need of repair and traffic getting to be a major issue and our expanding population, we need to look ahead on these serious issues. With magnetic levitation and air-cushioned technology there is no reason we could not build a great network inexpensively that would have the speeds necessary for rapid movement of people. Now is a good time to start getting more serious about high-speed train travel; we have done enough studies, we need more action. We must plan ahead and head off the disastrous consequences to the economy of from Supply and Demand issues to move people by automobile. Think about it. |
