Keeping a jaundiced eye on the corporate media.
Apr 23rd, 2007 at 1:50 pm by Maya
“Until the trains are also run by greedy sleaze buckets who can buy their own political influence, train travel doesn’t have a prayer. Who’s going to lobby for it, the environmental groups?”
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I’m a huge supporter of passenger rail. Specifically high speed rail. People today talk a lot about fuel economy. The thing is, no matter how advanced your hybrid car it will never compare to the fuel economy of high speed passenger rail service.
The TGV in France averages 506 mpg per person. A rubber tire rolling down an asphalt road will never compare to a steel wheel rolling down a steel track. On top of that when you go with an electric train service like the TGV, your motors can be used as generators while braking, this allows trains rolling down hill to energize the lines and help the trains going up hill.
The other argument I always here is “We can’t build the rail lines because they will be too expensive.” This is a poor excuse at best. In terms of the number of people moved a high speed rail line is equivalent to an eight lane freeway. While it costs $25 million per mile to build the rail line, it costs $40 million to build an eight lane freeway.
This country needs good rail service. If for no other reason then because we are running out of space for airports. Our civil air service spends every summer in crisis mode now. A fact compounded even more since September 11th.
For more information WIkipedia has an excellent article comparing the fuel economy of various forms of transportation,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_efficiency_in_transportation
And the winner and all time most efficient form of transportation, The humble bicycle at 653mpg