Aboard the Sleeper

Nearly everyone on the commuter railroad platform looks immured in a sense of the coming day or, if it's an evening train, the day just past. Everyone projects a certain composure, an awareness of the unwritten rules of commuting, the cautious self-containment in the hopes that others will remain self-contained. The train pulls in. People board and quickly find their seats, and the wheels begin to rumble and clack. And one by one the commuters drop into sleep. Before long, the entire car is asleep, except for some wide-eyed first-time rider whose alertness looks like a kind of perversity. All that workday armor has been shuffled off, and though all the passengers are still wearing suits and ties and business ensembles, you can see the pajamas in their faces.

As long as I've been riding trains into New York — some 25 years by now — I'm still struck by the collective intimacy of a passenger car full of sleeping strangers. It becomes clear at such moments — when the whole car is silent except for a dry gasp somewhere — that the human neck is a useless piece of anatomy, a stem unable to support the ripe fruit of the head. Some people lean against the window, and some just lean back, mouths agape, giving it the full Vesuvius.

A load of sleeping commuters is one of those scenes that make you stop short and marvel at the strangeness of humans. How is it that we plunge headlong into unconsciousness even with the lights staring down at us, the air-conditioning rushing, the wheels clattering, the conductor calling out the stations? Sleep is not only a blessing. It's also a wonderful joke, a truly sportive adaptation. I look around, watching bold chins receding, the appearance of every intention giving way to the haplessness, the aimlessness of sleep. Composure becomes discomposure. The avowed sincerity of wakefulness becomes the far greater sincerity of slumber. And then I, too, drift away, caught in the undertow, forgetful of the rain-streaked windows and the dark world outside.

What is High Speed Ground Transportation?

High-speed ground transportation (HSGT)-- a family of technologies ranging from upgraded existing railroads to magnetically levitated vehicles-- is a passenger transportation option that can best link cities lying about 100-500 miles apart. Common in Europe ( The European Railway Server) and Japan (Japan Railways),HSGT in the United States already exists in the Northeast Corridor (Amtrak) between New York and Washington, D.C. and will soon serve travelers between New York and Boston.

HSGT is self-guided intercity passenger ground transportation that is time competitive with air and/or auto on a door-to-door basis for trips in the approximate range of 100 to 500 miles. This is market-based, not a speed based definition. It recognizes that the opportunities and requirements for HSGT differ markedly among different pairs of cities. High-speed ground transportation (HSGT) is a family of technologies ranging from upgraded steel-wheel-on-rail railroads to magnetically levitated vehicles.

The Federal Railroad Administration has designated a variety of high density transportation corridors within our nation for development of HSGT:

For more information, please visit the Federal Railroad Administration’s (FRA’s) High Speed Ground Transportation Website

Well, it's easier, and definitely safer, than going to sleep while the big cats roar, and the hyenas howl, but we managed to do that too.

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