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WADR, I don’t like the Luddism argument against trains. Paved roads have been around since long before the Akkadian Empire, but nobody cites a “fourth-millennium BC solution for twenty-first century transportation needs” et cetera. Same applies to water transport; many canals were replaced by railroads, but still many canals remain vital for freight transportation today, never mind river transportation (see the Mississippi’s current plight).

Hoffman Estates? with its country clubs? Hmm. Guess people are a little too good there to drive a short distance to one of the stations on Metra’s Milwaukee District West line to ride the train to Union Station. (They voted Democrat last time, AFAICS.)

I don’t like the Luddism argument against trains.

Understood. I certainly allowed for U.S. trains to be used for freight, and that certain highly traveled routed (NE corridor, and maybe LA-LV-SF) could work. I was mainly railing (pun intended) against the folks who pretend that high speed rail is the wave of the future. Heck, I remember comic book ads for Cheerios describing the high apeed rail in Japan during Expo 70 or whatever it was. Mag Lev might be interesting, but then supercondiuctivity would make LOTS of things interesting. In any event, the rail infrastructure is a fixed expense that doesn't allow easy changes of schedules as demand changes from summer to winter and from decade to decade. Planes and buses get to add and remove buses as demand changes. Trains have to go where the rails are.

Hoffman Estates? with its country clubs? Hmm. Guess people are a little too good there to drive a short distance to one of the stations on Metra’s Milwaukee District West line to ride the train to Union Station.

I mentioned Hoffman Estates, not thinking of it as being in the same class as Evanston or Kenilworth in terms of household wealth. Okay, our mythical traveler(s) go to the Elgin station (15 minutes), and on Sunday morning the trains run every two hours. Plus, it takes (per Metra schedule) an 1 hour 15 minutes to get to Union Station due to the 20 STOPS it has to take along the way. So, you save most of the Chicago parking fees, but tack on an extra 45 minutes riding THE WRONG way, plus, if you want to get to St. Louis by 11:00AM for the noon kickoff, you are now talking about taking the 5:55AM train (leave at 5:30AM or so), assuming it gets to Chicago in time for the connecting train. Going direct by car means leaving at 7:00am. The high speed rail needs to have few stops in order to remain high speed, but one of the advantages of rail vs. air is the ability to make stops at all. To me, Hoffman Estates is a spot on the highway with numerous big corporate centers (Sears, Motorola nearby). I can use my area, Rockford, and the argument becomes even stronger. Metra doesn't even come out here. I'd have to take the Van Galder bus, going 1:45 THE WRONG WAY. Their buses, at least, move out more frequently than the Metra. I see high-speed passenger trains as a limited, niche solution. It works best in zones that are too long or inconvenient to drive for many, but not long enough to be unable to offset the different types of inconveniences offered by air travel. This means centralized cities: NYC and DC rather than Denver and Dallas. This also means few stops between cities that tend to have business with each other. The fact is, few in Chicago have a NEED to go to Cleveland. Maybe some folks in Cleveland have a need to go to Chicago, but running empty trains half the time ain't an answer either.

So, the Boston, Providence, New Haven, NYC, Newark, Philly, Baltimore, DC route makes good sense, as all the cities are in a line, and the traffic moves both ways, especially between NYC and DC. I would be hard-pressed to think of a way to fill those routes in the midwest or southeast. Even NYC to Miami is not a practical run for most folks, except flight allergic retirees, many of them bringing their cars.

Long haul trains should stress their advantages. They should accomodate smokers with dedicated cars with separate ventilation and smokers to work them. More Wifi, more electrical outlets. But they won't be able to get people on board for where they don't want to go.