Old indeed. They keep trying to reinvent the wheel.
We do already have a very efficient rail system. What do you make of the assertion that absent a monstrosity like this...the U.S. transport system just collapses.
We do already have a very efficient rail systemEven if we discount our near-dead passenger rail system, "efficient" is hardly the word to speak regarding our rail system. Try just these quick returns on a search for "railroad" at Forbes.com:
1. U.S. Railroad Profits Tied To New InvestmentThe positive tone of these articles speaks for the moribund state of and absence of efficiency in our rail system. That last story is about one railroad, Norfolk Southern, that finally figured out that using 100-year old technology to route its trains ain't "efficient." The rest of the industry has years to catch up. That first article may also seem positive, but the fact that our rails operate at capacity is not good news. That's like praising highway congestion.
June 15, 2006. The main cause of the rail capacity crisis is increased traffic.
2. Railroads Can Move Forward
May 05, 2006. Track improvements and intermodal freight handling can create a more aggressive U.S. rail system.
3. This Is How To Run A Railroad
February 13, 2006 The boom in global trade has made the rail business hot again. Norfolk Southern is leading the way by adding technology, marketing and customer service to a sooty old business.
Our highway transportation system today is in a state of atrophy. As the railroads died to regulations and price, highways and air transit provided new options. The Interstate Highway System led to dramatic decreases in the cost of transportation and logistics, dropping from 20% of the GDP in 1980 to 10% in 1990. Since that time there's been no further decrease in those costs -- that is, no increase in overall efficiency. Our highways are where are railroads were fifty years ago: dying.
If we keep to the same-olds of gas/tires taxes of the Federal/State program and draining of those funds for "other than roads," and etc., and the general system of road-bulding-as-politics, our highways will be in danger of collapsing. The System is getter worse, not better. We need innovation in funding, building, and maintenance. The CA, TX, IL, IN, and on-coming other projects that are using market principles will invigorate the System. Just as the railroads collapsed (freight, nearly, passenger, totally) to the government-led destruction of competition (which industry likes, btw), our highways are dying of the same illness. These are necessarily and brilliant fixes.
As this thread alone illustrates, too many objections to these innovations are based upon hysterias that have little to do with transportation.