US Passenger Rail Woes

CMT Member Bill Heger wrote the following letter to the Post-Dispatch which was published today April, 9. It was good and I thought I would share it.

We read in "High on speed: French train tops 357 mph" (April 4) about the French TVG traveling at 375 miles per hour and wonder why we can't have that in our country. Well, it is because we have people in Washington and Jefferson City who willfully spend money endlessly on roads but refuse to give Amtrak enough money even to maintain a minimal system.

Right now, the two trains between St. Louis and Kansas City are in danger of being discontinued. This, when gas prices are rising and our oil supply is in danger of being cut off because of events in the Middle East. Yet our politicians just keep force-feeding us the petroleum/automotive industrial complex. Meanwhile, France is willing to put forth the money for such trains because it sees them as a transportation priority. In our country, we maintain a Third World passenger train system and barely keep that going.

What will it take for America to change its ways? How high will the price of gas have to get? How many more homes will be taken, fields paved and forests cut for more roads? How soon will it be before our young people are sent to a war for oil (or is that already happening)? We can do anything in the name of the almighty automobile, but when it comes to intercity rail transportation, we just sit on our hands and wait for the crisis to happen. When the crisis does happen, we will sit and wonder why.

Bill Heger | Rock Hill