If it isn’t one thing, it’s another: High post-pandemic airfares, Southwest Airlines holiday meltdown, other weather events, FAA glitch event.
The US dependence on airlines and highways, and complete lack of airline and highway competitive passenger rail and freight service is a national disgrace, and a threat to the national economy and national security.
Yes, in markets under 500 miles conventional railroads can operate at as much as 125 mph and 80 mph average speeds to compete head-to-head with the highway and air modes.
The private, regional railroad monopolies:
• Union Pacific Railroad, subsidiary Union Pacific Corp.
• Burlington Northern Santa Fe, LLC, subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Inc.
• Norfolk Southern Railway, subsidiary of Norfolk Southern Corp.
• CSX Transportation, subsidiary of CSX Corporation
• Canadian Pacific Railway, subsidiary of Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd.
• Canadian National Railway Company
• Kansas City Southern Railway Company
are all consorted under the gaslighting Association of American Railroads, their top lobbyist, to absolutely oppose long term reform to “Open Access” as successfully practiced in the European Union for almost 30 years.
It’s not about population density. It’s about the competitive cost per mile in head to head competition between the rail mode and the highway and air modes for both travel and shipping.
Because these greedy regional monopoly railroads pay significant dividends, instead of investing in their competitiveness, Americans cannot travel or ship border to border in 10 hours, or coast to coast in 30 hours at less cost than by highway or airline.
Yes, to repeat, great, conventional rail service, (not even high-speed), can be competitive with airlines in markets under 500 miles, and competitive with the highways everywhere.
Especially to provide surge and emergency coverage between the highway, air, and rail modes, let alone to use the rail mode to reduce cost to travel and ship, reduce highway injury and death rates, leverage economic development, reduce dependence on carbon fuels and slow global warming, and more secondary benefits.
For more, see the 10-minute video for Climate Emergency: Trains-An Effective Response https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_hTzf2L2Pzo (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_hTzf2L2Pzo)
Open Access on the railroads now America.
This is
a kitchen table issue.
We Can Handle It!