We are obsessed with the automobile... are we doing anything to improve our rail system?

Answer 1

But... improving the rail system might actually WORK to reduce fuel use.... and it might even be PRACTICAL!

We can't have that... got to individually drive our cars everywhere. So get in that 8 passenger Hummer (alone) and join the masses in the parking lot we call a freeway.

Lemmings.

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Edit: added..

You can power a train by electricity (actually they ARE diesel-electric now...) *** a third rail or overhead wires... like they do for the New York subway, SF bay area Rapid Transit... and the Disneyland monorail.

Trains don't have to be diesel powered. You can power them with ANY FUEL YOU CAN USE FOR A CAR.

Answer 2

Part of the problem, at least in the Western United States and other large countries such as China is the space in between population centers. It isn't very practical to have rail transit when you are talking such long distance. Please remember that trains are run on diesel fuel, which is still very polluting and is still a form of gasoline. Many cities are using more light rail (usually electric powered) as alternatives for its innercity transportation needs. Salt Lake City is expanding its light rail to the west, north and south, and is doing a pretty good job of trying to become more environmentally aware. Wish the rest of Utah was the same. I just visited Seattle, and it looked like there were more monorail tracks being built, but I could be mistaken. Trains are used more on the East coast, especially if you include subways as a train. I think our answer is going to lie in finding ways to use the roads we have build more effectively and to have cars that run on alternative fuels.

Answer 3

The reason rail doesn't work too well in the US is because after WWII, the US developed the "suburbs".

Because of this, everyone is so spread out that individual automobile became the only cost efficient form of transportation. For cities, with high rise apartments, or areas of high density population, mass transit again becomes effective.

But for the majority of America, it would cost to much and create too much pollution to build a rail system that connected everyones house. Plus it would take 8 hours to get to work. The individual automobile is unfortunately here to stay until everyone gets their "jetson-like" pod 75 years from now that let us travel on the X, Y and Z axis.

Can't wait to name my next dog "Astro"

Answer 4

For freight, LA is constructing rail system to transport goods outside its ports towarehouse facilities. For Human transportation, LA's light rail system is a failure, too few people use it. They might be continueing to expand this program though. For long distance passenger trains, Governnor Swartzenegger trashed the Mag Lev idea. In San Francisco, the Bart subway system is expanding. I believe this echos what the rest of the US is doing. As for the rest of the world, Auto use is increasing. CHina and India is thrusting into the auto age. All car companies have a goal to make cars less than 10,000 for the third world market. India is the main destination. CHina is trying to improve its railsystem, even though it's developing a large domestic market for its cars. China realize far more than India how bad it is to be dependent on foreign nation for its fuel, but its not so capable to control the people anymore. The communist government has a tighter reign than India, and so it is more capable to force people to remain dependent on rail.

Answer 5

The rail system can be improved to a point. The main reason is investment cost verses return. It cost less to build roads. Here in Nebraska there is a need for a commuter rail sysyem between Lincoln and Omaha

Answer 6

Hmmmmm well many cities have already built light rail systems. I suppose you want to link cities together? Well that was done early in the last century .. they were called Interurbans but most went under in the 30's and 40's .. well because of cars.

If you want to do that today are you ready to spend billions of dollars building and investing in something that most won't use?

I would use something like that (a streetcar) but it would have to run on time and have a high volume of cars to ride so that at any given moment you could board a car and get where you want to go and it would have to be affordable.

Yeah I love my car, if I need or want to go somewhere I go when I choose ... not wait to get a lift.

Answer 7

None that has made the news at least. We rely more on other forms of transportation, so we cannot spend too much money fixing things that are not broken. We pay more attention to cars and planes. I heard that Spain has great rail systems though.

Answer 8

People like their cars too much and development spreads out home and work too much.

It would be nice if housing development were planned with rail systems to connect work centers. That would really be good, but that is not how housing developments work. Instead people just have to jam up the freeway and slowly putt to work each day.

Answer 9

My husband was just working with some top-dogs with the railroads and asked about that.

Evidently it has to do with trouble with putting passenger trains on the same tracks with cargo/shipment trains. The cargo trains are super heavy and travel extremely slowly. According to him, we have the best cargo train system in the world and it's even used by countries on the other side of the world to import/export goods rather than shipping them across the ocean.

The passenger trains have to use the same tracks and since there's no really good way to pass the cargo trains, they also have to travel really slowly.
(in the 50 mph range).

So unless you have a dedicated passenger track system, no one wants to ride trains because they are sooooo slow. Obviously there are a few passenger train systems in certain parts of the country, but it's just not cost effective for the entire country because the demand is not high enough.

Answer 10

Seattle is "expanding" lightrail in the Puget Sound area, although it's more like creating the lightrail, but it's a start. I would have been happy had the Monorail project continued in Seattle, as it was elevated above street level, would never have to wait for traffic, wouldn't block street traffic, but was unfortunately not planned out well enough and too many problems, one being massive budget problems that were being paid for after the whole plan was scrapped, killed it in the end.

Mass transit programs need to really be improved and need to be easy, convenient, and efficient to entice more potential riders to become actual riders. Perhaps incentives need to be in place for people that aren't driving cars out there? I saw a plan for small "people mover" pods that would run all throughout cities and there would be individual pods that seated 2-4 people (I forget) and one could get in and press a button or such for a destination. The track plan was to be above-ground and the pods and track light enough to have braces that were attached to buildings and existing structures. It seemed like a cool concept for a transit plan... Whatever plans get established, they need to be put into action. For cities like Seattle, it sucks that we haven't implemented some more developed transit programs such as New York or San Francisco, because now we'll have to pay for it now and it's only getting more expensive as time goes on, but waiting is definitely not the solution...