Sorry AG, but that is just not so. Trucking firms enjoy huge subsidies from
being able to use the interstate highways for free and not paying the true cost
of their polluting fuel (which should be something like $20 a gallon if the
applicable externalities were taken into account). In comparison with the
enormous implicit subsidy to the private trucking industry, the cost of support
clean, public transport like Amtrak is tiny.
Nathan
Nathan Wajsman
Alicante, Spain
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YNWA
On Aug 2, 2010, at 7:30 PM, Ken Norton wrote:
> While I understand and agree with most of the fundamentals behind why
> rail is more efficient than air-travel, what is the missing link here
> is the economics. If it really was economically feasable then private
> enterprise would be doing it. Airports and the infrastructure required
> for air-travel are paid for though fees, fuel taxes, leases and other
> means. Even though there is a large portion which is taxation funded,
> this system exists for more than just people-moving. A high-speed
> rail system would most likely be single-vendor and wouldn't be too
> good for freight.
>
> Until rail-systems are fully integrated with the rest of our
> transportation systems, it's nothing more than a point-to-point
> solution or a novelty. If logic ruled the day, the rail-terminals
> would be located at the airports.
>
> For crying out loud, just look at Amtrack. They avoid the logical big
> cities in the midwest and instead go through podunk towns.
>
> AG
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