With fluctuating gas prices, environmental concerns and merging airlines, citizens should be encouraging the government to take cross-country, high-speed trains more seriously.
Congress has refused additional funding for President Barack Obama’s plan to connect the nation through high-speed rails, and governors in states such as Florida and Ohio have refused any plans for rails in their states, mostly citing projected lack of ridership. This is why it is important that the public take interest in such projects.
The number of separate airlines is going down, too, which reduces competition for cross-country travel. US Airways and American Airlines are the most recent to merge. In a capitalistic society, fewer companies means less competition and usually higher prices. This, paired with the trend of the past several years of charging extra for luggage and higher fuel costs, is making flight less realistic.
If airlines aren’t going to compete with each other, perhaps it is time for a different form of transportation to apply some pressure.
Many countries already have train systems highly integrated into their infrastructure. In Europe, there are sleeper trains that can be ridden across the continent in every country, and Japan has made great use of the high-speed rails. China, too, has spent on average 9 percent of GDP on high-speed rail, while US spending hovers near a mere 2 percent.
Trains don’t need gas. On the low end of the technology, we have high-speed steel wheel rails that are fully electric, and electromagnetic rails are becoming a feasible possibility. There is no need to charge extra for weighted bags, as a train will run out of space long before the extra weight makes a difference in cost. The United States uses 134 billion gallons of gasoline in a year. Adding the option of traveling across state lines without using any gasoline will lower the demand, and therefore, prices for both drivers and airlines. This will also cut down that much more on pollution from our air.
While airplanes undoubtedly travel faster, this advantage is reduced by all the hoops passengers have to jump through just to fly. In order to time a flight comfortably, travelers tend to depart for the airport a few hours beforehand. There is no need to do so with trains. There’s no security to get through, fewer weather-related holdups and late arrivals that could leave one stranded in an unfamiliar city. For these reasons, parents might also feel more secure sending unattended children via train.
Rails also offer transportation where airlines can’t. Due to budget reductions, control towers in about 200 small airports across the country are being slated for closure, meaning that times and flights to more obscure areas will be even more limited. A train stops at each station every certain number of hours and can potentially stop at every small station along the way.
Particularly in the West, building rails is convenient and practical. It will create much needed construction jobs. There are great expanses of flat, empty space out here ­— a perfect environment for laying rails and creating a much quicker, safer path to cross big empty deserts. In 2006, traffic fatalities in Wyoming occurred 23 times more than the national average. I-80 is a horribly windy, small and dull road full of semi-trucks. Boring drives, such as the trek through Wyoming, create hazards when drivers stop paying attention, but are often necessary when traveling past the Rockies.
In an interview about the TRAX expansion, UTA cited its ultimate goal is to create urban centers. Small city rails will do what they can, but until it can be expanded to cross-country travel, cars will always have their niche. So, too, with planes. But encouraging work on a high-speed rail program is the biggest step citizens can make toward the safer, cleaner, cheaper future envisioned ­— a future where competition makes travel better for everyone.