The US Should…

GET WITH THE TIMES, ask Japan for expertise and advice on Shinkansen and other fast trains, and BUILD THEM!

According to China Confidential…

…expand the planned infrastructure stimulus package to include railroads. They should be rebuilt ASAP along 21st century lines.

Doing that would create thousands of well-paying, permanent jobs and reduce America’s reliance on imported oil.

The new trains could run on electricity and next-generation biodiesel as well as petro-diesel.

A small but significant example of a project that cries out for completion: extend electrification of the Harlem Valley commuter rail line, which connects New York City’s Grand Central Station with Westchester, Putnam, and Dutchess counties. The electrified service, which opened up northern Westchester some two decades ago, presently ends in Brewster, NY. Diesel-powered trains connect the station with its recently remodeled and expanded northern terminus, in Wassaic, NY, about 10 miles south of the village of Miillerton, which is located on the border of Columbia County to the north and Litchfield County, Connecticut to the east. Electrification of the entire line would raise real estate values and put the pastoral towns and villages of this region within daily commuting distance of White Plains, NY, a suburban city, and Manhattan in anticipation of the day when there will again be jobs to which residents can commute. (A few diehards would probably object to the stealth suburbanization; but their views wouldn’t matter, and they would eventually be proven wrong in terms of the tradeoff of benefits, just as the few critics of electrification in Northern Westchester were proven wrong.)

Stepping up the ladder in terms of economic significance, truly fast trains should connect the entire Northeast corridor from Boston to Washington, DC. The present Amtrak service is a poor substitute for the kind of high-speed trains that could be introduced and have been available in Japan since 1964 and in France since 1981. Nobody should be tempted to fly from Boston to New York or New York to the nation’s capital.

Nor should flying be a competitive option for those traveling between New York and Chicago. Again, the technology has been around for over 40 years.

Freight needs help, too, from the mighty Class 1 carriers to the feisty short-lines and struggling spurs. Depots and reload centers across the country should be modernized and expanded and fast-tracked for Foreign Trade Zone designation, which would encourage tariff-advantaged manufacturing and warehousing.

The seeds of a new era of railroading can be found in the present economic crisis. it’s time for the next President and Congress to get on board for a cause whose time has come.

Instead of whatever “green job” bs hobama is talking about.  Try this for something EFFECTIVE, USEFUL, BENEFICIAL, INTELLIGENT, WORTHWHILE, ETC.