High Speed Trains and The Future of Transportation

Where are all the high-speed trains we werethey will be able to work with the network to fill in
promised? Where is a cohesive transportationthe gaps and actually make more revenue for
strategy? With the current price of fuel we needconnecting people to final destinations. More contacts,
better and efficient systems to move people; thesecompetition and intra nation trade means the increase
gasoline prices are for the birds or Camels?For yearsin the flow of transportation would bring America
they have been discussing High Speed Trains,closer together and stronger. The United States is
between Los Angeles and Las Vegas and fromoften more representative of a United Countries with
Houston to San Antonio to El Paso, Houston toour myriad of regulations and rules which change the
Dallas, Dallas to Austin to San Antonio, Dallas tosecond you cross the border into a new state, even
Amarillo, Amarillo to Denver, Denver to Kansas Citythough we really are one country. Obviously with
to Wichita to Oklahoma City to Dallas. Montana needsSnow serving as Secretary of Treasury these issues
a high-speed rail and North, South Dakota, Iowa,have been studied on this grand scale, especially
Nebraska could all benefit from a high-speed railconsidering the decade of railroad consolidation during
system. Connecting the Mid West to all of the Texashis time at the Helm of CSX. With roads in need of
markets and Texas to Los Angeles and Florida torepair and traffic getting to be a major issue and our
Texas through the Southern States could vastlyexpanding population, we need to look ahead on
improve transportation and travel in this country. Itthese serious issues. With magnetic levitation and
would not hurt airlines. The discount airlines; such asair-cushioned technology there is no reason we could
Jet Blue, South West, America West, Air Tran; wouldnot build a great network inexpensively that would
continue to do well and time factors would be ahave the speeds necessary for rapid movement of
reason to fly the long hauls or coast-to-coast routes.people. Now is a good time to start getting more
Discounters can cut price and stay in business due toserious about high-speed train travel; we have done
the business model used as a major part of theirenough studies, we need more action. We must plan
overall growth strategy;Greyhound Company mightahead and head off the disastrous consequences to
suffer in the beginning from a National Network ofthe economy of from Supply and Demand issues to
high-speed rail in the US, but that bus line is nowmove people by automobile. Think about it.
owned by a Canadian Company anyway; eventually