e-commentary

The right assails Amtrak because it is uneconomical; the left criticizes Amtrak because it is inefficient.  When one airplane is grounded by a shoulder-mounted SAM (surface to air missile), all the commercial and general aviation airports in the country will be closed.  Transportation by air will be prohibited; the aviation network is inextricably intertwined.  By then, with gasoline priced at, say, $10.00 a gallon, transportation by automobile will be prohibitively expensive.  Someone will observe that if we still had Amtrak, we would have a relatively safe and comparatively economical and efficient way to transport people and goods.  Any threat to one line could be quarantined while most of the remaining tracks are operated albeit with some delay and inconvenience.  The railroad system is extricably intertwined.  Worth considering.

This entry was posted on January 23, 2006 at 8:28 am and is filed under Politics, Transportation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.