It’s a pleasure to think back to a year living in Bremen, Germany after the war. Although the large city was heavily bombed you could get nearly everywhere on a streetcar. If you knew the connections it was jump on jump off or change cars even back in 1945. Take a streetcar to the airport or train station, see the world and never own a car. If you did there was the Autobahn on which you could zoom to any of several other countries in a day.
Today, in Hampton Roads we are considering a passenger train from Norfolk to Richmond, necessary due to automobiles jamming roads and wasting now precious gasoline. Let’s not mention poor planning and funding, or the fact that politicians would fear elections if they added to the gasoline tax. Sure, the driving public would have raised a fuss but what are they doing now?
It is true that high-speed trains no longer are if frequent stops are added but it makes little sense for Suffolkians to take a train to downtown Norfolk for a train ride to Richmond. Let Norfolk riders get up early, beat the tunnel traffic and head west to the stop at Bowers Hill. Windsor and Suffolk riders can be at Bowers Hill in 30 minutes and all riders play poker all the way to Richmond in order to recover price of the fare.
4 comments:
What I am excited about is the train to Richmond and beyond. I would rather ride to DC then drive.
Public train transportation makes the population dependent upon government and we already painfully know how efficient government can be. Establishing "The People's Transportation System" means more unionized government employees more expense and greater inefficiencies. Europe is plagued with transportation strikes, slowdowns and fast rising operating costs. This should be a wakeup call to anyone that believes government knows better than the private sector. HRT made a financial mess out of light rail before the first paying passenger ever stepped in. What do you suppose the Feds will do? If you do not like to drive to DC then hop a privately operated bus and help the economy.
Amtrak is the govt and has never turned a profit. The govr runs their own cafeteraia it too is a bust. They even ran a house of prostitution, it too went belly up. I will leave he political picture out of this. No I wont.Fanny and Freedie SS Medicare etc etc.
This rail venture isnt going to the what many think. Penn Station? How about Petticoat Juction??
Gov Bob McDonnell supports a government funded operated train system. That is very disturbing and suggests that voters tell him not to seek higher office.
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