Wednesday, September 13, 2006

New Trains


HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - Higher-speed electric trains that will begin running between Philadelphia and Harrisburg next month will cut travel times on one of Amtrak's most heavily traveled routes, Gov. Ed Rendell and Amtrak officials announced Tuesday....

With gas prices up and all the congestion on the highways, now is the time for us to step up and provide people with a good, reasonable, fast, clean and efficient alternative, and that's what we're trying to do here," Rendell told reporters at a press conference at the Harrisburg train station.

Reading around the blogs tonight I see that the Flat Earth Society opposes this and an increase of the gas tax to repair our roads and bridges. Yes Amtrack is subsidized but so are highways. So what is the choice? Do we build more mass transit or keep paving everything in sight. We're running out of oil and cars pollute the air. Maybe we can find better ways of moving people around.

h/t to Chris

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I had a great trip on that run last spring; it'll be better yet when it's faster.

Unfortunately, Amtrak uses Norfolk-Southern tracks south of Washington, DC, and it's bumpy.