Putting Train Travel Back On Track

Train travel is one of the lowest impact ways to get from point to point short of walking, jogging, or bicycling. In the early part of the 20th century, taking the train was the only practical way for Americans to get from city to city. By 1929, the U.S. boasted one of the world’s largest rail networks, with 65,000 passenger cars in operation across 265,000 miles of track.

But a concerted campaign by U.S. carmakers to acquire rail lines and close them, along with construction of the world’s most extensive interstate highway system, combined to shift Americans’ tastes away from rail travel. The U.S. became the ultimate auto nation, with more cars per capita than anywhere else. By 1965, only 10,000 rail passenger cars were in operation across just 75,000 miles of track.

In response, the U.S. government created Amtrak in 1971 to provide inter-city passenger train service across the country. In 2008, upward of 28 million passengers rode Amtrak trains, representing the sixth straight year of record ridership. Despite this growth, the U.S. still has one of the lowest inter-city rail usage rates in the developed world.

But that may all change soon. In spring 2009, President Barack Obama allocated $8 billion of stimulus funding toward developing more high-speed rail lines, citing the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and reliance on foreign oil.

A 2006 study by the Center for Clean Air Policy and the Center for Neighborhood Technology concluded that building a high-speed rail system across the U.S. would mean 29 million fewer car trips and 500,000 fewer plane flights each year, eliminating 6 billion pounds of carbon-dioxide emissions.

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