I Want Trains in the USA
I want trains in the US. I know we have trains, but I want nice trains, like Switzerland..
I fell in love with trains after living in Switzerland. Trains are the main form of transportation. They are on time. They are comfortable. The scenery is amazing. They are stress-free. There’s no traffic.
When people I know ask about Switzerland, one of the questions they always ask is, “How long will it take to get from here to there?” When you ride on a comfortable train, it doesn’t matter, because getting there is part of the fun. I would take the trains just to relax. An hour or two by train is no big deal in Switzerland. You have space. You can relax with your family and friends. There’s nothing to worry about. No highways. No pending accidents. No tailgating. The seats are comfortable. The trains are clean. Even the bathrooms are immaculate.
I’m writing this article to simply make an intention to the universe that I want trains in the USA. This is something that I’ve wanted for years, and I suppose it seems like such a grand idea that it’s pointless. There are many points that I think are important if it’s going to be successful.
Intentions
We have to respect cars. I think the auto industry will fight against trains, as it might hurt their business. As well as the oil company. I think there are ways to have cars and trains, and for everyone to be happy. Maybe better, more advanced cars and high-speed highways?
Trains have to be accessible to most people. I would say 80% of people should have ready access to trains.
The trains need to be very comfortable, better than Switzerland.
They need to be environmentally friendly. In Switzerland, they run on electricity, which is generated using water power for minimal environmental impact.
It should be some combination of public and private investment. Honestly, I like it when things are more private, but we obviously cannot have competing trains on a single track? Or can we?. Anyway, competition sounds stressful. I’m not a fan of taxpayers paying for everyone.
We need to find a way to improve the accessibility of trains. The suburban and rural lifestyle of much of America makes providing train stations close to people’s homes impractical. The United States developed, unlike Europe, in an age of transportation, and towns and houses are much more spread out. European towns are small and tight, making it more feasible to have train stations in towns and serving the whole community. In short, the US is spread out.
The scenery should be nice. We don’t want to be riding along a highway or unkept factories..
Some Solutions
Maybe we start with a major city high-speed rail, like the French TGV. In France, they have, depending upon how you look at the stats, the fastest train in the world. You can travel the equivalent distance of Boston to Washington, DC in about 3-4 hours. That’s normally an 8-hour car drive. And if you take a plane, the flight is like 2 hours, but the security of the airport makes it more like 5 hours between getting in and out and parking and waiting, and taxing.
The other option for individual towns to develop their local system, and as other towns choose or do not have a similar system, they can connect.
One thing that I saw in France that was nice was that they had small electric buses that ran more frequently than the traditional buses that we see. They were small and only held like 6-8 people, but because they were small, they could run more “on demand” and make many small trips as opposed to the slower, bigger buses.
I know there is talk of self-driving cars being drivable, but they still are just not there. Although maybe again, there is a way for households in rural and suburban areas to have some sort of “private car” or “summon” a car to use when they want to take a trip, and that car can merge onto another train in the center of town.
Walt Disney had envisioned the idea of. a people mover which provided non-stop service at all times. Maybe we can do something similar. But then again, is that not similar to self-driving cars?
I don’t have all the answers, but I would love to see us all working towards an easy national transportation system. I have even wondered about an RFC system that was used to develop the Internet. The RFC (request for comments) approach is where people simply make official proposals about solutions, and people can comment and edit those proposals so that there is a consensus as to how to proceed. We submit ideas, and the good ideas gain traction. We can start by simply saying that we intend to have an enjoyable, easy-to-use transportation system.
What do you think?
