Trains, planes & autos create transportation challenges
Failure to maintain existing infrastructure will cost far more to repair in the long run.
In an election not many years ago, the motto of one political group, citing the nation’s dire financial situation, was, “It’s the economy, stupid,” which implied that all the political “red herrings” (diversions from facts) were misleading the public from the key issues facing the nation. Now, red herrings take too much news time, while serious issues go unaddressed. It’s time to get on with the real business of government, like funding FEMA and the VA.
The holidays always elicit favorite memories. As a transportation historian, I teach of times before interstates and cellphones, when people traveled by passenger trains to distant states and actually wrote letters to friends and relatives. Instead of flying in a cramped sardine can, we flew in DC-3s, Lockheed Constellations or Boeing Stratacruisers, wearing suits and ties while being served real meals.
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Trains had lounges and diners serving excellent food, and there were sleeping cars with suites and observation parlor cars for overnight travel. One could still take a steamer to many inland cities – now there are just “cruises” for “out and back” travel to some remote island.
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What happened?
The collapse of a bridge in Genoa, Italy, in August reminded us that U.S. bridges are in desperate shape and need constant maintenance before they, too, collapse. Airline travel is no longer a pleasure — it’s a chore.
Remember The Twentieth-Century Limited? (That was the train where Eva Marie Saint hid Cary Grant in her Pullman bed while the train ran between New York and Chicago.) Passenger Train Journal reported in the third-quarter issue, “For the first time since a date in the 19th century, America’s largest and third-largest cities are no longer connected by passenger train.” Worse yet, Amtrak wants to kill what’s left of the old Santa Fe Super Chief by cutting the remaining train somewhere east of the Rockies and busing passengers to somewhere in New Mexico or Arizona. Moreover, if you do ride a train that has a diner, don’t expect a warm meal; Amtrak’s new “contemporary dining” offers ‘cold, boxed meals.’
Service isn’t all that’s been cut. New York City’s “Westside” bridge was closed for renovation of the swing bridge, so service up the Hudson had to return to Grand Central Terminal, a nuisance if you’re changing trains from the South. New Trans-Hudson tunnels are planned; the old ones flooded in “Sandy.”
Acela service is still as close to international-style high-speed rail as the U.S. can accomplish, and it’s pretty slow. Except for cities between Richmond and Boston, there is no “national” rail service worth mentioning, maybe one train every day or two. However, if bridges on the Interstates fall, driving anywhere will be a nightmare. The over-packed day coaches that pass for Amtrak service will not be there to help unless wise state planers have established their own Amtrak services, as have California, Illinois, Michigan, and North Carolina.
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Holidays of years past
The bucolic Christmas card picture of a passenger train arriving at some small-town depot to deliver family for the holidays may still exist in a few lucky places, but it’s not as convenient as it once was.
So try to get an airline ticket to wherever you want to go, but be prepared for weather delays, mechanical delays, crew scheduling delays, over-worked TSA agents, and cramped seating. Oh, and if you pay them extra to carry your suitcase with all of the presents, remember you may never see it again until long after the holidays. Noel!
Ken Brownlee, CPCU, (kenbrownlee@msn.com) is a former adjuster and risk manager based in Atlanta, Ga. He now authors and edits claims-adjusting textbooks. Opinions expressed are the author’s own.