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I wasn't suggesting paving the NEC and I agree that what's needed to achieve critical mass on most routes is 4 to 5 trains a day. Filling up 1 train or meeting some artificially low quota doesn't take Amtrak out of the novelty category and onto the radar screens of the general public. It's like when Metra here in Chicago tried running 1 or 2 commuter trains a day on older freight routes. Have a late meeting or an un-expected phone call and you're stranded, so ridership was poor. Miss a flight from Seattle to Chicago and chances are you can get a later one. <br /> <br />On the other hand consider that when the former Trains editor needed to get from Milwaukee to a Chicago suburb, he drove. Union Station in Chicago is within a couple of blocks of 8 out of about 10 heavy commuter rail lines, a half dozen rapid transit lines, more bus routes than a west coast planner has wet dreams about, car rentals, taxis, a commuter boat, and even a horse drawn carriage. End point connectivity doesn't get much better. And Amtrak has been hyping 'corrridors' between Chicago a various nearby cities for almost it's entire existance, we've had Turbo trains, frequent schedules, etc., yet none of them have been really successfull. <br /> <br />Maybe what's needed for corridors to really work is 2 end points that are really big where congestion & traffic have driven people out of their cars. In other words, Milwaukee isn' screwed up enough yet, Detroit is the motor city and that's a big mistake and if Amtrak really wants to make this work, they need to do really high speed rail between Chicago and New York and forget about all these test projects between little politically connected cities that don't need them. For Milwaukee to Chicago, an extension of the Metra North commuter line from Kenosha up to Milwaukee would probably serve more people more conveniently than anything Amtrak has tried.
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