Edit post

Edit your reply below.

Post Body
Enter your post below.
California is to Texas as day is to night.  One only needs to look at the political landscape to begin to get an idea of the magnitude of the differences.  Californians may be flocking to its state supported passenger trains, but they still loose a lot of money.  They are on track to lose $37.5 million before other charges in 2008.  They lost an average 14.2 cents a passenger mile during the first three quarters of FY008 whilst averaging 32.3 per cent of capacity. For the first three quarters of FY08 the Pacific Surfliner, Capital Corridors, and San Joaquin's carried 3,974,111 riders.  The population of California in 2006 (latest U.S. Census Bureau estimate) was 36,457,549.  If the riders on these train were one time a year only passengers, approximately 10.7 per cent of Californians took to the rails, excluding the long distance trains, which carry a relatively small number of passengers.  But a significant per cent of the riders probably take the train more than once a year.  Many of the Pacific Surfliner riders, for example, are commuters.  If the riders only took the train twice a year, the per cent of Californians who rode the train would drop to approximately 5.3; three times a year would drop to 3.6 per cent and so on and so forth.  Gasoline prices have dropped more than 30 cents a gallon in Texas.  It is hard to predict where they will be next year.  In time, however, they will increase as petroleum becomes more difficult to find and produce. In 2010 GM, Nissan, Toyota, etc. will be offering plug-in hybrid vehicles that will get considerably better mileage than today's vehicles.  As Americans move away from gas guzzling vehicles, with an increasing number opting for alterative fueled ones, the argument that high fuel costs will be an enabler of passenger rail, high speed or otherwise, will fall by the wayside.
Tags (Optional)
Tags are keywords that get attached to your post. They are used to categorize your submission and make it easier to search for. To add tags to your post type a tag into the box below and click the "Add Tag" button.
Add Tag