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As is true in most areas of the United States, the majority of Americans don't think train as an alternative to driving or flying.  This is clearly the case in Texas.  Moreover, because of infrequent service outside of the corridors (NEC, Illinois, and California), taking the train is not a serious option.  In Texas most weekend travelers, especially this time of the year, are only driving a couple of hundred miles at the most.  If they had frequent, rapid corridor trains, I suspect many of them would leave the family buggy at home and take the train.  But we don't have frequent train service in Texas.  Instead we have two long distance trains that run only once a day or three times a week, usually late, as well as a daily short haul train.  They are not serious transport options in the minds of most people.  This is the reason why I have argued consistently for the discontinuance of the long distance trains, which are used by less than one per cent of the people traveling on a commercial carrier, and the redirection of the monies into the development of regional rail corridors.Approximately 25 per cent of the refinery capacity of the United States is located along the Texas and the Louisiana coasts.  When a hurricane hits, the refineries are shut down to ride out the storm.  It takes time to shut them down and then restart them in an orderly fashion.  It is not unlike restarting a large power plant, which I have been a part of many times.  Thus, 25 per cent of America's refinery capacity was shut down for an appreciable amount of time, and is only now coming back on line.  This fact, plus reported panic buying in the Southeast, is driving the gasoline shortage.  Ironically, outside of the Houston and Galveston areas, there is no shortage of gasoline in Texas.
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