Nothing is more fairly distributed than common sense: no one thinks he needs more of it than he already has.
A posting on the Yahoo Amtrak group has a different approach to the issue.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/amtrak/message/11223
Another thing to think about is the efficiency of an LD train vs. short haul. Lumping them together may not tell the whole story. 1 P42 + 5 Amfleet with 200 passengers <> 2 P42 +baggage+dorm+2 sleepers+lounge+diner+4 coaches with 200 passengers.
-Don (Random stuff, mostly about trains - what else? http://blerfblog.blogspot.com/)
That's NARP for you -- Amtrak was 18 percent more fuel efficient than aircraft after a revision of the ORNL data that made a better account of electric-fuel equivalent. NARP is bragging about something that is a disgrace -- 18 percent.
I guess I am the Dr. Evil of energy efficiency where Mike Meyers castigates Dana Carvey for "not being evil enough." "You are semi-evil, quasi-evil, you are the 1-calorie Diet Coke of evil."
Amtrak is semi-energy efficient, it is quasi-energy efficient, Amtrak is the ethanol-in-gasoline of energy efficiency. Amtrak could be some multiple more energy efficient than air travel (see Colorado Railcars website on comparison of DMU to locomotive-hauled passenger train), but it is not a priority with Amtrak, with Congress, with the passenger-rail advocacy community.
If Amtrak realized the potential for rail fuel efficiency, a case could be made for ramping up Amtrak subsidies on the grounds of reducing oil imports. As it stands, a billion plus is subsidy to save 18 percent of 1 percent of the oil spent on air travel doesn't work. Does that mean if we subsidize Amtrak at 1/2 trillion per year, we could replace all air travel and save on the oil imported for air travel?
If GM "killed the electric car", what am I doing standing next to an EV-1, a half a block from the WSOR tracks?
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