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[quote user="Sir Madog"] I understand how difficult it is to discuss topics like AMTRAK or this issue without drifting into politics. As a European, I have to admit, that a number of the contributions I read in this forum are a little strange to me. OK, I live in a country, where train travel is much more a part of daily live than in the US and Canada. One reason may be the shorter distances of travel we have here, but another reason is that quite a lot of folks have learned that taking the train is the  better alternative to going by car or even taking a plane. Trains are the safest and most ecological mode of mass transport available. The 1960´s and 1970´s saw, just like in the US, a dramatic decline in ridership in most European countries. Switzerland may have been the only exception to that, as the Swiss just love their trains. The decline in ridership was followed by a massive closure of local or branch line that had served as feeders to the long distance routes. Add to that out-dated and run-down rolling stock, and you have a perfect scenario how to kill passenger service. Traffic mostly shifted to roads, causing massive collapses. It was as late as the mid 1990´s when people and politics changed their thinking and started to invest into trains again. Not only those prestigious HSR lines benefited from that, but also local and commuter lines were revamped, and some of the lines closed earlier were re-opened again.  Now all of this does not happen in the timespan between two elections. You need people with a vision for future society´needs and the stamina to push it forward against all odds of short term politics and profitability. Unfortunately, those people a hard to find. What works for Europe, need not to work for the US - I can literally hear those remarks. I am sorry, but what´s so special about the US in that sense? We talk about people´s needs and I doubt that they are very much different in Europe. Isn´t it the old "getting from A to B" game, in a most economical, ecological, safe and comfortable way, at times and in a time which is closest to my personal schedule? This is a trains forum, but sometimes, reading the posts, I have the feeling to have entered the wrong platform, as the general tone is more against trains than in favor of them. [/quote] There are vast cultural, geographic, economic, and political differences between the United States and the EU countries, Pacific rim countries, or for that matter most countries. I have lived in seven states of the U.S., as well as DC, plus Canada, Australia, and Japan.  There are significant differences between the states, between the U.S. and Canada, with which we share the longest unarmed border in the world, etc. With respect to transport choices, it is values.  People here prefer cars and airplanes in most environments. It is not a question of right or wrong. It is their choice, and choice is an underlying tenant in a free society. I have been participating in these forums for nearly five years. I have been consistant. Passenger trains make sense in relatively short, high density corridors, i.e. Boston to Washington, LA to San Diego, where the cost to expand the highways and airways is prohibitive. Long distance trains make no economic and transport sense.  More importantly, however, I put my money where my mouth is; I ride trains five or six times per year, although 90 per cent of my trips are on corridor trains or where I hope a corridor will develop. If I have to be all in or all out with respect to any group, discussion or otherwise, I would not be able to join any group. There is nothing political about this perspective.
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