Americans use trains - - when abroad

In a rave review of high speed trains for business travelers, New York Times writer Paul Burnham Finney (April 24) says more American business people are taking the train - - in Europe, Japan and elsewhere.

It's another big event in Train Month (that's what it seems like this month).  He writes that business people prefer trains over planes, and obviously cars.  Faster.  And they can work online, as the trains there have high speed Internet connections. 

The train from Paris to Brussels, he writes, takes only an hour and a half.  No one flies between those two cities anymore, he says.

And our NineShift conclusion is that Americans like trains too.  Hopefully business will advocate for more trains here too.

Comments

[Richard]

I pasted a comment from the local technology council about an upcoming meeting.

Trains make a lot of sense but we have allowed the infrastructure to deeriorate until it is not usefull for highspeed rail other than the few places it continues to exist. The cost will be "man on the moon" or more expensive and the government has been reluctant to support rail doing so at only a fraction of the support provided to air and interstate highways. On the other hand about 150 years ago the government gave the rails everything (in the West, all land within 1 mile on either side of the rail for it's length?) but next to nothing the last 30 years.

Of importance is the cost of tickets. In Europe tickets are relatively inexpensive and one can go from the capital of France to the capital of Germany for next to nothing ( a 10 day Euro Rail pass used to cost about $100 for unlimited use within 10 days). A ticket from Chattanooga to Atlanta, about 120 miles has been estimated at $150 one way. I don't see my wife and I taking the train to Atlanta for a Braves game.

Chattanooga Technology Council Luncheon Meeting - High Speed Ground Transportation/Maglev presented by Joe Ferguson, Director of Special Projects, Enterprise Center and Chairman of EPB
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

EPB Building (corner of M. L. King Blvd. and Broad St.), 7th Floor Auditorium
Public parking is available on 10th Street side of EPB building.

Click link to RSVP for this event:

Yes! I want to attend.

Please RSVP by Thursday, May 17th to info@chatc.org or 423.209.6813.

Continued traffic pressure on our interstate highways points out a significant need for a high speed ground transportation system in this country. A Maglev high speed rail system could very well be the preferred ground transportation mode of the future.
Working with Georgia and Tennessee Departments of Transportation, various Mayors' offices and Congressional Representatives, the Enterprise Center in Chattanooga envisions the Atlanta- Chattanooga-Nashville rail link as the first step in a high speed rail system that would eventually operate from Savannah, Georgia and travel through Macon, Atlanta, Chattanooga, Nashville, Louisville, Indianapolis and on to Chicago. The complete system would thus connect Atlanta's Hartsfield and Chicago's O'Hare airports, the two heaviest traveled airports in the country.
The Enterprise Center in Chattanooga is now serving as the catalyst to get the high speed rail up and running in our area of the country, and is prepared to play an ongoing advocate and coordination role. The Enterprise Center promotes the advancement of economic development in the City of Chattanooga, Hamilton County and surrounding region by facilitating and integrating investments, revitalization, research, patents, inventions and technology with regard to existing business and industry. The Center's technological emphasis is in the areas of advanced transportation, alternative energy and technology transfer.
Mr. Ferguson, is the Director of Special Projects at the Enterprise Center. He will provide us with a multimedia presentation on high speed rail system around the world, and updates on local efforts on the rail proposal. Consulting team members will present the specifics on the Atlanta and Nashville legs of the projects. Mr. Ferguson says it is imperative to successfully complete the preliminary engineering steps for the Chattanooga - Atlanta leg in order to be in a priority position once the U.S. Congress moves forward on High Speed Ground Transportation construction funding

[Terry Newman]

A key for using trains, or any other mass transit, is having close, convenient access to the system and a schedule where trains or busses run often. If it isn't convenient, people won't buy in.