Irish Chieftain wrote:But it's not happening. Nor is such a thing "21st Century" by any means. Most definitely political pressure from DC would be the inducement and nothing else.Alright, let's not say "drawing boards" , but rather "radar". Planners I have spoken with or listened to all indicated that the need to move people within regions is a growing problem and that because of congestion and enviormental concerns, rail appears most appealing especially in and between major metropolitan areas and clusters.
Which drawing boards, BTW? They seem to me to be only on passenger advocacy groups' wish lists, if anywhere.
Plus, ngotwalt, NS has identified "corridors" where it "needs help". So have other railroads around the country. There is a changing mindset that big business may indeed need the helping hand of big government to be able to function both economically and politically. Resistance has been two fold. One, if you get someting from government, then you must give someting back, strings are attached to such help. Second, it just flies in the face of free enterprise that big businesses take too much from government. But the combination of pressing needs to accomodate today's and tomorrow's traffic and the realization that highways are not the freight answer for this growth are leading both sides to the discussion rooms. The stinging problem, from this topic and thread point of discussion, is how much are the freight railroads willing to give to a passenger system in order to attain thier own 21st Century goals?