Consider the advantages of passenger rail.

A modernized intercity rail passenger system could help
shore up our transportation system.  







Why?








One seventy-five foot wide rail corridor can carry the same  number
of persons per hour as a sixteen lane expressway.

Rail travel is six times safer than highway travel and worldwide, the
safest mode of all.

Needed transportation capacity can be added to many corridors for
a lower cost with modernized or new high speed rail.

Trains consume less energy and emit less pollutants per passenger
mile than most other forms of travel.

Increased travel by rail stimulates economic activity and
spurs private investment in urban areas and central business
districts around rail stations.

Rail service grants the freedom of mobility to those unable
to easily use our air and highway systems because of age, physical
disabilities, health problems, or economic circumstances.

Rail is the most comfortable and enjoyable form of intercity travel.  
It allows more room and requires less restrictions on personal
freedoms than other modes.

While not immune to terrorism, the effects of such acts on
passengers are smaller in scale and unlikely to affect areas
and people outside the rail corridor.  Because of the strength
and resiliency of U.S. rail equipment, security needs and
inspections are not as strict as that required for aircraft.
USDOT and Bombardier have jointly developed the Jet
Train prototype for high speed operations in
non-electrified corridors.  Seen here in Colorado.