Tag Archives: Amtrak

When it comes to the environment, anyone can tell you I have a strange outlook on things.  I want windmills as far as the eye can see, yet I want to build a new coal plant.  I want people to drive less, yet I want as many cars built as possible.  My views can be summed up simply as, I want jobs.  That is not to say I don’t have a vision.  I see Americans driving hydrogen cars, and our electricity coming directly from mother nature.  Most of all what I want is Americans to travel throughout this great nation via high speed trains.  And apparently so does President Obama.

The new plan calls for high speed corridors stretching from Boston to Florida, and improvements to the existing high speed corridors like the route between Detroit and Chicago.  Part of the vision is trains traveling upwards of 150 miles per hour, similar to the Acela Express that serves the North East Corridor.

I had the pleasure of enjoying the European train systems in my young years, and one of my biggest regrets is the lack of proper train coverage in this nation.  Finally we have a president who gets it.  It’s important to note that this is just the beginning, hopefully someday we will see a return to train travel on a massive scale.  I see state wide train service linking northern Michigan to Detroit, I-75 replaced with rail service as Spring Breakers crowd high speed trains heading to Miami.  I can dream, but as Dylan said, “The times they are a changing.”

(cnn)