"I’m the train they call the City of New Orleans.”
We walk through the gate, out onto the platform. We do not check our bags; we are not searched. There is plenty of room for all your things; only check what you want to. The platform is inside a tunnel under the towers and streets of downtown Chicago. Overhead, power cables hang from the concrete ceiling over the train, which is sleek and fresh though it looks similar to the older models. The seats are spacious and comfortable, twice the size of airline seats. You can use your cell phone, plug in your laptop, and connect to the Internet without worrying about takeoffs or landings. The train is filling and preparing to make its daily round trip journey. This is the newly created non-stop trip from Chicago to New Orleans, which Amtrak has named the City of New Orleans Express.
The train begins to pull from the station, gathering speed. Before it leaves the city limits it is traveling at 180 miles-per-hour. Everything outside the window is a blur - houses, cars, tress, all blend into one streak of colors. It is hard to watch anything near, so you focus on the distant images. Hills and forests and fields float far away, near the unchanging clouds. A rhythm from beneath the wheels can still be felt, as in the former train models, but the timing is much faster. The click-clack is gone; now there is a just a solid thump, similar to a car’s tires traveling on an uneven concrete freeway.
The diversity of the place shows itself on the train also. Walking by is a large, middle-aged man wearing a leather vest, without a shirt underneath. Tattoos are displayed up and down his bare arms. His hair is long and grey, pulled back into a ponytail. We get up to see what movie is playing and to get something to eat from the snack car. Here, we meet a young man with a guitar. He does not carry it in a case, which I had to ask about. He replied, “This is the one my father bought. My baby is at home, safe.” He is visiting his parent. His father sent him to an expensive school but he does not wish to attend, so he spends his time playing guitar. These are also the people of the train; do not forget them.
The 900 miles between the two cities can be covered in just five hours with no stops. All the way from Chicago to New Orleans, in just twice the time that it would take to flying in a plane (if you do not count the security checks and travel between the airport and downtown).
The price tag would have to be enormous to build such a system. “It took $3.8 billion to electrify and modernize much of the Northeast [Washington, D.C. to Boston, MA] corridor’s infrastructure. [Not including] an $850 million loan for [the] Acela trains” (Tindall 30). That work was so trains could go 125 miles-per-hour over roughly 440 miles. So, the tag would be far greater to upgrade over 900 miles of track to 180 miles-per-hour train travel. “In South Korea, Alstrom... is supplying 185-miles-per-hour trains for a five-year, $17 billion project that has connected Pusan and Seoul” (Tagliabue 2). Those cities are only 204 miles apart. Thus, once can only speculate how much it would cost to build or upgrade the present system for speeds of this kind from the Midwest to the Delta.
But this wonderful dream is unlikely to come true. So far the United States Government has spent very little on Amtrak throughout its history. There is no indication this trend will change. Amtrak is clearly underfunded, as they are having trouble keeping the system up to date.
“Good Night America how are you?”
Trains pollute almost six times less than planes, and over three times less than automobiles per person (Tindall 33). They also take up far less space than highways. “A single railroad track can carry as many people as a 10-lane highway” (Hansen 18). “A recent California Department of Transportation study found that a statewide HSR [high-speed rail] network would have saved 7.3 million gallons of gasoline - the equivalent of taking 7,000 sport-utility vehicles or 12,000 cars of the road for a year” (Hansen 9).
The evidence is clear. Trains are a very beneficial mode of transportation. With an equal share of help from the US Government, Amtrak could be running high-speed trains on a futuristic rail system. I have shown there are many people who do want to use trains, and there are many of those who would surely enjoy a faster trip. Those people are like you and me; we are those people.
Trains will help reduce pollution and improve travel times for those who do need to use the roadways. It is our duty to return trains to their former glory. It can be done. Instead of jumping in your car, or catching a plane, next time you wish to take a trip, consider Amtrak. You may find it to be cheaper, and you will surely find it more enjoyable. All those already here will surely welcome you.
And the steel rails still ain’t heard the news.
The conductor sings his song again,
The passengers will please refrain
This train’s got the disappearing railroad blues.
- Steve Goodman
Works Cited
Goodman, Steve. “City of New Orleans.” Steve Goodman. Buddah, 1972.
Hansen, Brian. “Future of Amtrak.” The CQ Researcher 18 Oct. 2002.
Tagliabue, John. “Overseas, the Trains and the Market for Them Accelerate.” The New York Times 30 Dec. 2005. C1.
Tindall, Blair. “Trains, Planes, and Pains: What’s the Best Way to Get from Point A to Point B? Amtrak’s High-Speed Rail Takes on the Airlines.” Sierra Nov.-Dec. 2003. 28-33.
“Union Station (Chicago).” 16 Feb. 2006. 14 Apr. 2006
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Station_(Chicago)
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