> You've seen the ads for the new Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft. Here are
> some
> facts, a lot of them, about it.
>
> It's a really interesting article. Still I have to ask, with all our
> technology, why is it that Des Moines, the capital city of a great state,
> has no
> passenger rail service?

Politics.

Just 30 miles or so north of Des Moines, the UP runs up to 80 freight
trains per day (total, going east or west).  Rail traffic makes sense
economically for them.

With oil nudging $80 per barrel, maybe we're approaching a point where
upgrading our passenger rail service will finally get some serious
attention from the policy makers.

The last time I took Amtrack west, to Glacier NP, I had to drive to
LaCrosse, WI, to catch the train:  ridiculous.

Even more ridiculous:  when I started college at UNI (almost 40 years
ago), you could still take a daily express train (4 stops, as I recall)
from Waterloo via Dubuque to downtown Chicago.  It went right past O'Hare.
You could board in Waterloo about 5:30 a.m. and be in Chicago at 10:30. 
Every time my wife and I drive to Chicago to catch a flight (Waterloo now
air-connects only to Minneapolis), I think of that train.




Because very frankly, for travel within the lower
> 48
> states, I'd rather take the train.
>
> http://www.energybulletin.net/18163.html
>
> Tom
>
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