Waiting on a train : the embattled future of passenger rail service / James McCommons ; foreword by James Howard Kunstler.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

McCommons, James H., 1957-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Railroads--United States.

Railroads.

United States.

Transportation--United States.

Transportation.

Physical Description:

xvi, 285 pages : maps ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

White River Junction, Vt. : Chelsea Green Pub. Co., [2009]

Summary:

During the tumultuous year of 2008, James MeCommons rode America's trains, talking to the people who ride and work the rails throughout much of the Amtrak system. He introduces us to historians, railroad executives, politicians, regulators, lobbyists, and passenger-rail advocates in search of answers: Why has the world's greatest railroad nation turned its back on the form of transportation that made modern life and mobility possible? What can be done to revive passenger rail to a new greatness?

Contents:

Part 1 Through the Rockies and Sierras 1

California Zephyr Here Come Your Game Boys and Microwaves 3

Sacramento All You Got Now Is Amtrak 11

Train World Foamers and Trainsp otters 14

Real Railroad World The Birth of Amtrak 20

Part 2 Pacific Northwest 25

North Dakota Across on the Hi-Line 27

Essex, Montana At the Izaak"Walton Inn 34

The Cascades Locomotive Problems 39

Seattle The "N" word: Nationalization 44

Amtrak Cascades Its All about Frequency 47

Oregon Funding Rail with Vanity Plates 54

Empire Builder The Best Kept Secret in America 57

Part 3 The Midwest 61

Chicago A Third-World Train Set 63

Madison Everything Has Six Zeros in It 69

Part 4 The Middle Atlantic 75

Lakeshore Limited But I Don't Want a Burger 77

The Acela Express Aboard America's Fastest Train 80

Washington, D. C. Running Out of Capacity 85

Norfolk, Virginia Make Those People Go Away 92

Raleigh, North Carolina A State-Owned Railroad 98

The Carolinian National Train Day 103

Union Station, Washington, D. C. When Railroads Were Bad to the Bone 106

The Capitol Limited America Rides These Trains 113

Part 5 California 119

The Southwest Chief On the Trans con 121

Pacific Surfliner On Board the California Car 125

The Coast Starlight A California Train Inside and Out 132

Capitol Corridor Trains in the Streets of Oakland 135

Caltrans, Sacramento A Billion Dollars Ready to Go 142

High Speed Rail Authority, Sacramento Building Another Hoover Dam 145

California Railroad Museum, Sacramento Railroads Become Road Kill 149

Amtrak Western Division, Oakland Freight that Talks 152

California Zephyr A Stunning Long Way to Go 156

Colorado River Yak-Yak on the Radio 159

Denver Waiting for Those Freighters 162

Part 6 Texas 167

The Texas Eagle Diner Lite 169

Longview,Texas Don't You Get it? We Don't Care 174

Houston A Pitiful Harvest by Bus 179

Dallas A Texas T-Bone Bullet Train 182

BNSF Headquarters, Fort Worth We Care. We. Really Do 189

Texas Eagle No Mac and Cheese 194

Part 7 The Northeast 201

The Hiawatha Deadly Days 203

The Capitol Limited A Complete Washout 207

Union Station, Washington, D. C. The Big Lie of Profitability 211

Amtrak Headquarters Broken Governance and the Amtrak Haters 216

Philadelphia Trains with People in Them 220

Boston I Was Your Governor 222

Cambridge Mega-Regions: 100 Million More People 226

The Downeaster Maine's Very Own Train 229

Lake Shore Limited Can I Sit Somewhere Else? 233

Part 8 The Gulf Coast 239

City of New Orleans On the Main Line of Mid-America 241

Meridian, Mississippi Interstate II in FifteenYears' 244

New Orleans Rail:The Red-Headed Stepchild 250

CSX Headquarters, Jacksonville Where's the Vision, Where's the Money? 253

Tallahassee Left without a Cadillac 257

Silver Meteor A Bed and 600 Miles 260

Virginia Beach Railpax: Set Up to Fail 262

Washington, D. C. The Freight-Railroad Boys 267.

Notes:

Includes index.

ISBN:

9781603580649

1603580646

OCLC:

318410504