The American Spectator

Mike Spencer br> Midland, Michigan /p>

RET complains about the poor ride quality on passenger trains other than Acela Express.

The reason for this is the lack of investment in our mostly-private railroad infrastructure. A smooth ride for passenger trains requires that tracks be maintained to higher standards than are necessary for the safe passage of freight trains. This dichotomy grows as freight trains get heavier and heavier, and passenger trains get faster, but outside a few corridors, there is no money available for this level of maintenance.

As long as largely-unsubsidized* and tax-paying private-sector railroads have to compete with subsidized, tax-exempt highways, there isn’t going to be sufficient capital invested in our rail network.

p>I agree the Quiet Cars are a godsend, but I’ve not experienced such pranksters or jackbooted conductors as RET has. People more or less take it upon themselves to make the system work — a much higher level of society than you would find on the average airliner these days as people fight for prime spots for their oversized carry-on bags. br> — Matt Mitchell br> Delaware Valley Association of Rail Passengers, Inc. br> Philadelphia, Pennsylvania /p>

*Some railroads, particularly short lines, get funding for the purpose of maintaining connections to industrial shippers, because it keeps the industrial jobs from being moved elsewhere and because it reduces truck traffic on area roads.

R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr., the libertarian-conservative-futurist, states, “I would not advocate the rails for transatlantic travel…”

p>Sorry, couldn’t resist.