Overall I like rail, but when many speak in good terms of rail travel, most all these operate on separate passenger rail tracks than freight whereas most of the intercity rail in the US operates jointly with freight and passenger service is usually secondary to freight. We need to build intercity passenger rail that has tracks separate from freight.

As to people saying that money would be better spent on road projects since it would create more congestion relief than building rail. I would reply that reliving congestion has never in the last 50 years successfully relieved congestion, for it has returned in a few years because we do not consider how we allow development. California especially has continually had the highest congestion as a State with LA areas rated the highest region followed by SF Area and both were higher than Wash DC area, according to US DOT latest report.

Another important consideration is our problem of Global Warming of which Transportation is the primary contributor to GW because of its large Greenhouse Gas emission. Transportation county wide produces 40% of the total. Our country is the greatest generator of GHG and if we do not reduce it, GW will increase and create dire effects to our environment not just locally but worldwide. We have already experienced conditions such as; serious weather changes, sea level rise, droughts, extinction of various flora and fauna and we are increasing GHG emissions.

Since auto use is the major generator of GHG we need to reduce it use by considering developments where transit will be the major mode of travel. This includes the development more dense city centers and transit corridors. Curitiba, Brazil integrated development with dense corridors along with the world renowned Busway and now 70% of the total trip are by transit. We should provide intercity High Speed Rail because air travel produces several fold more GHG emission.

Lacking the simple wisdom to simply address proper maintenance and repair of existing highways, roads and bridges, these proponents of profligate paving call for more dead-end roadgang spending even as we are one attack or one big storm or refinery disaster from car-pooling ang 5 gallons per week gas rationing. In a perfect world with perfect justice these transit detractors would present themselves to the various communities they deceive, begging for forgiveness when the crisis comes. They shall have to explain themselves to their loved ones, the children from whom they can’t hide, perhaps that will be enough.

A local example here in Sacramento (not the Governator) is the Sacramento BEE, ever so careful to damn transit with faint praise. This is understandable when you see how fat the car advertising, and new homes sections are. A scary thing, to rock the highway economy and the lucrative ads that come with.

One can see the depth of this self-deception with the recent stories about a billion-dollar parking structure at the airport, further delaying the light-rail connector. The BEE stifles discussion of an alternative and maybe less expensive route to the airport using the old Sacramento Northern route over the Tower Bridge, then getting to the Airport from the west, preferring instead to extol expensive flood-plain Natomas neighborhood LRT plans. Further hundreds of millions for parking structures at the City College (on light rail); and Sacramento State Campus, instead of a streetcar or BRT connector to the LRT station about a mile away.

The MASS TRANSIT page might consider some Peaking Oil links, such as the Association For The Study Of Peak OIl & Gas (peakoil.net) site. Maybe the Sacramento BEE, and the Boston GLOBE will take warning from the preponderence of evidence of a transportation emergency looming if they had easier access to information. It seems their respective editorial boards prefer to stay ignorant of Peaking Oil information that will adversly impact the automobile advertising section! Once this veil is removed, the mighty power of the free press can dutifully educate the TMA’s and MTBA’s and SACOGS of the land about the lunacy of throwing money at parking structures and more roads and highways. Unfortunately, embarassment is in order…