LETTERS TO HORIZON Home Edition

I cannot agree with you more ["Rail should be 3rd leg of nation's transit plan," Saporta, Horizon, July 4] on the U.S. rail system. I was once told that the railroads in the United States owned almost as much real estate as the government. It is a disgrace that our government leaders...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inThe Atlanta journal-constitution (2001)
Main Author RICHARD BELAND, JACK BENNINGHOFF, THOMAS V. ROBERTSON, KEVIN MONAHAN, ALLAN T. GOLDBERG, LARRY HENSON, STEVE VOGEL
Format Newspaper Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Atlanta, Ga Atlanta Journal Constitution, LLC 18.07.2005
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:I cannot agree with you more ["Rail should be 3rd leg of nation's transit plan," Saporta, Horizon, July 4] on the U.S. rail system. I was once told that the railroads in the United States owned almost as much real estate as the government. It is a disgrace that our government leaders do not see the rail system as a way to help us out of the transportation mess we are in. I could not agree with you more ["Rail should be . . ."]. The railroad companies are bulging at capacity and desperately need a transportation package that includes strong investments in more rail lines and better switches, junctions, overpasses. Rail is as safe and fuel-efficient as we can get. Affordable, efficient and reliable mass transit systems are the building blocks of healthy economic markets. Actually, Amtrak already has the authority to use the tracks of any freight line ["Rail should be ..."]. It pays a usage fee when it does. One of the bigger problems for Amtrak is that since the freight lines own the tracks, the freight trains get priority. Business is good right now, and the tracks are being heavily used.
ISSN:1539-7459