The Rowland jokes are sort of on-topic as he (I think) was so anti-rail. Even tried to get rid of Metro-North in lieu of buses.
Yeah, what is this whole thing about republicans being opposed to rail trainsit? Bush, McCain, Rowland... Do they
want to just keep piling on lanes to their precious highways? If they want to cut dependance on foreign oil they can just switch 15% of trucked freight to rail travel and they'd save 280 million gallons of fuel oil a year! Plus the US road system is the #1 producer of greenhouse gas (which BTW skyrocketed to record levels this year) on the
planet. Do they not see sense??? If we are going to do something about it, the people in charge need to get off their [butts] and get moving! More reasearch you say? Is the fact that 5 out of the last 6 summers have been the warmest in recorded history enough? And no, it's not a natural cycle. Rising temperatures over the past 100 years correspond directly to rising CO2 (and other greenhouse gas) emissions. And yes, it is a big deal. Crop faliure, rising ocean levels (aka New York becomes the next Atlantis) and even the next ice age are all possible consequences. Something needs to be done now, and subsidizing the railroads to the same extent we do the highways is a strong first step.
Think about it:
600 trucks = 3 diesel locomotives (300 car double stack)
3 trucks = 1 boxcar
hmmmm... which is more efficient?
Sorry, I get a little carried away on this stuff