As a rail commuter in Boston, I couldn't agree more.  The ridership has been up dramatically, but the system is teetering on the edge of financial solvency while requiring serious infrastructure upgrades. 

Let's reduce the number of cars on the road every day in our cities by investing in the rail infrastructure!

I could not agree more. We need a major infrastructure change here, and this is probably going to take both government involvement and private enterprise. Maybe there should be an X-Prize challenge, "Help America catch up to the rest of the world and start providing 21st century quality rail service." Asian and European rails put ours to shame.

Let's re-invent our nation:

(1) An air traffic control system using new (satellite-based) technology.
(2) Inexpensive (wind and solar derived) electrical energy, as part of a new integrated power grid.
(3) Electric, high-speed commuter train/rail system rivaling that of Europe.
(4) A complete overhaul of our infrastructure.

---modus vivendi

I'm taking the train to President Obama's inauguration!!!!

Maybe all of you should take a rice on Amtrak as My wife and I did from Vancouver BC to Seattle.
The good: very smooth, very roomy, great passenger mix

The bad: No electronic ticketing. The Houston, Texas station is sleazy and we had to pick up the tickets for the Vancouver-Seattle trip there. I have the feeling that most Amtrak stations are vintage 1950's with no modern feel or comfort level for family travelers. there is lots of work to do here if we are to have any sort of acceptable national rail service.

I would like to introduce everyone (who has not been) to CyberTran (www.cybertran.com/) a concept that I believe started at Idaho Engineering Laboratory about 1994. CyberTran has gained enough support for a prototype as shown at the included link. I believe that bringing the concept to the attention of this group may be a good way to increase attention and spur imagination and support for a new transportation model with energy as the number one driver.

I have always lived in Rural areas and never had a train system. I do believe that the train infrastructure in the US should have been upgraded. The only thing that really hurts us is that a lot of the railroad tracks that are laid across the US do not belong to the state/nation so we can not demand a private company to upgrade. So we have to build our own which causes more spending, land purchases, and engineering.... etc. etc.. Do we have the money to pay for that type of expenditure (Who pays for it?)

I am all for upgrading the infrastructure

Agh. We really need some infrastructure down here in the South. I'm a non-driver in Atlanta, recently moved from Austin. It's much harder here to get by without a car. We need better mass transportation (prefer high speed rail!) 

The United States needs to develop a high speed electric train transportation capability. The challenge is finding enough power to push a 500 mph train across the country. Terrestrial power (Nuclear) is the one fuel with the density capable of driving this system. One concept could be an intermodel system where electric cars could ride the train. People would drive their electric car to the electric train and take long trips with their car. The good news is that the car could arrive fully charged! Building a national high speed train system with nuclear power plants would put thousands of people to work and give us a clean fast transportation system.

I support this effort. One of the striking things I remember about living in Oslo, Norway is how many parts of the city were carfree and the infrastructure was well laid out: Cross-country train, the city train (subway train), buses, electric trams, trolleys and water taxis. All forms of public transportation was very interconnected and efficient. There is some good information about carfree cities: http://www.carfree.com/.

I looked at Kerry's bill, and its anemic. We should invest a trillion dollars in getting a REAL high speed train system in this country, crisscrossing the land.

We invented Maglev here in the USA... then we dropped the ball and it belongs to japan and Germany...

I think we should really put our thinking caps on and think how to create a 5000 MPH solar/wind/geothermal powered vacuum tube train network, that would make it a reality to have a 30 minute commute from LA to Brooklyn.

Can you imagine what a 5000 MPH train system would make possible? It would be nothing to live in the middle of nowhere, and just hop on a train and be in any major city in the country in under 30 minutes.

Kerry's few billion dollars may, if we are lucky, pay for one extra stop on a subway line in one city.

It seems to me that it will expend the exact same amount of political capital to go for something that is less than bush spent this year on bailouts, and less than he spent in Iraq--a trillion dollars.... then it would cost us to try to pass something worth $15 billion over 10 years.

Gore said we could get all our energy needs from a 65 mile squared solar farm... just imagine if we developed a road surface that could absorb solar energy. we could convert our roads into solar collectors without using up any other land, and have plenty of energy left over for all sorts of amazing new technologies that we haven't invented yet.

So lets progress!

It never made sense to me that America's rail system was as horrible as it is. It makes no sense that Europe and Asia are such light years ahead of us where commercial rail service is concerned.

The Bush administration, and the outgoing Federal Highway crew, have been cramming "public-private partnership" toll roads down our throats, which are 30% more costly in capital.  These super-profit driven highways are creating a two-tiered system that discriminates against the poor and roads that are not needed.  We need to upgrade bridges and only build roads where necessary.  We need a complete audit of the DOT's and the feds to conduct an investigation.  "Conservative" Texans will join the Obama administration in this effort.  Please help!

I agree with those above who motion  to re make our infrastructure including getting our rail system up to snuff.

I am an American who lives in France 4 months of the year and my significant other is a professional working for the SNCF ( the French Railway System ) and told me that America will have to create all new track systems to accommodate high speed trains like they use in Europe.  There are significant differences and standards between high speed systems even within Europe.  It's all very interesting and something I was surprised to learn, and felt that this would be a good place to pass it on.  I agree that we have much to do and as we learn, share and discuss the more obvious hurdles and paths will become apparent.

Let's keep at it!

I support the idea of public transportation in general. I believe we need to make large subsides to our existing bus systems in small to medium size cities so that they can increase the number of times buses run per hour. If they do not run at least every 15 minutes then buses are not a practical solution. We also need to invest in light rail systems which are much better than buses but are much more expensive to build. 

Improved buses and light rail systems will make public transportation viable for local commutes and travel. To help with more long distance travel we need to build a nationwide high speed rail system with hubs located in urban centers approximately 80 miles apart. Local rails and buses need to be integrated with high speed hubs so that travelers can use high speed rail to travel 80, 160, 240 miles or so and use local transportation systems to get to and from the hubs. 

One major problem we have with Amtrak, apart from the trains being slow, is that the number of stops is enough to make long distance travel slow and not enough to make trains an accessible form of local transportation. The express vs. local system should be set up to accomodate both the long distance travelers and local commuters.
 
On a historical note, the reason the tracks are not owned by the government is because the rails were privatized after much of the rail system was built by the Federal Government. And is typical of privatization, the profitable part of the system, commercial transport was sold to commercial interest while the less viable, and definitely less profitable, personal transport part of the business was maintained by an entity of the Federal Government. If we spend public money to build light rail and high speed tracks then the resulting infrastructure must remain in the hands of the Government. If commercial interests want to use these rails, then they can pay for the use of the rails, which will help pay for the personal transport system we are all interested in.     

Rather then being too particular about the "rail" system, we might approach it the way Sweden is, and re-invent transport from a sustainable perspective. Unfortunately, as "cool" as rail is, rail projects usually don't make an impact on overall energy use, safety, emissions, or congestion. So, if we keep doing it the same way, we'll get the same non-results. It is important to make the car less dominant, less dangerous, and less polluting by diversification of our transport system, BUT it has to be done based on evidence, not just because we think its cool.

As I said above. we should have an appolo style program to invent a new cheap means of extremely high speed transportation that makes it feasible to live on one coast of the USA and work on another, and have a 15-30 minute commute to get there.

I think we can do it, if we think about it.

Rail service -- absolutamente!!!! Just shipping all our stuff by train instead of truck would be a 75% energy savings, as well as cutting pollution, yada yada. Given the realities of the pending economic and global climate collapses, we should start with high-speed commuter rail service in certain corriders -- particularly the Northeast corrider Boston/NYC/DC. The ICE train is one of two train technologies that can maneuver the corners of our old curvy tracks without dumping the passengers or their drinks. TG for Rails-to-Trails work to preserve our rail corriders, because trying to get those corriders back by eminent domain would be Hell.

As nanotechnology progresses, it may become feasible to grow tunnels at practically no cost... just plant the seeds and let the process commense automatically...

at least we can enhanse research and development toward that goal.

Wonderful idea -- link it to economic recovery with a WPA-style infrastructure reinvestment program focused in particular on public transportation. 

The Interstate Traveler Hydrogen Superhighway (HyRail) can do exactly what you want but at no taxpayer expense. President-elect Obama already knows about it but needs a nudge from us to issue his public support. As soon as we have that, we can begin construction from coast to coast.

Learn more at http://HyRail.us

and

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDFXe-KfHm0

I use trains as much as possible in Europe, but I will never again use an Amtrak train until I can do so anonymously.  Instead I use buses,
without showing an ID.  Big Brother has no right to know where everyone travels!

This policy supposedly is for our "protection", but the supposed threat of attacking a train is unlikely and this would not prevent it anyway.  (See the film, The Longest Day, for reference.)

I am entirely in favor of constructing a high speed train network in the US provided it is accompanied by ending Amtrak surveillance.

Everyone around the global are investing in RAIL transit, why not us? I take BART to commute everyday, but the system is getting old and dirty.  I travel to Asia, their train is much better and clean than our train.  The most important is the speed is much higher than the US system. It is time to speed up and create a decent train environment for the passengers!

Let's all watch Gataca and Minority Report again. I really liked the transportation system in Minority Report.

There is no reason we can't have 18,000+ MPH intercity vacuum tube solar powered systems, as well as dual cart/car local transport in urban areas.

We also need to break up the railroad monopolies who have taken over and choked the public rail system, much as bell telephone choked up the communications system.

We need net neutrality, not just for the internet, but for all of the rest of our infrastructure as well.

Let's do for transportation what the internet has been doing for data.

The problem with rail is that the current concept is 150 years old.  To see a modern affordable concept that will provide a better quality of life and answer all of the environmental concerns check www.ReanataProject.com

If its designed as a "national transportation infrastructure," with standards based, non-owned systems... you can start to imagine this being real:

A guy got into the elevator. I asked, "Where are you going?"

And he said, "Phoenix."

So I pressed "Phoenix." The door opened. A tumbleweed rolled in.

--Steven Wright.

Considering that a national railway is already on the agenda from the Security & Prosperity Partnership and the NorthAmerican Competetiveness Council and that it will go ahead no matter what we the people want, this seems to be a idea from those groups whose only interest is in transportation of crude;natural gas;sulphur; it has nothing to do with commutor travel.

Imagine...Las Vegas to LA... awesome!

Terri,

we need transportation of everything, at every level. we need to do for people what the internet has done for data.

then we'll see some amazing times.

One of the features that helps the train system work in Europe is that a very high percentage of the population lives in cities and villages.  It really does make a difference.  The technology in Europe is the standard for the world.  I know that the Governor of California was/is debating which standard to subscribe to for the California rail project.  The high speed lines in China are the same systems that they have here in France.
There is a lot to understand before we can reasonably assume that we can re create what it has taken the Europeans decades to develop.  Remember that they had a basic rail system in place that they have built a high speed system around.  The high speed system in France and Europe is only in certain places, not everywhere...    My coments aimed only to clarify so that a realistic goal can be set, attempted and achieved!

I like this idea so much, I'd vote for it twice if I could. I agree with everyone who is saying that this needs to be a complete system with a goal of curb to curb public transit. Also, a majority of the factories for producing rails, cars, and technology should be U.S. based and owned.

Correction, the propper spelling is www.RenataProject.com  May I add that this concept is designed as primarily as a private enterprize project where it is done as a completely new development.  We don't help government by loading up more expenses and really, an important part of sustainability is affordability.

This could possibly be the most important idea on this site.  I believe that the introduction of the personal automobile to society is the single worst contribution to the world humanity has EVER made... it has had a negative impact on the environment, the economy, the social structure; as well as mental, emotional, and general health.  There is absolutely no way we can create a sustainable society while personal automobile ownership is expected and demanded of the individual.

Let's also use some of the existing idle AUTOMOTIVE assembly plants to produce parts required for the rail industry (search for my idea to produce wind and solar tech components). 
There used to be a time in this country when companies such as Ford and GM made locomotives and airplanes.  This along with automotive manufacturing built up the backbone of the country's economic strength.  Just ask any British person who is old enough and they'll tell you that once the manufacturing jobs leave, they don't come back.  We really don't want U.S. to have service-only based economy.

@D Fudym

We are approaching the nanotechnology era. The idea of stand alone factories that fabricate products will eventually come to an end, because we can just grow every material good right at our own homes. It will be the era of software, where every material good, from a sofa to a highway system is merely software, and just like all the plants and animals in the natural environment, isn't "manufactured" but grown.

So its good we are transitioning away from 19th century style manufacturing and preparing towards this new paradigm.

I would be more inclined to take the commuter train to work, if I didn't have to wait so long (especially for the outbound trains to arrive at my stop before the shuttle bus could take us to work -- they trains coming from the city are always late), and if there were more convenient times so I don't have to wait a half hour or more after work, and if they didn't raise their rates with the rise in gas prices, just as people were starting to take the train in larger numbers.  Now that the price of gasoline dropped $2., it's half as expensive and much more convenient for me to drive.  And I'm away from home one less hour each day.  
So service convenience and price are factors for me.  

Take a look at Energy, Jobs and Environment.
http://www.change.org/ideas/view/energy_jobs_and_environment

Monorail - it's not just for Disney!

Seriously, out of all the rail options, monorail is the most beneficial for most (not necessarily all) transit situations. 

Commuting to work/school is increasingly costlier.

Public Transportation is becoming more inconvenient due to shortage of services.

Railroads have historically been useful in moving passengers,  goods and services across the nation.

Our roads, bridges and other infrastructures are aging and increasingly becoming more deficient leading to a national crisis in which many more will collapse just like that bridge in Minneapolis that collapsed during rush hour in 2007.

Worse of all, the longer the nation waits to make repairs, the costlier it will be.

All this is very important to maintain national security, economic growth, commerce and travel services available.

With global oil production peaking in the next few years, our current system of auto based transit is not sustainable over the long term. A co-worker tried to take the train from Fresno Ca to Idaho Falls ID. Much of the route was by bus as there were no passenger tracks and after falling nearly 24 hours behind schedule (on an 800 mile trip), they finally gave up and rented a car in northern Nevada. Therefore, we need to at least get our passenger rail system up to Bulgarian standards. Ideally, we would have passenger rail tracks parallel with the existing interstate highway system with trains that can get you from point A to point B that run on time.

I am with everyone here that we must revolutionize America's railway system. We have to weigh all ideas and options on the table here and come up with the smartest way of making it a reality. This has been one of the biggest ideas I have had in mind for years now, why not invest Americas money into a futuristic national integrated high speed monrail system. The problem that America has right now is that we create technology and we take years to use it, we have nanotechnology capability to make very lightweight and strong materials. America, wouldn't it make more sense to fast track these technologies especially with the environmental crises and economic crisis. We claim that we want to be more efficient in the way we consume energy, it seems to me we ought to invest in light weight materials to cutback on energy consumption. Imagine, getting to your destination at a faster pace with less noise and in style. This new way of transportation would benefit the business sector in a major way, imagine transporting business people to and from their destinations faster and with almost no delays. When I mentioned nanotechnology in my previous statement, I meant that it should be implemented on a mass scale for a bigger impact on the quality of the publics lifestyles. My idea would also go as far as to have sealed tunnels with no air present inside so their would be no friction on the train during high speeds which would make it even more possible to achieve even faster speeds. Oh before some people speculate about safety concerns on that part I have a plan for that too. We all know that in any plan we have to prepare for the worse case scenario. This system will be very advanced in that in the case of an underground accident, a supercomputer will trigger commands to immediately refill the vacuumed space with air. There you have it so if passengers need to evacuate the train that won't be a problem.In conclusion this is a very revolutionary time in American history people, the Obama administration will give the people an actual say in government. In my opinion we should take this moment seriously, I for one will let my ideas and voice be heard and I am looking forward to hearing yours. Lets revolutionize America people, yes we can !!! 

Railroads can ease the burden on our highways.  The idea of 18-wheelers and small cars on the road is frightening.  I have a small car and am vulnerable to the semis who tail me in a threatening wayflashing lights and tailgating, when I'm doing slightly OVER the speed limit. 

My husband (81) and I (69) just took my mother who is mentally fit but physically disabled, on the Zephyr from Denver to Emeryville, CA.  We would like to see more infrastructure built to enable more rail transportation on the long haul as well as to airports.  We'd also like to see advancement in highspeed railways.

I'm impressed with the Obama transition and look forward to commenting as the administration takes hold.

Here are some ideas on how to electrify our transportation system with renewable energy http://www.change.org/ideas/view/electric_transport_powered_by_distributed_renewable_energy_and_base_load_concentrating_solar_power

Put Detroit to work building railcars -- passenger and freight, then put the nation to work expanding and upgrading our rail system.

I think it is sad that we have all of these railroads all over the country and we only use it for large freight.  We should be inversting money into imroving those tracks and making it possible to travel long distances fast by rail...

Quite frankly, if my community had rails, well, I would ride them. End of story. It's easy, safer, and much cheaper and efficient. Beats waiting in rush hour traffic also.

Alternative energy even with tax cuts and insensitive are priced out of reach for the average Joe. Those that rent are out of luck for any kind of structural changes. That price doesn’t have to stop us from using green energy, collectively we can build green power plants sound to big for 1 person or even 10 it is. But by asking the environmental groups to come together they can. They can do it by setting up donation fund for the actual building of green power plants. Asking for legislation to help with this is great but they are two slow, and we need energy independence now. Please sign this petition to bring them together to start bringing us green energyhttp://www.thepetitionsite.com/petition/651803881

Watch a documentary called "TAKEN FOR A RIDE" which explains how General Motors deliberately sabotaged the public transportation industry back in the late 40's and early 50's.  This was proven in court and key executives admit to the sabotage.

Alternative Energy Concepts (a whole array) Watch video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmGp2O4G62k

Improving rail infrastructure also counts as a national security issue.  There's places where if a rail bridge goes down (for any reason) it a hundred miles before you find another bridge that crosses over the river or canyon in the way.  Those bridges produce bottlenecks that choke commerce... and if they do go down, may grind freight and passenger transport to a halt. 

New York City lost one of its rail bridges over the Hudson to fire many years ago and it was never rebuilt.  This produces a bottleneck for the entire eastern corridor.  Knock out one of the remaining three due to accident, wear and tear, or terrorism and you have a MAJOR problem.  Not does it disrupt the rail system, it blocks the shipping channel underneath! The effects would be felt over most of the Eastern seaboard.

Simply rebuilding or repairing many of the bridges that have decayed over the years would greatly improve service and improve security.  Upgrading them to high speed rail would be even better.