By Michael F. Carmichael
June 16, 2011
In the early part of the 20th century you could go from Chicago to Milwaukee, a distance of about 85 miles in close to 2 hours (including stops) – as long as you rode on a high-speed electric interurban “trolley”.
Were you to do it in a motorcar, on barely-paved roads, it might take you as much as half a day – assuming you had no breakdowns and had access to the few gas stations that existed at the time.
Today, on Amtrak, it’s down to about an hour and a half – and about the same time if you drive… assuming there’s not that much traffic and no construction delays.
In Japan, it would take you about half as long.
In France, even less.
Why does it still take the same time to go on steel rails from Chicago to Milwaukee today as it did nearly 100 years ago?
| A later version of the Chicago-to-Milwaukee Interurban. |
|
That’s a good question. One that has a number of answers, most tied closely to money and politics.
But, with gasoline costing more than $4 a gallon (especially in Chicago) and airlines charging passengers extra for everything except using the bathroom (and they tried doing that on Ryan Air), not to mention the hassle of having to get to the airport so darn early and then having to go through airport security, it’s a question being asked a great deal by travelers.
In the early 1950s it took the vision of President Eisenhower, nearly $500 billion (in current dollars) and 35 years to build to Interstate highway system – and it seems in a lot of places to be in a constant state of repair.
The current administration, spurred on by a former Amtrak commuter named Joe Biden, has authorized a little over $10 billion (in current dollars) on a project called the High Speed Intercity Passenger Rail Program (HSIPR) to build the infrastructure that will allow travelers to journey on trains in safety and comfort at speeds of up to 200 mph.
According to Robert Kulat, a public affairs specialist with the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), “A fully-developed passenger rail system will complement our highway, aviation and public transit assets. Investment in high-speed rail will serve as a catalyst to promote economic recovery, help build lasting transportation infrastructure, and rebalance our transportation network.”