@KOOLjock1 posted:I do get a kick out of folks who compare rail in Europe and Japan with the United States for two reasons:
1. At some point in the 1940's both Europe and Japan were encouraged to completely rebuild their rail infrastructure from scratch. Something happened to it.
2. Geography.
Jon
Jon,
I don't think that most of us are a naive as you might think. 
Will we ever have good passenger rail service though the entire U.S.? Absolutely not, and one of the main reasons is what you have stated, geography. After all, the U.S. is a really big place. Could we have better passenger rail service? Absolutely.
When I take trains in Europe, its usually trips of upwards of a couple of hundred miles. I can easily get from my hotel to a train station is city 1 (often without even a taxi) arrive at the station 30 minutes before the train leaves, arrive in city 2 and easily get to my hotel. If I fly, I usually have to take a long taxi ride from my hotel in city 1 to the airport, get there two hours before my flight, go through a long security line, fly to my destination, then have a long taxi ride to my new hotel in city 2. Train travel is a much, much, more relaxing (and often cheaper) alternative.
We also need to be careful when we talk about "Europe", as rail service is not the same through the whole continent.
I think we also kid ourselves when we talk about taxes and subsidization. Federal taxes help pay for air travel, roadways, and keeping waterways navigable. To be clear, I don't advocate spending unlimited money on upgrading passenger service in the U.S, but I think some degree of spending to improve this service really makes sense.
Jim
