Absurdities of Our Times: Part 2

Hello Everyone!

I'd like to discuss another feature of our times that WILL be looked back upon as absurd. And hopefully this absurdity is already soon to be remedied.

However the absurdity regards the US train system, and by that I mean not only the relative lack thereof, but also the standards that literally puts domestic train passengers literally below the whims of corporate track owners, and even cheap merchandise on the way to Wal-mart. The bottom line is that as of now, the US has a passenger train system right out of Borat's mythical (as opposed to the real!!) Kazakhastan.

Until recently it seemed that Congress had a annual ritual of trying to destroy Amtrak. And to make matters worse Amtrak trains typically share rails with freight trains. And when only one train can pass through a certain set of tracks at a time, it is the passenger trains who have to wait and the freight that gets priority!! Why? Because freight is considered a bigger moneymaker by the rail owners. Something of a cold comfort for riders up in the Cascade Mountains, traveling through Texas, or on the famous "City of New Orleans" who sometimes have to sit in an unmoving train for up to an hour, while the freight trains pass.

Even worse is the problem faced by those who would like to ride from New Orleans into Florida. For years a major Amtrak route called the "Sunset Unlimited" went from Los Angeles, through San Antonio, New Orleans to Orlando, Florida. Until the track from Louisiana to Florida were destroyed by hurricane Katrina.

Did they rebuild the tracks? Yes, they've been long since rebuilt. Of course, they were too important for freight to leave in ruins. The problem is that the current owner of the tracks, CSX Transportation has decided against letting Amtrak on that part of the property. So any rider who is in New Orleans and would like to go to Floria has to take a train to Washington DC, and then get on the train to Florida from there!! If you don't believe me check out the Amtrak website and try to book a ride from New Orleans to Miami or Jacksonville.

Why has the US divested in trains for so many decades? Some people say that they were a luxury we couldn't afford and other said we had the luxury of not building them. But either way, this will go down as one of the many absurdities of our times.

See you soon and.

Say Goodnight Readers.