Figuring out this Train Thing

It is so close and the airlines are making it so easy to want to take a train instead of a plane. I am taking the Amtrak Cascades from Portland to Seattle. It takes about 3 3/4 hours for this trip. The Cascades is a commuter train with Coach and Business class that runs between Portland and Vancouver, British Columbia. I am setting in a leather first class airline-type seat but I am riding coach. I think this trip costs about $33 one way. The train is packed with bicyclist heading to Seattle to ride back to Portland. My kind of people. The ride is smooth. There is a bistro car on the train.

The Portland train station is so much nicer than the train station in Raleigh. No one is behind a plastic bullet proof shield. The staff is very caring and offer great service. Portland's Union Station is being renovated outside, but inside it is spacious and has a 1920's inviting vibe. Much like the stations in Pittsburgh and Orlando. The stations in San Francisco (and Emeryville where the train actually leaves) feel more like neglected bus stations.

With the airline's help, train travel can make a come back. If your destination is five hours or less, the train can compete with the airline in terms of time of travel when you factor in how long before you flight leaves you must check in. I will also arrive in downtown Seattle, not some urban airport that charges as much as my train ticket just for a ride to downtown Seattle.  It's urban to urban.

Out my large clean window I see the Washington state county-side. There is a TV Monitor on the train that tells me how long it is to next stop. Now if they only offered a camera view of the track ahead, it would really be neat. There is free wi-fi on this train, another feature that needs to be added to all passenger trains.

So how are we going to do this? Why is Amtrak the only option for train service in most areas? According to Wikipedia train travel was nationalized in 1970 with the Railroad Passenger Service Act during a time that large freight train operators were going bankrupt. It takes a crisis to make us change. How does our government open up train travel to private business and how does private business make it successfully profitable? When do we get NetJets to start NetTrains?

With our Airline passenger regulations, the new and long term high price of gas, the cost of new cars, the stage is set for a major change in our thinking. We must make it financially feasible to take the train to a remote destination, rent a car and return back home. When that cost is less than driving ourselves and nearly as convenient, then we will see demand for these services to increase. If I was Zipcar, I would put a Zipcar site at each major train terminal.

Government needs to have the vision and set the stage for private train service. This will be a major change. Can we do it politically? Do we have a handy crisis to make this happen?