Joe Biden: Why America Needs Trains

[FayeforCure]

We need more congressmen and -women who have a history of riding trains like Joe Biden!!!

Why America Needs Trains

Posted: January 5, 2010 06:48 PM

One of the Capitol Hill newspapers estimated that I've taken more than 7,000 round trips on Amtrak over the course of my career. But the one I made on Jan. 17, 2009 was a bit different. When I got there, there were 8,000 people standing in the freezing cold. And I wasn't racing to reach the 7:46 a.m. Metroliner (later, the Acela) that I had taken thousands of times before.

I was meeting up with the train that would carry President Obama and me to our inauguration.

That day, Gregg Weaver, a conductor who started riding Amtrak the same year I did--1972--introduced me to the crowd. As Gregg spoke, it struck me that over the years, Amtrak provided me with more than a way to get to Washington to serve the people of Delaware every morning and a way to get home to my family each night. It has provided me another family entirely--a community of dedicated professionals who have shared the milestones in my life, and who have allowed me to share the milestones in theirs.

And it has provided me with one thing more, an understanding of--and a respect for--the role of rail travel in our society and our economy.

Though I don't get to ride the train nearly as much anymore, those were the lessons I brought with me on that final trip to Washington as a United States Senator.

I began making the 110-mile commute shortly after I was sworn in as a Senator. It was the only way that I could have been a Senator at all. I had to be able to get home to spend evenings with my two sons after we lost their mother and sister in an auto accident a month earlier.

Since then, on those many trips down to Washington, I got into a routine. From Wilmington to Baltimore I'd read the papers and make phone calls. At Baltimore, I'd start preparing for that day's hearings, amending my opening statement or going through the list of witnesses. And by the time I arrived in D.C., I'd be ready to jump right in.

Getting home was sometimes a sprint, too. One year, on my birthday, my daughter had planned a party for me. She really wanted to give me a gift and blow out candles. Senator Bob Dole was the Majority Leader at the time, and we were voting that night. I told him that I really had to be home for my daughter, which meant that I needed to catch the 5:54 p.m. train. Senator Dole backed up the votes until 9 p.m. I boarded the train and, in Wilmington, my daughter was standing there on the middle platform. She and my wife sang "Happy Birthday," I blew out the candle, took a piece of cake, opened her gift, gave her a kiss, and caught the 7:23 p.m. going south--and managed to be there for the 9 p.m. vote.

Amtrak doesn't just carry us from one place to another--it makes things possible that otherwise wouldn't be. For 36 years, I was able to make most of those birthday parties, to get home to read bedtime stories, to cheer for my children at their soccer games. Simply put, Amtrak gave me--and countless other Americans--more time with my family. That's worth immeasurably more to me than the fare printed on the ticket.

When I took the train every night--and I still do whenever possible--I always noticed the lights on in the houses flickering in the passing neighborhoods, dotting the landscape speeding by my window. Moms and dads were at their kitchen table, talking after they put their kids to bed. Like Americans everywhere, they were asking questions as profound as they are ordinary: Should Mom move in with us now that Dad is gone? How are we going to pay the heating bills? Did you hear the company may be cutting our health care? Now that we owe more on the house than it's worth, how are we going to send the kids to college? How are we going be able to retire?

I would look out the window and hear their questions, feel their pain. And every time I made that trip, it would inspire me to get up the next day, head back down to Washington, and give them the answers they're looking for. Those moments looking out the window and seeing the lights on, they told me things that the briefing folders in front of me never could. They gave color and meaning to the problems I've spent my career trying to solve. They reminded me why I made that trip back and forth 7,000 times.

But my support for rail travel goes beyond the emotional connection. With delays at our airports and congestion on our roads becoming increasingly ubiquitous, volatile fuel prices, increased environmental awareness, and a need for transportation links between growing communities, rail travel is more important to America than ever before.

Support for Amtrak must be strong--not because it is a cherished American institution, which it is--but because it is a powerful and indispensable way to carry us all into a leaner, cleaner, greener 21st century.

Consider that if you shut down Amtrak's Northeast Corridor, it is estimated that to compensate for the loss, you'd have to add seven new lanes of highway to Interstate 95. When you consider that it costs an average of $30 million for one linear mile of one lane of highway, you see what a sound investment rail travel is. And that's before you factor in the environmental benefits of keeping millions and millions of cars off the road.

In 1830, the first steam-engine locomotive, the Tom Thumb, graced America's railways. Its first run was a rickety 13-mile trek from Baltimore to Ellicott Mills, Md., but it became much more than that. It marked the beginning of a new journey, heading straight into a better, more imaginative American future.

We are on a similar journey now. We are at the dawn of a new age, where the very best ideas of today will shape our tomorrow, where renewable clean energy and new transportation systems and more efficient technology will revolutionize American life the way the Tom Thumb did some 180 years ago.

On Jan. 20, 2009, pulling out of the Wilmington train station, embarking on that same short trip I made thousands of times before, I thought again about the journey America was about to take as a nation. And I saw our future the same way I always did: looking out Amtrak's windows.

This article first appeared in Arrive Magazine Jan-Feb 2010.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joe-biden/why-america-needs-trains_b_412393.html

[CS Foltz]

I'm game...................but lip service is cheap Ms Faye! Show me the money! Or atleast a plan with the money, clear cut objectives, time tables and some kind of vision and the means and the will to do it!

[FayeforCure]

I'm game...................but lip service is cheap Ms Faye! Show me the money! Or atleast a plan with the money, clear cut objectives, time tables and some kind of vision and the means and the will to do it!

Oh yeah, we've had plenty of lip service from incumbents alright. We know we're not getting any more out of them,.........so our best bet is to try for something new. Someone who has actually lived the issues average Americans struggle with.

[JeffreyS]

CS they put 8bil up for HSR and that can build a little. But if we were to learn from Joe's experience and use that money to speed up, expand and increase the frequency of Amtrak service it could accomplish a lot.
I am not against HSR just much more in favor of the rapid expansion of Amtrak's service.

[CS Foltz]

JeffreyS .....I do agree! However the way the HSR symposium is programed, courtesy of Ms Faye.....thanks by the way, reading between the lines, I am beginning to believe that Florida will get such a small amount, if anything, we will be back to square one!  I also agree that if Florida gets anything at all, it should be used to expand Amtrak service both north and south! We only get one train southbound in the AM and one train northbound in the PM but it would be nice, economics not withstanding, to have more service! It would be even better to have north and south service and restart west bound service. It would be outstanding to have the Prime Osburn/Federal Reserve complex rocking and rolling.............let JTA/FDOT/FHP build something else or better yet.......JEA has their headquarters downtown for sale and its a steal at only $11 million Dollars! Why don't they use that for the new Transportation Center? I mean why spend my tax dollars ($60 Million just for phase one and have no idea just what the total cost will come to)to build from scratch when there are buildings sitting unoccupied that could be recycled or renovated at lots less than from scratch! All of these Agencies want new new new.............poop on that, recycle, rebuild and renovate, cheaper and reduces sprawl!

[St. Auggie]

If this idiot is leading the charge for trains, then you can kiss HSR and any future forms of rail goodbye.

[CS Foltz]

St Auggie............I have to ask..........which Idiot, there just happens to be so many of them running things I lose track!

[Ocklawaha]

Biden, Lott, and Tommy Thompson from Wisconsin (there are two of them), are three of the leading politico's on the rail front. Locally, Mica has been a vocal supporter for Sunrail, the CSX deal, and adding Commuter Rail in Jax and Tampa... We'll be hearing more from him shortly. As for Amtrak or HSR he has not been very supportive, however in both instances a case can be made against them. Amtrak needs it's butt kicked, $ BILLIONS available for capital costs, and not a single new train and no new equipment orders until the President and VP told the fearless leadership to Shit or get off the pot. HSR is a good idea, and Mica does support the development of it around the country but has called into question, as many of us have, the Florida Project, which is full of flaws.

How full? FULL ENOUGH TO FAIL COMPLETELY,
Read the story: http://jacksonvilletransit.blogspot.com/

Here's the scoop on Thompson...

Former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson appears to be considering any number of political comebacks, ranging from a return to the state's open governorship, to a Senate run -- in which he would likely be a very strong challenger to Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold -- or perhaps even mayor of a small town.

"I haven't said no," Thompson told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "I'm looking at it. I'm looking at governor, I'm looking at senator and I'm looking at mayor of Elroy. One of the three."

For your information, Elroy is Thompson's home town. I just called the city hall, and they told me the population is approximately 1,500 people.

Thompson was elected to four terms as governor, starting in 1986 and only left when President George W. Bush appointed him as Secretary of Health and Human Services.

Tommy Thompson, former governor of Wisconsin and rail advocate

REMARKS BY:   TOMMY G. THOMPSON, SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
PLACE:      The Dedication of the "Governor Tommy G. Thompson"
      Amtrak Acela Locomotive, Union Station, Washington, D.C.
DATE:      November 1, 2001

"Amtrak A. Vital Link in America's Transportation Future"

Thank you so very much, (Amtrak CEO and President) George Warrington. This is one of the greatest honors of my life, and your very kind words make it all the more meaningful. It was a pleasure to serve with you on the Amtrak board, and your leadership continues to be extraordinary.

It's also wonderful to see my friends Sylvia de Leon and Amy Rosen of the Amtrak board, and thank you for the very generous comments. Working with you was a pleasure, and I appreciate your coming to join me on this special day.

In politics, you get a lot of awards and citations. But to have an engine named for me is something that touches me very deeply. I have a model of the "Governor Tommy Thompson" on my desk at the Department of Health and Human Services, and every time I see it, I'm reminded of why I love Amtrak and trains and why I'm so passionate about America's railways...http://www.hhs.gov/news/speech/2001/011101.html

Hopefully he runs for Senate where he will have a direct say on Amtrak. He is a bigger supporter of rail then even Biden is! He loves long distance rail so much he nearly begged BUSH to appoint him Secretary of Transportation, and typical of the Bush Boys, he was stuck in the FDA, where he could "do no harm". (read that influence national transportation policy toward rail, this is a scandal that has never met the press). To cover for his outspoken pro-rail advocacy Thompson was appointed to the Amtrak Board and the Reform Council.  I'd love to see him get some position where he has a say.

OCKLAWAHA

[CS Foltz]

If Mickey Mouse decided to become "Pro-Rail" that would be just fine with me..............I don't care who starts pushing but someone needs to see the light!

[FayeforCure]

Mica does support the development of it around the country but has called into question, as many of us have, the Florida Project, which is full of flaws.

Where has "Mica called into question" the Florida Project for HSR?

Can you point for a source that states Mica's reasons for opposing federal investment in Florida high speed rail,..........or are we giving him a free card by simply assuming "he must have his reasons?"

[BridgeTroll]

I would love to see Tommy Thompson in the senate or make serious run at President...

[CS Foltz]

BridgeTroll............I don't think he has a network inplace to make a serious run, but it is still early! Current Prez has only been in office for something like 11 months...........not near enough time to either cut his throat or get something done. Infact the only thing I have heard from him is talk and that is real cheap! Lets get something going for a national system that all can use!

[BridgeTroll]

I dont disagree CS... I have been a T Thompson fan since he was a governer and I was unaware of his support for rail.  It is just another feather in his cap for me.  I would just like to see and hear more from him.

[CS Foltz]

Believe it or not......... I agree! It is past time for new faces and idea's and I try to keep an open mind for new anything. He has plenty of time to organize and establish a network and looking how the current President got elected.........anything and anyone is possible with effort! If he can establish a clear platform on the various issue's that confront our nation and establish a mandate that appeals to the majority......more power to him!

[tufsu1]

how does Tommy Thompson qualify as a "new face"...he was Gov. of WI and then served as Health & Human Services secretary under W