Skip to Content
Streetsblog Los Angeles home
Streetsblog Los Angeles home
Log In

The nation's Amtrak rider-in-chief, Vice President Joseph Biden, has penned an op-ed for the rail network's monthly magazine entitled "Why America Needs Trains."

15blog_biden.jpgThe Vice President and his wife share a tender moment -- on the Acela. (Photo: NYT)

Biden
doesn't get too political in the piece, eschewing calls for more Amtrak
funding in favor of a paean to the "emotional connection" he
experienced riding the rails during his 36-year congressional career.

But the vice president, who has taken on a central role in the White House's high-speed rail push, closes with a strong endorsement of inter-city trains as pollution reducers:

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

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog Los Angeles

New Metro Subway Railcars Started Service Today

Streetsblog got a special preview ride today. Have you ridden Metro's new "HR4000" heavy rail cars yet?

December 21, 2024

Metro Closes Out Last Round of Outreach on Underwhelming Vermont BRT Proposal

To truly improve conditions on Vermont, much more must be done

December 20, 2024

Cemeteries Push to Bury Forest Lawn Drive Safety Improvements

Forest Lawn and Mount Sinai reps call scaled-back city street improvements a "bad plan" and "permanent traffic disaster"

December 20, 2024
See all posts