How does one accomplish this? Having trains as widespread in America today as they are in Europe and more popular or equal to highways (essentially trains are used more than in OTL).
I dont think America would realistically ever have a railway network as widely used and sophisticated as Western Europe for the simple fact that the massive distances between US cities will always make decent national railway networks expensive, and I dont see that many US presidents willing to go out of their way (and cut funds for defense in the process) to improve the US passenger rail system.
This. Airplane killed the Trains more that the car, the car just was a mercy Kill, at best you can have a east coast Service but not that muchAirplanes can do that trip in hours rather than days
This. Airplane killed the Trains more that the car, the car just was a mercy Kill, at best you can have a east coast Service but not that much
Excatly, for cargo trains paid themselves but for passangers plane won plain and simpleAbsolutely. Freight trains are also vitally important in North America due to the vast distances, and trains hundreds of cars (and several kilometres) long. The fastest scheduled train in Canada is a freight train. CP's The Expressway- an all-trailer-on-flatcar train overnight between Toronto and Montreal. Supposedly, there are only two types of train that will cause an Expressway to take a siding- another Expressway going the opposite direction, or a train carrying the Queen herself!
Steamers were pretty much done by 1950scarce oil reserves
What killed passenger rail was the loss of US Postal Mail Contracts.Excatly, for cargo trains paid themselves but for passangers plane won plain and simple
A few points I think people are missing. Actually the US had a by far larger and better developed rail system then Europe had. However we have spent the last 50 to 60 year taking it apart. Sowhat we have today is But a pale echo of its former self.
That is still cargo and something would be killed by the phone and later internet...maybe in a USA where USPO is not boycotted to be privatize with USPO being still the biggest cargo mover would save the passangers train? They would benefit of internet shopping tooWhat killed passenger rail was the loss of US Postal Mail Contracts.
That is still cargo and something would be killed by the phone and later internet...maybe in a USA where USPO is not boycotted to be privatize with USPO being still the biggest cargo mover would save the passangers train? They would benefit of internet shopping too
So they are Doomed anyway? Well then....Packages were the purview of REA, Railroad Express Agency, a semi-private company, had the same fate
So they are Doomed anyway? Well then....
I can (barely) remember taking one of the last passenger trains from Dillon MT to Butte MT, way back when I was about 6. My mom had to go there for some reason, didn't have a car at the time (right after her divorce), and had to haul all three of her kids there with her. The main thing I remember is that the trip was slow (a couple of hours) and uncomfortable (wooden seats, no padding). Once they built the Interstate, you could get there in an hour (used to take longer on roundabout state highways)…Because you are going to have to skip places. Once again Montana and Alaska come to mind.