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A comment on End of an American tradition: Amtrak kills the traditional dining car. Parent comment

Re:End of an American tradition: Amtrak kills the traditiona... by alexhutcheson on Sunday September 22, 2019 @09:55AM (#21041366)
If you’re a passenger rail fan, I’d highly recommend reading Randal O’Toole’s book “Romance of the Rails: Why The Passenger Trains We Love Are Not The Transportation We Need”[1]. The author is a passenger rail super-fan, but does an excellent job detailing the extremely high costs that make it difficult for passenger rail to compete with other transportation options, and explaining the history of how we got to the current state. Even if you’re a skeptic of his thesis, I think you’ll enjoy the details of the book.

[1] https://www.amazon.com/Romance-Rails-Passenger-Trains-Transp...

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Re:End of an American tradition: Amtrak kills the traditiona... by cozzyd on Sunday September 22, 2019 @11:09AM (#21041692)
Is this the same Randall O'Toole who lobbies against any public transportation anywhere?
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Re:End of an American tradition: Amtrak kills the traditiona... by alexhutcheson on Sunday September 22, 2019 @12:25PM (#21042171)
Yes - he definitely lobbies against various rail projects, for reasons that are spelled out in the book. He’s advocated in various cases for buses as an alternative, so I don’t think “against any public transportation anywhere” is a fair characterization.

You don’t have to agree with his thesis to find the book valuable though. It’s useful to understand where people on the other side of the debate are coming from, and even someone with opposite views will probably enjoy the detailed history of passenger rail in the US that he presents.

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