New departures: rethinking rail passenger policy in the twenty-first century

During the 1990s it became clear that North America was in the middle of a growing transportation crisis. Today the challenge is even more urgent. The highways are clogged with gas guzzling SUVs and this creates a great dependence on important oil. Air travelers face delays, cancellations, and uncertainty about safety. Since the September 11 terrorist attacks, Americans are searching for ways to solve their transportation problems. This book proposes realistic options for improving intercity passenger trains in order to provide options to North Americans. This is a a time when Amtrak and VAI Rail Canada face intense pressure to transform rail service into a successful enterprise. The book examines how policy makers have shaped the successes and shortcomings of European and Japanese high-speed rail passenger service and translates the implications into a North American Institutional and political context and diagnoses the obstacles that have made renewing passenger trains so much more difficult in North America than elsewhere.