Between the buffalo trace and the Interstate Highway System, there were the railroads. The iron rails are what knit the United States into an ocean-to-ocean nation after the Civil War and were the means for long-distance travel until the advent of better roads, cars, and airplanes.  Ambrose’s “Nothing Like It in the World” and Bain’s “Empire Express: Building the First Transcontinental Railroad” are excellent reads on this topic.  The freight railroads are still an integral and essential part of the U.S. economy but passenger rail service has not fared so well.  That reached its zenith in the 1940s, at which time it was possible to access every major city, and a surprising number of remote hamlets, by rail.  After World War II, cars and planes began sucking the life out of passenger rail as the preferred means of long-distance travel in the U.S.  Many classic old railroad stations (e.g., New York’s original Penn Station) were demolished and by 1965, only 10,000 rail passenger cars were in operation, 85 percent fewer than in 1929.  In 1971, the National Rail Passenger Corporation (Amtrak) – a for-profit corporation that is partially government funded – took over most of the remaining U.S. passenger rail services.  Amtrak’s financial history (and its dealings with Congress) have been rocky to say the least but if you want to see the U.S. by train, it’s the only game in town.  And, because Amtrak is, per passenger mile, overall 30 to 40 percent more energy-efficient than commercial airlines and automobiles (and is very competitive with other transportation modes in terms of safety per mile), it’s also an environmentally more friendly option (short of staying home) for long-distance travel.

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