Ask one of the passengers if he'd rather have a car to drive.

Jim, especially if they had to share a car with Peachy and Danny.

Love that movie.

The conversation is the point.

Amtrack could do perfectly fine if it divested the ridiculous money-losing, one-train a day rides through each state and concentrated first on the Northeast. There's no need to run one train through Wisconsin.

John, There's no need to run anything thru Wisconsin.

jd, FIB

I love passenger rail, so this is great. But our corn belt politicians can probably learn a lot from this guy too. He's got a billion in scams going. Our guys go down over penny ante stuff from ethanol lobbyists.

Our model is a country with no cars, and one train for every 400,000 people?

It's an ideal, not a model.

I love trains and train rides. They are neither an ideal nor a model. They are history. Spent much of my early life riding trains. Good memories, much wasted time. I have three automobiles at my command.

Lovely.

Command is inherently ugly.

I thought the Indians always attacked the trains.

Well, something like 450 people are killed every year in accidents on the Indian railroads (I actually think the figure is much higher, but 10 minutes on Google and I couldn't find a better number). Granted, if they drove as much as we do, there would be many more deaths. However, if American passenger rails racked up 450 deaths a year, the lawsuits alone would put them out of business.

And how India can learn from the USA: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robber_baron_%28industrialist%29. Due to the lack of infrastructure rail has a monopoly on transport, which will have to change in order for small businesses to flourish.

jim:

Hasn't put carmakers out of business.

I've got OJ ideal right here. Case closed.

There are some folks who actually talk to each other during their trips.

It's odd that oj recommends conversation as a pleasant side effect of train travel, while most airline passengers, myself included, go to great lengths to avoid talking to those seated next to them on an airplane.

Oh, there's no doubt he talks on airplanes as well. When he gets to the part about how Eric and Julia are the same person people start looking around for an air marshall.

joe:

Try it--I've never even seen someone so much as bat an eyelash when you point it out. We all know they're the same person.

I'm sure he converts lots of airplane seat-mates to a higher gas tax, more commitment to ride the rails, and the belief that Ayatollah Khameini is a reasonable guy.

I would guess that I have good conversations about once every 5 or 6 flights. People are usually too wrapped around the axle by rushing to the airport, finding a place to park, going through security, finding a bite to eat, and/or burning through busy work to enjoy the flight. Too bad.

Of course, sitting next to the power lawyers on the 6:30 AM Monday flights from Atlanta to D.C. (back when I rode in first class), while they had their three Bloody Marys before we took off, kind of turned me off on conversation.

When commuting from Grand Central to Westport CT. on the 5:45 or so they used to attach an empty mail car to the bar car and we sat on wooden crates, if we were lucky. The stewards from the packed bar car would come in and serve drinks; some of us read, some played liars poker or cards, some watched and most shot the s#!t during the ride. Nothing heavy, kind of chatter you'd hear in a good men's bar. Actually looked forward to it. I remember sometimes seeing the cars on the Conn. turnpike, as we passed them, while holding a drink in my hand and thinking ... this sure beats driving.