77 lines
3.2 KiB
Markdown
77 lines
3.2 KiB
Markdown
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---
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title: Trains
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date: 2023-03-07
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---
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This year I am trying to spend less time on airplanes,
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as part of a global movement motivated by carbon emissions concerns.
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Amtrak, the US national passenger rail company
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(the *only* national passenge rail company in the US),
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is in a really sad state right now.
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They keep getting their budget cut,
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and freight companies have found several innovative ways
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to save money at the expense of safety and passenger rail quality.
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So rail exists in the US, technically,
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but it is not generally considered a desirable way to go.
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Maybe that will change as people seek non-airplane methods of travel.
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The place where I work will let me take rail,
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but they won't reimburse more than the equivalent flight.
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This has never been a problem for me:
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flying has always come in more expensive than train.
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On this upcoming trip, I have to stay overnight in Chicago,
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because there is only one train per day on each line.
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Even though the train is $315 less than the cheapest flight,
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I am not allowed to apply any of that toward lodging reimbursement.
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If you assume people are going to take the option that
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lines up closest to their personal economic interest,
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that's 2 points against the train,
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both of which carry an outsized societal burden.
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Point 1: Time
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-------------
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My time is worth something to me,
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and taking 4 additional days for a work trip kinda sucks.
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A lot of people will stop considering rail travel based just on this point.
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There's a way to fix this,
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by upgrading tracks so that passenger trains can go much faster,
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and by finally addressing how the mega-long freight trains can't yeild to the passenger trains,
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because there aren't stretches of side track long enough for them to do so.
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(People who would know assure me that the freight companies are well aware of what they're doing to passenger rail)
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This fix requires two things: a country willing to spend lots of money on passenger rail,
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and the political will to do something that will make freight companies really upset.
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I'm not seeing that the country is excited about any kind of infrastructure spending,
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much less passenger rail.
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And I'm definitely not seeing a country that wants to hurt any kind of commerce.
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But maybe if more scientists are inconvenienced by rail,
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the winds can shift.
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Point 2: Money
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--------------
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Even though it costs fewer dollars for me to take the train,
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my company is not set up to handle this.
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The result is that I have to pay out of pocket for the hotel stays,
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and I will not get reimbursed.
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If taking over 3 times longer wasn't enough to dissuade people,
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telling them it will also cost them $400 that won't be reimbursed
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is going to make rail travel look like a bad decision.
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The fix for this is easier:
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my company needs to figure out a way to consider that the train is saving them money,
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and allow me to spend some of that savings on the required hotel.
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I've started trying to see what I can do to make that happen.
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It may take a few years, and depends on senior management caring,
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but I think it has a higher chance of happening.
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If enough places figure out how to stope penalizing people for taking the cheaper option,
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maybe there will be sufficient public interest in point 1 for something to happen there.
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