Faced with traffic congestion, decaying roads and increasing air pollution from cars and trucks, some far-sighted governments are moving to breathe new life into their railway systems.
But not the United States.This despite a campaign promise by President Clinton to enthusiastically support development of a new train that would zoom on magnetic fields at 300 miles an hour and create billions of dollars in construction projects.
Instead, Newsday reports, the White House has dealt a serious blow to the program. Of the $20 million appropriated last year for research and development, the White house has rescinded $17 million and eliminated all but a token $3.5 million for next year.
What a sorry contrast to efforts to revive passenger trains elsewhere.
Sweden, for example, plans to invest as much in railways as it does in roads during the coming decade. Germany intends to invest even more in railroads than it does in highways through the turn of the century. China plans a $20 billion investment in rail expansion and upgrading by 1995.
If Washington doesn't shift its transportation priorities in the same direction, it will do more than just forfeit to others leadership in magnetic levitation trains, the first new means of transportation since the airplane. Worse, it will remain stuck with an inefficient form of transportation that wastes fossil fuel, increases America's dependence on foreign sources of petroleum, paves over land that could be used for crop production, and takes a high toll in crash deaths and injuries.
Clinton had the right idea with his campaign promise to try to move America away from its lopsided dependence on cars and highways. But somehow he got derailed. How big a transportation crisis must it take to get America back on track?