Senator Durbin calls for Midwest Rail Investment
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Calling passenger rail “the future, not the past,” Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today called for a major federal investment in Amtrak service and in reviving America’s rail car manufacturing capacity. His call coincide’s with Amtrak’s announcement that ridership has reached its highest level ever. “The Chicago-Milwaukee Hiawatha train is carrying 38% more passengers than a year ago,” explained ELPC’s Kevin Brubaker. “Since the number of trains hasn’t changed, that means Amtrak service is now 38% more fuel efficient than a year ago. When’s the last time we saw cars increase their fuel efficiency that dramatically?
Tags: Solving Global Warming
January 11th, 2009 at 9:05 pm
An increase in passengers would require more energy per train to operate. The resulting efficiency gains depend on the marginal cost per passenger.