Consider that in America our trains:

• top out at 79 mph (1)


• have frequent accidents


• are frequently late [12% of the time], sometimes hours

In Japan their trains:

• go faster, more than 186 miles per hour


• are safer - there has never been a single death on the bullet train system since it's inception in 1964, except that caused by deliberate passenger misadventure


• Most trains arrive at their destination (after several hours) to within the SECOND! In one year, the total time that ALL bullets trains were late by was 12 seconds!

In Europe the trains are even faster! So while Japan and Europe are currently testing trains at 350 mph and more we are still stuck in the 19th century. How embarrassing is that?

So while it is a good thing that union membership is down to 8% of private sectors workers and declining there are still idiots like David Madland (director of the American Worker Project at the Center for American Progress Action Fund) who think that unions are good for America and even with what we know today continues to spout the socialist nonsense, "Without strong unions, our economy pays a heavy price: wages lag; insecurity, poverty, and inequality increase; and too few workers have the purchasing power needed to boost our nation’s gross national product."

What boosts purchasing power is not wages you imbecile, but productivity. Paying someone 50 bucks an hour did not make underwear cheaper; what did it was the invention of the loom. Paying someone higher wages, by itself, only decreases purchasing power for everyone else. What a maroon!

It's not just me saying our "high speed" trains are a joke:

Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, Republicans, 16 Jul 2007, Amtrak’s ‘High-Speed’ Trains Not Fast Enough

By U.S. Rep. John L. Mica

Recent testimony provided to the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee reported that Japan’s Shinkansen high speed train is remarkably safe and highly profitable. The project’s initial investment was recovered in 12 years, and since then the revenue from Shinkansen has provided critical resources for local lines in Japan.

Why doesn’t Amtrak’s high speed Acela train generate similar profits? Because Amtrak lacks two key elements of success: speed and reliability.

In March, I hosted a forum on high speed rail with experts from around the world. We learned that high speed trains worldwide have much higher average speeds than Acela. The average speed of Acela between Washington, D.C. and New York City is only 86 mph, while the slowest Shinkansen train has an average speed of 125 mph. France’s high speed TGV trains average 173 mph, Germany’s high speed trains average 153 mph, and South Korea’s averages 125 mph. By comparison, Acela does not even qualify as high speed.

If rail cannot offer a high speed alternative to other modes of transportation, it is unlikely to become a real option for potential passengers.

In the link above we also learn that Amtrak loses hundreds of millions of dollars on food service:

In 2005, an investigation by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) revealed that Amtrak lost nearly $245 million from fiscal year 2002 to fiscal year 2004 on food and beverage service. The Amtrak Inspector General (IG) recently found that for every dollar in food and beverage sales, Amtrak incurred over two dollars in expenses. According to the IG, Amtrak also pays its food service workers 3.5 times the average restaurant industry wage. Amtrak covers up these huge losses by burying its food and beverage expense figures in various accounts while reporting only the revenue figures.

Now why would any business pay 3.5 times the average industry wage? Unions. And because of unions Amtrak will never have enough money to invest in real high speed trains. Until we get rid of unions we will continue to ride in pieces of crap that Amtrak is stuck with.

While Europe has increased train ridership and reduced the need for cars on its highways or for planes in the air we continue to allow unions to hobble our entire transportation industry.

Notes

(1): While you may see misleading statements on the Amtrak website such as "speeds up to 150 mph — aboard Acela Express," the truth is that these speeds are only attained on two sections of track in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, which total 18 miles.

if the video below doesn't appear, click here.

Shinkansen N700 Series Bullet Train: