Good evening/morning (depending on when I get this finished). I have been a long time lurker here going back to finding this site in 2008 and being an on and off again vistor. This is my first diary and it's very overdue (mostly my own fault) and while this likely will get lost in the DNC week madness I want to get it out there because what I want to talk about actually relates to what is going on this week and because I felt the story important enough it actually got me to register here to share it.
First a little background, I recently graduated from a fairly prestigious university with a B.S. in Chemistry(well kinda, I'm having to fight with my philosophy professor), not ivy league but a university that has enough of a name that I was able to get a job within a month of graduating (with a lot of luck too). The catch to the job was I would have to move, not far but far enough to be away from friends, family and pretty much everything I had ever known. However luckily for me there's also a rail line between where I live now and where I grow up and given that my work hours are long and weird (being a chemist in a factory means the factory never closes and as low man I got nights) I decided that riding on the train right after work would be safer and easier then driving home to see friends and family when the mood struck me.
So a couple weeks ago, wanting to see my family and friends I put my plan into action. I bought a train ticket a couple days before I was supposed to leave, at first I was rather worried as I had no printer however I found out that so long as you can get emails on your phone (or read the pdf on your phone by moving it) it doesn't matter they can scan it from your phone. So having solved that problem I proceeded on to the train station, expecting it to be very empty; except that it was far from empty. The station was packed in comparison to its small size with about 20-30 people there for a station that clearly had been designed to hold not even half that amount. Once there I struck up a conversation with an elderly couple who I found out were not only going to the same place I was but were veterans of traveling by train from this spot to where we both were headed. Curious I asked them if the station was always so busy (it was about 8 am on a Sunday) they looked at me and the wife (whose name escapes me again) said in a very surprised voice that no they had never seen the station this busy.
At this point I was intrigued as I had never really been on the train before except once so long ago and at a time when I was so young I don't really trust any memories I have. The impression I had about our trains was that of a struggling service that no one wanted. And yet this seemed to be the exact opposite more over there were several families here that seems to be either making a day out of it or a couple days out of it. Now being a scienctist it probably will not surprise anyone that curosity is my begetting sin if any is and being curious I struck up a couple of conversations with some of the other people there. What I learned to me was fascinating in that what seemed to be the univerisal complaint was the price of gas and how even for a family of 5 it was almost as expensive to take a train then to drive and that the other benefits such as getting up to move, not having to worry about traffic, not having to deal with kids stuck in a car for hours on end made it so much more worth it.
At this point, I gotta tell you I was a little excited to get on the train despite being up for about 18 hours at that point and facing 5 more hours of travel. So the train arrived and I was struck by how prompt it was and how quickly they got everyone on board and then got moving. I think the train literally was in the station for less then 10 minutes. Moreover there were no security checks and the train itself was rather full; I had expected to easily get a seat to myself and yet despite being early sunday morning almost every row was taken. I eventually did manage to find a row to myself though. As I said the train was quick to leave and in fact it started moving before everyone was even seated. Once moving the train was mostly steady and while there was some bumps along the way it really was mostly smooth. Moreover it was nice to watch the scenery instead of being worried about the idiot in front of me not to mention I got to catch up on my reading. Overall it was probably one of the best trips I had ever had and I say that as someone who has traveled some what by plane and quite extensively by car/bus.
So why am I sharing this? Partly because the experience was so well done that I want to share that but mostly because our train system is joke compared to Europe. It's underinvested in and underutlized. We all know that the GOP fights tooth and nail against modrenizing Amtrak and the rails as 'socialism' or 'facism' or 'insert name that does not belong'. But the real battle as always is over public opinion and so long as the public believes the GOP nothing will change. So my recommendation is the next time you're thinking about traveling by car, check out the train instead. Especially if you're not going to need a car when you get there, even if it's an extended trip (I am highly considering taking a train next time to visit my sister in Florida or my sister in NYC). I think you'll find the price competitive and the other benifits really tip the scale. And while you're doing this, talk up train travel to your friends, relatives, anyone that will listen. In effect as Gandhi said be the change you wish to see.
And who knows, maybe you'll run into me