I dream of trains…

…fast ones.

Transport is an ethical, and therefore a spiritual, issue.

I dream that the U.S. will curb its addiction to CO₂-spewing airplanes and will build a high-speed network of bullet-trains.

It takes approximately two hours to fly from New York to Chicago, plus the need to get to the airport an hour ahead of time. A Japanese-style bullet-train would take just under four hours. (Amtrak takes almost 18 hours!).

The CO₂ production of a train over that distance compared to a plane is about 56%. 2.27 million passengers fly from New York to Chicago each year. The total CO₂ savings would be massive.

On a train you can get up and walk around rather than being strapped into a tiny space with your knees crushed against the seat-back in front of you. You can have a restaurant rather than a cart carrying pretzels in bags slightly larger than a postage stamp. It would be easy to have high-speed internet on a train so that people can work en route.

A commitment to a new transport network to cut down on global warming would benefit the planet and the U.S. economy, creating jobs and improving the environment.

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