Quoted By:
In terms of how to make rail more popular in the US. I think regional transit systems are the way to go rather than high speed and long distance like what seems to get shilled a lot.
Take a state like Ohio for example, it’s mid sized and has a decent density but isn’t too urban. I think a state like that could benefit greatly from a regional rail system. Most people there aren’t going to use it if it just goes between two major cities With each having one station. If you built a route that connects two cities and you also add stations in the suburbs and towns in between and you run intercity and local trains on the same line and build the stations in places that are Frequently travelled to and from and are convenient to access then you incentivize people in the suburbs and towns to use rail to travel instead of driving.
Most people aren’t hopping cities on a daily basis, but rather they just want to be able to go to the next town or to over with the option of hopping cities if they so choose. I’m not talking about a metro system but rather some thing like DB Regio. The best already existing example I can think of in the US is the rail runner in New Mexico, it connects 2 cities instead of centering on one and it stops in the towns and suburbs along the way. This one isn’t very successful though because NM is incompetent as a whole but the idea is good.
Thoughts?
