As I am sitting here in Logan Airport in snowy, Boston, MA, I cannot help but think that there must be a better way to travel. Just to get back to Washington, DC, I will have to go out of town to the airport, get the option of either being irradiated or inappropriately touched by the TSA, wait until who knows when, get corralled like cattle into a sealed airplane, fly to BWI, then get a bus or a train all the way to DC, then metro home. 4-5 different modes of transportation in what should be a couple hour long trip. And this is to go less than 500miles in one of the most transient societies on the planet.
In fact, there is a better way. On an express, high speed train, I could leave Boston straight from South Station and arrive at Union Station in DC a couple hours later. In fact, it could even be quicker than flying, and without the hassle - no security, worrying about what to do with bags, etc. Most importantly, once you are seated in downtown Boston, you keep the same seat and stop worrying until you get all the way to downtown DC. You leave from downtown, you arrive downtown.
This is a political issue, but unfortunately is has also become a partisan one. High speed rail is "European", "socialist", "liberal", and "un-American". Absolutely ridiculous. Now don't get me wrong. I am not advocating high speed rail for the Heartland, large, rural areas of the Deep South, or the mountains and woods of Alaska. No, I am pushing for high speed rail to connect the 55 million or so people living in major metropolitan areas on the East Coast between Boston and DC. People and cities living in incredibly dense areas who have no modern connectivity to speak of. In an area that is "European" in population density, a "European" solution might just be appropriate for transportation.
Quite simply put, the East Coast needs rail. New, fast, high-speed rail. Amtrak's regional service can run the Boston-Washington corridor in a working day or so (8+ hours), and Acela is a joke: no express train runs 55mph and makes stops in commuter suburbs like Stamford, CT. Automobile traffic on the East Coast's highways is daunting, and air travel is riddled with hassles befitting a transcontinental or international trip. There is no easy way to get between Boston, New York, New Jersey, Baltimore, and Washington. And for a county that prides itself on its business savoir-faire and its highly mobile, modern population, this is simply unacceptable.
