The new North American oil & gas boom has kept the rail systems loaded with lots of long tanker trains. The heavier tar sands oil is a highly volatile thick bitumen more difficult to clean up than traditional oil. A number of serious spills, accidents and loss of life have prompted regulations that call for safety upgrades to the tanker cars, but the volume of shipments is so large that even as safer cars come on line the older cars are not retired.
Besides the dangerous safety concerns, passenger service has seen long delays in some areas. In terms of carbon footprint to travel payload, passenger rail is very efficient. Hopefully, my partner and I will be traveling to NYC on the Climate Train. Our concerns over connection delays made us abandon a portion of the journey on Amtrak in favor of a drive to Milwaukee where a commuter train can easily connect us with the Climate Train at Chicago’s Union Station. We will still wonder if the New York City bound train will come in on time - but at least we will be traveling with other climate activists and welcome the journey. I wonder how many other concerned travelers abandon Amtrak plans for fear of missing connections?
Submitted from Milwaukee en-route to Chicago to join the Peoples Climate Train.