(The following column by John D. Boyd appeared on the Journal of Commerce website on February 23, 2011.)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Karen Rae had to catch a train, so the Federal Railroad Administration’s deputy administrator departed early from a high-powered Jan. 26 meeting of the Transportation Research Board while deputies of other agencies kept things going.
She meant to go a few miles from the hosting hotel to reach Washington, D.C.’s Union Station and took a cab as a snowstorm was already paralyzing roadway traffic in Washington, New York, and all the highways in between. It soon closed airports as well. Rae was ultimately bound for New York’s Grand Central Terminal, where the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee planned a hearing the next morning on the Obama administration’s big intercity passenger rail program.
Rae got nowhere at first. Many D.C.-area drivers became stuck for hours and some abandoned cars on major highways. She soon exited her taxi, took a Metro subway train to Union Station and caught Amtrak’s Northeast Regional that ran just a half-hour late.
Rae made it to the Jan. 27 hearing. Many who booked flights didn’t.
Karen Rae’s own train trips — Metro and Amtrak — through a major snowstorm help illustrate why the country needs good rail service along with upgrades to other infrastructure.
The full column appears at www.joc.com.