Passenger Trains > Where should the passenger trains run?

Maybe this could help answer the question of where our passenger trains should run:

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/12/suomi-satellite-night-lights-gallery/

Now that's a truly interesting perspective.... and probably right on.

That is an interesting way to look at things. I live in Louisville, Ky. (From Chicago go SSE to Indianapolis and then slightly east of south to Louisville.) I take at least 1 or 2 trips a year on Amtrak and I drive to Cincinnati to board. Parking is better for me there than Indy. (Cincy is NE of Louisville and SE of Indy.) My daughter lives about 4 miles from the station in Cincy and she picks up my car the next day and she drops it off the evening before I return. Louisville is the 5th largest city in the U.S. without Amtrak Service, population 1.25 million. South west of Louisville is Nashville, Tn. Nashville is the 4th largest city without Amtrak service, population 1.5 million. Louisville lost service in 2003 when the Kentucky Cardinal was discontinued and Nashville lost service in 1979 when the Floridian was discontinued.

When the Kentucky Cardinal was running there was lots of talk about extending it to Nashville and I beleive they even made a test run or two. The real problem for people was the 12 or 14 hours it took to go between Louisville and Chicago. The train ran on the Louisville and Indiana Railroad with a speed limit of 30 MPH for about 110 miles. It took about twice the time that the L&N used to cover that route with steam. What people didn't think about was that they could board in Louisville, nap on the way to Chicago, spend most of the day in Chicago and the come home and snooze along the way.

The extention down to Nashville would be over some pretty good track, lots of 60 and 65 MPH freight speed limits, down to about 40 on some curves and through some towns. Speed limit on I-65 is 70 MPH and it take 3 to 3.5 hours to drive between Louisville and Nashville.

Anyway, extending a train to Nashville from Chicago via Louisville and Indy would provide service to 2 or those bright spots.

John

The satellite that provides these photos is named in honor of Dr. Verner Suomi, the scientist who invented the spin-scan radiometer used on the first meteorological satellite and considered to be the father of satellite meteorology. My own father knew him well -- they would often get together at meetings of the Finnish-American Society in Washington, D.C. in the 1950s and 60s.

chakk Wrote:
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> The satellite that provides these photos is named
> in honor of Dr. Verner Suomi, the scientist who
> invented the spin-scan radiometer used on the
> first meteorological satellite and considered to
> be the father of satellite meteorology. My own
> father knew him well -- they would often get
> together at meetings of the Finnish-American
> Society in Washington, D.C. in the 1950s and 60s.

It's interesting how connections turn up.