[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: This must certainly be one of the
> grander moments in the glorious history of the Toonerville Trolley.
> If it has not occurred to Amtrack authorities by now to (a) either
> split the wrecked train in two parts and clear the way or (b)
> considering they were already delayed 12 hours in Jacksonville, simply
> evacuate the trains passengers, bus them to the nearest airport and
> have airplanes take everyone to their home town immediatly, then I do
> not suppose another eight or ten hours stranded there will change
> anything. I mean is anyone besides me old enough to remember when we
> had real, honest-to-God reliable rail service in America? PAT]
Pat,
It's Amtrak, not Amtrack. The AP story spelled it correctly.
The freight train that derailed is a train owned by the CSX Railway, which also owns the track. It is not up to Amtrak.
We have "real, honest-to-God reliable rail service in America," provided by railroads doing what they do best, handling great quantities of freight (and without government subsidies). Passenger service is no longer the important function it once was, which is why the share of passenger traffic on the few passenger trains which do exist is such a minuscule percentage of all passenger travel.
Wes Leatherock snipped-for-privacy@aol.com snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I got one other detail wrong; it is not the 'Toonerville Trolley System' it is the 'Hooterville Railroad' you know, that train which runs through Green Acres on television except for 'Kosiusko's Birthday and other more major holidays'. So, Wes, I guess you would agree with Robert Bomoni, since no one knows who to blame, the passengers will have to just sit there and make-do until if/when the derailed train gets out of the way, and hopefully make their kids quit squalling and running wild through the coaches while they find a working, stocked bathroom before it is too late. PAT