The United State of Amtrak
Some coworkers passed along a link to this incredible portrait of the US rail system as told by Amtrak. Cameron Booth, the map’s creator offers some insight about his project:
Presenting the latest in my series of transit-styled diagrams, the entire Amtrak passenger rail system in the style of a subway map. Surprisingly, I haven’t seen another take on this anywhere else on the internet, but I guess it is a fairly monumental undertaking (Good thing I’m the patient type!). Every last station is shown, the result of a lot of research on both Amtrak’s official site and Wikipedia. This version has all station names and route information listed.
You can read more about the map on his blog.
As for what this says about Amtrak, well, either this confirms that Chicago is the center of the universe and New England is the only bastion of society left in a chaotic and drifting world — or that we have to do a heck of a better job reaching out to the central United States. I know large tracks of the West are farmlands and that people and cities tip towards the water, but that’s no excuse for investing too little time into exploring more thorough connections of rail system. Although Amtrak may consider these low-populations density areas a suck on their revenue, there are bigger things at stake than making profit. When we leave areas with a lower populations density without access to public transportation, what we’re doing is further isolating the isolated: both in belief systems, limited employment options, their dependence on cars, and any number of other things a progressive can whine about.
So, let’s see some public encouragement for more rail development. Amtrak may not be ideal — it’s a monopoly, it’s subsidized by the government, it’s the best rail service, it’s the worst rail service, it’s the only (national) rail service — but its rails give great foundation for sensible expansion with smart urban development. Let’s hope $8 billion for high-speed rail projects the Obama Administration allocated from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will do (at least some of) that.
Categories: Uncategorized
