New Departures: Rethinking Rail Passenger Policy in the Twenty-First Century

During the 1990s, it became clear that North America was in the middle of a growing transportation crisis. Today the challenge is even more urgent: Gas-guzzling SUVs clog the highways and fuel America's dependence on imported oil. Meanwhile, air travelers face delays, cancellations, and uncertainty about safety. The unprecedented terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, are forcing Americans to search for ways to solve their transportation problems. New Departures: Rethinking Rail Passenger Policy in the Twenty-First Century proposes realistic options for improving intercity passenger trains' capacity to move North Americans where they want to go.

At a time when Amtrak and VIA Rail Canada face intense pressure to transform themselves into successful commercial enterprises, Anthony Perl examines how policy makers shaped the successes and shortcomings of European and Japanese high-speed rail passenger service. Perl goes beyond merely describing these achievements; he translates their implications into a North American institutional and political context and diagnoses the obstacles that have made renewing passenger trains so much more difficult in North America than elsewhere.

Perl studies how other railway systems are working toward building a “new model railroad.” These passenger services are more organizationally flexible, more market-oriented, and more-customer driven than their predecessors ever were. New Departures links the lessons behind rail passenger revitalization abroad with the opportunity to recast the policies that constrain Amtrak and VIA Rail—policies that must be changed in order to provide safe, efficient, and effective intercity passenger transportation.