U.S. President Barack Obama has set aside $13 billion in stimulus and budget funds for high-speed trains in America. If he wants an example of how best to use that cash, Obama might take a look at Spain’s growing high-speed network.I’ve just arrived in Madrid from Barcelona during a reporting trip. And for the first time, I chose the high-speed rail system, known locally as Ave, instead of a traditional airline connection. My verdict: The train beats air travel hands down.
That certainly wasn’t always the case. It has been years since I’ve traveled between the two biggest Spanish cities, but I remember well that there used to be only two options: Forking out big bucks for an airline ticket on the national carrier, Iberia, or facing five or more hours trundling slowly across Spain’s countryside in a worn-out train.
Since early 2008, though, Spaniards have enjoyed the new, state-of-the-art Ave railway service (based on the same Alstom technology as France’s famous TGV), which makes the journey between the city centers of Madrid and Barcelona in just two-and-a-half hours. (No traveling to far-flung airports, long lines for check-in and security, fighting for space in overhead luggage bins…) It’s another of the superfast train systems that cover Europe and that are the envy of some dreamers in the U.S.
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Ya, it beats air travel until some terrorist decides to blow up the tracks
ReplyDeleteI wish they would bring the trains back to Salisbury.
ReplyDeleteI agree with 8:23 but, you can't fly a train into a skyscraper.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very good and logical idea. I would like to see something like this done around her ein the US. But, it will never be done by this administration.
ReplyDelete