1 You could just switch your emotional attachment to freight rail....

2 Is that like methadone for public-transportation junkies?

3 My father and grandfather were the fun kind of engineer - locomotive - but passenger rail requires high density housing and a high density employment center. I don't want to pay for the elevators in a skyscraper and I don't want to pay for someone else's Diseyland ride. To the extent that passengers get in the way of freight, they aren't worth the trouble. I still remember domeliners through the Feather River and Donner route through snowsheds in the winter and, yes, even the Daylight with my dad in the cab, but 100 double stack containers really impress me.

4 Gov Easley is trying to push this light rail thing in NC. The Feds have said no dice to money. It makes absolutely zero sense in this area. People don't want it, media derides it.

5 We have a billion dollar a mile tunerville trolley here in Santa Clara Valley. They have darkened windows so you can't tell they run empty most of the time.