New Departures: Rethinking Rail Passenger Policy in the Twenty-First Century
Author: Anthony Perl
ISBN: 0813122112
Manufacturer: University Press of Kentucky
Customer Rating:
, based on 2 reviews
Lowest Price: $31.00
By Supplier: griffin_book
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Editorial Review:
North America faces a transportation crisis. Gas-guzzling SUVs clog the highways and air travelers face delays, cancellations, and uncertainty in the wake of unprecedented terrorist attacks. New Departures closely examines the options for improving intercity passenger trains' capacity to move North Americans where they want to go. While Amtrak and VIA Rail Canada face intense pressure to transform themselves into successful commercial enterprises, Anthony Perl demonstrates how public policy changes lie behind the triumphs of European and Japanese high-speed rail passenger innovations. Perl goes beyond merely describing these achievements, translating their implications into a North American institutional and political context and diagnosing the obstacles that have made renewing passenger trains so much more difficult in North America than elsewhere. New Departures links the lessons behind rail passenger revitalization abroad with the opportunity to recast the policies that constrain Amtrak and VIA Rail from providing efficient and effective intercity transportation.
North America faces a transportation crisis. Gas-guzzling SUVs clog the highways and air travelers face delays, cancellations, and uncertainty in the wake of unprecedented terrorist attacks. New Departures closely examines the options for improving intercity passenger trains' capacity to move North Americans where they want to go. While Amtrak and VIA Rail Canada face intense pressure to transform themselves into successful commercial enterprises, Anthony Perl demonstrates how public policy changes lie behind the triumphs of European and Japanese high-speed rail passenger innovations. Perl goes beyond merely describing these achievements, translating their implications into a North American institutional and political context and diagnosing the obstacles that have made renewing passenger trains so much more difficult in North America than elsewhere. New Departures links the lessons behind rail passenger revitalization abroad with the opportunity to recast the policies that constrain Amtrak and VIA Rail from providing efficient and effective intercity transportation.
Customer Reviews:
Incredible insight into passenger rail and the US
New Departures is a fantastic look at what other cultures are doing right with passenger rail, and what America (and Canada, for that matter) is doing wrong. It's really a one of a kind volume, because so many books on Amtrak take highly polarized views of what should occur with that agency. Instead, Anthony Pearl illustrates rail policy that actually works in several countries around the world, and explains America's failed attempts at high speed rail. He does not make political judgments (such as Joseph Vranich's "End of the Line" and "Derailed" do), but rather succinctly provides a wealth of information about what actually works. I walked away from New Departures with an immense wealth of knowledge about passenger rail policy and its history in the US and the world. This book is an absolute must-read for anyone interested in passenger rail policy and Amtrak. 2007-10-10
Rare Insight into the Fog of Transport Policy
I found the book to be the most insightful analysis of passenger rail at the global level I've ever seen. It is a great resource for anyone involved in policy, or for someone who just wants to know 'why we don't have trains like Japan or Europe'. To his credit, Dr.Perl does not come up with a crystal-clear solution for the future of Amtrak. This is reflective of the reality of the mix of economics and politics that is US transport policy, namely that: funding for passenger rail is a subsidy, but funding for road and air is infrastructure. 2002-06-28
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