We need a real "national" passenger rail plan

Rescue personnel work at the scene of a train crash in Los Angeles, Friday, Sept. 12, 2008. A Metrolink commuter train believed to be carrying up to 350 people collided with a freight train Friday. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa says at least 10 people have been killed in the collision. (AP Photo/Hector Mata)

The reason the train crash happened between a freight train and a passenger rail train (commuter) in the Los Angeles region is because there weren't two tracks. (See the Reuters story, "L.A. train crash kills 25; human error blamed.") The passenger train was supposed to wait on a siding for the freight train to pass...

There is an infrastructure development fund for freight railroads. (Although the railroads complain they don't get much money.)

There needs to be one for passenger railroad demands as well--above and beyond the money spent by the US Department of Transportation on commuter railroads and expansion.

Remember that for profit freight railroads consider that their business model supports investment only in the expansion of freight railroad capacity. They have no problem with local authorities paying for system upgrades to support passenger service, but still, had the freight railroad been willing to spend some money in Chatsworth... At the very least, high risk situations need(ed) to be managed and the risks reduced at reasonable cost.

Amtrak isn't really a national passenger railroad, or at the very least, doesn't provide all the services that are out there. Most local railroad services are provided by regional or state-level entities. And they don't have enough money either.

There isn't a national railroad passenger service plan.

Some states, particularly California, have funded high quality passenger railroad infrastructure and service expansion. In fact, California will have a high speed rail bonding referendum on the ballot this fall. See "High-speed rail plan a key ballot measure" from the San Francisco Chronicle and "The bullet train concept is picking up speed" from USA Today. (Regional authorities support Metrolink in Southern California and Caltrain in the Greater San Francisco Region.)

But there is never enough money. People make constrained choices. And these constraints magnify the repercussions of errors. Sometimes people die as a result.