WHY WE NEED MORE HSR,COMMUTER AND LIGHT RAIL

Trains Magazine Transit
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I realize a lot of people on this forum dont know anything about Texas or our problems or me for that matter,but I wrote a letter to a traffic editor of the Ft Worth Star -Telegram and I would like to share it with the Forum members…

Dear Mr Dickenson,
Its been some time since I last spoke with you…But I would like to tell you about me and my wife’s trip to the Dallas Art Museum from our home near Waco…
We drove to Ft.Worth to catch the TRE and ride it to Dallas because I didnt want to drive and find parking in downtown Dallas (can anyone blame me?) So, we boarded our train( right on schedule) and rode to Dallas…What a delight not having to be in traffic ! Arriving at Dallas Union Station we had to wait about 5-10 minutes tops til our Dart train arrived,we stepped on,road to our St Paul stop and walked three blocks to the museum.What a delight and we were only about 15 minutes late,lucky for us beacause of all the school kids being there also…After the museum tour we had lunch at a popular BBQ place rested a few minutes then walked back to catch Dart ,rode it back to DUS ,stepped off and right back on to our waiting train bound for FT Worth ! What a delightful day! The best part was not having to deal with driving and parking ! If there ever was a need for HSR and more light rail and Commuter rail now is the time ! I urge all your readers to get “on board with rail” and lets get out of our cars and off the highways! If you try it you will love it as we did !
Thanks for your column,
Danny Sisk
Hewitt,Tx.

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I have had similar experience on trips to the DC area.

On a trip to the Great Scale Model Train Show in Timmonium, MD we traveled to Baltimore via Amtrak and light rail to the fairgrounds where the show was held. Add the hotel that was walking distance from the fairgrounds and we had no need for a car. The next day we took the light rail to the Inner Harbor area where we spent a lovely “tourist day” then the light rail back to Penn Station and Amtrak home.

On another trip we took Amtrak to DC and the Metro to our hotel out in Capital Heights where the rates are more reasonable. 3 days of using the Metro to go everywhere we desired to go, and Amtrak home. Again, no car required. Before a trip to the airport began to resemble a prison visit, we used to fly to DC and take the metro from the airport to our hotel, etc.

I love mass transit.