Photos by Woodlief McCabe ‘23
The photos above showcase sights from a train ride from North Carolina to Massachusetts. Railway transportation is efficient in CO2 emissions when compared to other forms of long-distance travel.
By Woodlief McCabe ’23
Staff Writer
As my Amtrak train rumbled through the striking East Coast fall landscape, I wondered why I’d never traveled by rail before and questioned why train travel isn’t more ubiquitous across the country.
The U.S. is so vast, and air travel only lets us touch down in travel hubs. From my window, I got to see swamps and woods. I glimpsed major cities between long stretches of barely populated land. In North Carolina, I saw a town with more empty storefronts than occupied ones. Construction sites and playgrounds flew by my windows. In Virginia, we steadily rolled over the Potomac, where boats were docked and gentle waves lapped underneath. Thin trees in Pennsylvania stood leafless and motionless in contrast to my own breakneck pace. Inside the passenger car, things were still and comfortable. I saw more of the country through dirt-spackled windows than I have ever seen in my nearly two decades of air travel from coast to coast.
The ride between Holyoke, MA and Raleigh, NC clocked in at about fourteen hours. I originally didn’t plan to take the train to visit my extended family for Thanksgiving. Looking at flights, though, I realized that the holiday weekend made travel almost prohibitively expensive for me, with long layovers and indirect routes padding the travel time to around 24 hours. Fourteen hours on a train seemed like nothing in comparison, but I was still daunted by the long day ahead.
As soon as I got settled on the train, it became obvious to me that this was the superior mode of long-distance travel. I had forgotten what it was like to have leg room. The seats were wide and featured leg rests. I could walk freely up and down the aisles and visit the cafe car whenever I got hungry. The necessary comforts of long-distance rail travel feel like a luxury when you’re used to the confinement of airplanes. I was able to use the Amtrak public WiFi network to write papers and do research for the majority of my trip. Because the train moves so fast, the dead spots for cell reception didn’t last long. It was a revelation to actually be productive on a trip. Most airlines force you to pay for access to their WiFi networks. Travelers end up trying to read in low light or watching a movie on one of the plane’s tiny seat-back screens.
A robust and accessible public transportation infrastructure is absolutely necessary in the United States. Economically, environmentally and for the sake of public health, everyone should have access to efficient and comfortable travel that can reach anywhere in the country. Most major cities have public transit networks, allowing residents and visitors mobility that does not depend on individual vehicles. This is not the case everywhere, and even well-populated areas are underserved by their bus and subway system. Even in the Pioneer Valley, there are limited buses between Mount Holyoke College and Smith College, despite the Five College Consortium allowing students from these schools to take courses at other campuses.
Better public transportation has the potential to benefit our lives in more ways than meet the eye. Allowing all people access to travel is culturally beneficial. It gives people the freedom to attend events and visit friends and family even when they live in a different place. Local bus and subway systems are also crucial for people who may not have reliable access to a car. It makes the process of applying to a job or looking for housing that much easier and assists those who may not be able to drive at all because of a disability. Services like Uber and Lyft are expensive and are often unreliable outside of cities and high-traffic areas. Public transit employees also receive benefits from their jobs, and increasing this infrastructure would provide a multitude of new stable jobs in an industry that will always be needed by the community.
Trains and buses are also highly beneficial for the environment. A BBC article titled “Climate change: Should you fly, drive or take the train?” highlights the environmental impacts of several different modes of transport. It finds that a single passenger car is responsible for one and a half times as much CO2 emissions as one passenger on a bus. The proportional emissions of a passenger on a domestic rail are minuscule in comparison. Not to mention, when more passengers ride on buses or trains, there are fewer individual cars on the road. This is an incredible relief to traffic. One bus can move much faster when the space taken up by a few dozen cars has freed up.
When it comes to long-distance travel, railway transportation is more efficient than plane travel by a large margin. Planes don’t just release CO2. According to the BBC, there are also emissions related to being at high altitudes that contribute to their environmental impact. Amtrak uses both diesel and electric trains, which can vary in efficiency, but even the diesel trains are more efficient than planes. Not to mention, one train can carry several planes worth of passengers.
The U.S. is behind many other countries in terms of accessible rail travel. The European Union and Japan are both known for their high-speed train systems that allow travellers access to thousands of miles and numerous cities.
Train transportation is not just an enjoyable and scenic way to travel — it also has immense potential to help people all across the country travel safely and easily. Just by adding a few hours to our journey, we can all experience the numerous benefits of interstate rail travel.