Gas Hits $4. Time to Build Trains.

U.S. Must Build Trains to Deal with Volatile Oil Market

The national average retail price of gasoline crossed the $4 mark on March 31, up $1.03, or 34%, since the start of the war.

Meanwhile, a Bloomberg analyst thinks that $200 a barrel oil is possible. If the war lasts until June, gas could hit $7 a gallon.

Through the High Speed Rail Alliance, you can press for a rapid expansion of fast passenger trains nationwide.

High gas prices will have an economic impact. Car-dependent travelers will drive less, car pool if they can, or just pay more for fuel and spend less on something else, or save less.

Different countries are taking different approaches to the situation. In Australia, the states of Victoria and Tasmania have made transit fares free. South Korea is considering restricting driving if the price of oil goes high enough.

In the United States, Georgia suspended its motor fuel tax, in order to promote continued consumption.

You can press for a better way as a member of the High Speed Rail Alliance.

We are championing an enthusiastic program of building: new tracks, new grade separations, and, most urgent of all, new trainsets. It won’t solve today’s problem immediately, but it will set the country on a much better path.

There have been gasoline price spikes before, going back to the Arab Oil Embargo of 1973. Congress reacted, in part, by funding the purchase of “Amfleet” coaches to modernize Amtrak’s fleet. Those cars have benefited train travelers for decades.

Now, it is time to do it again.

Please join us today, to press for the trains the country so desperately needs.

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