Letter: Resurrecting rails could aid travel

Monday, Nov. 27, 2006 | 7:18 a.m.

How many remember the joys of railroad travel? We would sit back in comfortable seats and watch the scenery roll by while entranced by the rhythmic clicking of the ties. Access was easy, with stations in many hamlets, schedules usually adhered to, and no waiting times for boarding clearances. Overall trip travel time compared very favorably to automobile and, except for long distances, similar to today's airplanes.

Routine rail travel is still popular in the Northeast corridor - Boston through New York to the nation's capital. Shamefully, we no longer have the same throughout the Southwest region, as pointed out Friday in a Las Vegas Sun editorial. Some years ago Amtrak stopped service in this area with no opposition that I can remember.

With McCarran International Airport, the country's fifth-largest airport, reaching the saturation point, ground services and transportation will be required for the new Ivanpah airport under consideration. What could be better than a regional rail network stretching throughout Southern Nevada and California?

Clark County discussions of modern, high-speed ground transportation - Burbank to Las Vegas, for example - seem centered around costly new technologies and between limited destinations. Why not just re-establish frequent regional rail service at reasonable rates, modified to use modern equipment enabling distributed routes?

Rails seem to still exist throughout this area, although deterioration may be showing. Overall travel could surely match or beat private cars on crowded highways and airplanes with long boarding times and rising fares.

Richard E. Law, Las Vegas