James McCommons. Waiting on a Train: The Embattled Future of Passenger Rail Service. White River Junction, Vermont: Chelsea Green Publishing Company, 285 pages.

Transportation is a big part of the American national character. We’ve all learned how canals helped to tie the fledgling United States together in the ante-bellum period and railroads did the same in the post-Civil War years. In the 1950s, the interstate highway system facilitated the development of suburbs, and over the past thirty years affordable air travel has made cross-country and even trans-global trips possible for much of the population.

The big problem is, and always has been, how to pay for it. From Whigs and Democrats arguing over “internal improvements” to the recent uproar over federal stimulus money for rail construction, the devil has always been in the details.

In WAITING ON A TRAIN, James McCommons takes a long look at the state of passenger rail service in the United States and finds it lacking. The passenger notices the inconveniences: substandard dining cars, surly employees, trains that are hours late. But beneath these surface problems are fundamental issues, such as AMTRAK trains often being shunted aside for freight trains and the lack of investment in stations, track, and train technology. In addition to conducting research and interviewing key railroad figures, McCommons brings a human element to the story by sharing his numerous trips across the country via rail. This gives the reader a far better feel for the difference between service in Northern California and the Midwest than any statistics could.

It can be argued that trains built America. Why, then, did Americans turn away from rails in the 1950s? That’s the big question that rail advocates have to answer before they can build a train system that will attract riders.

Like anything else, it comes down to cost, both in money and in time. Long-haul trips are simply more convenient by air: few working people have the luxury of spending four days to get their destination when they can be there in four hours. Within a metro area, cars may be both more convenient and cheaper than rail travel. If this is the case, travelers can’t be blamed for not taking the train. But when personal auto travel becomes more expensive–or more hampered by parking issues–than train travel, more people will take the train.

The problem is that trains require significant investment, and funding them is a political minefield. As a result, much of the book is about politics. Whether it means failing to invest in new tracks and trains or keeping unprofitable services operating, much of the current national rail system has more to do with politics than rational economic choice. It doesn’t help that even rail boosters now concede the passenger service will never be profitable. Despite the fact that all forms of transit in the United States enjoy some sort of government subsidy, this will doubtless continue to be a deal-breaker in many states.

It’s difficult to see an easy solution here. Even if gas prices rise to $5 a gallon and stay there, a car that burns 25 miles per gallon can travel 200 miles for about $40 in about 3 hours. Can trains compete with that, and the added convenience of not having to adhere to someone else’s timetable? Not in most areas, and not with the kinds of trains we have. A bullet train that makes the trip in a hour might, but if it’s too expensive and had limited trips would be the third option after air travel. Trains have a steep grade to climb.

This massively informative book blends railroading, politics, and industrial policy into a readable, personal narrative thanks to McCommons’ cross-country trekking. While strenuously advocating a more prominent role for trains in the future, it pulls no punches when discussing the problems with rail travel as it now is. The author starts out believing that more rail is good; someone who feels passionately that the opposite is true might not be swayed by WAITING ON A TRAIN, but they might have a better appreciation for why some feel so strongly about improving the country’s train service.

To show the timeliness of the book, a thread over at Two Way Hard Three about the future of Las Vegas has sparked some lively debate in the comments about the possibility of an LA to Vegas train. WAITING ON A TRAIN makes it clear that this train won’t be built (or not) in a vacuum, but will be part of a larger national move towards or away from the rails.