Railroad tracks don’t work like roads. They were almost entirely built and operated privately by companies until the 1970s when passenger rail collapsed and the federal government bought it at deep discount and gradually sold off a great deal of what was left. In fact, most of the rail amtrak uses is not owned by Amtrak, it’s leased from companies like CSX and Norfolk Southern.

Amtrak can’t simply use it because its there, and passenger trains have plenty of their own requirements due to differing safety standards. It’s unlikely that using these tracks is feasible.

They also posted this in every state subreddit lmao

They did say peak season 😂

Isn’t February peak snow month around here anyways? It sure seemed to be in Southeast PA growing up

Shocking that they survived. Paradoxically, crashing directly into it probably save their lives. If they were 10 feet either direction they’re probably losing a wing or getting partially wrapped around it before falling. In either case, probably not survivable given the height

So reading this article, it really shows some selective analysis that doesn’t really explain it’s very significant finding of road deaths going up 6% dung a lockdown year

First, it claims this to be a “uniquely American” problem, despite Ireland and Switzerland also having shockingly high growths, then also conveniently leaves out traffic fatality rates in China or India. China has one of the fastest growing car ownership rates in the world, and it’s building highways as much as its building heavy rail and public transit.

Second, it doesn’t answer the fundamental question of how there was a 6% jump in the US (plus Switzerland and Ireland) during the lockdown year that saw exceptional decreases in driving. They use percentages of growth, but that only tells part of a story; what were the actual share of pedestriaj and cyclist involved accidents overall? Were greater numbers of cyclist in urban centers like DC contributing to the growth, or could it be explained by other issues like people returning to the road after extended periods of not driving? They also cite things like cars getting bigger, but frankly even cars from the 50s going at even moderate speeds can be deadly, so where’s the actual connection? An on top of this, they spend a lot of time talking about highway and road construction, then drop in how a spike in reckless driving was considered the biggest contributor; what difference does a speed limit make when people ignore it?

I guess this turned into an essay, but it’s just incredibly frustrating to see such massive issues in everyday life getting such a terrible article written about it