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New Book Explores U.S. Passenger Rail

Newswise - James McCommons spent a one-year sabbatical riding the rails across much of the Amtrak system to research his new book, "Waiting on a Train: The Embattled Future of Passenger Rail Service" (Chelsea Green). Fueled by the national dialogue related to President Barack Obama's support of a high-speed rail network and the $8 billion in federal stimulus funding to get the project on track, the book's subject is timely and relevant.

It was a less than satisfying 2007 spring break trip with his eldest son on Amtrak's California Zephyr that convinced the Northern Michigan University English professor to pitch his book proposal. He wanted to tackle a couple of simple questions: Why has the greatest railroad nation in the world turned its back on the very form of transportation that made modern life and mobility possible? And why has Amtrak, created in 1971, failed to expand and play a significant role in surface transportation?

America's infatuation with the automobile certainly played a role. But through his conversations with the people who ride and work the rails - from transportation officials, government regulators and railroad executives to politicians, passengers, lobbyists and historians - McCommons discovered the answer is far more complex.

A Pennsylvania native, McCommons began riding Amtrak in 1975 while attending college and had traveled by train extensively before embarking on the book project. His father was a clerk with the Bessemer and Lake Erie Railroad, which delivered ore from the Great Lakes region to the Pittsburgh steel mills. His grandfather, a railroad brakeman, was killed in 1919 when a steam engine exploded. Despite his personal connection to the subject, McCommons said he is not a railroad "buff" and was motivated less by nostalgia than his interests in transportation and geography. He describes Waiting on a Train as equal parts travel narrative and investigative journalism.

Prepared by Kristi Evans.

Source: NewsWise