American rail travelers couldn't have been more heartened last week by the announcement that President Barack Obama's budget included in the stimulus program $8 billion for the development of a high-speed rail network as well as a $5 billion rail grant program for the states.
This is welcome news to Amtrak riders who have hoped for and deserved something better since the agency assumed operation of the nation's passenger trains nearly 40 years ago. It also represents a sort of deliverance for Amtrak, which for decades has had to crawl on its knees across a field of broken glass for whatever pitiful alms six presidents and Congress saw fit to bestow.
It was 75 years ago when the railroad industry, without government help, sought to save itself by developing new high-speed streamlined passenger trains.