Why do many Europeans have the convenience of traveling by train from city to city as they please while we do not? As rail travel is less stressful and expensive than flying and less time-consuming than driving, it appears that Americans are shortchanged when it comes to enjoying efficient, flexible and environmentally-friendly public transportation alternatives. There are examples of praiseworthy subway systems in cities such as New York, and railways effectively connect Eastern Seaboard cities such as Washington and Boston, but the vast majority of Americans simply cannot consider rail travel a viable option. While it is true that America’s geography is wholly unlike that of rail-laden Europe or Japan, there is evidence that disappointing consumer preferences have left an underrated U.S. rail system cold and dead.

As America restructured its transportation networks in previous decades, major cities replaced public transit systems with road networks, confident that the car would emerge as the ultimate form of future transportation. The rapidly increasing population of drivers has since contributed to urban congestion and pollution, but a recent resurgence of investment in public transit can’t seem to reverse the American love for driving and the open road. A general apathy towards rail transportation has apparently been fused into our genes.

Even in what would appear to be one of the most green-friendly areas in the country, the San Francisco Bay Area, the public rail network is much less popular than expected. Two rather loosely integrated systems, Caltrain and BART, largely leave Peninsula and East Bay residents on their respective sides of the waterfront. A handful of bridges serve as clogged pulmonary vessels that barely allow the two lungs of the Bay to breath through the smog of commuter traffic. There was hope that the BART system could extend its network around the south bay to complete a full circuit, but the dearth of passengers has left such ambitions financially unsound. Caltrain perennially faces revenue deficits and has continuously hiked ticket prices. The result is fewer passengers, higher prices and a very unpleasant cycle.

A centralized network connecting our massive country may be simply unfeasible, but even in many regions outside the Bay Area, the construction of rail transportation should prove highly economical. Consider the possibilities of light rail running down the eastern coast of Florida or between all the major Midwestern cities around the Great Lakes. The most relevant example for Stanford students and local residents would be a high-speed rail link between San Francisco and Los Angeles. This link would eliminate the dilemma between exhausting 6-hour drives or inconvenient, hour-long flights that never quite feel worth the trouble.

Although short-term prospects do not seem hopeful, a San Franscisco-Los Angeles high-speed rail route is indeed being discussed by transportation authorities. If the project can raise enough money — a concern given the state’s recent financial woes — then California residents can expect to enjoy the comfort and safety of rail travel within the next decade or so. Until then, let us students do what we can, take advantage of the rail options we have and use Caltrain to get to San Francisco or the BART to get to the East Bay.