[Gasification] Aviation'sroleinglobalwarming...9/11aftermathproves theoriesonH20incontrailsin dramatic fashion.

[Greg and April]

Being cheep and being efficient do not necessarily go hand in hand

I priced train travel about a year ago, for a family of 4 and except for a 
12 hr layover in San Francisco, it wasn't to bad.

The air industry is being supported by the gov, because they have the gov's 
ear - for some reason the managed to convince the govt that they are an 
essential industry.

The reason that train travel has become so expensive, is the fact that the 
airlines have drawn so much of the passenger run, that the rails have had to 
raise their price just to stay running - IOW, the more passengers, the lower 
the price per passenger can be - the fewer the passengers the higher the 
price has to be.

To some extent, the railroads ( at least here in the US ) have cut their own 
throat, by eliminating small towns from their routes - sure individual small 
towns don't provide a lot of income, but as a whole most of these small 
towns don't even rate an airport, so taken together if anyone wanted to 
travel, they either took the bus ( nasty ) or the train - now they don't 
even have the option of the train, so the bus system is reaping all of the 
money that used to go to the train system.

Greg H.



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Max Kennedy" <vacuum1313 at yahoo.ca>
To: "Discussion of biomass pyrolysis and gasification" 
<gasification at listserv.repp.org>
Sent: Sunday, March 23, 2008 19:16
Subject: Re: [Gasification] 
Aviation'sroleinglobalwarming...9/11aftermathproves 
theoriesonH20incontrailsin dramatic fashion.


> Although the fuel efficiency of trains is much better have you priced them 
> lately?  I am planning a trip from NE Ontario to the Okanogan region of 
> British Columbia this summer and compared the 2. Plane is $400-500 return 
> each depending on day of the week, I can take my dogs thereby avoiding 
> kenneling costs and it gets you there in a few hours.  Train is $2700 ONE 
> WAY for the regular seats (3 day trip), $3400 for a berth and $4200 for a 
> private sleeper.  I can't take the dogs on the train, according to Via and 
> would have to add another $600+ for a 2 week stay in a kennel.  That makes 
> a 2 week trip for 2 people cost a minimum $12000 return not including 
> expenses while there.  This is the same cost as an all inclusive, 
> moderately expensive balcony suite on an upscale cruise ship for the same 
> period of time including the airfair.  I know this because I had one 
> booked for this summer before throwing a blood clot in the lung 3 weeks 
> ago and having to cancel!
> The trip to BC is sort of a replacement for the big 5 yr anniversary 
> cruise.  As long as this kind of cost imbalance exists trains will not be 
> the preferred mode of travel no matter how efficient they are! 
> Additionally theyare never on time because freight makes more money and 
> any time there is a conflict the passenger train stops and sits on a 
> siding waiting for the freight to go by.  Between here, Kirkland Lake, and 
> Toronto, a matter of about 700km, the train is alawys at least an hour 
> late, I can only imagine what a tip of thousands of kilometers would mean 
> in delays.  As long as planes can afford to fly trains will not be 
> competition.  Maybe someone with clout should talk to the train companies. 
> Forgive my rant but trains are a bit of a sore point right now.
>
> Max K.
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----
> From: Greg and April <gregandapril at earthlink.net>
> To: Discussion of biomass pyrolysis and gasification 
> <gasification at listserv.repp.org>
> Sent: Sunday, March 23, 2008 12:18:23 PM
> Subject: Re: [Gasification] Aviation'sroleinglobalwarming...9/11 
> aftermathproves theoriesonH20incontrailsin dramatic fashion.
>
> OTOH, allot of aircraft are wasting fuel by making short hops
> of less than 100 miles - they barley get to cruising altitude and they are
> descending to land.    In this case perhaps a ground based transport like
> high speed train linking cities that close to one major airport, is the
> better solution.
>
> Just remember, that as far as fuel efficiency is concerned ( passenger
> miles ), flying is the most inefficient, and taking the train, is better
> than even the bus.
>
>
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