Amtrak not up to speed

The Oct. 8 Gazette headline “$233 million price put on rail service (from Chicago to Iowa City.”) Half the route is over the Iowa Interstate Railroad, more appropriately named the Rusty Streak.

The 40 mph IAIS disgraces the dead by borrowing the emblem of the venerable Chicago Rock Island & Pacific. The Gazette article says nothing about the cost of fixing up the track to accommodate Amtrak's 70 mph speed.

At best, Amtrak is horse and buggy rail service. Amtrak measures tardiness in days; the rest of the industrialized world measures tardiness in seconds.

Obama Motors could be manufacturing modern and field-proven transportation equipment under license from the U.S. government and foreign manufacturers. See “Supertrains,” by Joe Vranish; and “Getting There,” by Stephen B. Goddard.

Bob Dostal

Iowa City