On this day, February 16, 1996, two passenger trains collided in Silver Spring, Maryland.

[Wicked Blue]

2. Good post

I remember when that happened. Terrible accident.

I took the Capitol Limited to Pittsburgh a few times 4 or 5 years ago. What a horrible track. The train takes about 7 hours from Rockville to Pittsburgh. By car it's less than 4 hours. The train has to go 25 mph in many areas because the track is in poor condition. It costs quite a bit more than Greyhound too. The doorways into the passenger cars are so narrow and steep that I needed help to board and get off. It's no wonder people don't travel much by rail any more.

This is what happens when there is almost no federal financial support for rail travel.

When I visited Italy in the late 1970s, I traveled by train from Rome to Florence to Pisa, Padua and Venice, and from Rome south to Naples. It was convenient and affordable. That's the way it is in most of Europe, from what I've heard.