My dad was an evacuee during ww2, most of the children in London were dispersed to homes in the countryside. Millions were shifted quite quicky all over the UK in 1939 and 1940. This effort, though not strictly analogous required a massive network of trains to move that population. America seems to lack a serious train network and Amtrak is falling apart at the seems. The only way I can seriously see public authorities moving 500,000 people quickly is if there is enough rolling stock and enough track to get the job done. I don't know the specifics of the rail network in the US but every time i've used Amtrak it seems slow and overloaded. The entire network is far too small as well.
Seems like a livelythread below.
London could theoretically be emptied with its existing train network alone, not so LA, SF, NY(?), Chicago(?), St Louis: There just isn't enough track and not enough trains in any one place. Apparently there is no plan to use trains in this way either. It's a serious hole in emergency planning to soley rely on cars and buses for large populations, traffic jams hundreds of drivers needed( the list of problems is endless) does New Orleans even have a train service? Or is it just Greyhound, river and the airport that link them to the world? I have a few questions.
1)What is the name of the union for train workers? What is the authority regulating the train system? have they mande any statements?
2)are/were Amtrak trains used during the crisis?
3)Are there plans to use the system in a crisis? if not why not?
4)Have any Democrats raised the issue of a public evacuation using trains? This seems like a winning issue in many ways. Republicans defund the only mass transit system yet made by man and of course you get shitty evacaution capabilities.
Below thread some peopl have pointed out that chicago has a good rail net. NYC as well. Howver FEMA seems to have turned down AMTRAK's offer of assistance at some point. 1 train could have saved 1000s from misery and death.
Any thoughts? please recommend I'sd like to see what people think and more importantly know about this important subject. It seems that no trains at were used in the evacuation before of after the hurricane.