Reduce air traffic with better rail

Eliminate shorter flights

Wendy Natt, Mar 06, 09.

One-third of all air travel in this country is for trips of less than 350 miles, reports a Transportation For America story, so “imagine the impact that having efficient city to city rail options in heavily traveled corridors would have on air travel in this country.”

Increased economic competitiveness, reduced emissions, and greater energy security due a reliance on electricity rather than oil would be other reasons to invest in a nationwide, efficient passenger rail system, and reserve air travel for longer trips, says the article.

The Google map below was created by artist Aaron Koblin of Streesblog, FlightView, and published in Wired magazine, using data from the Federal Aviation Administration. It represents 24 hours of airline travel over North America on August 12, 2008, during which the FAA tracked 205,000 flights.

Watch a time elapse movie of the flight map, noting what happens on the east coast during peak commuting hours. Transportation For America notes that if passenger rail could removed even just 1/5 of all flights from the air, it would take significant pressure off of overburdened airlines and our airspace.

The 2001 map below, from the US Department of Transportation, shows potential high speed rail corridors that, when compared to Koblin’s map above, correspond to those areas with heaviest air travel.