Supertrains: Solutions to America's Transportation Gridlock [Paperback]

Joseph Vranich (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1993

In a critically acclaimed, call-for-action book, transportation expert Vranich explores the numerous transportation problems in the U.S. and offers a hopeful glimpse into a possible era of responsible energy efficient travel. Illus.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This timely but disjointed, rambling text rightly questions why Japan has developed the Bullet Train, France the Train a Grand Vitesse (TGV) and Germany the Intercity Express (ICE) while America's rail system continues to operate on 1930s technology. In his introduction, Clancy ( The Sum of All Fears ) states that overcrowding in airports and on highways could be lessened by competitively paced, comfortable "supertrains." High-speed rail specialist Vranich, head of a Washington, D.C., public relations firm, addresses means of financing supertrains, passenger safety, tourism industry perks and environmental issues. He discusses the quiet and swift magnetic levitation train, or maglev, which operates on opposing magnetic fields, and argues that America would be wise to purchase ready-made foreign trains. Exterior and interior photos of supertrains, diagrams of aerodynamic trains and track structures, and maps of existing and planned routes illustrate the volume. Unfortunately, Vranich's future-tense patriotic cheerleading is grating: "The day a conductor collects the first Supertrain ticket is the day remaining doubts will be swept away. Then Americans will rejoice in the realization that fast trains are the way to travel."
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Vranich offers this narrative as a plea for the support in the United States of high-speed rail (on steel wheels; 150-200 mph) and high-speed magnetically levitated (maglev; 250-300 mph) trains. Germany, France, and Japan run high-speed trains now, and the maglev models are being tested in Germany and Japan. The author believes such supertrains would benefit public transportation by reducing congestion and pollution in certain population corridors (e.g., Los Angeles to Las Vegas; Chicago to Detroit; and New York to Washington, D.C.). He discusses the plans for supertrains in various states. Vranich claims that federal support for highways and air transportation resulted in a continuing neglect for improvement in train transportation, but he selectively presents the evidence for these charges. A bibliography listing the technical reports cited would have helped the reader follow the various arguments of researchers and committees. Recommended for popular technology collections.
- Christopher R. Jocius, Illinois Mathematics & Science Acad., Aurora
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 422 pages
• Publisher: St Martins Pr; Rev Sub edition (August 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 031209468X
• ISBN-13: 978-0312094683
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,746,268 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good idea about trains, August 25, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Supertrains: Solutions to America's Transportation Gridlock (Paperback)

I just finished my Amtrak cross-america trip and was browsing for old fashioned train books in bookstore when I came acrossed this one. (Too bad you can't fumble thru book on amazon :) Differnt from other train books, this one explains the futuristic era of new rail system. The book concluded with a sci-fi like description of our future passenger rail system. It's nice to read a book that give you hopes and dreams. The book is so persuasive that I'm curious to hear the arguments AGAINST supertrains, just to balance out the supertrain "propaganda" from this book. Informative and fun read.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Solid idea, but outdated, February 4, 2003

By 

Brad Swartzwelter (Kingston, WA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Supertrains: Solutions to America's Transportation Gridlock (Paperback)

Ten years ago Mr. Vranich was on the cutting edge by suggesting supertrains for America. This book launched the $12 billion High-Speed Rail Act that is still pending in congress. But time has moved on. The trains of yesterday don't fit the NIMBY attitude of modern America. Future transportation will have to be clean, sustainable, safe, secure and -most of all- out of sight and sound for people living along the right-of-way. A good follow-up book will come out in April '03 called "Faster than Jet: A solution to America's long-term transportation problems."

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A well researched treatise on the future of mass transit, October 29, 1997

By 

Michael K. Schramm (Aledo, Texas United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Supertrains: Solutions to America's Transportation Gridlock (Hardcover)

The arguments posited by Vranich for a U.S based high speed rail network are so compelling and logically formulated that before completing the book I became a member of an organization devoted to high speed ground transportation. Topics explored include the present state of U.S. passenger railroads (focusing on Amtrak) as well as failed high speed rail initiatives , the politics of mass transportation, the problems faced by a near-saturated automobile/aircraft transportation network, the cutting edge technology in high speed rail occuring in Europe, including the imminent unveiling of magenetically levitated trains (maglev) in both Germany and Japan and a scenario of a future with high speed rail. The author's vision is left somewhat incomplete however as he neglects to explore the logistics of how a high speed rail system will link with other forms of transportation (intra-city rail and/or automated guideway transit systems, in addition to cars/airplanes?) to hopefully develop a superior transportation infrastructure to what is currently in place. Overall though, this is highly thought provoking commentary on how a mode of transportation viewed by most as outdated is in fact our best option for safer, more efficient, environmentally sound and less energy intensive mobility for the 21st century.