The Wonders of Trains
CPI Regional Captain Penny Arcos recently gave this presentation to a community organization in Minneapolis.
Trains are amazing. You can ride the California Zephyr from Chicago to San Francisco. Trains are also a testament to human innovation.
When I was growing up, my parents took me on the Amtrak every summer to Colorado or up to Montreal or Quebec. The screeching wheels. The friendly conductor. Sharing a dinner table with a stranger. The mini cup of chocolate Haagen Dazs ice cream frozen solid like a brick. My dad and I watched the world go by in the dome car while my mom chatted with other travelers.
The wonder of those trips never left me. As I study innovations in other countries, I am amazed at what China has built.
As China industrialized in the late 90s, the old slow train networks were overwhelmed with cargo, migrant workers, and business and leisure travelers.. To overcome this challenge China built the Beijing–Tianjin intercity high speed railway- just in time for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Since then, China has built over 31,000 miles of high speed rail.
Beneath the Yangtze River, engineers built an 8.7- mile tunnel almost 300 feet beneath the riverbed. A 4,000-ton SMART boring machine called The Navigator, as long as two football fields, chewed through the rock-hard soil while keeping the soft mud above from collapsing. The engineers compared it to “drilling through tofu”.
With all this development, one might ask, “But what about the environment?” That’s included in the development plan.
The China-Laos Railway runs through a tropical rainforest- where 300 Asian elephants still roam. Engineers built tunnels and bridges for the trains, leaving the rainforest intact. Elephant herders maintain protective fences and elephant passageways while using an Elephant Early Warning App to keep themselves safe.
High speed rail isn’t for everyone, though.Charity slow trains for farmers and silver trains for seniors make sure no one is left behind.
Imagine a farmers’ market on slow, green-painted service trains that amble through the mountainous terrains of Southwest China– past limestone peaks, past VERDANT rice paddies carved into hillsides, and over deep river gorges. Along the way, these trains stop at over 100 ethnic villages where farmers line up with their livestock and baskets loaded with colorful fruits and vegetables and freshly picked herbs.
For over 70 years,China's slow train has connected rural farmers to markets for as low as 14 cents a ride. In the beginning,coal stoves filled winter carriages with black smoke. (Wave fan) Summer heat turned them intoscorching saunas. Today, farmers ride in comfort with air conditioning and electric heat along 81 routes. Doctors provide free health checkups onboard. Passengers and conductors make lifelong friends.
Before the train, farmers typically earned about $275 per year. But with the train, they can earn nearly $5,500 a year. … so they can splurge on new clothes and hearty meals. For some old- timers, it’s no longer just about making money. It’s a way to stay active.
Speaking of old timers, last February, to counter Trump’s tariff war, China had to walk a tight rope. They began rolling out silver trains for seniors. Carpeted floors, handrails, onboard medical professionals and senior-friendly menus ensure a safe trip. Onboard, retirees sing karaoke, play mahjong or learn photography. In ancient cities, they relax in hot springs, savor regional cuisines, photograph architecture… or even collect melted snow from mountains.
I can picture my mom and dad on that train.
WIth over 300 million over-60s with decades of savings, China is just getting started in the senior tourism industry.
Now for the grand finale. Have you ever seen a train with no wheels?
China's most advanced train is the Maglev. It hovers on magnets. It can accelerate to 435 miles per hour in two seconds — faster than a Formula 1 car.
China's engineers are dreaming big. Slow trains for farmers, silver trains for seniors, a tunnel through tofu, a bridge for elephants and a maglev with no wheels.
America could dream big, too.
Not by containing China — but by building with them.
From the lift bridge in Duluth to the port of Corpus Christi. From the wharfs of Maine to Napa Valley. Bullet trains could bring Americans together to build and to trade.
That's innovation. That's the American spirit.