Fast train to Detroit a waste of funds

The Herald reports that Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announces that $404 million has been allocated by the federal government to go “toward increasing (train) speeds to 110 mph between Chicago and Detroit.” What kind of lunacy is this? Detroit is a dying, shrinking, virtually bankrupt, hollow shell of a former city that has lost over a quarter of its population (now under 750,000) in the last decade.

There is no way on earth that traffic on such a line could pay for operating expenses, let alone amortize the capital expenditure. This shortfall, in turn, would impose additional funding burdens on Illinois and Michigan — two states that can hardly afford such wasteful spending.

What an egregious, misplaced profligacy! At a per-pupil cost of $10,000 this same money could fund the educational costs of over 40,000 public school students for a year and preserve thousands of teachers’ jobs.

Bob Foys

Inverness