Submitted by Bernard McCormick, May 9, 2007 16:41

Amtrak, and every other commuter line in the country, could make money if they went back to the beginning of trains. They carried both people and things. In the modern context, "things" would be package delivery. Same day from NY to Washington. The U.S. Mail, which used trains for years, is an obvious choice, but any of the package delivery companies, which are intensely competitive, could figure out a way to use fast trains for shorter deliveries. Maybe even drive small vehicles on the trains, and sort on the way, as was done for decades. Amtrak can get from New York to Philadelphia faster than you can get from Manhattan to Newark on most days by car, or in this case, truck. When you want fast, you want fast, and cost doesn't matter. However, in this case cost could be quite reasonable. You can carry 1,000 letters in the same space taken up by one person.

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