Houston train station. Depot is the small building in the BG. This is the only platform. Note crumbling canopy similar to the one in Rochester.

Cleveland Amtrak station, waiting for the train. The depot is a small structure between the freeway and lakeside structures.

[youtube]http://youtu.be/U4CtltBrGyA[/youtube]

I know that infrastructure refers to much more than just train tracks and stations — however, that’s the most recent infrastructure I’ve had the opportunity to take a good look at.

Media is from recent train trip: Crumbling infrastructure all over, but I particularly noticed it in a few areas specific to train tracks, train stations and bridges. I’d have to say that most – but not all – of the train stations east of the Mississippi, from Toledo to Albany, were in some need of major overhauling. One thing I did notice were that the platforms and canopies (see pix and video clip – which I believe is Rochester, New York) are all the same vintage. To my uneducated eye, they look like they were likely built in the 1930s or 40s.

They all seem to be falling apart at the same rate.

One of the most embarrassing stations of all was Union Station in Washington, D.C., which has the same deal with the crumbling platforms. Luckily, they just announced an upgrade is on the way.  Imagine you’re a businessperson from Europe on your first trip to D.C. from New York and this is your first impression of our nation’s capital? Kind of pathetic, compared to what you’re used to seeing in Western Europe or Asia.

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For me, the most disappointing of all was Houston, Texas, which is the nation’s 4th largest city, right there behind New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. The Amtrak station in Houston is a garbage-strewn wasteland of one crumbling platform stuck under a freeway. Again, I wonder if Houston’s city fathers and mothers really want that to be the first impression visitors get of their fine town when they roll in on the train?

My point with the post is not to vilify certain cities or regions (sorry Houston and Ohio) but to just point out what’s probably obvious to anybody anywhere in America these days: Yes, our infrastructure is crumbling, and falling behind the rest of the world. We have people who need jobs who could rebuild it; we have money available at the lowest interest rates in decades to finance it.

Why isn’t anyone in our government doing anything about this? Well, for one, I know the Republicans pretty much hate the trains. At least their candidate says he’d pull funding from Amtrak if elected. Yet the trains were full. I’d love to know your thoughts.

Not to be completely gloomy, there were some bright spots: NOLA’s completing a new light rail line, Los Angeles just opened a new light rail line, there were well kept up small town stations in places like Tuscaloosa and Meridian. And, there’s a new intermodal station in Milwaukee.