Dukakis Calls for High-Speed Rail Net in Northeast
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BOSTON — Democratic presidential candidate Michael S. Dukakis rode a Turboliner from Boston to New York City on Wednesday to highlight his call for high-speed rail service to ease congestion at Northeastern airports.
“There’s nothing quite like running for the presidency for six months to awaken one to the chaos that currently afflicts transportation in this country, especially our airports,” the Massachusetts governor said.
“There is one thing we can do,” he said. “ . . . That is to use an extraordinary and underutilized resource in this country and that is rail.”
The event was intended to highlight Dukakis’ call for a national transportation policy that would hire 2,000 more air traffic controllers and enforce anti-trust regulations against airlines.
American-built turbine-powered trains, like the Turboliner, have been on the New York-Albany run since 1976. The five-car units are better able to handle the curves along the right-of-way than conventional trains, while hitting a top speed of 125 m.p.h.
Dukakis, who plans to emphasize transportation issues in a campaign swing through New York and California, said the federal government also must address problems stemming from airline deregulation.
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