"all of those "urban support" items are delivered by truck or other non-rail modes"

A point was never made that they weren't served by truck. Point was that these communities are vital and their residents deserve basic services such as long distant travel, broadband, mail service and etc.


"you need to move to a town where other options are available."

An example of this not working out: if you've worked for a hydro facility for 30 years, it isn't easy to find the same line of work in another town (chances are you're already commuting 20-30 miles to the damn), and if you do move to a new community its' transportation situation is probably similar to the one your leaving.

Also, flying isn't an option or is prohibitively expensive in many rural areas.


"Certainly, those in the sleepers are using the train for luxury travel;"

Seniors are entitled to "luxury" if you call a night in an Amtrak sleeper luxury. They especially deserve it when you have to catch the only daily train at 4am.



"I rarely use them, because they seldom go where I need to (or want to) go"

I'm only referring to where they go.