Yes, there are many cases where using Amtrak is not at all practicle for the trip that needs to be made. But as in the other example above, there are. It is to bad that Tom Downs eliminated many of the options when he took charge, many that will never return, like the Dallas to Houston section of the Texas Eagle, the Pioneer and Desert Wind. The Desert Wind was a terrible loss, I remember when they would leave LA daily with both Coaches full, just to empty them out at Las Vegas and then fill them back up again with people going to Salt Lake City. This is not to mention the people using the connecting portion to trains 5 & 6 at Salt Lake City to go to Chicago and points between. These 3 trains should still be running today. This once again goes to prove that once a train is gone from a particular route, your chances of getting it back are slim to none, and this also holds true for many of the trains that were lost when Amtrak began on May 1, 1971. As I have always argued since I was a young boy that there should be MORE trains, not less. I also support the Handicap People, the people that have had their Driver's Licenses taken away from them forever, and the others that cannot be cramped in a small space on a bus or plane for even the shortest of time, for them, the train is their answer. Also, when special events occur where there is alot of drinkers attending, such as Mardi Gras in New Orleans, where would you rather have them? Out there on the highways, where they don't care and drink and drive, then get into a collision and kill your innocent, beautiful daughter, who is a straight A Student, top of her class and has got everything going for her? No, they should be on the train where they can drink, then pass out in their seat while the train moves along at 79 MPH! I know this for fact, becuase I rode the westbound Sunset Limited one time several years ago at the close of Mardi Gras and this train was full of these individuals. I kept saying silently to myself on the whole trip to LA, over and over again, "Man, I am glad these people are on this train and not out there on the highway killing people." I'd sure like to get Mr. Ronmey and Mr. Ryan on these trains and give them a big lesson in all this stuff, but even if you could legally put a gun to their heads and make them, they don't know and don't care and they'd think I'm nuts and messed up in the head, and besides, they got their mind made up about issues they have no clue about anyway. As Sonny Bono once said, "& the beat goes on...." As J. Pat Bonneville would very calmly say, "Thanks for listening."