The photo of the derailed boxcars in your April 4 State section reminded me of the old adage, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” I have walked a lot of the tracks in and around Bangor, and for the most part they are in hard shape.

Ties are rotting or missing, rails are uneven, and ballast (the bed of gravel on which the rails sit) is degraded or in some places sunk into muck. We have neglected our rail infrastructure and focused our energy instead on subsidizing an interstate highway system as a fast way to move freight and people.

Unfortunately, the interstate highway system is only useful in a world with unlimited amounts of cheap oil. As oil inches toward $70 a barrel, it becomes obvious that if there is a future in moving goods and passengers it will be one where trains, which are between five to 10 times more efficient at moving freight than tractor-trailers, play a central role.

Forget hybrid cars, the hydrogen economy, ethanol and other pie-in-the-sky “alternative” technologies to enable us to continue our car-centered culture. It is high time to re-invest heavily in the existing, proven technology of the railroad.

Andrew Donaldson

Blue Hill