I am going to defend rail transportation, as well. My current commute is a 15-minute train ride, with a 1+ mile / 2- km walk/jog at each end. The 6.5-year-old San Diego Northern Railroad (
www.sdcommute.com/service/coasterpage.htm), which uses a 100-year-old freight line parallel to the coast, has accomplished the "impossible" mission of coaxing thousands of southern Californians out of their beloved cars for a pleasant, stress-free trip to work. People who would not consider bicycling 15mi/25km to work don't mind bicycling 2mi/3km to a train station. Yes, at-grade crossings are a problem, particularly on a line with 20 Amtrak, 22 Coaster, and 5 freight trains, plus one maintenance truck, per day, but traffic engineering studies here have demonstrated that the trains exacerbate traffic congestion only very minutely. At the inter-regional level, Amtrak's service in the LOSSAN (Los Angeles - San Diego) rail corridor generates positive(!) income and cash flow, while directly and conveniently connecting several of southern California's largest urban cores.