My first reaction was a reflexive appreciation of progress. I’m a fan of travel by train when I can afford it, and I can schedule my travel such that an Acela ticket does not cost much more than the regional lines. It’s worth it to me when I can swing that.

But, I also thought of this passage from Graham Greene’s Orient Express (aka Stamboul Train):

… In the train, however fast it travelled, the passengers were compulsorily at rest; useless between the walls of glass to feel emotion, useless to try to follow any activity except of the mind; and that activity could be followed without fear of interruption. The world was beating now on Eckman and Stein, telegrams were arriving, men were interrupting the threads of their thought with speech, women were holding dinner-parties. But in the rushing reverberating express, noise was so regular that it was the equivalent of silence, movement was so continuous that after a while the mind accepted it as stillness. Only outside the train was the violence of action possible, and the train would contain him  safely with his plans for three days; by the end of that time he would know quite clearly how to deal with Stein and Mr. Eckman.

There’s something in that passage that captures the essence of train travel for me. I’m hardly against the availability of wifi on trains (and one has long been able to tether their Blackberry or use their 3g modem already), on the contrary, I’m chomping at the bit for the most modern rail to be had being available where I live and want to go. It is just a reminder that we can drown out some experiences by tapping into the ever ubiquitous conduits that take us back to what we already know; possibly keeping us mired in something and than using an opportunity to think in relative solace or observe something new through the coincidence of strangers together on a vessel en route to a different place.