Locomotives were invented in England, with the first major railroad connecting Liverpool and Manchester in 1830.  However, it was in America that railroads would be put to the greatest use in the nineteenth century.  On May 10, 1869, the Union Pacific and Central Pacific lines met at Promontory Point, Utah, joining from opposite directions to complete a years-long project—the Transcontinental Railroad.  This momentous event connected the eastern half of the United States with its western frontier and facilitated the construction of additional lines in between.  As a result, journeys that had previously taken several months by horse and carriage now required less than a week's travel.  By 1887 there were nearly 164,000 miles of railroad tracks in America, and by 1916 that number had swelled to over 254,000.While the United States still has the largest railroad network in the world, it operates largely in the background of American life, and citizens no longer view trains with the sense of importance those machines once commanded.  Nevertheless, the economic and industrial advantages those citizens enjoy today would not have been possible without America's history of trains; as Tom Zoellner reminds us, "Under the skin of modernity lies a skeleton of railroad tracks."  Although airplanes and automobiles have now assumed greater prominence, the time has arrived for the resurgence of railroads.  A revitalized and advanced railway system would confer numerous essential benefits on both the United States and the globe.The chief obstacles to garnering support for such a project are the current dominance of the automobile and the languishing technology of existing railroads.  In a sense these two obstacles are one, as American dependence on personal automobiles is partially due to the paucity of rapid public transportation.  The railroads of Europe and Japan, by comparison, have vastly outpaced their American counterparts.  Japan has operated high-speed rail lines continuously since 1964, and in 2007, a French train set a record of 357 miles per hour.  While that speed was achieved under tightly controlled conditions, it still speaks to the great disparity in railroad development between the United States and other countries since the mid-twentieth century.  British trains travel at speeds much higher than those in America, where both the trains themselves and the infrastructure to support them have simply been allowed to fall behind.  In much of Europe it is common for trains to travel at close to 200 miles per hour.To invest in a modern network of railroads would improve the United States in much the same way that the first railroads did in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.  A high-speed passenger rail system would dramatically transform American life as travel between cities and states became quicker and more convenient, encouraging commerce, business, and tourism.  Such a system would also make important strides in environmental preservation.  According to a 2007 British study, "CO2 emissions from aircraft operations are...at least five times greater" than those from high-speed trains.  For similar reasons, Osaka, Japan, was ranked as "the best…green transportation city in Asia" by the 2011 Green City Index.  As Lee-in Chen Chiu notes in The Kyoto Economic Review, Osakans travel by railway more than twice as much as they travel by car.It is true that developing a countrywide high-speed rail system would come with significant costs.  However, that was also true of the original Transcontinental Railroad, as indeed it is with virtually any great project undertaken for the public good.  We should thus move ahead with confidence that the rewards will outweigh the expenditure as citizens increasingly choose to travel by train.  Both for society's gain and the crucial well-being of the planet, our path forward should proceed upon rails.Passage Title: American Local Motives Question 9For which of the following passage claims does the author provide supporting evidence?A.Developing a countrywide high-speed rail system would come with significant costs.B.A high-speed passenger rail system would dramatically transform American life.C.The United States still has the largest railroad network in the world.D.Increasing the use of high-speed railroads would be beneficial for the environment.Submit

Building the transcontinental railroad across the United States required vast amounts of manpower, resources, and planning. It is regarded as one of the greatest achievements in U.S. history. Its construction could be compared to the digging of the Panama Canal and the landing of men on the Moon. This railroad allowed the U.S. to grow more easily, in size and population, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. The U.S. grew quickly during the middle of the 19th century. Much of this growth was east of the Mississippi River. Many politicians and businessmen from the U.S. wanted to push west and connect the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. At the time, the steam locomotive was the best choice for this task. However, laying railroad tracks was a time-consuming effort. The process included preparing the track ballast, or trackbed. This was a layer of crushed stone where the railroad ties and rails sat. The crushed stone allowed for better water drainage. It also prevented vegetation from growing around the track. The ties were wooden planks that rested on the trackbed. The rails were made of metal and were connected to each tie with metal spikes. This process made the transcontinental railroad a difficult operation. Construction began in 1863, during the Civil War. Two companies built the railroad. The Union Pacific Railroad Company began building west from Omaha, Nebraska, on relatively flat ground. This allowed Union Pacific to lay tracks at a faster rate. Union Pacific's competitor was the Central Pacific Railroad Company. Working east from Sacramento, California, Central Pacific had to construct a railway through the Sierra Nevada mountains. This became a great obstacle. Thousands of laborers worked each day at a slow pace through, around, and over the difficult mountainous landscape. As the years went by, more and more workers were hired to build the railroad as quickly as possible. In fact, many different immigrants contributed to building the railroad, including Chinese, Irish, and German workers. The two companies intended to connect their rails about halfway between the starting points. However, the U.S. Government promised benefits to the company that laid the most railway. This prompted fierce competition between the two companies. This competition became dangerous when the companies drew closer to one another in the late 1860s. Each company began to sabotage the other's work. They did this using dynamite and other methods to prevent the rival company from laying more rails. In the end, the two companies connected their rails. Meeting in 1869 at Promontory Summit, Utah, the final "Golden Spike" was hammered into the linked railroad. The completed transcontinental railroad allowed people and goods to travel across the United States in only a matter of days. 4 Based on the context of the passage, which of the following words would best replace the word obstacle? A. event B. hurdle C. race D. height

Explain how the idea of a transcontinental railroad led to bloodshed and a mini-war in the Kansas Territory during the 1850s?

Which of the following was the first building project in the United States that promoted growth of industry on a large scale?New York subwayNational RoadErie CanalTranscontinental railroad

The dream of the first transcontinental railroad to stretch from the industrial steel mills and meat packing plants of Pittsburgh and Chicago to the new ports in California had been a long term goal for American politicians and businessmen.  The construction was fraught with challenges brought on by the distances and the terrain as well as scandals that slowed the progress including how to build tracks over the steep terrain of the Rocky Mountains. ------- the workers had to resort to using dangerous explosives to blast through the bedrock and hundreds of workers were injured or killed in the explosions. Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?Still,eliminateFurthermore, eliminateConsequently, eliminateNext, eliminate

Which of the following conclusions about the United States in 1850 is supported by the information shown in the map of U.S. railroad lines?A.Agricultural states had much less access to railroad lines than industrial states.B.Slave states invested more heavily in railroad infrastructure than states that banned slavery.C.Railroads were most important to the economies of states in the Louisiana Territory.D.Southern states benefited greatly from railroad access to markets in the Ohio River valley.