RIDING THE RAILS. Some good news from Amtrak. There's more ridership on the midwestern corridor routes.

More travelers seeing the benefit of rail over air travel for trips of 500 miles or less, as evidenced by the quote from Amtrak spokesman, Marc Magliari, "While Amtrak considers the car its primary competition, the rail service has captured about 16 percent of the combined air-rail market between Chicago and St. Louis."

That the airlines seek to make the boarding process even more unpleasant by charging for use of the in-cabin storage compartments -- so you funnel through that one door even more slowly as the transactions take place is only inducing further substitutions.

Give them free rein to 110.