Did the rise of the automobile in the 20th Century U.S. cause the decline in passenger train service?

Did the rise of the automobile in the 20th Century U.S. cause the decline in passenger train service?

Thesis statement

Yes the passenger car in the 20th century reduced the use of the train service to a great extent

Introduction

The automobile industry is one of the largest industries not only in the United States but around the globe. The industry is responsible for the creation of many ancillary manufacturing and service industries. In the year 2000, six automotive manufacturers accounted for almost 70% of the 58 million vehicles manufacturered in the world, these were: General Motors, Ford, Daimler Chrysler, Toyota, Nissan (Datsun) Renault and Volkswagen. Over one third of all cars sold are purchased in Europe, while the US in itself is the largest market by far. With sales in the US plateauing the focus is shifting to Asian developing countries. In 1769 Nicholas-Joseph Cugnot (1725-1804) built a steam powered gun tractor capable of 2 mph. In addition to pulling an artillery piece, the vehicle could carry up 4 people. Cugnot's vehicle proved unmaneuverable and was quickly wrecked in what some consider the first automobile accident. Just 1 in every 9,500 Americans owned an automobile. 40% were steam powered; 38% were electric; and just 22% were powered by gasoline burnt in an internal combustion engine. There were 13,824 automobiles on the road in the U.S. when the year ended. However worldwide, fewer than 10,000 cars were produced. Ransom Olds opened the first automobile factory in Detroit. During the first year of operations (1901), the company produced 425 cars. The 3-h.p.curved-dash Oldsmobile thus became the first real success among commercially sold U.S. automobile Ransom E. Olds became the first automobile manufacturer to gear up for genuine volume production. He introduced the curved-dash Olds priced at just $625 in an attempt to attract buyers. His plan worked for several years. Olds sold 425 the first year and 5,000 units by 1905, but as Henry Ford would ultimately discover with the Model T, mass production can set a dangerous trap. Changes in styling and consumer taste quickly stranded Olds with a huge investment in plant and equipment trying to sell the 'old-fashioned' curved-dash Olds.

By 1908, the market had shifted almost entirely away from the older 'horseless carriage', or 'surrey', look of the curved-dash Olds in favor of the modern 'motorcar' look embodied in the Model T. The Ford T, introduced in late 1908, would manage the trick of carrying the 'motorcar' look into 1927, when the stylish new GM lines rendered it hopelessly 'old-fashioned' in its turn.

In 1901 The Detroit Automobile Co. went bankrupt after selling fewer than a half dozen cars in 2 years. The financiers who bought out the company's assets fired Chief Engineer Henry Ford. When the unemployed Ford started winning auto races, former stockholders in Detroit Automobile financed the formation of a new Henry Ford Co., in which they give Ford a 1/6 ...