CROSS-MISSOURI TRAINS: HIGH COST, LOW USE

It cost $6.2 million last year to operate the Missouri Mule, a passenger train that makes twice-daily trips to St. Louis and Kansas City.

Trouble was, when the conductor cried "all aboard," there weren't many people around to hear.

The trip takes 90 minutes longer than by car. The passenger train must yield to freight trains. The train makes 10 stops crossing the state. Passengers at either end find themselves in forbidding surroundings. And only two trips a day don't make commuting by train possible.

Planners estimate it would cost $313 million to make Missouri's train tracks suitable for high-speed rail.

If Congress approved federal funding, that would leave Missouri with only a $62 million bill, which could be paid out over several years.

Gradual payments or not, that's a lot of money. And it could be that Missourians are too addicted to the convenience of their cars to go Mule.