I would've lost a scholarship had it not been for a 40 dollar ticket from Detroit to Chicago. Amtrak is a saint, and I love the freedom of a train ride.
@@suserman7775 I think we're on the same page here really -- the freeways help the economy, and so could Amtrak if it had the funds for more frequent, fast, and reliable service.
@@MrEricSir Your math wouldn't add up. The huge costs needed for Amtrak would not recover the investment. This issue basically boils down to taking money from workers and giving it to non-workers. While things like that encourage non-work, some people convince themselves it's moral.
I've taken a lot of greyhound buses to "save money" and hated almost every minute of it. Sometimes it isn't worth the savings. So many greasy people on greyhound. I've seen troublemakers get left behind at stations or even state troopers coming on and removing people.
Theyre not, and not much in this story is true. Every long-distance line is booked completely at least a month in advance so no one knows what the wall street journal's game is, lying and saying its dying.
Katie Fincher i looked for train from KC to Seattle and it was around 3k. I would only travel this way first class, the roomette with the en suite restroom. It would take 7 days and when i looked to book it, there were only 3 of the suites left. The problem with rail over that distance is time. If the rail was high speed, you would transport more paying customers in the same amount of time. Say 2 days for that price, you more than double the money taken in and cut the amount of meals
As an American, I want the government at ALL levels out of the railroad business. As an American, I'd like to see ALL transportation systems returned to private ownership. As an American, I'm sick and tired of hearing from those who've come from other countries about how much different the US is. If you want to live in the US, understand that it's not Europe, or Asia. If you want Europe or Asia, go live there.
@@joshn2342323 The TGV in Europe is state-owned and a decade ahead of anything North America has. 🤷♂️ Public Transit is for the public, not for profiteering.
@@cats0182 I'm Italian and I perfectly recognize America IS NOT Europe, but at least acknowledge the fact that we might know better than you a couple of things or more. And I am talking both as a railroad engineer/train driver, and a railfan. How can you possibly say "this is America, European-like transportation doesn't work here" if you have not even ever TRIED that first hand? Have you've even heard about the concept of economies of scale?
Just leave the long distance trains alone and increase funding so that smaller routes can be developed/improved. The Pentagon can misplace billions of dollars with zero accountability in Iraq and Afghanistan, but Congress will scrutinize Amtrak over every penny.
Most of the rails and engines today are capable of high speed. It's the matter of fighting the freight companies for right of way. It's all politics now.
I disagree, I don't think we need high speed rail. We just need the trains to be as fast or faster than cars. And for more routes to connect more of America.
Roads are profitable in the sense of adding direct value to the adjacent property. That's why landowners should take care of roads themselves like they did before the early 1900s.
Paul Vizard You mean road destruction? Half the time the “construction workers” just sit there doing nothing. In fact a few days ago the works were playing football on the side of the highway while 1 lane was open.
We expect railroads to pull a profit, but we do not expect highways to do the same. I'd honestly support making all the interstates revenue-neutral toll roads.
I live in Europe. Regional railway company (Silesian Railways) operates 13 lines - two of them are international. Out of those 13 lines only one or two are profitable on their own. Yeah - in Europe we know trains need subsidies. To be honest I cannot imagine US or UK model ever working in continental Europe. Unless - you know - the aim is to close the railways.
The last time I rode Amtrak was when my ex kicked out me and my kids in the middle of the night, we hopped on a train from CA to IA to come live with my parents. Amtrak is the literal best, I love it so much. If they kill the long distance trains, more people will be isolated, I hate to think what would happen. Keep long distance routes please! - by the way if you’ve never ridden a train, you should. So relaxing!
Dude has been on the job for a year and a half. Hardly enough time to create the decades long buildup of problems the system has. Having an airline CEO in charge of this isnt the problem, this is what happens when you put a "Congress" in charge of a railroad...
@Craig F. Thompson That's it? You drew no other connection or thought to my comment other than to offer a spelling correction? Well good for you then. RUclips must offer an endless opportunity for you to *correct.
Trains could be run on electricity (or natural gas turbines) which I am not sure if they would be more efficient than the current diesel trains, but certainly more efficient than diesel (or gasoline) buses.
This reminds me of the United States Postal Service. On one hand you have Congress mandating the business be run a certain way and the other hand mandates the service make money. Those two things are in conflict. If Congress wants to have rural service maintained on long distance routes then they need to acknowledge that this service will probably never be profitable. These types of lines should be broken out separately in Amtrak's books. The taxpayer's can then plainly see what these rural line costs and make a more intelligent decision if it is worth it financially to keep these lines active with subsidies. Amtrak executives can then focus on keeping the shorter routes profitable and not feel like these long routes drag down the overall financial picture.
And make sure to keep in mind that other modes of transit, including the interstate highways and air travel, in those rural areas also wouldn't make money on their own. Sure, some areas or stops could have a valid economic argument to cease service to, but there are people who live there and train service offers a public good that cannot be easily replaced.
The United States Postal Service is mandated by the Constitution, Article I, Section 8, Clause 7, known as the Postal Clause or the Postal Power, empowers Congress "To establish Post Offices and Post Roads". Amtrak, The National Railroad Passenger Corporation is mandated by an Act of Congress, completely different objectives.
Yes and no. It was actually intended to fail from the beginning, with the government believing it would be obsolete within 5-10 years. They took up all the long distance routes that the private companies didn’t want to operate, and keep them running just long enough so people could find other options and ditch Amtrak. Well, things didn’t go as planned, and we (thankfully) still have passenger rail in America
I took a long distance train from Chicago to San Francisco, it was the worst experience ever. I got sick for three days, it needs to focus on the northeast and Midwest corridor.
We should build up the Trains to get Cars off the road and reduce plane flights. It helps the Environment and fights climate change. It will also create hundreds of thousands of jobs
Lisa Weber agreed! Meeting people on the way from Washington DC to Los Angeles was one of the best parts of the trip. Aside from the breathtaking views and expanses of land I could never imagine we had.
Interstate Highway: Sure! Airport: Sure! Football stadium: Sure! A dozen pointless wars: Sure! Train: NOOOOOOOO, we'd have to raise taxes by two cents per person, can't afford it!
Ward Frances, PhD I am growing suspicious on your PhD education...do you factcheck prior to making a statement? It is US who announced the trade war first.
@@virginiarailfannoah5415 Most Americans aren't traveling 1000s of miles every day. In these short to medium distances rail is the most efficient mode of transport by far
@@virginiarailfannoah5415 I personally would much rather take a train than fly or take a bus. I don't trust flying and buses are gross, harsh riding, and uncomfortable. Train ticket for me, please.
Why is this presented as a "EITHER long haul trains OR more freuquent, short, regional trains" It is possible to do both! In Europe most countries have 3 categories of rail servive: Long-haul Intercity, Regional and suburban in densely populated areas.
There are no European passenger routes comparable to Amtrak's long distance routes in the 1,000 mile range. In Europe "intercity" means no more than one country over.
@@MilwaukeeF40C Hungaria? Hamburg-Budapest. Moscow-Nice? Budapest-Warsaw? Those trains run distances for around 1000km and in case of Russian trains to certain cities it is easily more than 1000 miles.
@@mactastic144 Yea and that's a good thing. Imagine all the jobs the flyover states would get for years building the high-speed railway across the country. It'll create a decent alternative for airlines as well so people will start using it more too. That's what happened in Europe. Plus unlike Europe America is mostly flatlands so it's mindboggling how this isn't even being considered.
@@username7735 A big reason is privately owned land. Unlike China, which developed high-speed rails easily, USA needs to buy off land or contour this land, which is expensive.
@@nilsfreund8442 It's the same in Europe and it worked over here. Many highspeed-lines also run parallel to highways because this land is already owned by the state.
@@molaremasse7034 Yes but in the US we're talking hectares upon hectares upon hectares. I still believe they should do it nonetheless, high speed trains are awesome and certainly part of the future.
My husband and I take the southwest chief twice a year from Chicago area to Fullerton, California. The train is usually almost full during our entire trip. Many grandparents ride the rails to see their families like we do. It would be hard for us to head to California without the train. Flying is not the option since it has become a stressful and daunting procedure getting in and out of the airports. Riding the train is relaxing and enjoyable. Congress and Amtrak executives both need to ride the long distance rails several times to speak with their customers and find out why it is important to us to have this service!
Crystal Britzman Exactly this. I ride the train from Florida to NYC frequently for the same reasons you listed. Airports are daunting and chaotic. Planes are uncomfortable... Even my kids prefer the long train ride versus the shorter flight.
Agreed. I take the blue water back and forth from Chicago to east Lansing on a monthly sometimes weekly basis. I can drive but the train is by far more enjoyable and relaxing. I would hate to see Amtrak collapse
Long distance trains aren’t necessarily for end to end passengers (like LA-Chicago) It is really crucial for the small rural towns they stop at in between major cities. That’s how towns stay connected that have no airports or busses. Cutting these trains only hurts Amtrak’s PR outlook nationally. If you limit Amtrak to small regions, you’ll lose the national political support. Should Amtrak increase trains in certain areas? Absolutely! But let’s not act like it HAS to be one or the other
In reality it does. Because now it's harder to get ALL the money needed. I mean it's just impossible that EVERYTHING can go through. They have to make decisions.
David Freeman highways and airports have no issue getting money from the federal government. It’s an ideology shift that needs to happen in America that maybe, just MAYBE we don’t all have to drive or fly That, and respective states would have to pay for shorter corridor trains, which a lot won’t have the money to do or want to do. Indiana just shut their train down, and Oregon has flirted with it the last few years.
@@abenm613 No. We have a culture to take taxpayer money more serious, as using it is not a right, but a privilege. Unfortunately in practice it's not really that enforced. However I, as well as many others, instead of giving up the last bit of it, would like to see we the people truly enjoy this privilege, to a larger extent.
David Freeman, how come this standard doesn’t apply to highways, particularly the cross-country interstates? Between 2008 and 2012 highways consumed four times more federal money than Amtrak did from 1971 to 2012. Still, the so-called fiscal conservatives seem to ignore this fact, as well as the fact that most people don’t drive coast to coast.
About 5 years ago I took your California Zephyr from Emeryville to Chicago. It was very memorable. For someone who lives in an archipelagic state, the ride gave me a glimpse of the immensity of a continent. It'd be very sad if America would allow itself to be robbed of the wonderful experiences its long route trains offer.
Japan is a perfect example of how it should be. Everything is super efficient, on time, and quick. Not to mention plenty of options. The biggest issue in the States are that the tracks share lines with freight trains. This limits track improvements.
The route that shinkansen takes is basically 3 megalopolises and around 5 or so major cities in one line, with shinkansen threading through all of them with a thousand miles of track. The entire length of shinkansen from bottom to top is around the distance between Richmond to Boston, AKA the length slightly longer than the Northwest corridor.
Public transportation/even sidewalks outside of major cities within the U.S. is practically nonexistent. Not surprising when the government is focused more on profit and power than supporting it’s citizens. This effects every single industry in our country and its visibly crumbling at this point.
I absolutely love riding the train! I wish more people knew how relaxing and beautiful a ride on the train is! When you travel by train the vacation starts the moment you board. For me it’s even the moment I book the ride.
@@DTD110865 anything more than 12 hours on a bus sucks because you cant sleep well on it beyond that. At least on amtrak even the cheapest seats you can almost lay flat out with feet rest.
@@whoodiestyle But if you have other passengers in front of you and behind you, and you're slightly taller than average, it's really not that much different than sleeping on the bus though.
Big Chungus Josh Amtrak is one of the least efficient ways to travel and certainly the least efficient railroad travel...if Amtrak were on par with European trains it’d be worth keeping but airtravel will always be the most prominent form of travel
The Ceo is a former airplane ceo all he looks at is the east coast. As someone that uses the California Zephyr out of LNK we really need to keep the long distance routes. Though with that we need to add services and promote travel more.
re: "we need to add services" My mother and I both live close to California Zephyr stops in different non-coastal states. I'm also lucky to have a web dev job that allows me to work remotely 2-3 days a week. I'd love, once every month or so, to be able to hop on the train on a Friday morning, work for the better part of the 16 hour ride (chill and enjoy the other part), then spend Sat-Sun with her, and work/ride back on Monday. Unfortunately, I _need decent internet [1]_ to work, and frustratingly the California Zephyr doesn't provide it. :-( I've also talked with several of my dev buddies in our local area, and we'd love to do something like a trainjam.com/ or www.arts.gov/audio/writing-rails-amtrak-residency-writers but without internet on the only train that serves our area, this isn't an option for our group. www.amtrak.com/journey-with-wi-fi-train-station [1] I'm not talking high-speed or 100% constant internet, but frequently decent access.
I thought it interesting that they only wanted to focus on city to city in the northeast. They could add service out of Atlanta, Dallas, Charlotte, Nashville, for example, without killing the Zephyr. Amtrak cannot ask the taxpayers to support it if it only serves a small part of the country.
@@opinionator3884 They specifically mention city to city in Dallas to Houston, or other cities 300 miles apart. The reason why they mention city to city in the northeast is because its the only one that Amtrak is allowed to run, and, consequently, the only one that is profitable. Its an example of how a smaller, city-to-city model would be beneficial for Amtrak and its passengers.
I am actually ON the California Zephyr as I type. I love long distance train travel and it's slower pace. Trains offer unparalleled comfort and the opportunity to meet folks along the way. I truly hope these changes this vid spoke of don't ever happen. BTW, this train and the last I took, the Lakeshore Limited, both were full.
Los Angeles to Albuquerque an 800 mile trip takes 18 hours. And it costs almost the same as fliying. Driving the same distance takes 11 hours give or take? I read a fun fact, that if you would have taken the same train in 1911 it would have been faster by hours.
Like you're going to drive 13 hours straight...throw in 3 hours for meals and another 2 hours for LA traffic and you're at the same time (the train is actually 13 hours anyways and is an overnight trip, so it's actually a long-distance trip that makes a lot of sense).
Most people aren't taking the train all the way, they're getting on and off in small towns along the way. Lots of these places have no affordable flights, or maybe no flights at all. Buses don't stop in every town either. And many are poor or older and disabled, and can't drive. Without the train they'd be stuck.
T Warwick If they’re profitable, cool - let them stay. If not, why would do we need to mandate so that you or others can meet an “eclectic assortment of individuals”. SMH.
@@corporateGuy89 Building and maintaining roads aren't directly profitable in in of themselves either. But if you look at the whole socioeconomic picture, it makes sense to use billions of taxpayer dollars on those roads. It's just the same with rail
Bus travel sucks in the USA, even bus lines in Mexico give better service. Train should have more routes in the USA. Also the USA needs more metro lines in the cities.
It's interesting that Congress is calling for Amtrak to be profitable, but yet the Federal Highway Trust Fund has been receiving billions of dollars each year in subsidies from the general revenue funds. Federal gas taxes, even with their subsidies to mass transit, are falling far short of paying for the highways.
It’s a small point, but the station the video identifies as being “on the outskirts of Atlanta” is actually in the heart of The city (at the north end of Mid-town and the southern end of Buckhead). It’s within walking distance of the city’s best museums, theaters, and parks.
Thanks to Amtrak, I am able to see my grandmother a lot more now. Ever since my grandfather became ill we had to go down to Florida as soon as possible to see him and support my grandmother. The only affordable and quickest form of travel for us was Amtrak. We were able to see my grandfather before he passed away and now we’re able to visit my grandmother a lot more to spend quality time with her. I’ve always see the train full or sold out on all my trips. A lot of people use the train to visit family or just because it’s such an easy way of travel. I’ve also seen quite a bit of people use it for business travel. It’s just that convenient.
I'm sorry for your loss. " The only affordable and quickest form of travel for us was Amtrak. " No, it's not the only. Right now you can get a $93 ticket to FLL from BWI. Amtrak wants more than twice that, $205. There's a 2nd cost. The flight takes 5 hours, Amtrak takes over a day of pure travel.
@@salvaje20 It depends on your time line. For me an extra day across from the West coast to Indiana and saving a hundred dollars is worth it. And on a shorter trip say Dallas to Chicago is not bad.
The trips are amazing. I've taken all of them across the country and you actually see the country--which is truly beautiful. The trip is part of the vacation experience.
Build up short distance corridors, but don't downgrade or eliminate long distance routes! Long distance trains can serve as ths base for building those short distance ones. Also, some long distance trains are profitable!
Not after their bookkeeping! Ridership and revenue would double on these routes if just an other train was added. Oops they didn't tell you that! If long term leases were offered by Amtrak private investors would buy the cars. That is against the Amtrak law of course!
salvaje20 for folks in rural communities on the route it is much cheaper and they don’t want to see their service go. that’s the motivation behind amtrak being forced to keep these unprofitable routes in return for subsidies; its harmful to cut off rural america even further. however, most people will fly from chicago to seattle and not ride the empire builder, because it’s quicker and more convenient due to the distance.
Trump wants you to get stuck at Midway or O'Hare to go to LA or take greyhound from a neighborhood that has prostitutes hanging out. Yep that is the MAGA way. Besides the Dems have no bright future for America either and they want to make your daughters turn into prostitutes and sons turned into drug dealers.
One way trip on Amtrak, from NYC to New London (130 miles), cost me $200 for the 3-hour trip(?). No food or drink options, and filthy toilets with no hand towels. Total ripoff. As far as railroads are concerned, the US barely makes it into the 3rd world.
As a resident of Knoxville, access to a train corridor that includes Atlanta would be amazing. Knoxville is in an area that has no train access but could have great routes to Nashville, Cincinnati, Louisville, which then connects us to other great cities such as Chicago, St Louis.
Absolutely right. I’d ride the train to all of those cities rather than driving. It blew my mind when I moved to Knoxville to learn that the only passenger rail access in TN is in Memphis.
@@bradphillis9304 while lacking the population centers, South Dakota is half again the land area with 0 passenger rail. Wyoming is even bigger. And Idaho only has passenger rail at the very north end.
I don't agree. People choose cars and planes because we've created legal and economic policies that have made it cheaper and/or easier to travel by car and airplane in the States. But, it doesn't have to be that way. It would take a shift in culture to get people to see rail traffic as a first choice, but it's not impossible.
Amtrak needs to remember how important that one daily train is for so many rural communities and low-income people. It can't just about profit, it's also a social good and economic lifeline. Why not advocate for Congress (and the state governments) to fund more short corridor services that can make money to offset the losses from long-distance lines? That way, everybody wins.
The problem is the people in congress who consistently refuse to increase Amtraks budget, no matter what. We all need to remove those people from office who won't support Amtrak but at the same timw give out even more government money to highways and other things like it's nothing.
Well someone needs to tell Congress to stop saying for Amtrak to be profitable, but also keeping these rural routes that are unprofitable. It doesn't make sense. They do the same thing to the USPS.
A point that people miss a lot: the trains themselves aren't usually profitable, but they don't need to be. The real value of them is in the money they bring to each destination. Land values go up, small businesses thrive, tourism increases. It can be a goldmine, even though the train itself loses money.
A Guy Called Pi if people wanted to ride the train, it could easily make a profit. Trains can fit a huge number of people. They do not want to ride. That is the problem with your scenario.
For God's sake Congress I don't care if a Democrat or Republican does it, but please just properly fund our infrastructure! And that includes BULLET TRAINS, not just expanding highways
@Lewis C. You live in a rural area. A car in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston or any big city is a nice place to sit in traffic jams and watch youtube videos.
Medienmensch Yeah but those countryside trains also don’t turn a profit. In fact, it was stated China might’ve overestimated the cost of one of their bullet train routes. Something NOBODY seems to talk about when they use China as an example.
@@scorpiovlogs9269 They don't have to turn a monetary profit though. That's why transportation shouldn't be up to private companies. Giving people the opportunity to move freely has much higher value than some profit
Well, Austin to Dallas is covered. But to reach either of those from Houston you have to go out of your way to San Antonio, then make a transfer late at night
Congress and the American public do not seem to understand the extent highways, airports and waterways completely operate with government subsidies, while passenger rail service is severely squeezed of funding.
@@normbroel4633 Major airports are actually sometimes profitable; it's very expensive to land a plane at London Heathrow for example. But if airports were privatized, like Heathrow is, most airports outside of absolutely massive cities would quickly disappear.
Results of a downgraded cut back railroad system. Neglected and has had no investment just downgrading to save on taxes that are spent on roads and airports.
@@intercityrailpal Technically it's actually because the rails are owned by the freight lines. Freight trains get top billing on those tracks, so passenger trains get stuck with delays more often.
@@taylorbroad8941 That's not how it works, trains get timed slots like air planes do and if they are delayed enough for whatever reason then the other traffic that isn't delayed uses the track at their scheduled time. If this line is a single line (many lines in the US are) then the late train has to wait at the switch over point for the on time train to pass this delaying your trip further kind of like how an air plane that's late May have to wait longer for the run way to be open.
I took the Lake Shore Limited from NYC to Chicago. Was delayed by three hours due to a broken swing bridge near Chicago. I'd assume more than a few passengers would decide to fly next time.
Shin-Osaka to Tokyo Shinagawa is 502 km / 312 miles and takes 2:40 and cost $133. Boston South to Washington Union is 706 km / 439 miles and takes 7:05 and costs $330 2.5x more expensive, takes 2.6x longer to travel 1.4x the distance.
The us-trains are too slow. Boston-Washington is roughly the same distance like Paris-Marseille, where the trip by train takes 3 hours. US need a high speed network.
So move to Japan. The US has other priorities, like moving freight around. We'll not be giving that infrastructure up to "passengers" who can fly or drive.
@Jack Liberman Have you ever driven from DC to Boston? It's no cakewalk but you are rarely in a "megapolis" area. They didn't build I-95 right through Manhattan.
If only The Pentagon's budget isn't 4 times that of China's maybe Amtrak can invest in some upgrade. I rode around Japan in trains and it is so convenient.
@John Davis The skies are too overcrowded because all the airspace is controlled by the Chinese military, they could easily free up the skies. The thing is, China is pouring money and investment into train networks, especially high speed rail, keep in mind, most being ridiculously unprofitable. America needs to reduce rail production cost, and needs to divert more money to rail networks.
Japanese trains work because of the massive transportation market in Japan. For example even after the Shinkansen runs hourly between Osaka and Tokyo, there is still well over a dozen flights every day between the two cities (with fares as low as $50 each way, compared to $150 for the Shinkansen). And those flights are mostly large wide bodied aircraft that you rarely see used in the United States for domestic routes. This doesn't count the slower trains, and other transportation services that run between the cities. This is a transportation density that you don't see any US corridor except in the North East. And the longest Shinkansen route (which isn't even open yet, and won't open for another decade) will be under 750 miles, which is almost 100 miles shorter than going from NYC to Atlanta. And if you extrapolated the Shinkansen out, to go from NYC to LA it would cost trillions, even at Japanese build costs, and would take about 24 hours of travel time. And the ticket cost would easily over $500-1,000 each way. Compare that to about 6 hours on United, which will cost $265 and your two front teeth if you lose the fight with the dude sitting in front of you. For the US airplanes simply make more sense as my extrapolation is simply one line. You would need probably two crossing the us and several going north to south. You are talking about an amount of money that would make the US military budget look like spare change found in a couch. And would just drive up the cost of transportation as though the fuel costs would be low, the transportation time would drive up the cost of manpower, and maintaining the thousands of miles to tracks would be enormous. And if you look at Japan (since most people use it as an example of how well trains work) you see that the Shinkansen didn't replace air travel, instead complemented it.
@@kaichiohno China builds its railway network not only for profit. It's for moving people around easily and indirectly contributing to economy regionally. And it's very convenient.
The problem with Amtrak is its expensive, atleast for the linger routes. A train from dallas to New york cost like 400$ and you end up spending 2 full days to get there. Why would anyone want to spend 400$ and waste 2 full days? When you can get there at pretty much the same cost by air in a couple of hours? I would say atleast if they reduced the cost they would get more customers travelling.
Here's a genius idea for Congress: Fund Amtrak adequately. Rather than Amtrak having to pick and choose between what to shut down and what to expand, give them the money to expand. And give them the right of way on all rail lines.
I took the California Zephyr across the country a few years ago (Chicago to San Francisco) and it was awesome. 2 nights 2 days in a roomette. Freshly cooked steak both nights and seeing the country go by. Many, like me, were on the train for a mini vacation. My next goal is to take the Empire Builder via Montana.
There has been a service via Las Vegas, from Denver to LA, That train was named the Desert Wind. And was actually a 'bunch' of trough coaches Cicago-Denver-LA, riding Chicago-Denver combined with the California Zephyr. The Desert Wind was suspended somewhere in the late 90's or early zero's.
I love riding Amtrak. I usually ride it from Los Angles to Portland. There actually needs to be more routes. I love to travel by train then plane. Trying to cancel these services is f&%$ stupid. Amtrak needs more funding and needs to stay.
Honestly I think they should keep the long distance lines and add more local ones to supplement them. In my country on one route between 2 cities (around 400km/250 miles) we have daily: - 4 pairs of InterCity trains (there and back) stopping only at 7 stops - 7 pairs of Express train stopping at around 14-17 stops + some Express trains only for part of the track - And at least 50 Local trains a day operating at some parts of the track getting people to bigger train stations Which means from one of the stations at the end you get train at least every 30 minutes if not more often. Not 1 train a day at 3am. Oh and the sizes of the cities on the line? Biggest is around 500 000 people, smallest used by IC is 8000, by Express I think smallest one is around 1500 people.
Everything isn't for profit, some government services are for the citizens, to compliment the quality of life. US sounds like a giant supermarket sometimes where everything is sold for a profit including humane values.
Railroads are NOT a government service. Never have been. Never should be. The rest of your statement is babble and claptrap. I have no idea how to respond.
@@cats0182 I don't live in US, where I live it's owned and operated by the government so it was weird to this video. Although I did hear the 'congress' funds Amtrak (with taxpayer's money), maybe as a foreigner I lack knowledge about US systems. Thanks for your insight.
True, but I heard somewhere that Amtrak was running on deficit because of the rural lines, so they need to charge more for the Acela to make up for it.
First of all, I don't trust a bad comb-over. Second and most importantly, Amtrak IS trying to kill the long distance routes. We've taken them for the last ten years, to Portland, OR, Salt Lake City, UT, San Antonio, TX, from Chicago. The on-board service in the dining car has diminished to a cold box lunch. And we are paying for the roomette which is supposed to include hot meals. I talked to some of the staff in the dining car and the sleepers. They said not only has Amtrak done away with the hot meals but also reduced the # of attendants. And one of them said that the CEO, former airline CEO, is a bean-counter and doesn't care about the passengers nor Amtrak employees losing their jobs. And thanks to the freight trains, the timetables are rarely met which means missed connections and frustration. I personally know a CSX dispatcher and he verified that they are "supposed" to give priority to Amtrak on their rails but rarely do. Amtrak complains but nothing is done. Short of installing dedicated track to the long distance trains, which would cost a fortune, they will keep increasing the Acela funding and slowly do away with the long distance trains.
At least part of the problem is the railways that are available. With the freight companies owning the lines used by Amtrak, they can keep Amtrak from having many trains on a route or even having those trains keep to their schedule. Unless Amtrak can have priority on these lines, there's really no way for Amtrak to run reliable service -- especially when trains can be delayed by multiple hours. The alternative is to build new lines, but then the problem becomes who is going to pay for the land, development, and upkeep.
rail freight is the backbone of america. the only real infrastructure advantage the country has. china drools over the usa's rail freight network. don't touch it, there is no alternative.
Bingo. In Europe, the freight trains use the passenger lines, therefore the passenger trains get priority. In the US, reverse the previous statement (with the exception of the Northeast)
I ride long distance train...Zephyr from CA to CO 4 times a year.... Amtrak is more than a way to get somewhere...it also provides a social service that keeps america working and moving forward.
We took the California Zephyr recently from San Francisco to Denver. It was a wonderful experience and the scenery was stunning. Plenty of tourists on the train as well as people making short distance trips (like Grand Junction to Denver). We also took the Coast Starlight from Los Angeles to Sacramento in 2018. Big difference between the two trips though. In 2018, the dining car had real dinner plates and cups in the dining car. In our recent trip, Amtrak had done away with real dinnerware in favour of disposable plastic stuff, so that they could eliminate two jobs downstairs in the dining car that were needed for washing and drying plates. Amtrak prioritising a few bucks over its employees and the environment. Much as we enjoyed our travels and would like to take other cross-country trains, this really put us off Amtrak. Maybe we will try Via Rail Canada next time. With bone-headed management like this, is it any wonder that Amtrak is on a downward spiral?
Its on a downward spiral because it follows an unsustainable business model that spends far more money than it can make. Cutting costs and closing unprofitable routes in favor for more cost-efficient and profitable shorter routes are the only way Amtrak will be able to survive and adapt. Unless we want Amtrak to go out of business, in which case keep forcing it to prioritize the perceived "greater good" instead of its own survival and sustainability.
By far the most enjoyable trips I've taken have been train trips. California to Denver was amazing. And I met a handful of people who lived in Grand Junction who relied on the service to get to/from the Denver metro area.
@Hailey BrownHave you considered that might be the most affordable option for them? Or that fact we don't need more cars on the road? Or that people have preferences? Or that Grand Junction to Denver is short enough emissions are lower than that of a car? No.
@@johniii8147 Use the train for the long distance, inner city bus or rideshare like Uber/Lyft to get around the city. It can be done with most cities in CO and CA. Rural, eastern NM where I live, not so much sadly.
You can't really make like-for-like comparisons as China isn't a democracy. If the Chinese government wants to build a high speed line, they won't listen if your neighbourhood needs to be bulldozed.
@@vitaliyburlaka691 The only rural parts of China are the Ghobi desert and the Tibetian plateau. The Eastern half of China is densely populated and thus rail works
dur1zar22 Yeah, just look at the railway they built to Tibet as the logical endgame of that, which was primarily built to disrupt the local demographic makeup.
There aren't any decent, well-paying jobs in rural areas, and there never will be. If you choose to live in rural areas, you're choosing to live in poverty. (Except, of course, the elderly who have lived in the same place all their life, and it's too late to start over). Like it or not, we're now a society in which, if you want a good job, you must MOVE.
I live in orange county in california and trust me we see it out here too - more people from rural regions moving in. Yet im thinking about leaving this place to finally buy a house and leave my rinky dinky 1 bedroom apartment. Im a medic so it is a tough call.
This is true, but it’s not convenient to any MARTA stations and isn’t particularly easy to get to from the interstate. Granted it doesn’t need to be big due to the infrequent service, but there are small town train stations in the NE and Europe that are bigger than Brookwood station.
jwillz1994 true but I don’t see the bus as a equally viable option. When I travel in Europe where public transit is ubiquitous unlike most cities in the States, I have no hesitation to jump on a metro or regional train, luggage in tow. But on the occasions that doesn’t work, I don’t think about the bus, I call an Uber. I don’t know that I’ve been on too many city buses except joyriding the double deckers in London. And that’s ironic because my dad drove for Trailways and Greyhound so I grew up riding and loving buses!
Love to travel by train. I feel safer than car travel and it takes me back to my childhood days traveling by train to my grandparents house with my brothers and sister. We had a ball on the train going from Illinois to Kansas. The last time I took the train was from Louisiana to Illinois in a sleeper car. I fell asleep and didn’t wake up until I was almost at my destination. I like to think the train rocks me to sleep. Slower pace but very enjoyable...we all need to slow down sometimes. For anyone that hasn’t travel by train try it...you just might like it.
I have taken four long distance Amtrak trains. I enjoy the ride. I have also ridden trains all over the world. Most recently an around the world which included 15 flights Egyptian trains Chilean bus, Argentinian ferry. The only significant delay was my San Francisco to Chicago to Waterloo IN Amtrak ride. Over 27 hours late. A sad reflection on priorities we set here in the USA
Congress needs to stop meddling in civilian train transportation and stop subsidizing them so they can develop the ways that they need too. Amtrak's monopolization shouldn't be facilitated by tax dollars.
David Lieberman China meddles in their trains and are now completely connected with high speed rail. I know the two countries are vastly different but it’s fair to acknowledge that we are vastly behind, and disbanding these services would only impede potential growth in the future
@@yarik12341 China's passenger rail system is an apt comparison to Amtrak. The failures that Government meddling in China's rail system has caused mirror those of America's Amtrak or even earlier, those of America's subsidized transcontinental railroads. Amtrak can't even pay for 35% of the cost it takes to run their trains since tickets pay only 65% of the cost. China's interest on the debt from the railroads isn't even covered by the passenger revenue WITHOUT even considering the cost of running the trains. The Central Pacific RR and Union Pacific RR went bankrupt after immense subsidization to make the transcontinental RR. This is not to say that railroads are bad and not economically viable, it is to say that the model of government meddling and subsidization is fundamentally wrong. Going along with my transcontinental RR example, a few years after the first transcontinental RR was built, James J. Hill built the Great Northern Railroad WITHOUT subsidies and the Great Northern was the only Railroad out of all the transcontinental Railroads not to go bankrupt. This comparison can be also seen today, when comparing freight trains with Amtrak. Subsidization is NOT the answer it IS the problem, let us learn from the mistakes of history and the current day, subsidies result in failure wherever tried. Thank you. Sources China's unprofitable railroads.👇 chinascope.org/archives/17664 www.theepochtimes.com/chinas-high-speed-rail-under-fire_1500498.html Amtrak's money losses.👇 amp.businessinsider.com/history-of-amtrak-train-railroad-photos-2019-5 The Transcontinental Railroad information was taken from the book: "The Myth of the Robber Barons" by Burton W. Folsom Jr.
@@dl2839 James Hill acquired some railroads that were previously subsidized. The only transcontinental railroad that was not subsidized was the Pacific Extension of the Milwaukee Road. It was abandoned in the 1970s but some believe that it was actually profitable and the overall company was just badly managed.
John Roberts understands what Amtrak means for small cities America. I agree with him. I along with the wife took the Capitol limited to Chicago from DC with a stop over there. And then the SW Chief to Williams AZ. (don't think it even stop there now) to the Grand Canyon in a bedroom compartment in 2017. So glad we did. The food which was included was fine. (Mgt. wanted to end the Dinner service). The ride was great. The scenery of America can't be beat. This may be a thing of the past very soon.
Amtrak is such a small part of the federal budget. And it serves so many communities in which it is the only public transit to large cities; it’s crazy to get rid of that.....I’ve been on the Empire Builder a couple times and from Chicago to the Twin Cities the ridership is very good. Heavy traffic in a tourist town of the WI dells. Also Winona and St. Cloud MN for college kids. Minot, ND for Air Force Veterans. Glacier National Park That connection spurs a ton of spending in the economy.
The inherent problems of Amtrak riding on freight railroad lines is never going to be solved, unless you find a way to allocate hundreds of billions for dedicated passenger rail lines and equipment and maintenance of said lines. Maybe we could exchange being a SuperPower for that, and let ummm China be our defense...
Hard Rock Master It all depends on the freight railroads; and it’s hard to say it will never be solved. Amtrak and others may strike better agreement who knows. The Empire Builder for example runs on time most of the time running between BNSF, Canadian Pacific, and Metra. It’s not perfect, but for the percentage of a tax dollar to cover a positive service is worth it. Nearly 2 billion is subsidies sounds like a ton, but compared to a 4.5 trillion dollar budget. It’s .00044 percent of a tax dollar. Amtrak is worth the investment to connect this country, because not everyone is near a major city or interstate.
@@virginiarailfannoah5415 Where did you see this person write anything about being worried Amtrak is being closed down completely? They said it's the only way they can get home from the college they attenf so obviously it must mean that the person's school is very very far from home.
These long-distance trains are always sold out. Amtrak has a farebox recovery ratio of like 90%, they're doing just fine. Subsidize these lines, they all have excellent potential if you just improve the interiors.
"Improve the interiors" ??? Until you can relieve the congestion from freight rail, on the freight rail's own lines, then everything else is pattycake...
Hard Rock Master you’re never going to remove freight congestion, freight plays a far more important role in the nation’s economy. Even on new corridor trains they’re proposing, they’re never going to get full access to the ROWs they want. In the meantime, they can make the ride significantly more pleasant and fight for priority in court.
AMTRAK needs two things from Congress: funding and help keeping the freight railroads in compliance with priority regulations. As mentioned in the video, AMTRAK is supposed to get priority dispatching from CSX, BNSF, etc but often does not. The freight lines simply skirt the rules...leaving the passenger train waiting on siding after siding. Train travel can be enjoyable, but arriving several hours late isn’t.
Passenger and freight rail systems have completely different priorities and should be independent of eachother. Until that is designed into the infrastructure, US passenger service will always have slow speeds and inadequate scheduling choices. ( Look at Europe/Asia )
freight is way more important to the working class. america has the most incredible freight rail network in the world. it's how goods can be moved from one side to the other very inexpensively. start messing with that and you'll see ripple effects that will make you pay way more for everything you buy.
A long run train ride is one of the things I want to check on my list when visiting the States just to see the country and because I love trains. Hope it will be still possible in few years... fingers crossed for Amtrak and cheers from Poland !
Indian railways : 1) Carries more than 20 million passengers daily. 2) Employs more than a million people. 3) About half of the network is electrified. And India is self sufficient in producing electricity. And yet the Indian railways still require government's funds to operate. It has never been a sustainable business model. Same goes for other government companies like Air India and telephone company BSNL.
jichen zhang perhaps you’re thinking about the US when you made that comment. Most industrialized nations have invested in public services such as transportation and health care more constructively than the US. And they are all capitalist economies. It’s not a question of which economic model more effectively deliver public services. That is a simplistic way of considering that question. So why is it such a problem in the US? That’s a bigger question than I can take on here. But it’s definitely a huge problem. It has to do with Americans’ belief in individual freedom - an idea that has been central to much that’s good and unique about the US but one that carries lots of unintended consequences. Including the loss of support for investments in services that have broader social benefits usually on the grounds of the high costs to the public purse ie taxes. Americans have a dislike of taxes to the point of obsession. Perhaps its a case of too much individualism, to be simplistic.
It's not the trains it's the governments policys ..... That's why we have backwards mass transit in the U.S.... But we do have the most inexpensive road system....LOL
I’m 21 and I never look for trains out of NYC unless I’m going home to Connecticut. I didn’t even realize Amtrak was a train that can bring me across the east coast
Amtrak’s long distance routes are remarkably similar to what they were when Amtrak started in 1971. Trains have been rerouted, and the Chicago-Florida and New York-Kansas City trains have vanished, but if you looked a May 1971 Amtrak map and today’s map, you would see a system that has remained pretty much the same. While few people might go all the way from the west coast to Chicago on a regular basis on the train, long distance trains are often the only public transportation for many of the communities along their routes. If Amtrak tries to retreat to the Boston-NYC-Washington Northeast Corridor, the rest of the country is going to ask why the whole country is expected to pay for trains that only 10 states use. 80 Senators will have states with no train service or train service that is paid for by their states. Why would they vote for Amtrak funding? If Amtrak wants national support, it needs to be a national system. So I expect Amtrak to muddle along pretty much as it has during most of its existence, i.e., at the mercy of politicians trying to lessen the national budget, and Congress trying to scrape up enough money to keep the trains running. States will continue to pay for regional services until there is a recession or budget woes when they will then quit funding them or else lower their funding levels, as is currently happening with Indiana’s Hoosier train. But, as the country’s population increases, passenger trains will become more viable, so long term, there might be an initial small increase in funding (which increases over the years) that would see gradual improvements in trains, a few new routes, and increased frequencies on existing routes.
Everybody seems to criticize Amtrak for not wanting to continue most rural corridors but most people also complain about it being a very unprofitable for-profit company. The fault can only be blamed on Congress. It's unrealistic to demand a for-profit company to continue service in very unprofitable spaces and at the same time demand, it generates profit. You either acknowledge train service to be a right for all American citizens independently from a regional area and bear the cost of unprofitable routes or amtrak must be allowed to discontinue extremely unprofitable routes so as to at least not generate losses. This could of course be avoided if money was actually spent to build high-speed lines and make long corridor lines look actually competitive with other transportation services like the plane but that would require billions of investments that congress simply resists from granting.
Slow long lines are though. The advantage of high speed trains over planes is most compared to short haul flights. Examples. Orland->Miami LA - >San Francisco With high speed rail it would be ideal to have roughly 1 hour stops 150 miles apart at major population hubs. There local public transport and taxi's take over. The California HSR with 6 stops between San Diego and LA is ridiculous. (should be only 1 the Airport)
I took a high-speed train from St. Petersburg to Moscow. Most amazing long-distance form of transportation I have ever experienced. Why can't we have that!?!?
We can't even have a long-distance system with a track for traffic in each direction. Our trains average 24mph when all is well, slower when traffic is high. The trains do often achieve 80mph between stops on side-tracks where they wait for on-coming trains to pass. I'll posit that for just this reason, Amtrak's Sunset-Express has a New Orleans to Los Angeles modern era travel time that is slower than it was in the 1800's.
The train will always be an option, whether it’s for nostalgia or for people that have issues with flying. And since we’re so worried about infrastructure, we should be worried about rail infrastructure too.
Actually amtrak only owns 1 railway line. They run on other freight railways. So it's the freight train companies that should pay for their own track upgrades
I would've lost a scholarship had it not been for a 40 dollar ticket from Detroit to Chicago. Amtrak is a saint, and I love the freedom of a train ride.
dam baby you bad 😤🥵🤗
Guess you took a midnight train going anywhere.....
Can't you take a bus?
@@petermaclauren2788 probably because there was no bus that goes between cities. that would be crazy
@@petermaclauren2788 Who wants go take a bus? Greyhound is a freaking filthy joke. I would take the train any day over bus or air travel.
If airports and freeways are paid for by the government, why should Amtrak have to pay for itself?
See: USPS. Same diff. But USPS can't make a profit, has to break even. How screwy is that?
@michael smith In the US, freeways and airports also lose money for every trip. They're both heavily subsidized by taxes.
@@MrEricSir without freeways , poverty would skyrocket thanks to a punished economy. Without Amtrak, umm, well, let's see..... Right, no difference.
@@suserman7775 I think we're on the same page here really -- the freeways help the economy, and so could Amtrak if it had the funds for more frequent, fast, and reliable service.
@@MrEricSir Your math wouldn't add up. The huge costs needed for Amtrak would not recover the investment. This issue basically boils down to taking money from workers and giving it to non-workers. While things like that encourage non-work, some people convince themselves it's moral.
ok but amtrak is still so so so much better than having to take a greyhound or megabus
I rather ride a bike then ride greyhound to a place
ruclips.net/video/i2oBjcbHqxg/видео.html
I've taken a lot of greyhound buses to "save money" and hated almost every minute of it.
Sometimes it isn't worth the savings. So many greasy people on greyhound. I've seen troublemakers get left behind at stations or even state troopers coming on and removing people.
Costs more too
The train system in Europe JFS outstanding, government funded, and a necessity.
It’s a shame that people are so focused on cutting this American staple.
Theyre not, and not much in this story is true. Every long-distance line is booked completely at least a month in advance so no one knows what the wall street journal's game is, lying and saying its dying.
Katie Fincher i looked for train from KC to Seattle and it was around 3k. I would only travel this way first class, the roomette with the en suite restroom. It would take 7 days and when i looked to book it, there were only 3 of the suites left. The problem with rail over that distance is time. If the rail was high speed, you would transport more paying customers in the same amount of time. Say 2 days for that price, you more than double the money taken in and cut the amount of meals
Airlines are afraid they will lose money because people are taking trains instead of flying, so cut out the competition.
@Jessica Thatcher idiotic comments are more likely to come from the Chicken Noodle Network.
@Jessica Thatcherbuzzzz. Strike one...
As an European
It's so sad to see that the US government isn't seeing the pros of good public transportation
Same issue in Canada. Its so sad.
Government shouldn't be in the business of operating public transportation. Waste of taxpayer money.
As an American, I want the government at ALL levels out of the railroad business. As an American, I'd like to see ALL transportation systems returned to private ownership. As an American, I'm sick and tired of hearing from those who've come from other countries about how much different the US is. If you want to live in the US, understand that it's not Europe, or Asia. If you want Europe or Asia, go live there.
@@joshn2342323 The TGV in Europe is state-owned and a decade ahead of anything North America has. 🤷♂️
Public Transit is for the public, not for profiteering.
@@cats0182 I'm Italian and I perfectly recognize America IS NOT Europe, but at least acknowledge the fact that we might know better than you a couple of things or more. And I am talking both as a railroad engineer/train driver, and a railfan. How can you possibly say "this is America, European-like transportation doesn't work here" if you have not even ever TRIED that first hand? Have you've even heard about the concept of economies of scale?
Loved that 100 year old lady! What a life she must have lived. The world changed so much!
It's crazy to think that the Boeing 747 first flew when she was 50 years old!
itwontcomeout5678 She was 50 during the moon landing.
Jeremy Newcombe Also, it was almost 50 years ago since we last visited the moon! Weird.
I dont envy here at all the majority of her life was spent oppressed and belittled bless her heart she must be very 💪
pressrepeat2000
Just Another reason why i don't want to see 100.
Change is not always good nor needed ...
Just leave the long distance trains alone and increase funding so that smaller routes can be developed/improved. The Pentagon can misplace billions of dollars with zero accountability in Iraq and Afghanistan, but Congress will scrutinize Amtrak over every penny.
Okay, so long as you pay my taxes, and the taxes of everyone else who opposes your malarkey....
TRUTH
"Increase funding and take more taxes!"
THANK YOU SSN21 SO TRUE!
FourDollaRacing Just take a drop from the pentagons ocean/cut back on foreign spending and you’d see a big difference.
America needs to invest money to update the Tracks to high speed rails.
Car and fossil fuel companies don't wanna hear that!
Why
America invest more in Air travel than Train
Most of the rails and engines today are capable of high speed. It's the matter of fighting the freight companies for right of way. It's all politics now.
I disagree, I don't think we need high speed rail. We just need the trains to be as fast or faster than cars. And for more routes to connect more of America.
If you think Amtrak is not profitable, you should check out how building roads is going
Roads are profitable in the sense of adding direct value to the adjacent property. That's why landowners should take care of roads themselves like they did before the early 1900s.
Paul Vizard You mean road destruction? Half the time the “construction workers” just sit there doing nothing. In fact a few days ago the works were playing football on the side of the highway while 1 lane was open.
We expect railroads to pull a profit, but we do not expect highways to do the same.
I'd honestly support making all the interstates revenue-neutral toll roads.
Roads can profitable people can build businesses next to it...
I live in Europe. Regional railway company (Silesian Railways) operates 13 lines - two of them are international. Out of those 13 lines only one or two are profitable on their own.
Yeah - in Europe we know trains need subsidies. To be honest I cannot imagine US or UK model ever working in continental Europe. Unless - you know - the aim is to close the railways.
The last time I rode Amtrak was when my ex kicked out me and my kids in the middle of the night, we hopped on a train from CA to IA to come live with my parents. Amtrak is the literal best, I love it so much. If they kill the long distance trains, more people will be isolated, I hate to think what would happen. Keep long distance routes please! - by the way if you’ve never ridden a train, you should. So relaxing!
How’d your ex kick you out bro? Happy for you tho. L gf
@@kermittmfskinnypengus411 she is girl
This is what happens when you put an airline CEO in charge of trains.
I agree. No one wants to say people over profits
Yes exactly! You now have someone that doesn't care about preserving intercity rail and thinks of it purely in dollars and cents.
Dude has been on the job for a year and a half. Hardly enough time to create the decades long buildup of problems the system has. Having an airline CEO in charge of this isnt the problem, this is what happens when you put a "Congress" in charge of a railroad...
@@hockeyman1054 Exactly.
Omg
God bless the 100 year lady hope she had a good meal
She is a total sweetheart!
She must be protected at all costs
Did that man said at first she was going to Montgomery, Alabama, Amtrak doesn't serve Montgomery.
Yes, must be an error. The mayor said that she was going to Birmingham, which is served by Amtrak.
@@norfolksouthernrailfan2006 amtrak has connector buses. shes probably transferring
"Replacing trains with buses." that sounds like what General Motors did with the Trolly car.
@Craig F. Thompson That's it? You drew no other connection or thought to my comment other than to offer a spelling correction? Well good for you then. RUclips must offer an endless opportunity for you to *correct.
No that we be going backwards. Have you ridden on buses on a road trip? Very uncomftorbale.
Trains could be run on electricity (or natural gas turbines) which I am not sure if they would be more efficient than the current diesel trains, but certainly more efficient than diesel (or gasoline) buses.
Too true.
@@williamdelmar3964 even electric trains are better than electric buses
This reminds me of the United States Postal Service. On one hand you have Congress mandating the business be run a certain way and the other hand mandates the service make money. Those two things are in conflict. If Congress wants to have rural service maintained on long distance routes then they need to acknowledge that this service will probably never be profitable. These types of lines should be broken out separately in Amtrak's books. The taxpayer's can then plainly see what these rural line costs and make a more intelligent decision if it is worth it financially to keep these lines active with subsidies. Amtrak executives can then focus on keeping the shorter routes profitable and not feel like these long routes drag down the overall financial picture.
That my friend is a genius idea
And make sure to keep in mind that other modes of transit, including the interstate highways and air travel, in those rural areas also wouldn't make money on their own. Sure, some areas or stops could have a valid economic argument to cease service to, but there are people who live there and train service offers a public good that cannot be easily replaced.
Wow. I like this.
The United States Postal Service is mandated by the Constitution, Article I, Section 8, Clause 7, known as the Postal Clause or the Postal Power, empowers Congress "To establish Post Offices and Post Roads". Amtrak, The National Railroad Passenger Corporation is mandated by an Act of Congress, completely different objectives.
@Lewis C. If they do that, they can stop funding everything.
Ironically the whole reason why Amtrak was created in the first place was to save long distance trains in America.
Yes and no. It was actually intended to fail from the beginning, with the government believing it would be obsolete within 5-10 years. They took up all the long distance routes that the private companies didn’t want to operate, and keep them running just long enough so people could find other options and ditch Amtrak. Well, things didn’t go as planned, and we (thankfully) still have passenger rail in America
Save the long distance trains... that all the railroads had long since realized obsolete after the Interstate Highway System and air travel.
I took a long distance train from Chicago to San Francisco, it was the worst experience ever. I got sick for three days, it needs to focus on the northeast and Midwest corridor.
@@Mrcharles. just because you had a personal bad experience doesn't warrant the shutting of that line
We should build up the Trains to get Cars off the road and reduce plane flights. It helps the Environment and fights climate change. It will also create hundreds of thousands of jobs
Yes trains are great, like a moving pub
While you guys on on the topic of doing stuff to save the environment also how bout some more renewable energy plants
Climate change is a hoax anyways.
I prefer driving my dually pickup over riding train anyday.
The problem is that flying is so much faster.
Lisa Weber agreed! Meeting people on the way from Washington DC to Los Angeles was one of the best parts of the trip. Aside from the breathtaking views and expanses of land I could never imagine we had.
Interstate Highway: Sure!
Airport: Sure!
Football stadium: Sure!
A dozen pointless wars: Sure!
Train: NOOOOOOOO, we'd have to raise taxes by two cents per person, can't afford it!
Pointless wars..
Cart Bichir pointless for people.. extremely profitable for some elites.. :(
Add trade wars to the list please...
Too much frivolous unnecessary spending on unnecessary things.
Ward Frances, PhD I am growing suspicious on your PhD education...do you factcheck prior to making a statement? It is US who announced the trade war first.
The government should invest in things that improve our lives and make the country a better place. Rail provides an important benefit to our country.
Unfortunately US doesn't have CCP
It's really just the freight trains that are important. Most would rather fly than take a long-distance passenger train.
@@virginiarailfannoah5415 Most Americans aren't traveling 1000s of miles every day. In these short to medium distances rail is the most efficient mode of transport by far
@@TheLazySleeperLives Yeah, that too.
@@virginiarailfannoah5415 I personally would much rather take a train than fly or take a bus. I don't trust flying and buses are gross, harsh riding, and uncomfortable. Train ticket for me, please.
Why is this presented as a "EITHER long haul trains OR more freuquent, short, regional trains"
It is possible to do both!
In Europe most countries have 3 categories of rail servive: Long-haul Intercity, Regional and suburban in densely populated areas.
There are no European passenger routes comparable to Amtrak's long distance routes in the 1,000 mile range. In Europe "intercity" means no more than one country over.
@@MilwaukeeF40C you clearly haven't heard of the Russian sleeper trains like the Paris-Moscow express.
But the USA is either the 3rd or 4th largest country in the world by land area, depending on how you measure.
@@MilwaukeeF40C Hungaria? Hamburg-Budapest. Moscow-Nice? Budapest-Warsaw? Those trains run distances for around 1000km and in case of Russian trains to certain cities it is easily more than 1000 miles.
That OR is nonsense, you need both.
If they built some high speed trains, I absolutely ride the train more.
They'd have to replace thousand of miles of track.
@@mactastic144 Yea and that's a good thing. Imagine all the jobs the flyover states would get for years building the high-speed railway across the country. It'll create a decent alternative for airlines as well so people will start using it more too. That's what happened in Europe. Plus unlike Europe America is mostly flatlands so it's mindboggling how this isn't even being considered.
@@username7735 A big reason is privately owned land. Unlike China, which developed high-speed rails easily, USA needs to buy off land or contour this land, which is expensive.
@@nilsfreund8442 It's the same in Europe and it worked over here. Many highspeed-lines also run parallel to highways because this land is already owned by the state.
@@molaremasse7034 Yes but in the US we're talking hectares upon hectares upon hectares. I still believe they should do it nonetheless, high speed trains are awesome and certainly part of the future.
My husband and I take the southwest chief twice a year from Chicago area to Fullerton, California. The train is usually almost full during our entire trip. Many grandparents ride the rails to see their families like we do. It would be hard for us to head to California without the train. Flying is not the option since it has become a stressful and daunting procedure getting in and out of the airports. Riding the train is relaxing and enjoyable. Congress and Amtrak executives both need to ride the long distance rails several times to speak with their customers and find out why it is important to us to have this service!
Crystal Britzman Exactly this. I ride the train from Florida to NYC frequently for the same reasons you listed. Airports are daunting and chaotic. Planes are uncomfortable... Even my kids prefer the long train ride versus the shorter flight.
Agreed. I take the blue water back and forth from Chicago to east Lansing on a monthly sometimes weekly basis. I can drive but the train is by far more enjoyable and relaxing. I would hate to see Amtrak collapse
I was on the California Zephyr and they said the train was oversold! At one point we had almost 200 people on the train.
This.
and you do not get accosted before you leave
Long distance trains aren’t necessarily for end to end passengers (like LA-Chicago)
It is really crucial for the small rural towns they stop at in between major cities. That’s how towns stay connected that have no airports or busses. Cutting these trains only hurts Amtrak’s PR outlook nationally. If you limit Amtrak to small regions, you’ll lose the national political support.
Should Amtrak increase trains in certain areas? Absolutely! But let’s not act like it HAS to be one or the other
In reality it does. Because now it's harder to get ALL the money needed. I mean it's just impossible that EVERYTHING can go through. They have to make decisions.
David Freeman highways and airports have no issue getting money from the federal government. It’s an ideology shift that needs to happen in America that maybe, just MAYBE we don’t all have to drive or fly
That, and respective states would have to pay for shorter corridor trains, which a lot won’t have the money to do or want to do. Indiana just shut their train down, and Oregon has flirted with it the last few years.
David Freeman, if Russia can afford both, so can we.
@@abenm613 No. We have a culture to take taxpayer money more serious, as using it is not a right, but a privilege. Unfortunately in practice it's not really that enforced. However I, as well as many others, instead of giving up the last bit of it, would like to see we the people truly enjoy this privilege, to a larger extent.
David Freeman, how come this standard doesn’t apply to highways, particularly the cross-country interstates? Between 2008 and 2012 highways consumed four times more federal money than Amtrak did from 1971 to 2012. Still, the so-called fiscal conservatives seem to ignore this fact, as well as the fact that most people don’t drive coast to coast.
About 5 years ago I took your California Zephyr from Emeryville to Chicago. It was very memorable. For someone who lives in an archipelagic state, the ride gave me a glimpse of the immensity of a continent. It'd be very sad if America would allow itself to be robbed of the wonderful experiences its long route trains offer.
The Amateur Ear Well said!
I never had anything but fun on the train.
Wow!!
It’s kind of a shame how America has fallen behind in terms of high speed train travel, they really should invest more
Some of us in CA have tried to vote it through, but no. Apparently I'm a minority who wants that.
Japan is a perfect example of how it should be. Everything is super efficient, on time, and quick. Not to mention plenty of options. The biggest issue in the States are that the tracks share lines with freight trains. This limits track improvements.
you say falling behing, we were never there. the country is too big and too spread out. it was built for the car.
@Craig F. Thompson Can confirm. Portions of the CSX tracks that Amtrak runs on in Northeastern NC/Southeastern VA are still single-tracked.
IN 2019.
The route that shinkansen takes is basically 3 megalopolises and around 5 or so major cities in one line, with shinkansen threading through all of them with a thousand miles of track.
The entire length of shinkansen from bottom to top is around the distance between Richmond to Boston, AKA the length slightly longer than the Northwest corridor.
Public transportation/even sidewalks outside of major cities within the U.S. is practically nonexistent. Not surprising when the government is focused more on profit and power than supporting it’s citizens. This effects every single industry in our country and its visibly crumbling at this point.
Exactly. The town I live in has virtually no sidewalks unless you live in the shopping area
I absolutely love riding the train! I wish more people knew how relaxing and beautiful a ride on the train is! When you travel by train the vacation starts the moment you board. For me it’s even the moment I book the ride.
Yea it’s like a lil adventure with beautiful scenery
Not too fast, not too slow either. Gives you time to see the stuff outside
Atlanta half a million citizens 1 train a day my town in sweden 21k population about 12 to 15 trains a day
Atlanta has a billion planes per day.
@@MilwaukeeF40C [X] *DOUBT*
Fulvio Pontarollo Atlanta has the worlds busiest airport
@@fulviopontarollo2952 so if you live 10 miles away you should take the plane to atlanta?
@@jahajesper If you live 10 miles away you should drive... 10 miles isn't far enough to justify a train.
There’s nothing like train travel, especially by sleeper car. So peaceful and beautiful.
Not all but some sleepers have showers.
I used Amtrak in the past, I enjoyed Amtrak, better then Greyhound buses
Both have their benefits. I wouldn't recommend a trip on Greyhound from Texas or Florida to NYC though.
@@DTD110865 anything more than 12 hours on a bus sucks because you cant sleep well on it beyond that. At least on amtrak even the cheapest seats you can almost lay flat out with feet rest.
@@whoodiestyle But if you have other passengers in front of you and behind you, and you're slightly taller than average, it's really not that much different than sleeping on the bus though.
I'd rather walk than ride on a dog.
I will never take a greyhound again.
Don't let AmTrak die
I love train travel.
So do I. I won't step foot on a plane
Yeah, dont want risk of final destination airplane crashes
I dont Amtrak to die, I rather want airplanes to die. Long live Amtrak!!!
Big Chungus Josh Amtrak is one of the least efficient ways to travel and certainly the least efficient railroad travel...if Amtrak were on par with European trains it’d be worth keeping but airtravel will always be the most prominent form of travel
@@dynamicdave2647 Sooo, you haven't heard of ANY train crashes?? 🙄
The Ceo is a former airplane ceo all he looks at is the east coast. As someone that uses the California Zephyr out of LNK we really need to keep the long distance routes. Though with that we need to add services and promote travel more.
re: "we need to add services"
My mother and I both live close to California Zephyr stops in different non-coastal states. I'm also lucky to have a web dev job that allows me to work remotely 2-3 days a week. I'd love, once every month or so, to be able to hop on the train on a Friday morning, work for the better part of the 16 hour ride (chill and enjoy the other part), then spend Sat-Sun with her, and work/ride back on Monday. Unfortunately, I _need decent internet [1]_ to work, and frustratingly the California Zephyr doesn't provide it. :-(
I've also talked with several of my dev buddies in our local area, and we'd love to do something like a trainjam.com/ or www.arts.gov/audio/writing-rails-amtrak-residency-writers but without internet on the only train that serves our area, this isn't an option for our group.
www.amtrak.com/journey-with-wi-fi-train-station
[1] I'm not talking high-speed or 100% constant internet, but frequently decent access.
I thought it interesting that they only wanted to focus on city to city in the northeast. They could add service out of Atlanta, Dallas, Charlotte, Nashville, for example, without killing the Zephyr. Amtrak cannot ask the taxpayers to support it if it only serves a small part of the country.
Houston literally only have 3 weekly train services... You will have to work pretty much from scratch.
@@opinionator3884 They specifically mention city to city in Dallas to Houston, or other cities 300 miles apart. The reason why they mention city to city in the northeast is because its the only one that Amtrak is allowed to run, and, consequently, the only one that is profitable. Its an example of how a smaller, city-to-city model would be beneficial for Amtrak and its passengers.
Who’s gonna pay for it?
I am actually ON the California Zephyr as I type. I love long distance train travel and it's slower pace. Trains offer unparalleled comfort and the opportunity to meet folks along the way. I truly hope these changes this vid spoke of don't ever happen. BTW, this train and the last I took, the Lakeshore Limited, both were full.
I've never rode that route. How often does the train stop on side-tracks to wait for on-coming trains to pass?
Not often. Travel was fairly smooth sailing and really only stopped at scheduled stations.
@@jessiecowan745 How come, if I look on Track a Train, basically all the long distance trains are late by hours?
@@virginiarailfannoah5415 No idea! I never have experienced extreme lateness but sometimes early factors do change things like cows on the track.
The Zephyr is my favorite!
Los Angeles to Albuquerque an 800 mile trip takes 18 hours. And it costs almost the same as fliying. Driving the same distance takes 11 hours give or take?
I read a fun fact, that if you would have taken the same train in 1911 it would have been faster by hours.
Trains are like cruise ships. Nobody takes them for the speed. Hence, the eclectic assortment of individuals you meet on them.
Like you're going to drive 13 hours straight...throw in 3 hours for meals and another 2 hours for LA traffic and you're at the same time (the train is actually 13 hours anyways and is an overnight trip, so it's actually a long-distance trip that makes a lot of sense).
Most people aren't taking the train all the way, they're getting on and off in small towns along the way. Lots of these places have no affordable flights, or maybe no flights at all. Buses don't stop in every town either. And many are poor or older and disabled, and can't drive. Without the train they'd be stuck.
T Warwick If they’re profitable, cool - let them stay. If not, why would do we need to mandate so that you or others can meet an “eclectic assortment of individuals”. SMH.
@@corporateGuy89 Building and maintaining roads aren't directly profitable in in of themselves either. But if you look at the whole socioeconomic picture, it makes sense to use billions of taxpayer dollars on those roads. It's just the same with rail
I mean, nowadays, you can go from Old York to Old Orleans by train.
SovietOnion hahaha good one
Good joke. Took me some time to understand.
Eurostar and the TGV are great. The US should have trains like that.
AvariceUntied You think we can electrify the whole us?
And it's 6h45m by train while driving those 900km takes ~10 hours
Bus travel sucks in the USA, even bus lines in Mexico give better service.
Train should have more routes in the USA. Also the USA needs more metro lines in the cities.
jorge hdz Mexico has better service, it's more like way, way way way better service!
busses in mexico are Great - so is the train
GroovyVideo2 They don't have travel trains anymore they got rid of them about 25 years ago.
7:10 "I can't guarantee results, but I want to do this anyway. Classic response from an airline CEO.
N.b. - meals are only included in sleeper tickets - coach tickets are roughing it and paying it all the way.
It's interesting that Congress is calling for Amtrak to be profitable, but yet the Federal Highway Trust Fund has been receiving billions of dollars each year in subsidies from the general revenue funds. Federal gas taxes, even with their subsidies to mass transit, are falling far short of paying for the highways.
It’s a small point, but the station the video identifies as being “on the outskirts of Atlanta” is actually in the heart of The city (at the north end of Mid-town and the southern end of Buckhead). It’s within walking distance of the city’s best museums, theaters, and parks.
yeah i just road this train and it seemed like we went right into the heart of the city. airports are way more on the outskirts of any city
Instead of bailing out banks and energy conglomerates, flood Amtrak with $$$ and let's get our transportation infrastructure on solid ground again!
No.
@@LionelJHutz yes you moron
Our infrastructure is indeed terrible.
No ones gonna ride it if a plane is simply much faster lol
Thanks to Amtrak, I am able to see my grandmother a lot more now. Ever since my grandfather became ill we had to go down to Florida as soon as possible to see him and support my grandmother. The only affordable and quickest form of travel for us was Amtrak. We were able to see my grandfather before he passed away and now we’re able to visit my grandmother a lot more to spend quality time with her. I’ve always see the train full or sold out on all my trips. A lot of people use the train to visit family or just because it’s such an easy way of travel. I’ve also seen quite a bit of people use it for business travel. It’s just that convenient.
I'm sorry for your loss.
"
The only affordable and quickest form of travel for us was Amtrak.
"
No, it's not the only. Right now you can get a $93 ticket to FLL from BWI. Amtrak wants more than twice that, $205. There's a 2nd cost. The flight takes 5 hours, Amtrak takes over a day of pure travel.
I travel alot for my business. Amtrak is the best kept secret out here! Reasonably comfortable and very affordable.
BS
It's not affordable time wise for long distance travel.
@@salvaje20 It depends on your time line. For me an extra day across from the West coast to Indiana and saving a hundred dollars is worth it. And on a shorter trip say Dallas to Chicago is not bad.
Do the other passengers try and talk to you a lot?
Flights are cheaper and more comfortable
I wish the U.S. had better public transport :(
The trips are amazing. I've taken all of them across the country and you actually see the country--which is truly beautiful. The trip is part of the vacation experience.
Build up short distance corridors, but don't downgrade or eliminate long distance routes! Long distance trains can serve as ths base for building those short distance ones.
Also, some long distance trains are profitable!
Not after their bookkeeping! Ridership and revenue would double on these routes if just an other train was added. Oops they didn't tell you that! If long term leases were offered by Amtrak private investors would buy the cars. That is against the Amtrak law of course!
Max Buskirk i
Save the Southwest Chief!🚞😮📣🔔🔊
Why take a long distance train when you can fly, often for much cheaper and MUCH faster?
salvaje20 for folks in rural communities on the route it is much cheaper and they don’t want to see their service go. that’s the motivation behind amtrak being forced to keep these unprofitable routes in return for subsidies; its harmful to cut off rural america even further. however, most people will fly from chicago to seattle and not ride the empire builder, because it’s quicker and more convenient due to the distance.
I just took southwest chief to California from Chicago.
Was a beautiful experience ! Only cost me $300
Trump wants you to get stuck at Midway or O'Hare to go to LA or take greyhound from a neighborhood that has prostitutes hanging out. Yep that is the MAGA way. Besides the Dems have no bright future for America either and they want to make your daughters turn into prostitutes and sons turned into drug dealers.
One way trip on Amtrak, from NYC to New London (130 miles), cost me $200 for the 3-hour trip(?). No food or drink options, and filthy toilets with no hand towels. Total ripoff. As far as railroads are concerned, the US barely makes it into the 3rd world.
@@tombarclay7108 You do know a Cafe Car is on the train.
@@johndavis8669 Yes, but it was closed because it was out of snacks. It only sold candy bars and cans of soda (when their in stock I suppose).
omar : does the $300 include a bed or you just going sleep sitting?
As a resident of Knoxville, access to a train corridor that includes Atlanta would be amazing. Knoxville is in an area that has no train access but could have great routes to Nashville, Cincinnati, Louisville, which then connects us to other great cities such as Chicago, St Louis.
Absolutely right. I’d ride the train to all of those cities rather than driving. It blew my mind when I moved to Knoxville to learn that the only passenger rail access in TN is in Memphis.
@@bradphillis9304 while lacking the population centers, South Dakota is half again the land area with 0 passenger rail. Wyoming is even bigger. And Idaho only has passenger rail at the very north end.
Usually you cant connect sprawled out cities by passenger train. people will always choose car and plane first.
I don't agree. People choose cars and planes because we've created legal and economic policies that have made it cheaper and/or easier to travel by car and airplane in the States. But, it doesn't have to be that way. It would take a shift in culture to get people to see rail traffic as a first choice, but it's not impossible.
It's ridiculous that we have no passenger trains in Tennessee. Bring back the L & N!
Would rather take Amtrak than any bus.
Amtrak needs to remember how important that one daily train is for so many rural communities and low-income people. It can't just about profit, it's also a social good and economic lifeline. Why not advocate for Congress (and the state governments) to fund more short corridor services that can make money to offset the losses from long-distance lines? That way, everybody wins.
Right? Also, consider that maybe ridership would increase if trains ran more frequently - nobody wants to get in a train at 2am if they don't have to.
The problem is the people in congress who consistently refuse to increase Amtraks budget, no matter what. We all need to remove those people from office who won't support Amtrak but at the same timw give out even more government money to highways and other things like it's nothing.
King Bibi
Who pays for the deficit?
Well someone needs to tell Congress to stop saying for Amtrak to be profitable, but also keeping these rural routes that are unprofitable. It doesn't make sense. They do the same thing to the USPS.
@@southafricanizationofsociety20 Ask Trump, his tax cuts for the 1% exploded the deficit. Who is paying for that? You and me.
A point that people miss a lot: the trains themselves aren't usually profitable, but they don't need to be. The real value of them is in the money they bring to each destination. Land values go up, small businesses thrive, tourism increases. It can be a goldmine, even though the train itself loses money.
A Guy Called Pi if people wanted to ride the train, it could easily make a profit. Trains can fit a huge number of people. They do not want to ride. That is the problem with your scenario.
For God's sake Congress I don't care if a Democrat or Republican does it, but please just properly fund our infrastructure! And that includes BULLET TRAINS, not just expanding highways
@Lewis C. You live in a rural area. A car in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston or any big city is a nice place to sit in traffic jams and watch youtube videos.
@Lewis C. but you do realise that China is HUGE and has bullet trains going deep into the countryside?
Medienmensch Yeah but those countryside trains also don’t turn a profit. In fact, it was stated China might’ve overestimated the cost of one of their bullet train routes. Something NOBODY seems to talk about when they use China as an example.
@@scorpiovlogs9269 They don't have to turn a monetary profit though. That's why transportation shouldn't be up to private companies. Giving people the opportunity to move freely has much higher value than some profit
RIGHT ON MATT!
People would definitely use a Houston Austin Dallas route
Well, Austin to Dallas is covered. But to reach either of those from Houston you have to go out of your way to San Antonio, then make a transfer late at night
Yes dude Texas is huge I’d rather take a train than drive
would adding a beach stop interest people? corpus christi or port aransas ore galveston? more of a tourist angle?
If it wasn't twice the travel time of driving, maybe. The new HSR planned between Dallas and Houston will be very interesting.
Congress and the American public do not seem to understand the extent highways, airports and waterways completely operate with government subsidies, while passenger rail service is severely squeezed of funding.
The same airports through which we pay to travel, the same roadways on which we pay to drive?
I'm trying to find one thing that Congress and the American people do understand.
@@jaysmith1408 what way do we pay for roads, besides taxes?
True, the airlines should pay for all the airports. Would tickets still be as cheap as they are now?
@@normbroel4633 Major airports are actually sometimes profitable; it's very expensive to land a plane at London Heathrow for example. But if airports were privatized, like Heathrow is, most airports outside of absolutely massive cities would quickly disappear.
Took the train from Charleston to Savana and back, was fun but consistent 2 hour delays.
Results of a downgraded cut back railroad system. Neglected and has had no investment just downgrading to save on taxes that are spent on roads and airports.
@@intercityrailpal Technically it's actually because the rails are owned by the freight lines. Freight trains get top billing on those tracks, so passenger trains get stuck with delays more often.
@@taylorbroad8941 That's not how it works, trains get timed slots like air planes do and if they are delayed enough for whatever reason then the other traffic that isn't delayed uses the track at their scheduled time. If this line is a single line (many lines in the US are) then the late train has to wait at the switch over point for the on time train to pass this delaying your trip further kind of like how an air plane that's late May have to wait longer for the run way to be open.
Adam Smith Unlike the rest of the Internet, I will admit that I am wrong. Thanks for the clarification!
I took the Lake Shore Limited from NYC to Chicago. Was delayed by three hours due to a broken swing bridge near Chicago.
I'd assume more than a few passengers would decide to fly next time.
Shin-Osaka to Tokyo Shinagawa is 502 km / 312 miles and takes 2:40 and cost $133. Boston South to Washington Union is 706 km / 439 miles and takes 7:05 and costs $330
2.5x more expensive, takes 2.6x longer to travel 1.4x the distance.
The us-trains are too slow. Boston-Washington is roughly the same distance like Paris-Marseille, where the trip by train takes 3 hours. US need a high speed network.
Jack Liberman Check Google Maps driving direction first before you make a fool out of yourself.
In China Shenzhen - Guilin is about 650KM/403Miles and takes 3:04 to arrived and cost $60USD
So move to Japan. The US has other priorities, like moving freight around. We'll not be giving that infrastructure up to "passengers" who can fly or drive.
@Jack Liberman Have you ever driven from DC to Boston? It's no cakewalk but you are rarely in a "megapolis" area. They didn't build I-95 right through Manhattan.
Helpful hint: start innovating with high speed rail in the midwest and you might actually make a profit.
It's not a difficult concept to grasp.
Just took the Empire Builder from Chicago->Glacier Park MT->Seattle one of the best trips of my life.
Chadwick Worthingham one goes from Vancouver-Seattle-Portland.... beautiful too
The ride through Glacier Park is breathtaking!
One can't take an airplane to Glacier.
If only The Pentagon's budget isn't 4 times that of China's maybe Amtrak can invest in some upgrade. I rode around Japan in trains and it is so convenient.
Peiz: Agree. And, btw, it's SEVEN times larger than China's. And, ten times larger than Russia's.
@John Davis The skies are too overcrowded because all the airspace is controlled by the Chinese military, they could easily free up the skies. The thing is, China is pouring money and investment into train networks, especially high speed rail, keep in mind, most being ridiculously unprofitable. America needs to reduce rail production cost, and needs to divert more money to rail networks.
no high speed rail in America.
Japanese trains work because of the massive transportation market in Japan. For example even after the Shinkansen runs hourly between Osaka and Tokyo, there is still well over a dozen flights every day between the two cities (with fares as low as $50 each way, compared to $150 for the Shinkansen). And those flights are mostly large wide bodied aircraft that you rarely see used in the United States for domestic routes. This doesn't count the slower trains, and other transportation services that run between the cities.
This is a transportation density that you don't see any US corridor except in the North East. And the longest Shinkansen route (which isn't even open yet, and won't open for another decade) will be under 750 miles, which is almost 100 miles shorter than going from NYC to Atlanta. And if you extrapolated the Shinkansen out, to go from NYC to LA it would cost trillions, even at Japanese build costs, and would take about 24 hours of travel time. And the ticket cost would easily over $500-1,000 each way. Compare that to about 6 hours on United, which will cost $265 and your two front teeth if you lose the fight with the dude sitting in front of you.
For the US airplanes simply make more sense as my extrapolation is simply one line. You would need probably two crossing the us and several going north to south. You are talking about an amount of money that would make the US military budget look like spare change found in a couch. And would just drive up the cost of transportation as though the fuel costs would be low, the transportation time would drive up the cost of manpower, and maintaining the thousands of miles to tracks would be enormous. And if you look at Japan (since most people use it as an example of how well trains work) you see that the Shinkansen didn't replace air travel, instead complemented it.
@@kaichiohno China builds its railway network not only for profit. It's for moving people around easily and indirectly contributing to economy regionally. And it's very convenient.
The problem with Amtrak is its expensive, atleast for the linger routes. A train from dallas to New york cost like 400$ and you end up spending 2 full days to get there. Why would anyone want to spend 400$ and waste 2 full days? When you can get there at pretty much the same cost by air in a couple of hours? I would say atleast if they reduced the cost they would get more customers travelling.
Probably because I, like many others don't fly. Especially after the '911' thing you had in the states 18 years ago come September
Here's a genius idea for Congress: Fund Amtrak adequately. Rather than Amtrak having to pick and choose between what to shut down and what to expand, give them the money to expand. And give them the right of way on all rail lines.
Sounds good to me! Just nobody in Congress and at Amtrak..
I took the California Zephyr across the country a few years ago (Chicago to San Francisco) and it was awesome. 2 nights 2 days in a roomette. Freshly cooked steak both nights and seeing the country go by. Many, like me, were on the train for a mini vacation.
My next goal is to take the Empire Builder via Montana.
@Patriotis I'd say the Zephyr is more scenic route, the Empire Builder only is scenic west of Cut Bank.
@@bovineking8927 I agree. I've ridden all long-distance routes. The California Zephyr's route is spectacular west of Denver, CO.
One advantage Amtrak has over airplanes is that train stations don't need a big building and security that airports require.
Not guaranteed.
Between Dallas and Denver would be fantastic! Las Vegas to everywhere would be even better!
There has been a service via Las Vegas, from Denver to LA, That train was named the Desert Wind. And was actually a 'bunch' of trough coaches Cicago-Denver-LA, riding Chicago-Denver combined with the California Zephyr. The Desert Wind was suspended somewhere in the late 90's or early zero's.
LA to Houston, through Vegas
Idk about that because liberals in california sure don't want high speed trains...
@@marcvanderwee
Let's bring it back better than ever!
@BWM I can drive to Las Vegas so what
I love riding Amtrak. I usually ride it from Los Angles to Portland. There actually needs to be more routes. I love to travel by train then plane. Trying to cancel these services is f&%$ stupid. Amtrak needs more funding and needs to stay.
How long was ur trip?
Honestly I think they should keep the long distance lines and add more local ones to supplement them.
In my country on one route between 2 cities (around 400km/250 miles) we have daily:
- 4 pairs of InterCity trains (there and back) stopping only at 7 stops
- 7 pairs of Express train stopping at around 14-17 stops + some Express trains only for part of the track
- And at least 50 Local trains a day operating at some parts of the track getting people to bigger train stations
Which means from one of the stations at the end you get train at least every 30 minutes if not more often. Not 1 train a day at 3am.
Oh and the sizes of the cities on the line? Biggest is around 500 000 people, smallest used by IC is 8000, by Express I think smallest one is around 1500 people.
As a Charlotte resident, I wish I could use Amtrak to visit DC, Atlanta, New York, anywhere, but it is never cost effective. Please help save Amtrak.
I agree, there should be faster, more frequent services on Amtrak.
@@souvikrc4499 The Brits have diesels that go almost 150 mph! That would be fast enough for most people imo.
Everything isn't for profit, some government services are for the citizens, to compliment the quality of life. US sounds like a giant supermarket sometimes where everything is sold for a profit including humane values.
@John Davis but there are profitable
Railroads are NOT a government service. Never have been. Never should be. The rest of your statement is babble and claptrap. I have no idea how to respond.
@@cats0182 I don't live in US, where I live it's owned and operated by the government so it was weird to this video. Although I did hear the 'congress' funds Amtrak (with taxpayer's money), maybe as a foreigner I lack knowledge about US systems. Thanks for your insight.
True, but I heard somewhere that Amtrak was running on deficit because of the rural lines, so they need to charge more for the Acela to make up for it.
Just search before you claim something: Most of the developed countries do NOT operate on profit, especially regarding the subjects like healthcare.
First of all, I don't trust a bad comb-over. Second and most importantly, Amtrak IS trying to kill the long distance routes. We've taken them for the last ten years, to Portland, OR, Salt Lake City, UT, San Antonio, TX, from Chicago. The on-board service in the dining car has diminished to a cold box lunch. And we are paying for the roomette which is supposed to include hot meals.
I talked to some of the staff in the dining car and the sleepers. They said not only has Amtrak done away with the hot meals but also reduced the # of attendants. And one of them said that the CEO, former airline CEO, is a bean-counter and doesn't care about the passengers nor Amtrak employees losing their jobs.
And thanks to the freight trains, the timetables are rarely met which means missed connections and frustration. I personally know a CSX dispatcher and he verified that they are "supposed" to give priority to Amtrak on their rails but rarely do. Amtrak complains but nothing is done.
Short of installing dedicated track to the long distance trains, which would cost a fortune, they will keep increasing the Acela funding and slowly do away with the long distance trains.
At least part of the problem is the railways that are available. With the freight companies owning the lines used by Amtrak, they can keep Amtrak from having many trains on a route or even having those trains keep to their schedule. Unless Amtrak can have priority on these lines, there's really no way for Amtrak to run reliable service -- especially when trains can be delayed by multiple hours.
The alternative is to build new lines, but then the problem becomes who is going to pay for the land, development, and upkeep.
The freight trains are the biggest obstacle to on-time performance.
rail freight is the backbone of america. the only real infrastructure advantage the country has. china drools over the usa's rail freight network. don't touch it, there is no alternative.
oldtwins na then upgrade it to HSR freight
Bingo. In Europe, the freight trains use the passenger lines, therefore the passenger trains get priority. In the US, reverse the previous statement (with the exception of the Northeast)
@@twixieshores thats because Amtrak OWNS the northeast corridor. They make the rules there.
I ride long distance train...Zephyr from CA to CO 4 times a year.... Amtrak is more than a way to get somewhere...it also provides a social service that keeps america working and moving forward.
We took the California Zephyr recently from San Francisco to Denver. It was a wonderful experience and the scenery was stunning. Plenty of tourists on the train as well as people making short distance trips (like Grand Junction to Denver). We also took the Coast Starlight from Los Angeles to Sacramento in 2018. Big difference between the two trips though.
In 2018, the dining car had real dinner plates and cups in the dining car. In our recent trip, Amtrak had done away with real dinnerware in favour of disposable plastic stuff, so that they could eliminate two jobs downstairs in the dining car that were needed for washing and drying plates. Amtrak prioritising a few bucks over its employees and the environment.
Much as we enjoyed our travels and would like to take other cross-country trains, this really put us off Amtrak. Maybe we will try Via Rail Canada next time. With bone-headed management like this, is it any wonder that Amtrak is on a downward spiral?
Its on a downward spiral because it follows an unsustainable business model that spends far more money than it can make. Cutting costs and closing unprofitable routes in favor for more cost-efficient and profitable shorter routes are the only way Amtrak will be able to survive and adapt. Unless we want Amtrak to go out of business, in which case keep forcing it to prioritize the perceived "greater good" instead of its own survival and sustainability.
I loved using the Amtrak rail system while I was in the states as a tourist. The trains felt a bit outdated though
Where were you visiting from, and what is rail service like there?
@@diamondsprince US has one of the worst infrastructure among first and second world countries so their exact country of origin hardly matters
By far the most enjoyable trips I've taken have been train trips. California to Denver was amazing. And I met a handful of people who lived in Grand Junction who relied on the service to get to/from the Denver metro area.
@Hailey BrownHave you considered that might be the most affordable option for them? Or that fact we don't need more cars on the road? Or that people have preferences? Or that Grand Junction to Denver is short enough emissions are lower than that of a car? No.
Jonathan Claridge You can’t get around CA or metro Denver without a car
@@johniii8147 cause there's not enough public transportation duh.
@@johniii8147 Use the train for the long distance, inner city bus or rideshare like Uber/Lyft to get around the city. It can be done with most cities in CO and CA. Rural, eastern NM where I live, not so much sadly.
Meanwhile "rural" China is serviced by a highspeed, on time modern network :/
Seth Oldman only the rural areas that are in between highly populated areas..
You can't really make like-for-like comparisons as China isn't a democracy. If the Chinese government wants to build a high speed line, they won't listen if your neighbourhood needs to be bulldozed.
@@vitaliyburlaka691 The only rural parts of China are the Ghobi desert and the Tibetian plateau. The Eastern half of China is densely populated and thus rail works
@@dur1zar22 .. True, they won't listen, but, they will pay the people handsomely for their property.
dur1zar22 Yeah, just look at the railway they built to Tibet as the logical endgame of that, which was primarily built to disrupt the local demographic makeup.
We need to keep the long distance routes. So much of the US depends on it.
That 100 year old lady needs to give a schoolin to those actin the fool about how hard it really was and what she fought for.
not everyone like that tho
the rural sector will suffer as more and more people move to the cities...it's a worldwide thing actually...
There aren't any decent, well-paying jobs in rural areas, and there never will be. If you choose to live in rural areas, you're choosing to live in poverty. (Except, of course, the elderly who have lived in the same place all their life, and it's too late to start over). Like it or not, we're now a society in which, if you want a good job, you must MOVE.
Indeed. Same happening in Europe. Outside cities or high density areas it’s difficult to find a good job
I live in orange county in california and trust me we see it out here too - more people from rural regions moving in.
Yet im thinking about leaving this place to finally buy a house and leave my rinky dinky 1 bedroom apartment. Im a medic so it is a tough call.
@@arx754 i work in IT and remote work makes it possible to live in the countryside
@@MihaiOprean But you have to have a decent internet connection to do that. Sadly here in Australia, especially in rural areas the internet is slow.
He said “Outskirts of Atlanta” the station is literally inside the city 😂
That's 5 minutes from the center of the city, 1066 Williams Street.
haha i thought the same thing. its literally 5 minutes from downtown.
He's from New York, Atlanta is a lot more spread out than New York
Atlanta's Amtrak station is not outside Atlanta, it's just not Downtown. It is located in a core neighborhood called Brookwood.
Brookwood ?
This is true, but it’s not convenient to any MARTA stations and isn’t particularly easy to get to from the interstate. Granted it doesn’t need to be big due to the infrequent service, but there are small town train stations in the NE and Europe that are bigger than Brookwood station.
Atlanta used to be a rail crossroads of the US, back when passenger rail was important. But that was over 50 years ago. Times change.
Derek B. Cook it doesn't have a Marta train station next to Amtrak but you can take bus to the nearest Marta station but I do agree.
jwillz1994 true but I don’t see the bus as a equally viable option. When I travel in Europe where public transit is ubiquitous unlike most cities in the States, I have no hesitation to jump on a metro or regional train, luggage in tow. But on the occasions that doesn’t work, I don’t think about the bus, I call an Uber. I don’t know that I’ve been on too many city buses except joyriding the double deckers in London. And that’s ironic because my dad drove for Trailways and Greyhound so I grew up riding and loving buses!
Love to travel by train. I feel safer than car travel and it takes me back to my childhood days traveling by train to my grandparents house with my brothers and sister. We had a ball on the train going from Illinois to Kansas. The last time I took the train was from Louisiana to Illinois in a sleeper car. I fell asleep and didn’t wake up until I was almost at my destination. I like to think the train rocks me to sleep. Slower pace but very enjoyable...we all need to slow down sometimes. For anyone that hasn’t travel by train try it...you just might like it.
I have taken four long distance Amtrak trains. I enjoy the ride. I have also ridden trains all over the world. Most recently an around the world which included 15 flights Egyptian trains Chilean bus, Argentinian ferry. The only significant delay was my San Francisco to Chicago to Waterloo IN Amtrak ride. Over 27 hours late. A sad reflection on priorities we set here in the USA
Congress needs to stop meddling in civilian train transportation and stop subsidizing them so they can develop the ways that they need too. Amtrak's monopolization shouldn't be facilitated by tax dollars.
David Lieberman China meddles in their trains and are now completely connected with high speed rail. I know the two countries are vastly different but it’s fair to acknowledge that we are vastly behind, and disbanding these services would only impede potential growth in the future
@@yarik12341 China's passenger rail system is an apt comparison to Amtrak. The failures that Government meddling in China's rail system has caused mirror those of America's Amtrak or even earlier, those of America's subsidized transcontinental railroads.
Amtrak can't even pay for 35% of the cost it takes to run their trains since tickets pay only 65% of the cost. China's interest on the debt from the railroads isn't even covered by the passenger revenue WITHOUT even considering the cost of running the trains. The Central Pacific RR and Union Pacific RR went bankrupt after immense subsidization to make the transcontinental RR.
This is not to say that railroads are bad and not economically viable, it is to say that the model of government meddling and subsidization is fundamentally wrong.
Going along with my transcontinental RR example, a few years after the first transcontinental RR was built, James J. Hill built the Great Northern Railroad WITHOUT subsidies and the Great Northern was the only Railroad out of all the transcontinental Railroads not to go bankrupt. This comparison can be also seen today, when comparing freight trains with Amtrak.
Subsidization is NOT the answer it IS the problem, let us learn from the mistakes of history and the current day, subsidies result in failure wherever tried. Thank you.
Sources
China's unprofitable railroads.👇
chinascope.org/archives/17664
www.theepochtimes.com/chinas-high-speed-rail-under-fire_1500498.html
Amtrak's money losses.👇
amp.businessinsider.com/history-of-amtrak-train-railroad-photos-2019-5
The Transcontinental Railroad information was taken from the book: "The Myth of the Robber Barons" by Burton W. Folsom Jr.
Are you trying to get yourself beheaded?
@@dl2839 James Hill acquired some railroads that were previously subsidized. The only transcontinental railroad that was not subsidized was the Pacific Extension of the Milwaukee Road. It was abandoned in the 1970s but some believe that it was actually profitable and the overall company was just badly managed.
John Roberts understands what Amtrak means for small cities America. I agree with him. I along with the wife took the Capitol limited to Chicago from DC with a stop over there. And then the SW Chief to Williams AZ. (don't think it even stop there now) to the Grand Canyon in a bedroom compartment in 2017. So glad we did. The food which was included was fine. (Mgt. wanted to end the Dinner service). The ride was great. The scenery of America can't be beat. This may be a thing of the past very soon.
whereisthe dollar can confirm it still stops in Williams
It’s not worth the billions to make site seeing tours possible
Amtrak is such a small part of the federal budget. And it serves so many communities in which it is the only public transit to large cities; it’s crazy to get rid of that.....I’ve been on the Empire Builder a couple times and from Chicago to the Twin Cities the ridership is very good. Heavy traffic in a tourist town of the WI dells.
Also Winona and St. Cloud MN for college kids.
Minot, ND for Air Force Veterans.
Glacier National Park
That connection spurs a ton of spending in the economy.
The inherent problems of Amtrak riding on freight railroad lines is never going to be solved, unless you find a way to allocate hundreds of billions for dedicated passenger rail lines and equipment and maintenance of said lines. Maybe we could exchange being a SuperPower for that, and let ummm China be our defense...
Hard Rock Master
It all depends on the freight railroads; and it’s hard to say it will never be solved. Amtrak and others may strike better agreement who knows.
The Empire Builder for example runs on time most of the time running between BNSF, Canadian Pacific, and Metra. It’s not perfect, but for the percentage of a tax dollar to cover a positive service is worth it.
Nearly 2 billion is subsidies sounds like a ton, but compared to a 4.5 trillion dollar budget. It’s .00044 percent of a tax dollar.
Amtrak is worth the investment to connect this country, because not everyone is near a major city or interstate.
Amtrack has never had a 9-11. That goes to show you what great security they have in place.
Will watch later, kinda worried since the only way I can get from my university and back to home is through the Amtrak :/
They don't want to get rid of Amtrak entirely. All they want to do is get rid of the long-distance trains.
@@virginiarailfannoah5415 Where did you see this person write anything about being worried Amtrak is being closed down completely? They said it's the only way they can get home from the college they attenf so obviously it must mean that the person's school is very very far from home.
These long-distance trains are always sold out. Amtrak has a farebox recovery ratio of like 90%, they're doing just fine. Subsidize these lines, they all have excellent potential if you just improve the interiors.
Consider the source: The Wall Street Journal.
@BWM I'm an American citizen, I don't use it but I pay taxes to it, and I'm completely fine with subsidizing it.
@BWM What? Anything wrong with dual citizenship?
"Improve the interiors" ??? Until you can relieve the congestion from freight rail, on the freight rail's own lines, then everything else is pattycake...
Hard Rock Master you’re never going to remove freight congestion, freight plays a far more important role in the nation’s economy. Even on new corridor trains they’re proposing, they’re never going to get full access to the ROWs they want. In the meantime, they can make the ride significantly more pleasant and fight for priority in court.
AMTRAK needs two things from Congress: funding and help keeping the freight railroads in compliance with priority regulations. As mentioned in the video, AMTRAK is supposed to get priority dispatching from CSX, BNSF, etc but often does not. The freight lines simply skirt the rules...leaving the passenger train waiting on siding after siding. Train travel can be enjoyable, but arriving several hours late isn’t.
Passenger and freight rail systems have completely different priorities and should be independent of eachother. Until that is designed into the infrastructure, US passenger service will always have slow speeds and inadequate scheduling choices. ( Look at Europe/Asia )
freight is way more important to the working class. america has the most incredible freight rail network in the world. it's how goods can be moved from one side to the other very inexpensively. start messing with that and you'll see ripple effects that will make you pay way more for everything you buy.
The problem is that 'bean counters' like Stephen J. Gardner don't understand is that rail service is a SERVICE !
A long run train ride is one of the things I want to check on my list when visiting the States just to see the country and because I love trains. Hope it will be still possible in few years... fingers crossed for Amtrak and cheers from Poland !
Indian railways :
1) Carries more than 20 million passengers daily.
2) Employs more than a million people.
3) About half of the network is electrified. And India is self sufficient in producing electricity.
And yet the Indian railways still require government's funds to operate. It has never been a sustainable business model.
Same goes for other government companies like Air India and telephone company BSNL.
India is also building biodiesel locomotives.
India is a filty country with no comfort room. Yuck
Yup, public uillity is where capitalism fails...
jichen zhang perhaps you’re thinking about the US when you made that comment. Most industrialized nations have invested in public services such as transportation and health care more constructively than the US. And they are all capitalist economies. It’s not a question of which economic model more effectively deliver public services. That is a simplistic way of considering that question.
So why is it such a problem in the US? That’s a bigger question than I can take on here. But it’s definitely a huge problem. It has to do with Americans’ belief in individual freedom - an idea that has been central to much that’s good and unique about the US but one that carries lots of unintended consequences. Including the loss of support for investments in services that have broader social benefits usually on the grounds of the high costs to the public purse ie taxes. Americans have a dislike of taxes to the point of obsession. Perhaps its a case of too much individualism, to be simplistic.
@@rodneymarkestrella6639 okay thanks for ur input
It's not the trains it's the governments policys ..... That's why we have backwards mass transit in the U.S.... But we do have the most inexpensive road system....LOL
I’m 21 and I never look for trains out of NYC unless I’m going home to Connecticut. I didn’t even realize Amtrak was a train that can bring me across the east coast
Amtrak’s long distance routes are remarkably similar to what they were when Amtrak started in 1971. Trains have been rerouted, and the Chicago-Florida and New York-Kansas City trains have vanished, but if you looked a May 1971 Amtrak map and today’s map, you would see a system that has remained pretty much the same.
While few people might go all the way from the west coast to Chicago on a regular basis on the train, long distance trains are often the only public transportation for many of the communities along their routes.
If Amtrak tries to retreat to the Boston-NYC-Washington Northeast Corridor, the rest of the country is going to ask why the whole country is expected to pay for trains that only 10 states use. 80 Senators will have states with no train service or train service that is paid for by their states. Why would they vote for Amtrak funding? If Amtrak wants national support, it needs to be a national system.
So I expect Amtrak to muddle along pretty much as it has during most of its existence, i.e., at the mercy of politicians trying to lessen the national budget, and Congress trying to scrape up enough money to keep the trains running. States will continue to pay for regional services until there is a recession or budget woes when they will then quit funding them or else lower their funding levels, as is currently happening with Indiana’s Hoosier train.
But, as the country’s population increases, passenger trains will become more viable, so long term, there might be an initial small increase in funding (which increases over the years) that would see gradual improvements in trains, a few new routes, and increased frequencies on existing routes.
I agree Karen but the problem is this outside the Northeast you got freight railroads owning the tracks
Everybody seems to criticize Amtrak for not wanting to continue most rural corridors but most people also complain about it being a very unprofitable for-profit company. The fault can only be blamed on Congress. It's unrealistic to demand a for-profit company to continue service in very unprofitable spaces and at the same time demand, it generates profit. You either acknowledge train service to be a right for all American citizens independently from a regional area and bear the cost of unprofitable routes or amtrak must be allowed to discontinue extremely unprofitable routes so as to at least not generate losses. This could of course be avoided if money was actually spent to build high-speed lines and make long corridor lines look actually competitive with other transportation services like the plane but that would require billions of investments that congress simply resists from granting.
I love riding the train cross country
Speed Racer makes no sense...why should these long routes be mandated for your scenic, nostalgic pleasure. Give me a break.
@@corporateGuy89 why should I be forced to drive/take a bus / fly? What if I want to take the train. Do you got a problem with that?
Speed Racer yea if you have lots of money 💰. US trains are expensive
I’ve gone from Los Angeles to Kansas City many times. I loved it. I really hope we can save Amtrak.
Keep the long lines. Encourage travelers to see the benefit of train travel. Add the short lines. Trains are not dinosaurs in a modern world.
Slow long lines are though. The advantage of high speed trains over planes is most compared to short haul flights.
Examples. Orland->Miami LA - >San Francisco
With high speed rail it would be ideal to have roughly 1 hour stops 150 miles apart at major population hubs.
There local public transport and taxi's take over.
The California HSR with 6 stops between San Diego and LA is ridiculous. (should be only 1 the Airport)
I took a high-speed train from St. Petersburg to Moscow. Most amazing long-distance form of transportation I have ever experienced. Why can't we have that!?!?
We can't even have a long-distance system with a track for traffic in each direction. Our trains average 24mph when all is well, slower when traffic is high. The trains do often achieve 80mph between stops on side-tracks where they wait for on-coming trains to pass. I'll posit that for just this reason, Amtrak's Sunset-Express has a New Orleans to Los Angeles modern era travel time that is slower than it was in the 1800's.
The train will always be an option, whether it’s for nostalgia or for people that have issues with flying. And since we’re so worried about infrastructure, we should be worried about rail infrastructure too.
Greg Schuman not to mention trains are a lot more comfortable than the Greyhound!
Actually amtrak only owns 1 railway line. They run on other freight railways. So it's the freight train companies that should pay for their own track upgrades
Matthew Wilson only problem is the freight companies aren’t.
@@souvikrc4499 I know and some are though but not all
Train nostalgia... yes, of course... why we have the many private excursion railways in the US.
I LOVE train travel! It’s so relaxing and enjoyable