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.
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!
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.
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.
@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. UA-cam 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
@@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.
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.
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
@@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.
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.
@@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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
@@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.
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 !
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.
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.
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’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
I really don't want trains to be outdated. it's just so amazing, it genuinely gives me so much joy. I wish that more people saw the reasoning for trains. I do wish that there were faster trains available, making traveling long distance better.
By that definition cars would be outdated because they're over a century old. Trains got better just like cars, but both of those things come down to land usage with infrastructure. We have many misunderstandings of what public transport actually means in this country, by god it can be a beautiful thing.
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)
Protecting Amtrak is huge, the system we have in place now is a skeleton holding the country up. It would be devastating to have the services broken up. There are so many reasons passenger rail needs to be subsidized
Cross country rail service is not practical. It takes at minimum 3 days to get from the East to West coast by car, the train would take around the same amount of time or longer. Meanwhile the air plane can get you across the country in a matter of hours.
Adam Smith right but what about the trips taken in between, for example a train from Chicago to new York can have riders to New York from Buffalo or vise verse. They really serve an important service for many different routes in the one route it takes. Some people can’t fly or won’t drive. So a train is by far ideal. Without a train you wouldn’t have that option. It’s important we have that available.
@@abenm613 because somehow everyone recognizes that it's not about the coast-to-coast route, it's about the stops in between. Hmm, now if only there were something like that where you didn't have to drive...
Adam Smith, is cross-country driving very practical? Yet, no one argues for breaking up the Interstate system and imposing the support of new shorter-distance highways upon the states.
Such good point about the benefits of train travel for rural communities as well as for mobility impaired passengers. We hope that the train infrastructure gets the investments and attention it deserves.
What we need is we need to allow Amtrak to increase service between bigger city and allow for them to have more funding so they can keep these longer routes open.
We did have such rail lines, but time and bankruptcy robbed us of a lot of them staying in business. Especially when the 'wave of the future' trucks, buses, and planes took over everything.
Being an employee of said company is not easy either. Depending on union, perhaps it was my crew base. But, based on company culture, I was not encouraged to stay.
Remove feeder lines and the trunks will be emptt. Like a big river dying when small streams and creeks are removed. Amtrak should build more train lines
I'll never forget the first time I took Amtrak from one city to another. By car 3 hrs by train 5 hrs. The relaxation of not fighting bumper to bumper traffic, All the other passengers would chat with you, some the same as me taking a train for the first time for some reason or another. The room in the seats is crazy, coming back I used a sleeper car and it was awesome, the sit down meals with strangers where everyone gets to know one another. Great service and better than driving or flying. Eventually I'd like to go across the US by rail. Met one old guy who was retired and said that is he got around visiting friends in different states.
Rural America is the Empire builder train that goes from Seattle to Chicago, passing the endless prairie of eastern Montana and all of North Dakota. I've taken that train 4 times this year alone. Earlier this year I had an international flight out of Chicago O'Hare and the train was my only way out of Fargo during that March snowstorm. Interstates and airports shut. Thankfully there was Amtrak, and even though it was 3 hours delayed, I got to leave the winter mess behind and vacation in the tropics.
I love travelling Amtrak! It's so much more relaxed than an airplane, the food is 10X better and you get to see the country! So yeah America would benefit greatly from funding for short distance city to travel kind of how France is. More buses are a bad idea because they are insanely vunlerable when they stop. (Robberies, theft etc.) Amtrak is just a much safer and enjoyable way to travel.
The US needs to invest more into infrastructure than ever before. It's crumbling! Seriously, there was a History Channel documentary titled "The Crumbling of America", which may actually be on UA-cam, and one of its first segments was about the collapse of the I-35 bridge in Minnesota. Anyone remember that? Then there's the water. Hello, Flint? But since this vid is focusing on Amtrak...railroads are still an integral part of the US's infrastructure. They serve a vital part in transporting goods; so it isn't just about transporting people. Since the infrastructure needs more work than ever before, funding has to be approved!
Took a winter trip on Amtrack from Florida to New York to Chicago to Pittsburgh and back to Florida. The potable water ran out, the bathrooms were disgusting, the on board-service was terrible and the station employees were worse. And somehow, I enjoyed every minute of it. Try doing that on Greyhound without putting a bullet in your head.
I travelled from Australia to the US primarily to take the train (Amtrak’s California Zephyr) from San Francisco to Chicago. It was a fantastic journey, one of the best train trips I’ve ever taken. I stopped off a number of times along the way and spent thousands of dollars in local communities. I probably wouldn’t have bothered to make that journey if someone had said you need to fly it or take the bus. You have an enormous asset in your Amtrak long distance trains which should be marketed to overseas travellers like myself. When the COVID problem is sorted out, I’ll be back to try more Amtrak routes, provided they’re still there.
The Atlanta Amtrak Station is not on the outskirts of Atlanta. It sits between Buckhead and midtown/downtown on Peachtree Rd a main thoroughfare...the station is small and lacks parking, but the location is not represented accurately.
Amtrak is getting new diesel-electric locomotives. Superliners and Viewliner I's are being refurbished. Full service dining is back on most routes. Ridership is up. Revenues are up. Thank God for the new CEO !!!!
Amtrak has degraded service on the long distance trains. They’re not maintaining the equipment and yet they’ve raised the prices. Amtraks Board should Fire it’s leadership. If they want to be successful they’ll need to have a strong national network and a strong network of corridor trains
Im sure if they were able to like Lower the cost more. You would get more ppl Riding the Train. Instead of like Flying or taking a bus. Or even Driving. WHen i was in New York. I took the Amtrak daily for number of years until They increased the Price by almost triple what it used to be. It was More Cost effective to just Drive then. So Yeah. It Just became Overpriced.
You absolutely right, riding an Amtrak is expensive.. more so than flying. I get a kick out of the *know-it-all liberals* who always say * the train is for the *low income* anybody who thinks that, has no clue and should *just quit typing*
I took the Amtrak from Portland, Oregon to New York City via Chicago. Loved it so much that I did it again! I also took the Amtrak between Washington D.C. and New York, but that train was super busy!
It's a definite and ongoing quandary. If it runs through your Congressional or Senatorial District, you definitely want to make sure you don't cut out your constituents. The irony is the population being served is not a revenue generator for Amtrak. But it's a revenue generator for those local economies. And that is yet another irony.
John Robert Smith is the former mayor of my home city in Mississippi, that being Meridian, and I would really hate it if the Amtrak Crescent wouldn't stop here anymore, so John Robert, Meridian NEEDS the Amtrak Crescent to stop here BOTH north and South seven days a week, we CANNOT afford to lose that train, now who else agrees with me?
One thing to consider that the story didn't cover is the carbon footprint of rail vs. air. Making rail more attractive and available may be part of a strategy to combat global warming. Perhaps if airlines were paying compensation proportionate to the damage air travel does to the environment then rail might be able to compete better.
@@MilwaukeeF40C I agree linear infrastructure is a serious problem and needs to be reported on more. Which is worse, or whether either is worse that some of the other human created environmental crises that exist, is debatable and not really the point. The awful truth is unless we want to cut human population down to a few million and go back to the stone age we need to drastically change our relationship with the Earth. Otherwise our survival into the next centuries seems in doubt.
I've gone from Birmingham to San Diego and from San Diego to San Francisco by train. Both trips had serious delays but it's a nice way to travel. By air is too stressful for me, and the Greyhound is an absolute nightmare, to put it mildly.
I once took a Amtrak from Toledo to NYC thinking it might be fun. On both the trip there and on the way back the train broke down and ended up taking on another 12 hours of "travel time" waiting for the maintenance cart
I'm from England and rode the Californian Zephyr last April from Chicago to San Francisco... what an Awesome experience and the ONLY way to see the States for me 👍👍
My nearest Amtrak station is about 30 or so minutes from where I live. It is in a middle of nowhere town with hardly any cell service. Meanwhile, I live in a city that isn’t massive but at least has the essentials. The only reason it is down there is because the track was built along a river. That river being the New River. I live in Beckley, WV and my nearest station is in Prince, WV. I have never boarded a train there or really any actual train for that matter.
Switzerland is a small country where it makes sense to have trains however, in the US most of the population is in the coasts. Buses can work as good as train for smaller communities. Imagine having empty trains going from small city to small city just racking up losses.
SirExtreme15 Reading your comment is funny because I’m currently in Ballens, Switzerland(a small farming community with a population of exactly 524). It‘s well over an hour to the nearest large town, but I took a (mostly empty) train to get here during peak hours. In case you were wondering, the train company I took to get here is SBB which is a government controlled private company just like Amtrak.
I loved the Southwest Chief when I went cross country from Baltimore to Los Angeles. All by train. The seats, especially on the Chief are wide and comfortable and have legroom to spare! The seats in coach even recline more than enough to sleep comfortably. I understand the need for the cross country trains, but I also understand that they dont service well enough. I think that this hub and spoke model for Amtrack is a good one. Have a hub in places other than just New York and Washington. Have a hub in Atlanta as well to serve the cities of the south. Have more hubs in the midwest like Chicago, turn Kansas City into another hub, Albuquerque into another hub, perhaps Denver. Run the Chief and the Zephyr every other day. Alternate them but have these hubs and spokes there to serve the smaller communities and let the Chief and Zephyr connect them. Unfortunately this does cost more money. More money than Congress is ever willing to give to Amtrak.
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.
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 ...
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
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.
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.
"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. UA-cam 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
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
ua-cam.com/video/i2oBjcbHqxg/v-deo.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.
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.
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
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
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.
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.
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
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?? 🙄
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.
There’s nothing like train travel, especially by sleeper car. So peaceful and beautiful.
Not all but some sleepers have showers.
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
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!
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.
N.b. - meals are only included in sleeper tickets - coach tickets are roughing it and paying it all the way.
7:10 "I can't guarantee results, but I want to do this anyway. Classic response from an airline CEO.
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
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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..
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.
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.
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.
I LOVE train travel! It’s so relaxing and enjoyable
We need to keep the long distance routes. So much of the US depends on it.
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.
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.
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 !
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
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
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.
The problem is that 'bean counters' like Stephen J. Gardner don't understand is that rail service is a SERVICE !
We love Amtrack and please keep it running
Via Rail is suffering in Canada too
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’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
I really don't want trains to be outdated. it's just so amazing, it genuinely gives me so much joy. I wish that more people saw the reasoning for trains. I do wish that there were faster trains available, making traveling long distance better.
By that definition cars would be outdated because they're over a century old. Trains got better just like cars, but both of those things come down to land usage with infrastructure. We have many misunderstandings of what public transport actually means in this country, by god it can be a beautiful thing.
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)
Protecting Amtrak is huge, the system we have in place now is a skeleton holding the country up. It would be devastating to have the services broken up. There are so many reasons passenger rail needs to be subsidized
Cross country rail service is not practical. It takes at minimum 3 days to get from the East to West coast by car, the train would take around the same amount of time or longer. Meanwhile the air plane can get you across the country in a matter of hours.
Adam Smith right but what about the trips taken in between, for example a train from Chicago to new York can have riders to New York from Buffalo or vise verse. They really serve an important service for many different routes in the one route it takes. Some people can’t fly or won’t drive. So a train is by far ideal. Without a train you wouldn’t have that option. It’s important we have that available.
How come no one argues against cross-country highways? Is there a lot of demand for coast-to-coast driving?
@@abenm613 because somehow everyone recognizes that it's not about the coast-to-coast route, it's about the stops in between. Hmm, now if only there were something like that where you didn't have to drive...
Adam Smith, is cross-country driving very practical? Yet, no one argues for breaking up the Interstate system and imposing the support of new shorter-distance highways upon the states.
GOD BLESS The 100 Year
Young LADY !!!
We have used Amtrak on Four occasions and we LOVE IT.
A Definite Keeper !!
Such good point about the benefits of train travel for rural communities as well as for mobility impaired passengers. We hope that the train infrastructure gets the investments and attention it deserves.
5:08
So, it's just a matter of time before the _Southwest Chief's_ feathers are plucked.
Amtrack has never had a 9-11. That goes to show you what great security they have in place.
What we need is we need to allow Amtrak to increase service between bigger city and allow for them to have more funding so they can keep these longer routes open.
4:04 Exactly !! What is a Country / State without long distance train ?! Come on #amtrak!
It sounds like the problem is we can't figure our if Amtrak is a company or public policy.
They need one from Sacramento, to San Francisco, L.A. And San Diego
CEstrada650 oh they tried that... didn’t go quite as expected...
@@joeybab3 who knew digging through a mountain would be expensive.
If we had more train lines, it’d be so much easier to get to places and more affordable to travel. Wish we had more of this
We did have such rail lines, but time and bankruptcy robbed us of a lot of them staying in business. Especially when the 'wave of the future' trucks, buses, and planes took over everything.
as a European i cant imagine life without trains, how can a city like Atlanta only have one train?
It has the busiest airport in the world too.
Atlanta has a lot of train like freight ones and Marta ones and commuter too
Being an employee of said company is not easy either. Depending on union, perhaps it was my crew base. But, based on company culture, I was not encouraged to stay.
Pur Corporate Culture is toxic.
Same congressman demanding to keep a rural Alabama train station open are the first ones to call investing in rail a "boondoggle"
Remove feeder lines and the trunks will be emptt. Like a big river dying when small streams and creeks are removed. Amtrak should build more train lines
I have to do an Amtrak sleeper ride before it fails....
Just letting you know there will be a lot of honking from the train.
@@dcpark0509 will that's fine with me
I'm going to save a *sleeper ride* till I get to Europe and get a *better bang for my buck*
@@WhatsUpWithSheila that's true. ÖBB nightjet Hamburg to zurich premium is superb.
The honking is not bad at all. I was two cars behind the engine and the train horn sounded pretty faint.
I'll never forget the first time I took Amtrak from one city to another. By car 3 hrs by train 5 hrs. The relaxation of not fighting bumper to bumper traffic, All the other passengers would chat with you, some the same as me taking a train for the first time for some reason or another. The room in the seats is crazy, coming back I used a sleeper car and it was awesome, the sit down meals with strangers where everyone gets to know one another. Great service and better than driving or flying. Eventually I'd like to go across the US by rail. Met one old guy who was retired and said that is he got around visiting friends in different states.
Congratulations to the 2 million subscribers
I like taking the train places, If it was faster, I would prefer it to air travel
Amazing you just happen to run into a person a century old riding the train for their FIRST time.
Rural America is the Empire builder train that goes from Seattle to Chicago, passing the endless prairie of eastern Montana and all of North Dakota. I've taken that train 4 times this year alone. Earlier this year I had an international flight out of Chicago O'Hare and the train was my only way out of Fargo during that March snowstorm. Interstates and airports shut. Thankfully there was Amtrak, and even though it was 3 hours delayed, I got to leave the winter mess behind and vacation in the tropics.
I love travelling Amtrak! It's so much more relaxed than an airplane, the food is 10X better and you get to see the country! So yeah America would benefit greatly from funding for short distance city to travel kind of how France is. More buses are a bad idea because they are insanely vunlerable when they stop. (Robberies, theft etc.) Amtrak is just a much safer and enjoyable way to travel.
You’ve never heard of train robbers?
@@edyflak there are train robbers still?!
It's the most ecological way to travel.
@ Andre Jackson www.thedenverchannel.com/news/local-news/woman-robbed-on-rtd-train-and-then-sexually-assaulted-police-say
egutierrez that wasn’t on Amtrak, smh
I'm surprised no mention was made of the environmental benefits of travelling by train vs the plane, or driving
The US needs to invest more into infrastructure than ever before. It's crumbling!
Seriously, there was a History Channel documentary titled "The Crumbling of America", which may actually be on UA-cam, and one of its first segments was about the collapse of the I-35 bridge in Minnesota. Anyone remember that? Then there's the water. Hello, Flint?
But since this vid is focusing on Amtrak...railroads are still an integral part of the US's infrastructure. They serve a vital part in transporting goods; so it isn't just about transporting people. Since the infrastructure needs more work than ever before, funding has to be approved!
Took a winter trip on Amtrack from Florida to New York to Chicago to Pittsburgh and back to Florida. The potable water ran out, the bathrooms were disgusting, the on board-service was terrible and the station employees were worse. And somehow, I enjoyed every minute of it. Try doing that on Greyhound without putting a bullet in your head.
I travelled from Australia to the US primarily to take the train (Amtrak’s California Zephyr) from San Francisco to Chicago. It was a fantastic journey, one of the best train trips I’ve ever taken. I stopped off a number of times along the way and spent thousands of dollars in local communities. I probably wouldn’t have bothered to make that journey if someone had said you need to fly it or take the bus. You have an enormous asset in your Amtrak long distance trains which should be marketed to overseas travellers like myself. When the COVID problem is sorted out, I’ll be back to try more Amtrak routes, provided they’re still there.
The Atlanta Amtrak Station is not on the outskirts of Atlanta. It sits between Buckhead and midtown/downtown on Peachtree Rd a main thoroughfare...the station is small and lacks parking, but the location is not represented accurately.
Amtrak is getting new diesel-electric locomotives. Superliners and Viewliner I's are being refurbished. Full service dining is back on most routes. Ridership is up. Revenues are up. Thank God for the new CEO !!!!
Amtrak has degraded service on the long distance trains. They’re not maintaining the equipment and yet they’ve raised the prices. Amtraks Board should Fire it’s leadership. If they want to be successful they’ll need to have a strong national network and a strong network of corridor trains
Im sure if they were able to like Lower the cost more. You would get more ppl Riding the Train. Instead of like Flying or taking a bus. Or even Driving. WHen i was in New York. I took the Amtrak daily for number of years until They increased the Price by almost triple what it used to be. It was More Cost effective to just Drive then. So Yeah. It Just became Overpriced.
You absolutely right, riding an Amtrak is expensive.. more so than flying.
I get a kick out of the *know-it-all liberals* who always say * the train is for the *low income*
anybody who thinks that, has no clue and should *just quit typing*
I took the Amtrak from Portland, Oregon to New York City via Chicago. Loved it so much that I did it again! I also took the Amtrak between Washington D.C. and New York, but that train was super busy!
“The greatest country in the world” should have faster bullet trains than Japan or Europe, no?
We drive ourselves
Or China 😉
bulldogsbob your stupid
It's a definite and ongoing quandary. If it runs through your Congressional or Senatorial District, you definitely want to make sure you don't cut out your constituents. The irony is the population being served is not a revenue generator for Amtrak. But it's a revenue generator for those local economies. And that is yet another irony.
Looks like a bad toupee on that Amtrak executive!
John Robert Smith is the former mayor of my home city in Mississippi, that being Meridian, and I would really hate it if the Amtrak Crescent wouldn't stop here anymore, so John Robert, Meridian NEEDS the Amtrak Crescent to stop here BOTH north and South seven days a week, we CANNOT afford to lose that train, now who else agrees with me?
One thing to consider that the story didn't cover is the carbon footprint of rail vs. air. Making rail more attractive and available may be part of a strategy to combat global warming. Perhaps if airlines were paying compensation proportionate to the damage air travel does to the environment then rail might be able to compete better.
Global warming is a bunch of nonsense.
Linear infrastructure is worse for the environment than global warming.
@@MilwaukeeF40C I agree linear infrastructure is a serious problem and needs to be reported on more. Which is worse, or whether either is worse that some of the other human created environmental crises that exist, is debatable and not really the point. The awful truth is unless we want to cut human population down to a few million and go back to the stone age we need to drastically change our relationship with the Earth. Otherwise our survival into the next centuries seems in doubt.
@@rdbury507 Nothing is actually that bad. People will deal with it.
Love Amtrack from LA to Houston, plenty of room! I slept on the floor in observation car! Friendly staff & riders.
I've gone from Birmingham to San Diego and from San Diego to San Francisco by train. Both trips had serious delays but it's a nice way to travel. By air is too stressful for me, and the Greyhound is an absolute nightmare, to put it mildly.
Raughs in Chinese and its 29,000+ kms of highspeed railway grid.
It's gonna be 38,000+ km by 2025. Such comfort
Laughs in no communism
Just a Bread raughs
Laughs in not eating everything that moves
We need more train routes, high speed infrastructure asap.
And crippled the airline industry.
The lack of rail transportation in this country is embarrassing compared to the rest of the world
I once took a Amtrak from Toledo to NYC thinking it might be fun. On both the trip there and on the way back the train broke down and ended up taking on another 12 hours of "travel time" waiting for the maintenance cart
I'm from England and rode the Californian Zephyr last April from Chicago to San Francisco... what an Awesome experience and the ONLY way to see the States for me 👍👍
Why do they include footage of Retired American Orient Express??
Ah I thought those coaches didn't look right.
My nearest Amtrak station is about 30 or so minutes from where I live. It is in a middle of nowhere town with hardly any cell service. Meanwhile, I live in a city that isn’t massive but at least has the essentials. The only reason it is down there is because the track was built along a river. That river being the New River. I live in Beckley, WV and my nearest station is in Prince, WV. I have never boarded a train there or really any actual train for that matter.
What a strange discussion to have! Me having spent many years in Switzerland with a perfect train network this sounds just absurd.
Switzerland is a small country where it makes sense to have trains however, in the US most of the population is in the coasts. Buses can work as good as train for smaller communities. Imagine having empty trains going from small city to small city just racking up losses.
Size matters
SirExtreme15 Reading your comment is funny because I’m currently in Ballens, Switzerland(a small farming community with a population of exactly 524). It‘s well over an hour to the nearest large town, but I took a (mostly empty) train to get here during peak hours.
In case you were wondering, the train company I took to get here is SBB which is a government controlled private company just like Amtrak.
@@SirExtreme15 china use trains a lot. like a lot. there's a 68 hour train ride in there. size doesn't matter. what your goverment do is
I loved the Southwest Chief when I went cross country from Baltimore to Los Angeles. All by train. The seats, especially on the Chief are wide and comfortable and have legroom to spare! The seats in coach even recline more than enough to sleep comfortably. I understand the need for the cross country trains, but I also understand that they dont service well enough. I think that this hub and spoke model for Amtrack is a good one. Have a hub in places other than just New York and Washington. Have a hub in Atlanta as well to serve the cities of the south. Have more hubs in the midwest like Chicago, turn Kansas City into another hub, Albuquerque into another hub, perhaps Denver. Run the Chief and the Zephyr every other day. Alternate them but have these hubs and spokes there to serve the smaller communities and let the Chief and Zephyr connect them.
Unfortunately this does cost more money. More money than Congress is ever willing to give to Amtrak.
Oh no. I love Amtrak.
They just wanna get rid of the longer ones, which don't profit. We just need more in-between cities that are 300-500 miles apart.
@@virginiarailfannoah5415 I love the longer ones. I've spent 24 hours from CA to WA. It was wonderful!
fully nationalize amtrak, then slash the military budget and put it into trains
Amtrak is owned by the government, moron
When is Florida going to get the option to go anywhere but north on Amtrak?
Ridership has been up,Kind of late with the story.
Seats larger than a dime, and no BS baggage fees, I'm all about Amtrak. There must be a check on greed and abuse by corporate airlines.