Congestion pricing is a failure.

Check your email, because I also talked about Northern California and the abandoned routes that needs to be revived under Amtrak

First

The problem with building transit infrastructure to serve sports arenas is the sports team could just one day get up and leave the city like Oakland, San Diego, etc

I think a dodger stadium line would be more helpful if it headed up to Glendale via Silverlake and Atwater, then it could go west to Burbank and maybe even hit the airport, all of which are currently not served by Metro while still hitting most of the density on Sunset. You could even build it with capacity for interlining with the red line, which could go from Hollywood blvd to Sunset and drastically shorten the time between the valley and Union AND eliminate interlining with the purple line, allowing you to double the headways on both lines, AND integrate the Vermont part of the red line into the already planned Vermont Subway. So many birds with one stone, as long as this can all be heavy rail like the red and purple lines already are

Hopefully the K Line becomes the true North South line

This actually quite a decent idea. However, LA Metro already has a 25+ year list of things to build, and, if a project isn't on said list, it ain't gonna get built, at least not for the next 25 years or so. This does overlap with two projects that are on the list, the K Line extension to West Hollywood, and the Dodger Stadium gondola. All indications are that they are going to pick option 3 of the K Line extension, the windy, S curve shaped one. It tries to be both a North/South corridor and an East/West one and kind of fails at both. While if they built both of them, this could be the East/West route and the straight shot version of the K Line, option one, could be the North/South. There were even members of the public who came up with simliar But it sounds like giving West Hollywood both lines would be non-starter due to the cost. So they made the curvy S shaped thing.

That's quite an interesting standpoint for LA Metro light rail service. Also my heart goes out to those who have been affected by the L.A. wildfires Plus! What I said on my email, We need to make things more interesting between Bakersfield, Los Angeles and Las Vegas for Amtrak service and Metrolink service along with the expansion of Amtrak's Cascades service

Surely Donald Trump would want to be the guy who gave America "THE FASTEST, MOST POWERFUL TRAINS THE WORLD HAS EVER SEEN".

Ok there are a few major problems with your plan, 1 the city of Cerritos would never ok the line. 2 and the biggest one orange county will NOT let la metro run a train into orange county 3 orange county already said no to the Octa center line, which ran up and down harbor Blvd 4 Disneyland said no to any light rail to Disneyland 5 your stops are way too close to each other. You have no actual knowledge about transit planing or how things work in southern California, your idea is not even worth taking into consideration.

I’m a republican I like trains and to Al yall who panic yall need to chill he cannot lose swing states but he can’t be appealing to Amtrak loving people like Biden was so it will likely be the same as it was with a little less help

As a conservative, I'm glad he won, but at the same time as a railfan, I see that as a down side, I use Amtrak a lot, and but area is very dependent on it, I we need Amtrak, or my towns economy would go to a all time low

22:00 I think this is another reason why most people focus on just extending the Green/C Line to the Norwalk Station. OC is already resistant to most transit projects, so a long C Line into OC would likely never happen under the best circumstances. Extending the line to the Norwalk Metrolink Station is much easier and would also increase ridership significantly (it would still provide a faster 2-seat option to the LAX People Mover compared to Metrolink-FlyAway now).

1. Amtrak needs to be run like a railroad, not an Airline! 2. Amtrak needs to use the "hub" system to connect and distribute "secondary service" throughout the US rail passenger network. 3. Ridership will grow if service improves in the following areas - Food service, ticket pricing/discounts, and the quality of customer service by Amtrak employees towards passengers and finally 4. Establishing some reasonable dress code/behavioral standards for passengers to follow and then enforcing them...

IF we make a convincing, fact based argument for expansion of Amtrak, Trump will react as a businessman and support it. We must come up with economic benefits that we can quantify.

ROFLOL

i want to rockland branch Reopened

Thx for the video. One tip: It’s pronounced “Artesha” Not “Artesee-a” That’s actually quite important in a video like this because mispronouncing that city name (even though it’s a street name) makes you lose credibility among some of your viewers. Good luck on more videos!

Greyhound Post office Amtrak 😢

Amtrak is last thing on trumps mind he is too busy with Panama Canal situation he won’t destroy Amtrak 🤷‍♂️

Something that could possibly pass muster is a track sharing agreement with Metrolink. Perhaps smaller trains like the ones in Arrow service in Redlands could run from OC and interchange in Norwalk to the C line.

The C line, or Green line as it was originally called, was only built to secure Federal funding to complete I-105. An extension to the Norwalk Metrolink station is urgently needed and has been since the beginning. That would permit transfers to the Metrolink OC line which would accomplish some of the same goals. It would also be more politically expedient.

While at this point in time we don't quite know what Donald Trumps Amtrak policy will be ,you would and could be jumping to a faulty conclusion that Amtrak is doomed or could be(possibly) be destroyed under President Donald Trump just because he is a Republican. While it is probably true that there could be some cuts to Amtrak under the new Trump administration, I have learned a long time ago that just because there is a Republican in the White House that Amtrak will be destroyed and that having a Democrat in the White House will save Amtrak. To the contrary out of experience I can tell you that Amtrak suffered from much more serious cuts to long distance service under "President Jimmy Carter" the "Democrat" then under "President Ronald Reagan" Conservative Republican. Under Jimmy Carter "the peanut farmer" there was a very serious effort to bury Amtraks long distance service in 1978 and in 1979. HIs initial Department of Transportation Secretary Brock Adams had authored a review of Amtrak routes and services during 1978. In this report there were 5 National routing options. Two of the options were for a smaller Amtrak than what Amtrak had at the time. One was for an Amtrak of approximately the same size as it was running at the time and the 4th and 5th Options would have created a larger Amtrak. During the Spring and Summer of 1978 public hearings were held across the country on the DOTS report on Amtrak and after the hearings were conducted a published review and summation of those hearing was printed. Most people who had testified at the cross country hearings had either wanted an expanded Amtrak route system or at least to maintain what current (at that time) route system was. The DOT however recommended cutting Amtrak by about 33%. The DOTS initial recommendations which would have also eliminated the San Francisco Zephyr (the Amtrak California Zephyrs predecessor at the time and would have added a Bay Area leg and a La Junta to Denver leg to the Southwest Chief instead. After negotiations with the US Congress the DOT instead had chose to cut Amtraks routes by abou 15% which was still a major cut back as about 6 major Amtrak trains were eliminated. The Trains that were eliminated on October 30th 1979 were the North Coast Hiawatha ( Chicago to Seattle Via Southern Montana) the Lone Star (former Texas Chief via Chicago, Kansas City Oklahoma City Ft Worth and Houston) the National Limited (New York to Kansas City via Pittsburgh, Columbus, Indianapolis and St Louis) the Original Floridian (Via Chicago, Louisville, Nashville Birmingham, Montgomery, Jacksonville with the train splitting in two for both Coasts of Florida) the Champion (New York to St Petersburg FL) and the Hilltopper(Catlettsburg Kentucky to Boston). With the exception of the Hilltopper all of most of the routes served major markets that were important. President Ronald Reagan when he originally took office in 1981 under his Original budget Director David Stockman there was a serious attempt to cut and gut Amtrak and there were some cuts at the beginning of his administration, however when President Reagan faced massive opposition to eliminating Amtrak he appointed Graham Claytor as the President and the CEO of Amtrak and under Graham Claytor Amtrak in 1982. Amtrak had improved substantially under Graham Claytor and the included on board services as well as the financial "bottom line".When Graham Claytor took over Amtrak covered 48% of its costs i and by 1989 it covered 72 % of its costs. So even though the Reagan administration tried to Kill Amtrak at the beginning when the Public showed their support for Amtrak his administration appointed what was considered to be the best qualified person to lead Amtrak and to this day most people who know anything about Amtrak which includes the Rail Passengers Association will tell you that Graham Claytor was Amtrak's best CEO by far. So in the long run Amtrak fared much better under the Conservative Republican Ronald Reagan then Jimmy "Peanut Brain" Carter who did more harm to Amtrak as well as the country. You never know what can happen as long as enough people make it known that they want a well served passenger train system whether is publicly run or perhaps privately run.

No, it’s not doomed

Trump would probably fund high speed rail projects in red states like Texas Central because he said in an interview that he likes the idea of bullet trains. Conventional rail, however, could go either way

FACT rail transit in L.A. used to exist until the city and county got rid of/ abandoned the system. They have actually found some of the old underground stations that they did NOT know existed. Instead of refurbishing and using existing they moved the trains path and built new i stead. What a waste of money the whole rail system in LA county is.

This would work as a surface alignment, but it's not appropriate for high platform stations, even LA style. This would be something you would see with the OC Streetcar. And the C can just extend to El Cerritos.

This guy's voice is really annoying me icl

Even with pro Amtrak Republicans,we should not expect new routes,Amtrak Connects Us Plan gets tossed out!

While I understand Senators Brown, Manchin, and Tester were promoting the expansion of long distance Amtrak trains, im sure those services would have used up equipment that would be better served on state-funded routes and cost more in the long term. Focus on shorter trips with more frequent, more convienent routes, and trains with higher top speeds. Brightline in Florida proves drivers will choose the train if its more convenient than driving.

Yes

America's Dr. Beeching

Most likely result will be delays to the replacement of tunnels and bridges on the Northeast Corridor due to budget cuts enacted.

While Amtrak and California high speed rail get defunded, Brightline west is likely unaffected and complete before the Olympics with the next trump administration

As someone who voted Trump for the 1st time i personally ever voted im from NYC and i prefer my subways to be safer that will make it great agein 🇺🇸

Lifelong railfan, museum director... I couldn't care about rail funding. Cut spending and taxes. I have barely been on a train in years.

Long distance passenger rail service has not been a profitable business since since air travel came to be. Even light rail projects in and around major metropolitan areas struggle to make ends meet without state or local government subsides. While I'm not opposed to some level of public funding, I think Amtrak needs to take a close look at their overall finance & operations. Possibly hire an outside, unbiased firm to look things over. Congress should, perhaps, tie future funding to the results of those examinations and the actions Amtrak takes to resolve problem areas.

personally, im more worried about local and state level transit projects which might be at threat under trump, and i really hope that they dont get their funding cut or shut down

Thank you for a well thought out video addressing this. Too many advocates get into Trump Derangement Syndrome and end up not seeing the forest through the trees. Here are some points that may be helpful in supporting your video: 1. Amtrak's budget request is only $2.5 Billion per FY 2025 Budget Estimates by the current administration - in terms of the total US budget, this barely registers and even Trump, Elon, and Vivek have bigger fish to fry than Amtrak. Many of the projects outlined in the budget are already paid for or spoken for with the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. I wouldn't expect an expansion of services or spending in a new administration, but I wouldn't expect any cutting either. 2. Amtrak has always been, in retail terms, a "loss leader". Even Trump is aware that you have certain goods and services that are sold at a loss because it is either necessary or shows good public relations. Removing or reducing Amtrak is just too much of a public relations nightmare to bother with, especially at its cost. 3. The US has the 3rd largest volume of goods by rail transportation. #4-#20 combined does not reach the amount of the US's goods transported by rail. (source: OECD, 2019). Any improvement to Amtrak will likely have to include commercial rail in order to garner support. 4. If you want "evil" Republicans to support your project - do it in a manner that they typically support or target certain ones that will support your efforts. Examples: using block grants to support state or local run services or improvement projects, finding ways to cut red tape so these projects are actually started and not bled dry with a series of impact statements - no one wants to be responsible for another CA HSR disaster (regardless of your opinion, it is viewed nationally as a disaster), encourage more private-public partnerships where a private company operates, but we use public money to build the infrastructure. Finally, target outspoken Republican congressmen and women that these projects would help, such as Boebert from CO where improvements to the CA Zephyr or as part of a state congressional caucus to support a Front Range Rail project from Cheyenne, WY to Pueblo, CO or MTG from GA since her district runs right through a project to bring rail connection from Atlanta to Nashville via Chattanooga, TN. Those are things that make news back in their respective districts.

In answer to your question the answer is absolutely. I’d give anything to be wrong but I don’t trust Trump as far as I can throw him.

DJT didn't defund AMTRAK during his first term. There is no reason to believe he would do that now. However, he doesn't like any business that loses money.

It managed to survive one term of Trump, then Biden gave it a bit more muscle, I think it will get by again this time... Trump likely won't be able to cut it between the narrow house majority and the senate filibustering...

When you make a couple videos straight one nobody knows especially what type of room you got because that’s not true that time I heard after I was going to write prices over the summer holiday fees and second of all the people came in for a long travel anymore and third wheel is too big problem you’re flipping off the first one someplace they’re having project god in New York they rebuild a new tunnel next to the old one thanks kind of building a new bridge over the Hackensack river that’s gonna take some time and it’s only for the long travel rods because nobody can afford 60 or 70 bucks to go on a train is going to bring the prices down what type of room you got it’s natural and the last time I checked the boat with past especially address not doing so good about their customers after the last owner plus add truck not doing so good I passed your rebel do and you don’t believe me look it up it’s right there but don’t forget in the 1970s the second power locomotive was not doing good and they shut down no problem how many stations nine stations in three decades Especially you forgot to look at your history before you went into the age especially address not doing a good job in the eastern part of the state your full baloney cause you never even come to East Park and right now half of it is shut down quite the tunnel project and the bridge in 2013 with answer was trying to do oh that’s right you didn’t know they were trying to stop putting private coaches on the train and that didn’t work out with the people blow the whistle on we did it nicely and air track lost after he said not to put culture on the train and you didn’t know about that and I said before it’s a price drop it is the difference because you don’t believe me just look up and go toairtractor com I feel much you wanna pay yeah Tracy got nobody’s gonna try and cause it to Spencer and the presidents gonna put a price drop it I don’t blame the populace blame the Democrat Democrats rise a lot different taxes at some of the Democrats don’t have a heart I only care about is the money and it’s on this new owner Amtrak I’m at the pride he don’t even care who he cares about with more important priorities for the customer because there’s no customers right on the train let me let me know wow who is the work that me they had the fire them or lay them off and I don’t want that I can’t do anything now they got a choice drop the price or pay the consequences and I said before what type of room you got because it’s not true and I said before you better look up your history cause that’s a dirty rumor only thing I heard you gonna drop prices on transportation whatever meeting you here at the dirty rumor and plus you can have the train to go to the car go but you’re not going to your house you’re not going to the Big Apple you can go to the Windy City but you can’t go to the big apple plus I said before you’re a couple big railroad stations thanks to Amtrak shut them down for no reason play Tennessee for example or Kansas City or the steel city and that they should be shut down almost now 30 years

I've only taken two rides on Amtrak, to Sacramento from Richmond. The train and staff were fantastic. But their website and ticketing systems are C- at best. While I was at Richmond I saw another passenger struggling to use the touch screen ticketing machine - so decided to buy my ticket on the train. And at Sacramento I bought a return ticket from a staff member, no problem at all.

No it’s not, this is tiring. We will be better off in 4 years than we are now. Period

More cons of doing this; in order to maintain the rails, you will have to either put the crew in a dangerously tight place or close highway lanes, which will not make it popular with highway motorists, (maintenance is something people usually forget with grandiose infrastructure projects) and it will be impossible to build turnaround lanes for emergency vehicles on the highway.

One of my friends is very pessimistic of the trump administration, he always talks about it like it's the end of the world. His family plans to leave the country, to Canada specifically. If trump does annex Canada, he'll probably hang himself.

Amtrak is already a private corporation but is owned and subsidized by the federal government. Amtrak was created to receive the freight railroads from their responsibility to operate passenger trains. This is similar to what the federal government did when they formed Conrail after the northeast railroads suffered major damage after a hurricane and the loss of business to factories closing and moving south or overseas. The difference is Conrail found a way to become profitable after many changes and line abandonments. The federal government ended up selling Conrail to between CSX and Norfolk Southern. Amtrak except for a few routes has not been able to make a profit on its large nationwide network. This is partly due to the lack of investment to modernize equipment and old work practices. However with the new federal administration if they can change how Amtrak operates and chooses to invest in its future it may someday also be profitable. Then it also could be sold off to another transportation company or as a public offering. So for at least the short term it still will be up to the congress to see what funding they are willing to give Amtrak to continue to operate a large nationwide system.

If it were of me, all international airports excluding LAX and JFK would be shut down and Amtrak would be expanded beyond what America has never seen before.

The calls for Amtrak to be a private company actually is true. Amtrak was created to relieve the freight railroads from their passenger responsibilities but is a private corporation that is owned and subsidized by the federal government. This is simular to when the federal government created Conrail after the problems with the northeastern railroads had after the hurricane damage and loss of business due to major factories relocating to the south or overseas. The difference is Conrail found a way to be profitable and got sold off to Norfolk Southern and CSX. Amtrak so far has not been able to do that except on a few routes within its large national system. Between lack of capital infusions to modernize equipment to old work practices they can not seem to become profitable. So it would be hard to sell off Amtrak to another privately owned transportation company without major changes. However if the new federal administration can make changes in the way Amtrak does business it could be sold sometime in the future to be a true non federally owned corporation.