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What If The United States Had A National High Speed Rail Network?

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Geography By Geoff

Geography By Geoff

Күн бұрын

Пікірлер: 2 700
@teotik8071
@teotik8071 2 жыл бұрын
One advantage of using the train is that you arrive in the center of a city and not in the suburbs. And on the start of your journey you do not have to be two hours early and your luggage isn't quite limited as well.
@TheOwenMajor
@TheOwenMajor 2 жыл бұрын
The issue is your advantages disappear once you include the options of flying or driving. Short distances? Driving takes you from your start point all the way to your end point. All with privacy and complete flexibility. Long distance? Over long distances the travel time even for HSR adds up worse and worse. Flying becomes massively quicker and likely cheaper as well.
@DOSFS
@DOSFS 2 жыл бұрын
@@TheOwenMajor Not like HSR gonna replaces other options. Car and plane are still important in their range same as HSR which is best in distance between car and plane, people just need more options and they will decide which is best for them in a particular situation.
@NozomuYume
@NozomuYume 2 жыл бұрын
@@TheOwenMajor The problem is that that car takes up a huge amount of space if it's only carrying one or two people, and if it's a private car then you have to store it wherever you take it. This hollows out towns and cities because they have to create extra space to store all these cars, which means stuff is further apart, meaning even more car trips, meaning traffic congestion. With a human-scale city (even a smallish one) with fast rail you can get in, out, and across quickly, and don't have to take car trips just to do *anything*. You don't need an extra car or time to drive your kids to school because they can just walk or bike there. I'm not talking about New York City or Paris or Tokyo here, I'm talking about European or Japanese towns with 10,000-20,000 people. You don't need a car because your feet or bike or mobility scooter take you to your destination in minutes, and if you need to go further, you take the train, where your destination is also just a few minutes walk from the station. In the US we associate public transit with big dense cities, but in much of the world, your small town life can have it too. Of course cars still have a place. In your tiny 500 person farming village far from the train, it makes sense to own a car, in the same way that before cars, farmers owned horses but people in town didn't. Horses need parking just like cars do, and it made more sense not to have to build horse parking everywhere when you could just walk.
@TheOwenMajor
@TheOwenMajor 2 жыл бұрын
@@DOSFS "HSR which is best in distance between car and plane" I'm not sure this distance exists. People are quite willing to sacrifice some time for the convenience and privacy of the car.
@TheOwenMajor
@TheOwenMajor 2 жыл бұрын
@@NozomuYume I'm sorry to burst your bubble. But having lived in Europe it isn't exactly the eutopia you paint. This is a common theme amongst Europhiles. But in reality, Europe and even Japan are almost as much in love with the car as North Americans. The data is clear, Europeans love driving. It's by far the most popular mode of transport. Now yes, I understand you personally might be in love with transit, but most people aren't. The inconvenient truth for transitphiles is that most people actually prefer suburbia over their concept of transit orientated eutopia.
@robertpendzick9250
@robertpendzick9250 2 жыл бұрын
Years ago you could travel Milwaukee to Chicago by high speed (90 - 120 mph) rail. The connection ran every hour. (5 am to mid-night). Took about 70 minutes. Was very popular and recall going to Chicago just to shop in the Loop. When it was announce that it was closing people actually took large portable tape decks to record the sounds of the journey. Now 55 + yrs. later Milwaukee to Chicago is a twice a day run, takes over 2 hours.
@stellaoh9217
@stellaoh9217 2 жыл бұрын
But that would be supporting the productive majority with needed services!. We need to spend our money on War and spending in Conservative districts! They're the ones that benefited most from the New Deal and by dammit they're going to be the last ones to lose it!
@abcd5972
@abcd5972 2 жыл бұрын
I’m pretty sure it’s more than twice/day and it take like an hour and a half. But you were right about its past
@SeattlePioneer
@SeattlePioneer 2 жыл бұрын
Actually, the Amtrack schedule shows nine daily departures between Chicago and Milwaukee. When was the last time YOU used that service? I know beefing about it is easy, but if you don't use it, your complaints are really just hot air.
@SeattlePioneer
@SeattlePioneer 2 жыл бұрын
@danielhutchinson6604
@danielhutchinson6604 2 жыл бұрын
@@SeattlePioneer The internet provides information pretty easily.... Union Rail Museum still has an Electroliner. I have an old Official Guide around here I should look up the number of rounds they made along the Lake....
@stickynorth
@stickynorth 2 жыл бұрын
The irony is that America HAD inter-city High-ish Speed Rail to some degree since trains could easily reach 100 mph/160 km speeds back in those days even with steam trains. Here in Alberta we'e planning on spending $9B to build a 350 km/h bullet train that we've planned for the last 40+ years yet in the 1930's we had 160 km/h express trains that would still be better than the nothing we've not now... Well not nothing, a dangerously overcrowded 6-lane freeway through hell called the Queen Elizabeth II... Thanks? ;-)
@ronclark9724
@ronclark9724 2 жыл бұрын
In America the legendary railroads ran two trains per day in each direction, their sleeper trains and their coach/mail trains. The major difference was that the sleeper trains stopped around every fifty miles whereas the coach/mail trains stopped around every 25 miles. No longer do American passenger trains have a dozen or more mail cars on their consists. There is a reason why the post office was adjacent to a station or depot during the hey days of railroads, and many still do today. As more paved roads were built the coach/mail trains slowly disappeared, and as more interstate highways were built the sleeper trains disappeared. Simply put, the US government itself, the USPS chose to fly the mail long distances and truck the mail short distances more than 50 years ago. Why? Well the airlines can fly the mail across the country in hours while the trains took a similar number of days... HOURS, NOT DAYS. America and Canada are not TINY nations one can drive across in a single day like Germany or France... Even the railroad running the northeast corridor went bankrupt when it lost its mail contract... Why Amtrak was created by Congress in the first place...
@banksrail
@banksrail 2 жыл бұрын
@@ronclark9724 Those companies mostly went bankrupt due to strict legislation against them that required them to run unprofitable routes. Not because of the lack of mail transport. That was the final mail in the coffin to an already struggling industry. The NEC is VERY successful, even during the collapse of the PRR and Penn Central. The problem is that those companies had to continue to operate unprofitable branch and commuter lines with little subsidies by the government.
@k.c1126
@k.c1126 2 жыл бұрын
@@banksrail There was a LOT of active opposition from the federal government to train systems when the highway and airline systems were becoming predominant. There was a very powerful perception of trains as the past, while automobiles and airplanes were the future.
@franzzrilich9041
@franzzrilich9041 2 жыл бұрын
@@k.c1126 The anti-rail anger was programmed into people by the newspapers who wanted a big fall guy to attack, thus jacking up circulation with each rail mass death accident.
@clinthowe7629
@clinthowe7629 2 жыл бұрын
@@ronclark9724 but that was the point of the video where he said even if your not taking a trip from LA to NY you can still use it’s high speed advantage between cities that are closer, like we do with the interstate.
@dweezl8193
@dweezl8193 2 жыл бұрын
I remember my mother talking about taking a train to work everyday and I always found it odd because I drive to the same city every day now but then I remembered that there were no interstates and not everyone owned a car back then. I would love to be able to relax on a train and not have to deal with interstate traffic
@maly2ts408
@maly2ts408 Жыл бұрын
Come on America get with it
@cotiocantoro7564
@cotiocantoro7564 Жыл бұрын
Not the most logical move getting rid of trains
@michah321
@michah321 7 ай бұрын
I didn't realize until recently, but I'd need Dramamine daily to take a train
@CraigFThompson
@CraigFThompson 3 ай бұрын
@@michah321 And WHY would that be?!
@michah321
@michah321 3 ай бұрын
@@CraigFThompson um... MOTION SICKNESS
@corey2232
@corey2232 2 жыл бұрын
I don't think people (especially us Texans) realize how amazing even limited HSR would help in certain areas. I can't tell you the amount of times I would've taken HSR to travel from Dallas to Austin/Houston over the years, but instead just opted not to go or forced myself to drive. Honestly, Texans should embrace HSR more than basically anyone else in the US imo. The state is huge, the majority is super flat, there's a lack of large mountain ranges, & some of the biggest cities are extremely spread out. I hate the amount of times I've just said "f*** it" & paid for a 45 min flight from Dallas to Lubbock because the 5.5 hour drive through completely empty fields & towns bores me to tears. Aside from some wind farms & cotton fields, there's nothing to even look at. Or the amount of times I've avoided going to Houston, as I dread that 5 hour drive turning into 7+ hours for construction, accidents, whatever... I-35 is a joke... but I can't stomach paying $200-$400 for a roundtrip flight. That doesn't even cover that in all my time living here, I've never once been to El Paso due to how far away it is, despite being in the same state. That metro area has over 900,000 people, but hell if I'm going to visit out there when it's so far out of the way. But imagining if HSR connected Dallas/Ft Worth > Austin > Houston > San Antonio & eventually out west to Lubbock, Amarillo, Abilene, El Paso, Odessa, etc. would be fantastic, & I'd more freely travel all around the massive state if it was cheaper than flying.
@riley_oneill
@riley_oneill 2 жыл бұрын
Texas would be an amazing place to build HSR as nearly every major city could be linked up. The communities in between those major cities would also be linked up as well so a lot of people would be an hour ride away from any major downtown area. Those downtown areas would become far more valuable places as the number of commuters who could easily reach them would grow drastically. Because the place is so flat they could pull some sort of crazy 250+ mph monster train. There would also be a ton of development within a mile radius of pretty much every HSR stop. Texas is going to also need HSR to keep up with California. Within a dozen years or so, California cities are all going to be linked up with HSR. That is going to be an economic advantage that pretty much anyone in a major city can get to any other major city within a few hours without having to deal with an airport. Major conventions or events like the Olympics can handle tens of thousands of people moving all over the state very easily. If you are in San Francisco and have a meeting with a vendor in the central valley, they are only going to be a 90 minute train ride away. No airport BS, no dealing with the drive, just hop on and go.
@thomasgrabkowski8283
@thomasgrabkowski8283 2 жыл бұрын
As for Texas HSR, I think it should be rerouted so it connects Houston and Dallas via San Antonio and Austin
@josephcortese3986
@josephcortese3986 2 жыл бұрын
As a Texan from West Central Texas, the idea of interlinking our major cities in the East and Northeast with El Paso in the far West sounds like a dream. So many smaller communities could be linked via this rail as well, bringing another boom to virtually all sectors of the Texan economy, not to mention the culture. Towns like Brady or Junction could become a Central Texas hub which would inevitably bring riches and population to those regions. A 1 1/2 hour train ride to Austin is much preferred to the 3 1/2 hour drive it takes me to get there, which always has some sort of construction, several narrow two-lane roads, not to mention the horrible Austin Interstate traffic once you get there. I could visit my friends in the metropolitan areas so much easier, and I really could just go over for a weekend and be back for work Monday without planning around a long round trip. From a cultural standpoint, and perhaps even an ideological one, the interlinking of Texas by high speed rail could reveal parts of the state, both geographical and human, to Texans that they never really understood. Think of a person who has lived in Beaumont his entire life but has never gotten to see Big Bend, even though they both reside in the same state. The drive across our great state is challenging and tiring, and usually is enough to convince a lot of people not to embark on such a long drive. But if all this guy had to do was drive from Beaumont to Houston, hop on a train and get to El Paso in 5-6 hours, and then take a bus or rent a car down to the park, I'd wager he'd be a lot more willing to take that trip. Once this hypothetical person gets there, he's spending money at the local economy, bolstering our state, and he gets to experience a natural beauty that he couldn't believe has been in the same state he's called home his whole life. The people he'd meet there, the locals, could also open his eyes in recognizing that Texas is a beautifully diverse place in every way. High speed rail wouldn't just revolutionize our state economically, but I believe high speed rail could truly act as a stitch to heal this state, and honestly this entire nation, of many of its divisions. If Americans had better access to hassle-free, high-speed travel a natural wave of humanity would follow the economic and population booms along these rail lines. I'm not saying that this will fix all of our problems, but a project like this could help to restore some faith in government, and could open the eyes of a lot of people to help them realize we're all a lot more alike than we believe. I'll end my wall of text that no one will probably read by saying, Texas is the perfect place for a project like this to prove itself. Texas is an economic and cultural powerhouse, the 10th largest economy in the world. It could afford to pump out a project like this within two decades. The resources, finances, man and computer power are at our fingertips. The government (and inevitably, the corporations) just need to get this crap going. Our state could lead the way in showing our nation that not only would high-speed rail work here, but it would make it thrive the same way the railroad boom of the 1800's and the Interstate boom of the 1900's did. A high speed rail system would be complimented by our immensely expansive road network. But weeding out the auto and (especially in our state) oil lobbyists that are actively working to prevent projects like this from happening needs to be one of the top priorities.
@riley_oneill
@riley_oneill 2 жыл бұрын
@@josephcortese3986 I read your wall of Text and you are right. There is another thing. High Speed Rail is like a magnet for tourism. It makes countries far more appealing for tourists. When California's high speed rail is finished it will be a major attraction that will bring in millions of tourists every year. These tourists will spend billions of dollars and reinforce the California brand. I participate a lot in the AskAnAmerican subreddit. A common question people from either Europe or Asia will ask is that they want to visit the US. They do not drive and they want to know what sort of trip can be done with a train. There is a bit they can do on the east coast but they quickly get frustrated to learn that a lot of interesting things are off limits to them. California with HSR becomes the ultimate vacation destination for the country. Someone has easy access to nearly every major tourist destination on the state with a simple to use train system. No airport bullshit. No needing to rent a car and mess around with long drives in a foreign place. Texas would absolutely be a great place for these tourists as well. Especially as the places near the stops can develop into iconic Texan communities. Places that are worth spending a few days in. Places of character. This is in addition to the fact that people in small Texas towns would have immediate access to not only other small towns but the major cities as well.
@josephcortese3986
@josephcortese3986 2 жыл бұрын
@@riley_oneill I appreciate that I had a reader lol. I agree. I have several foreign friends that would love to come to America and spend as long as their visas would allow here. HSR would remove that hassle of worrying about renting and then driving a car, especially in a foreign country that does not use the Metric system. That's why I say it would be a boon to every sector of the sate, fiscally and culturally. A large boom in tourism would bring gobs of money, and expose both Texans and the foreigners to different cultures and ideas, all because accessible, high speed transportation would be available, maybe even the norm. There is plenty of research and data to back up that better infrastructure improves overall well-being and quality of life as well. Cutting down a person's two hour round trip commute would improve their stress levels and give them more time to relax and/or work. Like you said, small towns would have access to major cities. That ease of access would allow small-town folk to broaden their perspective a bit. It works the same vice-versa. A big city dweller would have easier access to less populated, more open areas, and probably more nature as well. The possibilities are truly limitless. It would be a mixing of urban and rural populations unlike anything we've seen before. Throw an influx of international tourism on top of that and you have yourself one pretty sweet gig.
@stickynorth
@stickynorth 2 жыл бұрын
Here's an alternative "What If" that's related... What if cities hadn't destroyed their streetcar networks... Almost every one in the world was pressured to for a variety of reasons but what if they were still in place? How much better off would LA be if they just reinvested in their railways instead of ripping them up? Or how much worse off places like Toronto, San Francisco, New Orleans or Philadelphia would be without their legacy tram/trolley/streetcar/light rail systems...
@TheOwenMajor
@TheOwenMajor 2 жыл бұрын
Streetcars on shared streets are almost entirely inferior to buses. The marginal benefits in capacity, speed, and operating costs are drastically outweighed by build costs and most importantly the lack of flexibility. Let's take your first two examples, Toronto and San Fran. How much worse would they be? They wouldn't be because systems are legacy routs and have been overwhelmingly outshined by buses. They only exist because they were present before buses.
@NozomuYume
@NozomuYume 2 жыл бұрын
@@TheOwenMajor Buses have the major downside of being uncomfortable. They lurch around in a way that streetcars don't. While mixed-traffic streetcars don't make sense for downtowns, they do have the added comfort and less motion sickness. It's not a coincidence that the most functional legacy streetcar networks in the US like Boston, San Francisco, and Philadelphia all had a central underground segment. This let them remain useful. It's also why new downtown streetcars look nice but aren't as usefui. Then there's cities like Portland and especially San Jose that made the huge mistake of building new light rail systems where the outer areas have grade separation but the downtown areas are at-grade.
@TheOwenMajor
@TheOwenMajor 2 жыл бұрын
@@NozomuYume "Buses have the major downside of being uncomfortable. They lurch around in a way that streetcars don't. " I haven't been on a streetcar in a while, but in terms of comfort, subways lurch around just as much as buses. Both are fine if you are sitting down and uncomfortable standing.
@NozomuYume
@NozomuYume 2 жыл бұрын
@@TheOwenMajor I will have to respectfully disagree. Rails in good condition allow high quality control over the trajectory of the vehicle. There is relatively little sway and consistent cornering, so most of the changes in motion are along only one axis when accelerating or braking. The steering that gives buses their flexibility means there is constant sway, and the fact that road surfaces are shape like inverted U's (for drainage) means that when pulling over to bus stops the whole vehicle makes a hard-to-predict lurch to the side. Since buses are steered, they must make small changes in side-to-side movement are amplified by the suspension. Imperfections in the road service causes the whole bus to rattle, even on new buses. Asphalt develops ruts and potholes far more quickly due to cars driving on them, while steel rails are much more durable. Automobiles have much lower center of gravity and you sit in a lower semi-reclined position, so you don't experience the same forces as you do on a bus. Most of these issues are mostly not an issue on rubber-tired metros and people movers on concrete tracks, and are somewhat less bad on bus rapid transit systems, but on public roadways it's extremely noticeable. Travel to San Francisco or Boston and take a ride on one of the rail lines (Muni Metro surface lines in San Francisco, MBTA Green line in Boston) and compare the stability of your ride to one of the buses along a parallel route. It's like night and day.
@jatterhog
@jatterhog 2 жыл бұрын
@@TheOwenMajor lemme put it this way: I would take a streetcar, subway or conventional train to work over my car, but I would NOT take a bus to work over my car. Many people resonate in a similar way.
@prismaticqueenx
@prismaticqueenx 2 жыл бұрын
I travelled from overseas to the US earlier this month with my best friend during my college summer break. We're both 19, so driving wasn't a possibility (I only have an apprentice driver's license and my friend doesn't even drive at all), but with the Northeast Corridor, we managed to visit NYC, Boston and Washington DC. I really appreciate the Northeast Corridor, Amtrak and NJ Transit for making this possible.
@AllenGraetz
@AllenGraetz Жыл бұрын
There were also buses and planes that made it posible.
@prismaticqueenx
@prismaticqueenx Жыл бұрын
@@AllenGraetz You're right about the plane, specially because the only other way to go overseas is by ship, but it does not relate to the video because it's subject is in-USA transport. But we didn't take the bus at any moment (neither at our hometown or at the US), that's an assumption on your part.
@BanaiFeldstein
@BanaiFeldstein 2 жыл бұрын
I almost took Amtrak from SLC to SF recently. But while the coach seat was slightly cheaper than the gas, it was 18 hours (in coach, and left at midnight). It was only 12 hours to drive and I had the freedom to leave when I wanted, stop when I wanted, and had my car when I got there to get around and drive to other cities, which I did. Driving shouldn't take nearly half the time as a train.
@BS-vx8dg
@BS-vx8dg 3 ай бұрын
So I can't tell for certain, Banai . . .do you favor or oppose building HSR?
@njtrailfan4508
@njtrailfan4508 2 жыл бұрын
As a railfan I think that with the gas prices going up I think there will be more public transportation used like buses planes trains more than cars
@dozergames2395
@dozergames2395 2 жыл бұрын
I wouldn't bet on that But I'm sure that cars will get even more efficient in the future I can wait for the 50mpg f150 Or 60mpg Cadillac escalade
@mariegarside8830
@mariegarside8830 2 жыл бұрын
Development and improvement of public transportation would also reduce our dependency on oil.
@franzzrilich9041
@franzzrilich9041 2 жыл бұрын
But railroad diesel fuel is going up in price, too. Also, in a lot od areas the bulk of electricity is generated by burning fossil fuels. It would be wasteful to burn oil at a power plant to produce electricity to power an electric passenger train, when less carbon would be used by directly using a diesel locomotive.
@PrograError
@PrograError 2 жыл бұрын
@@franzzrilich9041 how does multiple diesel power plant / locomotives works better than a single power station which could be renewable or non-renewable but with efficient filters. It's a single source of polluter if it's a power station, while diesel locomotive is basically cars on wheels in terms of pollution generation where you have hundreds of vehicles going around. You can isolate a power station for smog, but not a power plant...
@franzzrilich9041
@franzzrilich9041 2 жыл бұрын
@@PrograError We are talking about burning oil either in a power station or in diesel locomotives. There is more power loss in burning oil to run a gas turbine and converting the mechanical energy first to electricity, then transmitting it to be picked up via pantographs. In a series of diesel locomotives, less carbon is released because you do not have the transmission losses. I am not discussing incidental air pollution, such as smog, because both types of engines are very good at that.
@buioso
@buioso 2 жыл бұрын
Italian here: we have a good HSR system, since it started operating most people use HS trains over planes. It's easier to take, more confortable and leaves you in the center of cities. You can relax, go for a walk to the restaurant coach, user whatever device you want, even use a meeting room for your work if you pay for it. US of course has the problem of distances, since here you travel at most 1,200 km, but mostly under 800 km. In this range HS train is better than the plane, but going from coast to coast in the US will be a trip way longer than flying. By the way for "local" service under 1,000 km it's perfect, especially in highly populated areas. Give HSR a chance, you will be not disappointed.
@rubenvanderlaan4234
@rubenvanderlaan4234 2 жыл бұрын
Not Just Bikes made a video on how hsr in Italy bankrupted an airport. One of the most epic train stories ever. ;)
@BulletRain100
@BulletRain100 2 жыл бұрын
The main reason Americans don't want to give HSR a chance is that the vast majority of them don't want to go to the next city, The demand just isn't there, and many Americans don't believe creating the new HSR systems will do anything to actually generate demand. The corridors that make sense for HSR are business corridors of cities in the same region. The only proposed line that make sense for personal travel instead of business is the Los Angeles to Las Vegas line only due to average people wanting to gamble at the casinos.
@eq1373
@eq1373 2 жыл бұрын
Italy has less land area that Michigan, IIRC
@buioso
@buioso 2 жыл бұрын
@@eq1373 There are states in the US larger than Italy, but not Michigan
@bruhbutwhytho
@bruhbutwhytho 2 жыл бұрын
@@BulletRain100 in the northeast many people like to visit NYC so I wouldn't say that's the only place that makes sense.
@chrism3784
@chrism3784 2 жыл бұрын
Living in south florida for many decades, the brightline high speed made a lot of sense, connecting ongoing urban population centers. It will be a major success as it would be so much easier and quicker using it then driving on I-95, which is very traffic busy, and people drive crazy. Also the major direct highway from the miami metro area to orlando is tolled, (florida turnpike) so will be cheaper taking brightline as opposed to driving, paying tolls, gas, and risking accident and tickets.
@linknlogs2273
@linknlogs2273 2 жыл бұрын
Yeah the problem is that type of rail system is very small scale (only within one state) and nothing like a national rail system that wouldnt benifit in the cross country traffic (besides in vacationing which is to small to warrent a whole rail system) while being incredibly expensive to people who would never use it.
@ryanvandy1615
@ryanvandy1615 Жыл бұрын
I rode Brightline from West Palm to Fort Lauderdale twice in the past month for the first time. Was very impressed and would like to see similar projects expand across the country.
@CraigFThompson
@CraigFThompson 6 ай бұрын
@@barongerhardt And why won't it be cheaper than driving, when the train passenger won't hafta pay for gas, insurance, maintenance, and parking?!
@barongerhardt
@barongerhardt 6 ай бұрын
@@CraigFThompson Two year old video/comment, it is hard to say, but that is my experience with trains (US and Europe).
@banksrail
@banksrail 2 жыл бұрын
4:36 When stating that NEC trains are the most profitable, that would include ALL Northeast Regional trains. Not just the Boston to DC stretch. Which is a common misconception. But also the Philadelphia, PA to Harrisburg, PA; Springfield, MA to New Haven, CT; the Roanoke, VA to DC; the Norfolk, VA to DC, and the Newport News to DC. As it’s not just the electrified portions that contribute to the profit margins. Just a little nitpick.
@Elliottblancher
@Elliottblancher 2 жыл бұрын
One freight Railroad that was most notable for most of its lines being electrified was the Virginian. Unfortunately that was all removed after the Norfolk & Western Merge
@christopherorourke6543
@christopherorourke6543 2 жыл бұрын
There is out in California the Pacific Surfliner service between San Diego, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara & San Luis Obispo, the Capital Corridor between San Jose & Auburn, CA as well as the San Joaquin service between Bakersfield & the San Francisco Bay Area & Sacramento as well as the Amtrak Empire Corridor between Niagara Falls & New York City as well as the Cascades service between Eugene, OR & Vancouver, British Columbia,Canada that also make profits.
@johnsamoilis6379
@johnsamoilis6379 2 жыл бұрын
Springfield MA to New Haven CT now is also ran by CT transit. Making more local stops as well. No need to pay for a higher priced Amtrak ticket on this route
@davidlegg6601
@davidlegg6601 Жыл бұрын
I just returned to the US from a trip to Spain, and took the AVE from Barcelona to Madrid. It was fast, comfortable, clean, and full of passengers. 300 kmh (180mph) on a trip that was around 3 hours or so. Driving would take 7 hours. There are apparently 3 different HSR systems competing in Spain... one of them the French rail system. I take the Wolverine from Detroit to Chicago from time to time. On Amtrak-owned or Michigan-owned track speeds reach 110 mph. In Indiana on freight-owned tracks, it really slows down.
@daleviker5884
@daleviker5884 10 ай бұрын
If you just returned from Spain you may not be aware that the 3 different HSR systems is only a thing from 2023. And only because the EU passed a law requiring HSR tracks to be open to all parties. In 2022, when Spain's Renfe had its last year of monopoly, the system lost the Spanish people more than half a billion euros. Now that outsiders have come in and exploited the only route worth operating (Madrid to Barcelona) the Spanish people will be looking at annual losses of more than $1B, all to operate a HSR system that tourists love, but which most Spaniards can't afford. I've taken the Spanish trains multiple times, and they are great, but so too are Spanish roads and Spanish airports. The country went on an infrastructure binge using cheap German loans as its "reward" for supporting the Euro. To this day that spending has stopped the country from doing many projects that would have been more worthwhile.
@adamdailey9115
@adamdailey9115 2 жыл бұрын
As much as I’d love to have this be a reality I think discussing high speed rail in a vacuum avoids a huge elephant in the room for widespread adoption of rail travel: many if not all of the connected cities lack robust public transit infrastructure. Super great if I can get from point A to point B in 2 in half the time but I’ll still need to get around at my destination. So outside of truly long distances I feel many people would still choose to drive if it wasn’t a plan to rent a car already.
@jasonreed7522
@jasonreed7522 2 жыл бұрын
I think part of the hope of HSR is that once a city has a centrally located stop they notice the demand for local transit and get their stuff together and actually make decent transit. (Induced demand cuts both ways, it makes highway traffic worse but it also helps transit) Obviously you still need to get over the initial hump but atleast for NY i could see having the "Empire corridor" of NYC, ALB, SYR, ROC, BUF already having decent transit in NYC, Rochester, and Buffalo as really encuraging all of those cities to improve their systems even if its just nice busses and an app to help navigate the system. Personally i would expand it as a line from NYC to Montreal and a line from Buffalo to Boston with good timing for easy transfers in Albany. (Maybe just have a longer dwell time and share a platform with no transfer cost)
@Batmans_Pet_Goldfish
@Batmans_Pet_Goldfish 2 жыл бұрын
@@jasonreed7522 once you find the money for it, that sounds like an interesting idea.
@lars1588
@lars1588 2 жыл бұрын
I think the need for HSR is just a small part of the greater realization that we have messed up our transportation on every level in this country. From walking to flying, we have managed to make getting from one place to another as unpleasant and unsustainable as possible because this is America and we resist progress and reasonability lol.
@Batmans_Pet_Goldfish
@Batmans_Pet_Goldfish 2 жыл бұрын
@@lars1588 no, it's because America is fucking massive and relatively sparsely populated. Building rail everywhere in the US is not viable for a return on investment, at least for anyone outside of urban areas.
@italia689
@italia689 2 жыл бұрын
@@lars1588 The U.S. made a huge mistake when it tore up most of its national passenger train routes and service.
@SetheMan
@SetheMan 2 жыл бұрын
Like the video. Two things I want to point out: 1. We as a society are slowly heading to a point where getting to a location is what most people call: Too far to drive, and too close to fly. That is what areas like Miami to Orlando would argue and is why it was the perfect location for starting true high speed rail. 2. You neglected to point out the connection from Tampa to Orlando coming in 2028. It was projected to go to top speeds of 150 miles per hour.
@commentorsilensor3734
@commentorsilensor3734 2 жыл бұрын
The most important part, the OP, you, and train lovers intentionally ignore, lack of public transportation. If American train lovers keep thinking car assisted HSR or any rail systems, they will fail. In Japan n Taiwan, ridership are very high. It is very difficult to find seats in regular train or not able to get reservation even in non peak season or hours. Governments have to step in. Thats ok because a lot people benefit. Don't dream based on the population that taking is train is fun. Public transportation exists to serve people who don drive or wish not to drive. Many train lovers just love the ideas of going toncar rental or bring cars on trains. That's not going to boost ridership. Also, how do Orlando people go to Disneyland without cars? Mission impossible. I was in Orlando. My friend did not want to rent a car. They also did not want to stay in expensive Didney resort. I eventually found a hotel nearby that has free shuttle services. Oh, my friends wanted to stay as late as possible. I told them it was free service, deal with its limited service. They were the ones wanted to be cheap on cars n hotels. believe me, the shuttles were all packed. They didn't want the rent cars. They did not want to stay in expensive resorts. The HSR would not help. Surprisingly, the ones that cause American public transportation so bad are train lovers
@meatbleed
@meatbleed 2 жыл бұрын
@@commentorsilensor3734 you cant compare japanese train to the US. theirs are pristine and highly efficient. They are almost always right on time, to the minute. US is like "it gets here when it gets here" in a rundown station. No wonder nobody uses em! They come off as dingy and shady, even though the ride was totally fine. Also just looked on Amtrak. Takes on average 1.75x the time by train than just driving there. Even avoiding tolls. waiting 9 hours for a train to do what a car can do in 5 hours is ridiculous.
@commentorsilensor3734
@commentorsilensor3734 2 жыл бұрын
@@meatbleed I am talking about except USA, all countries including Japan, will not design car interface rails. That's stupid. I usually don't agree with conservatives, but conservatives mentioned that with good local public transportation, HSR will not work. Kato institute n Libertarian all published articles on that. Don't use conservatives hate public transportation. The libertarian guy who wrote that article claimed he took buses to work. The train supporters cannot live without cars. The, including you, will be very honest stay that. If CA HSR got completed even if its punctual n fast, it will be laughing stock. In Japan, you don't need driver licenses to ride HSR. In future CA, you need it because u have from n to stations
@keeganbrown9967
@keeganbrown9967 2 жыл бұрын
The biggest issue I see is called "The last mile" Even if high speed rail existed, US cities lack inner city public transportation to go from the station to your actual destination. A car is the only way to do this currently (except for NYC)
@TheMansfieldBusGuy
@TheMansfieldBusGuy 2 жыл бұрын
Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, Seattle, Portland, San Fransico D.C. Dallas has decent Light Rail, Heavy Rail, and Streetcar systems. Hell Even LA has Decent Light Rail
@stickynorth
@stickynorth 2 жыл бұрын
@@TheMansfieldBusGuy Los Angeles was the King of them All! 1000 miles of track in the county ad its peak! Even Who Framed Roger Rabbit made that a plot point...
@stickynorth
@stickynorth 2 жыл бұрын
The last mile is ironically the easiest to solve... Minibuses, taxes, kiss n ride/park n ride, ride-sharing are all cheap and easy solutions for this step. Here in Edmonton, we built an LRT when our city only had 500,000 people... And we even had a massive streetcar system before that with over 50 miles of track with a population of only 50,000! It's re-establishing these city/regional connections that are expensive and hard especially when short-sighted cities sell off or build over Rights of Way, etc. I.e. our 14 km Valley Line? $1.8 BILLION CAD... That's a lot of cash in any nation!
@stache1954
@stache1954 2 жыл бұрын
@@TheMansfieldBusGuy And San Diego.
@kirkrotger9208
@kirkrotger9208 2 жыл бұрын
@@TheMansfieldBusGuy I'd hardly call Dallas's light rail system "decent." It may be somewhat extensive, but it is also very infrequent and doesn't actually go anywhere useful. Charlotte's Lynx system has similar ridership despite the city being about half the size and the system far smaller. And while last mile is an issue, there are plenty of people who fly between all of the city pairs in the US. They don't have cars available to them either. Even if they just take taxis everywhere once they reach their destination, that's better than driving the full distance. And for those who take the train instead of driving, they may just start walking a bit rather than driving everywhere.
@SandBoxJohn
@SandBoxJohn 2 жыл бұрын
You left out the three rail routes also owned by Amtrak. New Haven, Connecticut to Springfield, Massachusetts, Philadelphia to Harrisburg in Pennsylvania and Porter, Indiana, to Kalamazoo, Michigan.
@OrangeCat1992
@OrangeCat1992 2 жыл бұрын
I think it’s a big mistake on Oregon’s part not to link Eugene (or Corvallis) and Salem (the state’s capitol) to the HSR. Eugene and Corvallis are where the two big Universities are and that would definitely automatically see use via students, who are usually early adapters alternative transit. Also, all the small towns along the I-5 corridor are basically bedroom communities for Portland. Oregon is in desperate need of public transit options into the Portland area.
@sirenwerks
@sirenwerks Жыл бұрын
Oregon definitely needs to redo its west side rail line. While I think Corvallis would be better served by a light rail connection, the fact that the Tri-Met WES line stops at Wilsonville (where there’s no Amtrak connection) and not, at least, Salem is stupid and the fact that it ends in Beaverton and not Portland is also ridiculous. Beaverton is not a destination and the Beaverton TC is clunky. An electrified version of the TEXRail trains would be great improvement to replace the aging RDCs and the troublesome DMUs. And service to Salem and Eugene would tie the upper west side cities tighter together.
@HipposHateWater
@HipposHateWater 2 жыл бұрын
Another thing many don't seem to mention is that the spacious seating amenities enjoyed as business/first-class on domestic airline flights is actually the default economy class arrangements on trains in most developed nations--including Amtrak in the US. So what do you get if you opt for higher-class accommodations on a train? A quiet, private room with a view, and bed. That's the same kind of shit you need to pay $10k for on things like Emirates Airlines flagship line going from London to Dubai, and with trains it's not much more expensive than a domestic economy flight. (But also minus the meaningless frippery like gold flakes in your food to mollify the price tag.)
@lukedahlinghaus6019
@lukedahlinghaus6019 2 жыл бұрын
As someone who lives in Ohio, I wish my state would take the initiative to implement high speed rail. We have the opportunity to be a hub of transport in a national system. Lines in Ohio could also help connect Detroit, Pittsburg, St. Louis, Louisville, Nashville, and even be a connection between the rest of the Midwest and the east coast. I think the first step Ohio needs to take is a 3CD line. Connecting Cincinnati, Columbus, Cleveland, and Dayton together could be extremely beneficial to the state. It would also pave the way for extensions to Toledo and other smaller cities in Ohio. Sadly I don’t think our current political leaders are willing to change our highway dependency. If we don’t act as one of the first in the Midwest to build more rail I’m afraid we will be left behind.
@thexalon
@thexalon 2 жыл бұрын
As a fellow Ohioan interested in more rail access: Ted Strickland had a plan to use federal funding to create the "3-C corridor" doing exactly what you propose, with the initial route of Cleveland-Columbus-Dayton-Cincinnati. The Republicans quashed it, and Ohio lost the funding. It's now something they're considering doing as a slower route running as Amtrak regional rail, but not operational until 2035 (!), but again lots of Republican opposition to it because reasons. You'd think they could at least think about Cleveland-Akron or Dayton-Cinci as short regional rail hops that would cut down on road traffic considerably, but instead they just keep pouring money into highway expansions.
@luke2393
@luke2393 2 жыл бұрын
Yep, Cinci or Louisville would be the perfect place, personally I think Lexington or Cincinnati would be the best place to start a high speed rail.
@Dreded100
@Dreded100 2 жыл бұрын
@@thexalon Because Republicans biggest Oil donors want people to keep driving their cars on highways and buying gas at insane prices rather than taking a train somewhere.
@lukedahlinghaus6019
@lukedahlinghaus6019 2 жыл бұрын
@@thexalon it’s really sad that Ted Stricklands plan was opposed. I’ve heard of Amtraks plan as well and I’m hoping that the state government will actually take a serious look at it and put in a bid. I know there biggest argument against it will be the operation costs, as if the state highways don’t cost millions to maintain yearly. Sadly, I have a feeling that the Amtrak proposal won’t make it off the ground. Although I would be happy to be proved wrong.
@lukedahlinghaus6019
@lukedahlinghaus6019 2 жыл бұрын
@@luke2393 I agree that Cincinnati seems like the perfect place to build out a high speed rail network. It can be easily connected to a large number of cities in the region and already has a large rail yard downtown connecting to the old train station.
@viewfromthehillswift6979
@viewfromthehillswift6979 2 жыл бұрын
The Northeast Corridor also works because of efficient local transit networks you can access directly from the Amtrak stations, at least at the major cities. Such networks may not be available in Omaha or Salt Lake City, for example. The other issue is frequency. There are a lot of planes everyday out of Chicago to middle-size and large cities. A once-a-day train might not be able to compete with that.
@DennisOBrien1
@DennisOBrien1 Жыл бұрын
Why would it be once a day. The northeast has high speed trains every other hour and slower regional trains to the places on the opposite hour during peak times.
@SweatLaserXP
@SweatLaserXP 2 жыл бұрын
I took the Philadelphia to Pittsburgh route (Keystone) about 15 years ago and I was shocked at how slow a lot of the trip was. Hopefully they've made and will continue to make improvements to that line.
@sirenwerks
@sirenwerks Жыл бұрын
In regards to that route, 15 years was a long time ago and improvements have definitely been made.
@davidkavorkian4282
@davidkavorkian4282 2 жыл бұрын
It cracks me up every-time I see a map of a proposed US High Speed Rail system that shows a the transcontinental trunk using a Salt Lake City-Denver route based on the current route of Amtrak's California Zephyr. As any body who has taken the Zephyr or driven I-70 between those cities can vouch, that terrain is not conducive to high speed rail. It's pretty but very mountainous. Amtrak chose that route because it's the scenic route. Prior to 1997 Amtrak had two options to travel west of Denver. First, the California Zephyr to the San Francisco bay area via Salt Lake City. Second, the Pioneer to Portland, Oregon, via Wyoming and Ogden, Utah. Despite going through Wyoming being a longer route, it's much more level terrain and therefore higher track speeds. Per Amtrak's time tables, despite the added distance, going through Wyoming saved about 3 hours travel time between Denver and SLC/Ogden Utah. Long haul truck drivers and even the UP itself knows this too and similarly routes through SLC-Denver traffic via Wyoming and not Colorado. Surely any transcontinental high speed rail corridor would similarly go through Wyoming and not Colorado for the same reasons.
@BS-vx8dg
@BS-vx8dg 3 ай бұрын
That SLC-->Denver route is _incredibly_ beautiful. That's what train travel is good for . . . not getting from A to B, but for *_seeing_* places you normally would not get to see.
@NaenaeGaming
@NaenaeGaming Жыл бұрын
I’m sure some people have already thought about this, but it’s only just occurred to me that coast to coast routes could theoretically be run as night trains on HSR, given these could be run over the course of a single night at speeds upwards of 200mph. While it could never beat air travel on speed, I imagine you could easily justify transcontinental routings through saving the effort and cost of booking a separate hotel for the night of your arrival. Given the resurgence in night trains across Europe and high speed sleeper services emerging in places like China, it would be interesting to see something like this one day in the US. I imagine many would take this over a transcon red eye, where the flight is simply too short to get any sleep.
@CraigFThompson
@CraigFThompson 6 ай бұрын
Also, consideration must be given to those on the "no-fly" list; how else would they travel between coasts, on the stuperhighways?! HELL NO!!
@michaelsimmons8447
@michaelsimmons8447 2 жыл бұрын
The loop route that needs to be considered is NYC-Toronto--Chicago-Cleveland-NYC. From that hub, the rest of a North American high speed rail system can be built effectively. It would connect 30-40 million people from the get-go, and all 4 cities have the public transit infrastructure (light rail/subway) to actually support the high speed rail.
@jmikew417
@jmikew417 2 жыл бұрын
My great grandfather retired from the railroad (I guessing in the 1940's or 1950's) and this gave my great grandmother a free lifetime pass. She took me on a ride from Terre Haute Indiana to either Indianapolis or St Louis in the early 1960's (basically a day trip). I remember my mother telling me that the Railroad ruined the passenger side of the business by letting it go downhill by focusing mainly on the shipping side of the business because there was more money in it.
@CraigFThompson
@CraigFThompson 6 ай бұрын
"The railroad"; which company would that be?!
@megarockman99
@megarockman99 2 жыл бұрын
You also mentioned the 15 minute check in with the train vs the 2 hour check in with airports. Just looking at current events going on with airports, it would be a positive overall for railways, however that checkin I believe is mainly for bag checking, security and then making sure you luggage is on board. Even though there are more planes than trains, I feel like the number of cars on a train would also make up for the potential increase of check-in time. Maybe from 15 minutes to 1 hour before departure.
@mrpuddles7272
@mrpuddles7272 Жыл бұрын
That's not actually how it works, you don't get security-checked before bording a high-speed train or a train in general. That's why 15 minutes is still realistic
@daleviker5884
@daleviker5884 10 ай бұрын
@@mrpuddles7272 Wondering how often or how recently you've taken trains in Europe. Most major rail stations now screen luggage. Taking the Eurostar is little different from catching an airplane.
@modtwentyeight
@modtwentyeight Жыл бұрын
I'm back - maybe we should take a hint from France where they have banned domestic short-haul flights where train alternatives exist.
@safe-keeper1042
@safe-keeper1042 Жыл бұрын
Have they? That sounds lovely. Hope more countries follow suit.
@morgan0
@morgan0 Жыл бұрын
great lakes region high speed rail makes even more sense when you remember that most canadians live pretty close by. boston, worcester, springfield, albany, syracuse, rochester, buffalo, hamilton, london, detroit, toledo, south bend, chicago, milwaukee, and even some smaller places in between if you make the line a bit more wobbly, would cover a ton of people
@smackyjables
@smackyjables Жыл бұрын
A huge benefit of an efficient rail system here would be to help alleviate the burden of how Air Travels elastic demand. Having other forms and even competition will benefit everyone
@Maxime_K-G
@Maxime_K-G 8 ай бұрын
250 mph in a comfortable modern train beats 60 mph in your old minivan every time. It's a shame people don't realize that. Even in Europe, most have no experience with high speed trains, so we don't build them. All it takes to get the ball rolling is a bit of visionary thinking by voters and politicians. But when we're completely invested in the car's success, that's hard to come by.
@chinaiscoming1017
@chinaiscoming1017 8 ай бұрын
It's so sad most American people never experience the feeling of 350km/h on ground
@CraigFThompson
@CraigFThompson 6 ай бұрын
@@chinaiscoming1017 Read Stanley I Fischler's "Moving Millions"; that book has a helluva lot to uncover, pertaining to this discussion....
@derbagger22
@derbagger22 2 жыл бұрын
You can't take the Northeast corridor and just expand it. The amount of business travel is what drives the industry there. Having 4 major cities served within 600 miles is key. People are used to dropping $1G for a last minute flight. They'll drop a couple hundred for an Acela ticket. That's why it's profitable. You are NOT getting that kind of revenue nor ridership in almost any other route you could connect. And the Acela from NY to Boston is painfully slow for what it is. NY to DC is much better.
@2themoon863
@2themoon863 2 жыл бұрын
Compounded on that: How many bridges/overpasses or underpasses would have to be built to replace crossings, or how many crossings would have to be closed outright, so high speed trains can go without the high risks of accidents and deaths at the crossings?
@banksrail
@banksrail 2 жыл бұрын
Well that’s exactly what they’ve been doing for the past two decades and ridership is increasing. First they started branding more trains as “Northeast Regionals” despite the fact that they were the same old routes from their predecessor railroads. Then they started upgrading the infrastructure and equipment on the trains. Now they’re working on upgrading the tracks to allow for higher speeds. One at a time it works.
@linknlogs2273
@linknlogs2273 2 жыл бұрын
@@banksrail Yes it works, for that region, It would not be the same for other parts of the country. There is no reason for anyone to travel between Minneapolis, Chicago, and St. Louis except for vacation.
@banksrail
@banksrail 2 жыл бұрын
@@linknlogs2273 Actually they’ve also been doing it in the Midwest. Just to a lower degree since the Midwest lacks any form of HSR. So instead they increase service on state routes and attempt to buy back tracks along the region and upgrade them. It’s one step at a time.
@linknlogs2273
@linknlogs2273 2 жыл бұрын
@@banksrail they have been doing it but no one is using it. That is my point. It isnt useful infrastructure
@lucaspadilla4815
@lucaspadilla4815 2 жыл бұрын
San Diego and Los Angeles is a trip I never hear talked about. The drive for the majority of the day is around 3.5 hours. That trip could be done in 45 minutes theoretically with HSR
@k.c1126
@k.c1126 2 жыл бұрын
That's supposed to be in the HSR plan already on the books, but for some reason I think the route goes through Inland Empire instead of right down the coast as makes most sense ....
@TheMansfieldBusGuy
@TheMansfieldBusGuy 2 жыл бұрын
@@k.c1126 Going down the coast doesn't make any sense.
@ronclark9724
@ronclark9724 2 жыл бұрын
SD to LA is 120 hours, with HSR averaging around 120 mph with a few stops dragging the average speed down from a top speed of 200 mph, maybe less than an hour, non stop 45 minutes is possible... But I doubt any HSR train running through Southern California would ever be non stop...
@markchampagne9231
@markchampagne9231 2 жыл бұрын
What do you do once you're there? You still need a car to get around both destinations unless you want to sit for hours on a bus or go broke using a ride share. Trains are anachronisms. They belong to a bygone era. We have cars and airplanes now.
@CraigFThompson
@CraigFThompson 6 ай бұрын
@@markchampagne9231 And we WOULDN'T have those damned cars and airplnes if they weren't OVERSUBSIDIZED into their present positions of ubiquity.... And btw, BOTH Los Angeles and San Diego hve good rail-based public transit; you WON'T need a car.
@jansupronowicz1300
@jansupronowicz1300 Жыл бұрын
So, even a fast train would not be able to cover a route from, say, NYC to Frisco in less than 24 hours. Thus, such train, to be appealing, would have to include sleeper cars. I personally do not savor the idea of sitting in a train chair without sleeping for such a long time.
@CraigFThompson
@CraigFThompson 6 ай бұрын
Train seats are MUCH MORE COMFORTABLE than airline seats, even in first class.
@Tirani2
@Tirani2 Жыл бұрын
When I was working for a government agency, we would routinely take the Accela from Washington, DC to New York City for work. It was so much more convenient than getting on an airplane, particularly for going to New York. I have also done the auto train from Orlando to Northern Virginia, to save myself the drive, and it was much more convenient. I really hope that one day true high-speed comes to the US.
@jhmcd2
@jhmcd2 2 жыл бұрын
Actually, the US does have a semi-robust regional rail network, as well as local. Systems such as MARC and VRE are not only pretty comprehensive but packed at rush hour. The main problem for a larger system is two fold, Congress and land. You see, those systems in other countries were build when those countries had plenty of open land, before the suburban sprawl hit (and yes, despite what they like to tell you Europe and Japan have plenty of suburban areas). While the US had the rail in the past (ones for high speed rail of the day, but nothing like today's 200mph monsters), those lines are all torn up, now, new rail would have to be put in place for higher speed trains, and that cost money. Potentially, they could use highway corridors which do meet some of the requirements in most areas, and that would line up with many Euro routes that also travel in or next to highway corridors but, for some reason that isn't proposed. Then there is Congress who is always more than willing to build a $30 billion dollar aircraft carrier but hesitant on investing in domestic travel, some even calling it socialism (it took 20 years and four presidents just to agree on funding to repair highways). Then there is the highly robust air system. In many places in Europe, cities aren't that far apart, maybe only 50 miles or so. That's too short for a plane to operate economically, but in the US, the distances are in the hundreds or even thousands of miles. You can cross Europe at its furthest points in four hours, but it would take nearly eight for the continental US. So its a problem. Sure, we could use it, and it would be effective, but convincing the people who control the money is...problematic.
@mitchellb4551
@mitchellb4551 2 жыл бұрын
exactly and throw in lobbying from the car, and gas industries that will feel threatened by the ever so slight break in their monopoly.
@ebeb516
@ebeb516 2 жыл бұрын
If only we had that $54 billion we gave to the airlines during covid .
@piemadd
@piemadd 2 жыл бұрын
As others have mentioned the Acela express is simply a train on the NEC, there are many more. Also, there is more than 1 route which is profitable, with the most profitable one being the Auto Train at a 151% farebox recovery iirc
@Mgameing123
@Mgameing123 2 жыл бұрын
We need more auto trains tbh
@TyrellGordon
@TyrellGordon 2 жыл бұрын
I remember I took an Amtrak train in the south from New Orleans to Houston…took 6 hours to get there when by car I could’ve gotten there in 4. But when you flip that to the north their network of rail transportation is much better. There’s multiple ways of getting around by rail in the north that’ll do it quickly for ya, but the only way you’re moving in the south by rail is Amtrak
@ronclark9724
@ronclark9724 2 жыл бұрын
Furthermore for the large size of Houston's metro, some 7 million plus, not having a Amtrak daily intercity train is a JOKE! Frankly, all of TEXAS is underserved by Amtrak...
@danielhutchinson6604
@danielhutchinson6604 2 жыл бұрын
Does the Rusk to Palastine Train still operate?
@jamesmcadory1322
@jamesmcadory1322 2 жыл бұрын
I’m honestly surprised it only took 6 hours😂
@jasonreed7522
@jasonreed7522 2 жыл бұрын
I checked Hartford to Syracuse NY once, ≈4hrs by car and 8 by train one way (to try and get to my hometown takes 6hrs of nonstop driving or 23 hrs if trains to be a 3hr drive away, to be fair its super rural but come on amtrak atleast try and compete with a car to the same destination), i know that the Northeast has amazing highway infrastructure but that is still embarrassing. Its probably a combination of now owning the rails and unfortunate scheduling. (But once you have to spend over an hour driving it becomes preferable to not drive for stress reasons before time factor matters. Mass drivers have earned their deragatory nick name.)
@aulusagerius7127
@aulusagerius7127 2 жыл бұрын
You're dreaming
@TheGreatPizzaMasterpiece
@TheGreatPizzaMasterpiece 2 жыл бұрын
Phoenix to Vegas is such a good route to build
@HollywoodF1
@HollywoodF1 Жыл бұрын
The most important thing is to replace the busiest air corridors that are under about 600 miles with HSR. 50% of flights in the US are under 500 miles.
@BS-vx8dg
@BS-vx8dg 3 ай бұрын
HollywoodF1: _The most important thing is to replace the busiest air corridors that are under about 600 miles with HSR_ And how do you propose to do that? Build the HSR and then force airlines to not fly those routes? Will this be a government decision, _a la_ the Soviet Union?
@homiej2548
@homiej2548 23 күн бұрын
@@BS-vx8dg by offering a better service? why take a plane in a cramped seat when you can take a trip in the same time or less with a train on a nice seat for less?
@BS-vx8dg
@BS-vx8dg 23 күн бұрын
@@homiej2548 *_If_* it is the plan to supplant air service by superior train service, then I have no objection; I mean who _would_ object to that? But homie, no one is stopping anyone from building those lines and offering the better service that will replace plane routes. If they want to do it, then they can do it, no problem. But the reality is, that is *not* the discussion we are having. HollywoodF1 did not respond to my comment, almost certainly because in my response I was pointing out that his plan strongly implies some type of government coercion. And *_that_* is what people like me object to. I object to the government *forcing* people to switch to trains. But if it is like you, homie, propose, where the switch is done through superior service, then that is no problem for me or anyone else. (And for the record, I absolutely *love* traveling on Amtrak, high speed or not.) I would do it more often except that most often it is actually cheaper to fly.
@daltl3716
@daltl3716 2 жыл бұрын
I know everyone hates China in the US but a comparison of the two countries works really well. Roughly the same size and China's has done so much for their economic growth. It could also be shown how China's HSR developed in certain areas and has now sprawled out to become the largest system in the world, by a huge margin.
@daffodil2067
@daffodil2067 2 жыл бұрын
From NYC to LA is 2779 miles by car. A non stop train going 200 mph (321 kpm) would make that distance in under 14 hours. If that train was all sleeper cars with good amenities and a good price that might be competitive with air fare.
@CraigFThompson
@CraigFThompson 6 ай бұрын
In order for prices to be more competitive between tbe two modes, all air travel oversubsidization must stop ASAP.
@fmj_556
@fmj_556 2 жыл бұрын
I live in Las Vegas and would visit California more often if there was a train. I hate driving long distances.
@Halcon_Sierreno
@Halcon_Sierreno 2 жыл бұрын
Ditto.
@Peter_Schiavo
@Peter_Schiavo 2 жыл бұрын
LA to Vegas makes sense. Dedicated gamblers, of which there are many, avoiding CHP all the while being able to drink during the journey.
@brandiniron6112
@brandiniron6112 2 жыл бұрын
This would be fantastic. More people traveling on ‘public’ transportation would mean way less traffic and traffic accidents. Good vid
@KiranMachiraju
@KiranMachiraju 2 жыл бұрын
Easy to take the train. 1. Purchase the tickets online 2. Take a taxi to the station half an hour before the train departure. An hour if the traffic is bad. 3. Get into the train 4. Get down at the other station and take the taxi to your destination. The train company adds coaches according to public demand. Same procedure for the bus too.
@CraigFThompson
@CraigFThompson 6 ай бұрын
Except that when a train adds coaches, the same crew is used; in order to increase bus service, another bus, complete with an expensive driver, will be needed.
@kelaEQ2
@kelaEQ2 2 жыл бұрын
The issue with the route you have at 6:01 is that just having a route that connects cities is meaningless unless there are people wanting to travel between those destinations, and I am sorry No one is traveling from Salt Lake City to Denver or Denver to Omaha. Do you know how many weekly flights there are between Denver and Omaha...216 per WEEK. Now lets look at the "Only profitable route" in the US, Acela from New York to Boston... Huh, there are 531 flights PER DAY. That is the same issue with most of those stops. NO ONE is wanting to travel between MOST of those cities. Yes, People from Denver Might want to go to New York or LA, but that is at the VERY edge of where HSR makes sense over Air Travel. There is a reason everything between West of the Appellation mountains and East of the Coastal Mountain ranges are called FLYOVER COUNTRY. The only people that want to go there, live there. Also Take a good look at any US at Night Photo and then look at a Japan or Europe at Night photo and ask yourself again why there is no high speed intercontinental railway lines On top of that there is a fairly large issue going West from Denver...its called the Rocky mountains, your going to have to get over or under those to get to Denver, also the trip from Las Vegas to Salt Lake City isn't much better, it is not flat, that said as the mountain ranges are running more or less North to South and there just happens to be a Mountain Range that runs East of Las Vegas to East of Salt Lake City that you can hug the west side of it isn't too bad (Basically follow I-15 from LA to Salt Lake City). The issue with Salt Lake City to Denver is...you can't really leave Salt Lake City Headed east, without going over a huge long Mountain Pass, I-80 goes Way north of Denver so that is out, you could follow i-70 though Grand Junction that includes some back tracking but not to bad. Now once you get to Denver the Terrain more or less stops being an issue. I am not against HSR it just has to make sense. A Dallas > Auston > San Antonio line Makes sense as does an Second Phase connecting Auston to Huston. An San Diego > LA > Lost Wages line makes sense, as does the one that should have been the FIRST high speed rail line built in CA*, Sacramento to Oakland(with a transfer to BART). *There is already a very popular Standard Route between those places, and there is a large number of people that commute daily from Sacramento to SF via car.
@starventure
@starventure 2 жыл бұрын
👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼
@pliskenmovie
@pliskenmovie 2 жыл бұрын
@@starventure Absolutely. HSR will never be anything other than a niche thing out west. The distances are too far, the mountains too tall, and the demand for trips that a network would support, just isn't there. Nevermind that passenger trains are 2nd class citizens on the UP and BNSF rails out here, so they would have to build build completely isolated rails for real speed and safety.
@billwilson3609
@billwilson3609 2 жыл бұрын
Texans are opposed to HSR so the state won't subsidize any. The one to run from Dallas to Houston is a private venture that's dead in the water for now since it's been struggling to acquire a ROW. Most Texans wouldn't mind if that was turned into a two track freight route for intermodal (steel shipping containers) transportation since it would be more practical to have.
@starventure
@starventure 2 жыл бұрын
@@billwilson3609 I would prefer a limited access autobahn between the two cities. Maybe make it for just electric vehicles only, with in pavement charging and automated driving enabled. Make it something to be proud of.
@billwilson3609
@billwilson3609 2 жыл бұрын
​@@starventure France tried in-pavement charging on a stretch of road to find it was horribly expensive due to the electric lines requiring constant repairs so declared it was impractical. As for an autobahn between DFW and Houston, the state could build a 4 lane toll road alongside the HSR route if the company fails to get going on it with the state taking over the ROW. It could have limited on-off access plus gas stations with charging stations with a sit down diners located inside the toll road like The Indian Nation Turnpike in Oklahoma. That would take a fair amount of traffic off I-35.
@daoudkamal7768
@daoudkamal7768 2 жыл бұрын
2:30 this is completely false, if that was the case Europe would've been car-centric why trains failed is really rooted in how American cities are designed, the trams and train companies being bought out by automakers and removed and racist suburban policies.
@AlphabetSoupABC
@AlphabetSoupABC 2 жыл бұрын
Imo the Midwest is the perfect place for a HSR system. Lots of large and medium cities, at that sweet spot distance of being too close to fly to, too far to drive to. Lots of abandoned rail right-of-ways that can be rebuilt. Relatively flat land. Not to mention plenty of old industrial cities that could use the infrastructure investment. The rust belt could be rusty no more.
@TheRailLeaguer
@TheRailLeaguer 2 жыл бұрын
I agree too, especially with Chicago as the branching point of the new Midwest HSR lines. Not only that, but a good place to start would be the Northeast Corridor and a whole bunch of HSR lines branching out from hub cities like New York City, Boston, Los Angeles, Chicago, etc. This could change travel through these regions of the US since there’s now a fast downtown to downtown (or in NYC’s case, Midtown) alternative to driving and flying, the latter of which is going from outskirts to outskirts.
@taopilot2669
@taopilot2669 2 жыл бұрын
I've been living in China for 7 years. My city is a 2 hour flight from Shanghai, and a 6 hour ride on HSR. But the airport is at least 45 minutes from me by car, and the train station is a 15 minute walk. I need to show up at the train station 30 minutes before departure as opposed to at least 90 minutes (it would be more, but my city has a small airport). Okay, so the flight is still shorter, but not as much now. But the train is definitely cheaper, so I like that. And on top of that, the train is much more comfortable. The seats are more comfy, there's no turbulence, and you can get up and stretch at any time. Also you can use your phone or computer the whole time. The trains I've ridden have had outlets I can use to charge my devices.
@et76039
@et76039 2 жыл бұрын
The proposed high-speed rail tying Dallas and Houston would basically parallel the existing I-45, and relieve congestion. It's getting a lot of opposition from landowners. Perhaps it would be less hassle to tie other major urban points that aren't already linked directly by an Interstate. One example that comes to mind is Fort Worth to Santa Fe or Las Vegas, New Mexico. The New Mexico cities are served by rail, but the links to Fort Worth's rail hub are too roundabout to be currently characterized as direct. Lubbock could be treated as a stopover. The terrain tends to be open and property values are lower, making land acquisition less costly.
@Streaker707
@Streaker707 2 жыл бұрын
I think the regional state high speed rails that connect to the national high speed rail system would be the most cost effective and definitely work. It would definitely be similar to Europe and Euro rail and increase jobs and a tourism boom. Those is the fly over states would greatly benefit as you could work in either the west or east coast. With the state high speed rails really rural areas can keep their population and economy by working in the city also ending city congestion. Is their a way to revamp the railways that transport freight to ease the damage done to roads done by big rig trucks.
@SarahsAtticOfTreasures
@SarahsAtticOfTreasures 2 жыл бұрын
As a someone who loves to travel by trains I like the slower speeds. Our country needs more routes all over the country. For Amtrak and High Speed Rail. I live in Florida. I have to travel to Washington DC to go just about anywhere. I should be able to have a more direct ride to Atlanta, St.Louis and Chicago and everywhere East
@SadisticSenpai61
@SadisticSenpai61 2 жыл бұрын
Planes are so annoying to deal with too. When I went to DC, I took Amtrak there and back (albeit, I had to have Dad drop me off and pick me up at the train station down in Osceola, IA - a 40 min drive from Des Moines where I lived at the time). Including the 3 hour layover in Chicago, it was almost 24 hours of traveling one way. But I was comfortable and didn't have to deal with the stress of flying. Yes, I could have made the same journey for about the same amount of money in 3 or so hours if I had flown out of Des Moines (not including whatever the layover in Chicago would have been). But I wouldn't have met the interesting ppl that I met on the train and honestly, I'd have been sick the entire time - I learned the hard way that I get motion sick on planes. As it is, I only had to deal with about an hour of motion sickness on the return trip from DC on the tracks through West Virginia - the rails weren't in very good condition and we were bumping all over the place. I tend to get motion sick in cars from time to time as well, so frankly it was one of the best travel experiences I've ever had. Well, there was that rather embarrassing moment when I found out the toilet I'd chosen to use didn't have a working lock when a guy pushed the door open. But that kinda thing happens. 🤷
@BS-vx8dg
@BS-vx8dg 2 жыл бұрын
I love Amtrak for experiences just like yours (minus the bathroom). But a few people preferring the rail experience does not justify the billions that would have to be invested to make national HSR a reality.
@SadisticSenpai61
@SadisticSenpai61 2 жыл бұрын
@@BS-vx8dg And the experiences that my dad had as a kid where they would get in the car and drive on the interstates across the Lower 48 doesn't justify the cost of the Interstate system. So... Your point?
@BS-vx8dg
@BS-vx8dg 2 жыл бұрын
@@SadisticSenpai61 Comparing the cost of the interstate highway system to the cost of a HSR network is missing the point. Not only do hundreds of millions of people *choose* to get from city to city on the interstate for their everyday needs (as opposed to an occasional vacation jaunt), 73% of all freight in the US is carried on interstate highways. You're comparing a tattoo on your shoulder (a fun thing) to the body's circulatory system. One is absolutely essential, the other is a choice.
@SadisticSenpai61
@SadisticSenpai61 2 жыл бұрын
@@BS-vx8dg Yeah, that's what you were doing too. Lots of ppl take the train to work every day. Lots more would take the train to work if it was available to them. As they say, "if you build it, they will come." The majority of freight in this country travels by rail for most of its journey across the nation - it's the most economical way to move things. There is no downside to high speed rail. Well, unless you're a car manufacturer - that's why they set out in the 1940s-1960s to destroy our existing passenger rail network. Trains are the most efficient way to transport ppl and goods. Make those rails electric instead of diesel and the efficiency just goes up. We're the only first world nation without a comprehensive passenger rail network and one of the few without a high speed rail network. But we're also one of the few nations in the world without universal healthcare, so as usual we like doing things the least efficient and most wasteful way possible.
@mostlyguesses8385
@mostlyguesses8385 2 жыл бұрын
@@SadisticSenpai61 ... Minnesota built the Northstar line hoping to attract people who drive 30 miles to work now, but it failed, people don't like trains as much as nerds think. . But nerds ignore proof.... I ride the bus but that's not cool I'm the only white middle aged man on board, shows there is not pent up demand for middle distance transport.... Roads cost each taxpayer $600 a year, really, let's us drive or bicycle 5 miles or 50 or 500, at that price it's a good deal. Train would be $900 and we'd still have to pay $600, so yearly wow we re paying 2.5x as much, for small benefit of being able to close eyes for 3 hour trip rather than drive, that's a costly choice.. Before people talk about trains take 4 long distance buses to see if they're good enough and prove there actually is a demand for medium speed travel.... Fun to see so much talk based on people who don't ever use the existing bus lines, like demanding a starbucks when you never try the local coffee shop... Ha. People b silly.
@samquinn5545
@samquinn5545 Жыл бұрын
RIP to Springfield, IL. But Peoria probably deserves HSR more than we do in Springfield lol
@garylbowler
@garylbowler 2 жыл бұрын
Thank you! So much great information here that you present regularly! Great stuff! Hope you’re channel and podcasts become virally popular! Appreciate you taking the time and effort to do so for our benefit.😊
@ItsKagiVids
@ItsKagiVids 2 жыл бұрын
This topic is something that Japan 100% has over the US. Japan has an incredible convenient rail way network system that pretty much cover's the entire county you could literally Travel almost the entire country by train except for the island of Okinawa if I remember correctly you have to take a fairy to cross over...
@postahundredcommentsbutonl4408
@postahundredcommentsbutonl4408 Жыл бұрын
china
@robertsabharwal9787
@robertsabharwal9787 Жыл бұрын
Japan is smaller than Montana ... the entire country could fit inside Montana with plenty of space left over.
@ultm8ninja
@ultm8ninja Жыл бұрын
@@robertsabharwal9787size isn’t really a factor
@mammothVT
@mammothVT Жыл бұрын
@@robertsabharwal9787 ok, then China or Europe are better examples. Size isn't really a big factor in it, with the exception of cost to build and maintain.
@darelsmith2825
@darelsmith2825 2 жыл бұрын
These plans you've mentioned are indeed limited in scale. A true High speed rail network would require linking the US electric grids as well: East, West, and Texas. East- West line proposal: Pittsburg to Denver Texas line proposal: San Antonio to Saint Paul Slap a hub in Kansas city. Now you are free to move about the country. Airlines hate it. and connected the grids for good measure. Originally proposed in the 50's called "rural electrification", connecting the grids provides resilience to cyber-attacks and high prices.
@CraigFThompson
@CraigFThompson 6 ай бұрын
Rural electrification = installing lights in Navajo outhouses----wiring a head for a reservation.
@jacobpowell1882
@jacobpowell1882 2 жыл бұрын
I’m all for HSR but every video seems to make a big deal about less wait time for security. It’s less now bc no one uses the trains. If they become as popular as flying and if there’s some issue. I can guarantee you that the TSA will be set up in train stations and the need to get there earlier will come along with them.
@chrisb.7787
@chrisb.7787 2 жыл бұрын
Who remembers the top-hat attacks of 2062.
@factsoverfeelings1776
@factsoverfeelings1776 Жыл бұрын
That thumbnail is definitely NOT accurate to the claim of "high speed rail everywhere".
@reinasgallery
@reinasgallery 2 жыл бұрын
requiring a car in the states for reliable transportation, especially here on the west coast is extremely classist, and the amount of old abandoned, inoperable cars taking up space in junkyards like plastic in a landfill is such a huge waste of resources, and it gets even worse with newer cars where plastic is such a common material
@CraigFThompson
@CraigFThompson 6 ай бұрын
Oh, the total STUPIDITY of automobiliation!
@Tk3997
@Tk3997 2 жыл бұрын
The vast majority would still use planes over longs distances because the principal clusters of dense population are rather widely dispersed geographically that even fast trains couldn't hope to compete with aircraft, and the flexibility of having your own vehicle at your destination is worth a slightly longer trip to most people when talking about distances of one to two hundred miles. Long distance passenger rail in the US went away for a reason to begin with: it's impossible to make money on it. If you charge fares high enough to cover costs and make a profit you're at a price point where people will just opt for planes or will eat the inconvenience to drive their own vehicle. If you charge low enough to be an appealing alterative to air travel, you hemorrhage money. This is the problem all the long-distance rail advocates never seem to bother addressing, building out long-distance high-speed rail is simultaneously accepting paying in perpetuity, huge subsidies to keep it running. This occurs in essentially all systems globally as well. Go look at what Europe pays in rail subsidies per year, single countries that are 1/5 to a 1/6th the size of the US population wise and even smaller geographically spend more per year subsidizing their rail networks then the US does. Despite this many of the state rail corporations for major European countries remain heavily in debt and ridership is DOWN. Furthermore, despite this huge spending and FAR higher effective taxes on vehicles and fuel cars still utterly dominate travel miles in Europe: over 80%, once you deduct air travel and other public transit like buses or Ferrys, you're left with an average of somewhere around 10% by rail in Europe varying by country, but mostly being in that ballpark. Due to this comparatively meager ridership trains in Europe aren't really having a large effect on emissions, and any marginal savings they are making are probably completely neutralized by the fact a focus on passenger rail has pushed a significantly higher percentage of freight traffic onto trucks and roads (also neutralizing part of any reduction in congestion). Repeated studies have shown they have little effect on road congestion in any case (mostly increases in ridership come at the expense of short distance flights, not car trips), so is that meager diversion of people onto trains vs cars worth all the money? Very, very debatable.
@roblowery3188
@roblowery3188 2 жыл бұрын
I was expecting you to provide speculation on its effects to commerce or something along those lines, but instead of indulging in that thought experiment the video just abruptly concluded. Perhaps you could discuss the potential impacts or feasibility of high-speed rail? Or you could talk about. Just a thought. I'll keep an eye out for that video to be posted soon.
@alexanderwaite9403
@alexanderwaite9403 2 жыл бұрын
I believe that we need a national high speed train system. It would give us another option for travel. I also believe that it would also lower costs of travel for people.
@AlexCab_49
@AlexCab_49 2 жыл бұрын
HSR is often more expensive than regular trains and can even cause disinvestment on slower trains. I think we should improve Amtrak and also focus on motorcoaches instead before we can dream about HSR whisking US from Chicago to New York.
@alexanderwaite9403
@alexanderwaite9403 2 жыл бұрын
@@AlexCab_49 I totally agree we should do more commuter trains and definitely more regional trains. I believe that Amtrak needs its own limes which will be expensive but if Amtrak had its own tracks I believe that it probably would be able to compete with cars and airlines. Just my thoughts.
@AlexCab_49
@AlexCab_49 2 жыл бұрын
@@alexanderwaite9403 That's why we need to nationalize the tracks and spent the same amount of money we spent on the interstate highway system to upgrade track alignments and signalling up to 110 mph or more and to electrify commuter lines and regional lines. And of course spent a significant amount on upgrading and expanding urban mass transit.
@alexanderwaite9403
@alexanderwaite9403 2 жыл бұрын
@@AlexCab_49 we need a Marshall Plan for the USA.
@AlexCab_49
@AlexCab_49 2 жыл бұрын
@@alexanderwaite9403 We do. Our government doesn't want to do this and they'd rather just throw more billions of dollars at highway expansion and expect all of us to cough up $80,000 for a Tesla.
@louiszhang3050
@louiszhang3050 5 ай бұрын
Rode on the Northeast Corridor from DC to Philly recently, and what an amazing service it was. For $20 I arrived in Philly one hour faster than driving and all while I slept, giving me plenty of energy for the day ahead. Both my train there and back were packed. Trains can work amazingly in the US, at least in certain parts. It's a shame how underfunded it is.
@jameshaxby5434
@jameshaxby5434 Жыл бұрын
It would never work because of the problem of growing cities. More and more communities are getting large enough to need rail service. It has gotten so when you're on the Amtrak they stop every 20 minutes, trying to cover all of the towns that need service. That wipes out any advantage gained via high speed rail, and that's why it would never work in this country.
@BS-vx8dg
@BS-vx8dg 2 жыл бұрын
At 4:44 you state that the success (ridership, profitability, speed) of the BosWash Acela route "proves" that high speed rail can work in the US. But it proves no such thing. It proves that high speed rail works in those parts of the United States with high population density. Is there *any* other place in the US with this kind of potential ridership? I *love* Amtrak, but I just don't think many people would be willing to make it a regular thing outside of it's current location. *Maybe* you could make a Philly-Chicago route work, but that's about the only other place I can see it making a profit.
@akgupta94
@akgupta94 2 жыл бұрын
Highways dont make a profit, why do railroads have to?
@BS-vx8dg
@BS-vx8dg 2 жыл бұрын
​@@akgupta94 You're right; I was wrong to use the word profit there. What I should have said was that public investment needs to justify its cost with sufficient usage. Remember, we didn't start highways by building interstates. The original highways in the US were narrow and only partially paved. In many ways, they were much like the early railroads. Demand for both increased (earlier for trains), and both systems got upgraded over time. But when flying became a possible alternative, long distance trains fell out of favor, and ridership fell. But even with planes as an option, car ridership never waned, and it in fact exploded. So thus we got both interstates and absurdly expensive airports. Because that was what was being used. Now the logic of the HSR crowd is that this fall in train ridership could be countered today with HSR replacing the slow ride on Amtrak. I'd love to believe that; I personally would take the train cross country if it was HSR at Amtrak prices (already kind of expensive). But there's no evidence that people will actually switch in large enough numbers to justify the hundreds of billions (or trillions) of dollars of cost. Let’s crunch some numbers. First of all, how much will such a network cost? A common estimate is $1 trillion. (This is taken from an anti-HSR article, but importantly, the numbers come from Amtrak: www.forbes.com/sites/adammillsap/2021/04/15/bidens-high-speed-rail-to-nowhere/?sh=1f0a1b33108cf) Okay, and how many people will use it? In 2020, 16.8 million people rode Amtrak, but the pandemic pushed that way down, so let’s go with the 2019 figure of 32 million (www.statista.com/statistics/553288/ridership-north-america-amtrak/#:~:text=Ridership%20%2D%20Amtrak%202013%2D2020&text=In%20the%20fiscal%20year%20of,the%20pandemic%20travel%20demand%20reduction. which I believe is a record high). With HSR, that number will go up. How much? Double? Triple? Let’s say that HSR increases ridership by a factor of 10, so 320 million. That comes out to an average of $3,125 per ride, whether it is across the country or just from Chicago to Milwaukee. We both know that no one is going to pay $3000 to ride across the country, let alone their daily commute. So that means that the taxpayer is going to pick up that cost-and that’s okay; I imagine the government loses money on highways as well (I KNOW they lose money on airports.). The question is, is this a policy we as a nation are willing to pursue? Would most people favor this with these kind of numbers? I’m inclined to doubt it. At the very least I think HSR advocates need to show some polling that demonstrates both the serious potential for ridership and the willingness of the nation as a whole to actually pay for it.
@akgupta94
@akgupta94 2 жыл бұрын
@@BS-vx8dgI dont think most people want HSR LA to NYC, but rather where it makes sense. Northeast Corridor, Richmond to Dc, CLT to Atlanta, Texas Triangle, Portland to Vancouver, Chicago to Detroit, etc.
@de-fault_de-fault
@de-fault_de-fault 2 жыл бұрын
As a culture, we are remarkably cheap when it comes to infrastructure, in part because at some point we decided history is already over and we won and we no longer need to think about the future. But ironically, during a shining moment when we were slightly less cheap as a culture, i.e. when WWII had just proven that public investment is sometimes exactly how you get things done, we poured lots of public money into building the physical and operational infrastructure to make travel by car or by airplane economically viable, and we continue to pay for those things to this day without ever questioning it. But, perhaps in part because the rail industry made a point of making as many enemies as possible in its imperious heyday, and now seemed to be fading in relevance, propping up this third leg of the stool just as we did and continue to do with the other two, seemed like a less obvious choice. State and local governments on the east coast had already figured out this was a good idea, or else Amtrak would have found the Northeast to be in as much a shambles as the rest of the country when it took over intercity passenger service in 1971. But by the time the value of preserving and improving passenger rail service on a national scale became more apparent, the "we can take things away but never add them" disease had already gripped our national mindset.
@dasbubba841
@dasbubba841 2 жыл бұрын
Big infrastructure projects are often seen with suspicion because they go overbudget, behind schedule, and under perform. California's HSR, for example, was caught up in politics, environmental assessments, while operating in one of the most expensive labor and regulatory areas in the US. People are all for environmental regulations and for strong unions, but then wonder why nothing gets built.
@Mira-pm3ni
@Mira-pm3ni 2 жыл бұрын
@@dasbubba841 that's where Chinese government comes . No matter how much US/West criticise Chinese government system when it comes to infrastructre development they have upper hand . In west all talks little action , in China work in silence get it done .
@RatPfink66
@RatPfink66 2 жыл бұрын
@@dasbubba841 And of course that's absolutely no fault of private enterprise. The greedy workers and pols screw it all up by themselves. Crony capitalism isn't the responsibility of capitalists.
@dasbubba841
@dasbubba841 2 жыл бұрын
@@Mira-pm3ni It's a trade off. China has terrible labor rights. Laws that are in place are often ignored due to corruption. China is also notorious for substandard construction quality, due again to weak laws and a culture of extreme cost cutting (due to stiff competition and a emphasis on speed). Environmental regulations go without saying: They're terrible. Thus, while infrastructure projects are very slow and expensive in the West, in China, while immense constructs are rapidly and cheaply built, they are nicknamed "tofu-dreg" projects due to their poor quality.
@lemapp
@lemapp 2 жыл бұрын
In the 1970’s, to save on taxes, many rail lines took up miles of track. For example, between Newport News, VA and Richmond, VA, it is two tracks at each end. Heading west, when you reach Williamsburg, it’s a single track. It continues that way into the rail yards in Richmond. For High Speed to function, you need rails going in both directions.
@chukwudiilozue9171
@chukwudiilozue9171 2 жыл бұрын
Perverse incentives.
@eq1373
@eq1373 2 жыл бұрын
@Kabuki Kitsune except for that track is owned by the 5 Class I railroads and their freight shipments will take priority over passenger traffic. The US doesn't have those 140,000 miles of track. Union Pacific, BNSF, CSX, Norfolk Southern, and Canadian Pacific do.
@Shiromochimochi
@Shiromochimochi 2 жыл бұрын
Thanks for the interesting information explanation! 1. the ability to get on and off at various stations increases opportunities for people-to-people exchanges and has an economic ripple effect 2. easy procedures and quick access to stations in other city and village centers. Advantages of High Speed Rail
@Alexander-mk9kg
@Alexander-mk9kg Жыл бұрын
Would be awesome to have high-speed rail from DC to Tampa! Love your videos man and I’ve subscribed to your channel. Keep them coming!
@J-1410
@J-1410 2 жыл бұрын
The reason why Amtrak's high speed route in the north east works is because, compared to other routes, it doesn't stop anywhere. Every other route stops every 20-50 miles. Most of Amtrak's time from Seattle to Chicago or L.A. to Chicago is not "slow, low speed travel" its stopping at every station for 10-15 minutes. I argued it in another video to make any real difference, you'd have to have 500+ MPH trains with insane acceleration. All that being said: the E.B. was profitable during the Bakken Oil boom and FULL.
@danz1182
@danz1182 2 жыл бұрын
Great video! Biggest challenge for HSR in the US is low population density combined with a decent road network. EU has super high density. Other places with successful rail have bad roads. As such some local projects can work really well for HSR in the US like Miami-Orlando-Tampa which is and will be privately owned and operates, but connecting that system to Atlanta would cross a whole lot of empty and will never be a viable route.
@stephanweinberger
@stephanweinberger 2 жыл бұрын
If you compare maps of population density you can easily see that (at least the eastern half of) the US is _very_ comparable to Europe. Also - to take your example from Tampa to Atlanta - there _are_ suitable cities in between. On that particular corridor e.g. Gainesville (approx. 340.000 inhabitants in the metro area), Talahassee (380.000), Albany (150.000) and Columbus (330.000). That means many possible inter-city connections exactly in the sweet spot for HSR (about 100-250 miles).
@danz1182
@danz1182 Жыл бұрын
​@@stephanweinbergeri think regional HSR is a fine idea, but that isnt the theme of the video, its a national system. A Boston to Washington line would be SUPER expensive given the inadequacy of current right of way for HSR (its too bendy), but totally viable once built. Same in Florida. Same in Texas from Dallas to Houston to San Antonio and Austin. Its connecting them together through the big empty that makes little sense. Population alone cant support a system either. You also need a reason to go from A to B. There is a reason Gainesville and Tallahassee are not in Brightline's plans to even link to the Florida system. Not enough traffic.
@stephanweinberger
@stephanweinberger Жыл бұрын
​@@danz1182 You need to stop thinking in lines and start thinking in networks. Eg. think of "regional" HSR trains from e.g. from Nashville to Cincinatti, and from Cincinatti to Pittsburgh, and from Pittsburgh to Washington - and voilá you automatically get a network that spans a large part of the country. You can either think of them as individual lines, or you can realize that it makes no difference in cost to just let the same train go the whole way from e.g. Nashville to Washington (in fact - depending on the schedule you come up with - this could actually be cheaper, as you may end up needing fewer trains overall). Of course very few people will travel the whole length of the line, but _along_ the line there will be several (overlapping) sections with useful connections (and they will be _more_ useful, as there is no need to change trains in the middle for people who e.g. want to travel from Louisville to Columbus). And exactly the same would be true with other "regional networks", like e.g. Minneapoils-Chicago-Indidianapolis, or Kansas City-St.Louis-Louisville, or Atlanta-Charlotte-Raleigh-Richmond-Washington. That's basically how HSR _networks_ work in most of the world. They are hardly ever conceived as individual, separate lines, but as part of a larger network (often also using older, non-HSR section in between the newer parts).
@cdjhyoung
@cdjhyoung 2 жыл бұрын
I'm a life long rail fan. Trains fascinate me no end. High speed rail in the United States is a none starter for all but a very few corridors. High speed rail fails in the US because the US is so much larger than the countries we look at as examples for high speed rail service. The longest rail trip you can take in Japan is about 500 miles long, end to end. That is the minimum length of a rail trip in the US that could start to be economically viable. Discussions about high speed rail seem to always follow the paradigm of just individuals using the system, and that is the standard cost of trip. The trouble is, families using rail are now paying multiples of the base ticket rate to move their family. Once you break into multiple people traveling together, the economics start to favor traveling by car instead. Ticket prices for rail travel, compared to air travel, offer few price advantages for the rail system. That is a problem. Even if the infrastructure for high speed rail is fully underwritten by state and federal government, the operating costs for rail verses air travel do not show many price savings for the passengers. Ans once again, if multiple family members are involved, costs rise quickly. Rural high speed rail could never justify the expense of the infrastructure required. The suggestion of many users for intermediate stops may have a factual base for east coast plans, but show me the settlements that would produce the additional revenue between perhaps Denver and Omaha. The last issue is social: Will the more wealthy traveler willingly, without coercion, use the rail system if other travel system also exist? Time is money, and if the a 500 mile trip costs the same, but takes only half as long by air, rail isn't going to get the ridership it needs to remain a viable system.
@TheRailLeaguer
@TheRailLeaguer 2 жыл бұрын
Well, why not start small and expand from there (like start with the NE, and Midwest and gradually connect the two systems)? Also, High-Speed Rail can transform small cities as well. China, a country just as large as the US can do it, and so can the US.
@cdjhyoung
@cdjhyoung 2 жыл бұрын
@@TheRailLeaguer China is not a good comparison to the US in this regard. The vast majority of China's vast population lives in a tight band of land next to the Pacific Ocean. The eastern half of China contains 94% of its population. The most eastern 20% of China has well over 85% of its population. That density of population translates into a very high demand for any form of public transportation, so high speed rail will work well there. You need also consider that that area, roughly equivalent to the area of Georgia north to Boston contains perhaps ten times the population the same area holds in the US. The US is big - long distancew abound- but is sparsely populated in comparison to other developed countries in the world.
@TheRailLeaguer
@TheRailLeaguer 2 жыл бұрын
@@cdjhyoung Are you sure about that? Not to mention that HSR can make sparsely populated areas into densely populated areas, if done right. Still though. We can start with a few regions and make the connections from there.
@danielhutchinson6604
@danielhutchinson6604 2 жыл бұрын
@@TheRailLeaguer Global Warming has already created what you just described in Montana. Residents of California are moving into Montana in large groups, and drinking all the little water that is available here.... Even low speed rail is helpful.....
@TheRailLeaguer
@TheRailLeaguer 2 жыл бұрын
@@danielhutchinson6604 Exactly. Not to mention that it can benefit the entire Northern US.
@danniboi07
@danniboi07 2 жыл бұрын
Brightline is also creating Brightline West which is currently scoping out the Desert Express - LA to Las Vegas. Right now it's looking a bit short by only going to San Bernardino and using the regional Metrolink to finish the line to LA, but it's also considering the route through Palmdale connecting with the CAHSR. I'm really hoping Brightline considers extending that line up to Salt Lake City.
@WaltANelsonPHD
@WaltANelsonPHD 2 жыл бұрын
The pandemic and the computer combined to scatter households far away from cities, so the population density has become too low to support rail. Train travel requires a convient mode to make "the last mile," from station to destination, most likely by car. The largest American cities are so dysfunctional that few people would wish to be dropped off either to or from the Amtrak station in the CBD. Our freight system works because the government does not own it or run it and because "freight never complains." Most Americans have an affection for trains. Nostalgia does not pay the bills, however.
@sabotabby3372
@sabotabby3372 2 жыл бұрын
we supported rail with a fraction of the urbanization we have today
@smoothkid765
@smoothkid765 2 жыл бұрын
what if our government spent money on necessary infrastructure instead of forever wars and foreign coups?
@eq1373
@eq1373 2 жыл бұрын
What if our government spent money on keeping junkies and criminals incarcerated like they should be?
@trismegistus2881
@trismegistus2881 2 жыл бұрын
The success of rail in Europe also lies in the interconnectivity of the rail networks. All high-speed networks are also connected to regional networks. That is actually really important imo and I don't see it ever happening in the US.
@banksrail
@banksrail 2 жыл бұрын
It already has. Why do you think the NEC is so successful. All states on the route have their own or share regional rail networks connected with it. Massachusetts (MBTA), Rhode Island (MBTA), Connecticut (ConnDOT), New York (MNRR and LIRR), New Jersey (NJT), Pennsylvania (SEPTA), Delaware (SEPTA), Maryland (MARC), Virginia (VRE) States like California (Metrolink, Caltrain, ACE, SMART), Illinois (METRA), Colorado (RTD) that have already invested in regional rail will be the most successful in HSR.
@ronclark9724
@ronclark9724 2 жыл бұрын
Any sufficient public transit, including buses... Europeans living in large metros are accustomed to services every 15 to 20 minutes, which is not the case in America for buses or trains outside possibly New York City. Not even Chicago can claim that kind of services...
@banksrail
@banksrail 2 жыл бұрын
@@ronclark9724 I just listed 10 agencies outside of New York that do exactly that.
@thomasgrabkowski8283
@thomasgrabkowski8283 2 жыл бұрын
Also well connected to subway lines
@trismegistus2881
@trismegistus2881 2 жыл бұрын
@@banksrail Interesting. Well, I hope the US will get there. There are still a lot of possibilities, especially in the East Coast region.
@caver38
@caver38 2 жыл бұрын
The real problem is that the US is a federal system and its almost impossible for al states to agree , as politicians are totally unaccountable for the problems they create
@bob_._.
@bob_._. 2 жыл бұрын
Good luck getting it into Columbus; they built an Amtrak station 30 years ago that is yet to see its first train. The subject of a local light rail service came up briefly at one point and got shot down immediately. It's still the largest US city with no passenger rail service of any sort and I don't think they're interested in changing that.
@azpro2957
@azpro2957 2 жыл бұрын
Both US Freeway and Airports are publicly funded be our tax money. We will someday do the same for rail.
@franzzrilich9041
@franzzrilich9041 2 жыл бұрын
The Interstates were paid for via fuel taxes. Most airports built since WWII received some federal funding for construction, but liitle afterwards. None were ever subsidized to the extent that Amtrak is.
@meganbruns9353
@meganbruns9353 2 жыл бұрын
I feel that, historically, the US has been very focused on car centric transportation (which is probably a whole 'nother can of worms to detangle). I really wish we would invest in more alternative transportation options like high-speed rail, protected bike lanes, public transport systems, reduction of traffic in cities (What if we shut down some major roads in cities?). As someone who hates flying, it's nice to see there is some level of effort being done
@KanishQQuotes
@KanishQQuotes 2 жыл бұрын
2 things need to be done in cities in USA. Rail connectivity from city center to the airports. Railway stations be developed as large business centres with massive commercial space and parking
@barongerhardt
@barongerhardt 2 жыл бұрын
Most major cities have both those already, except the parking
@demven04
@demven04 2 жыл бұрын
Great video! Thanks!
@josenietoalvarez2408
@josenietoalvarez2408 2 жыл бұрын
In general, train lines in Europe; according to lines and distance, they absorbed between 50% and 80% of air and road traffic. Currently Between Madrid and Barcelona 506 km the route is usually done in 2h30 circulating at 300 km hour. After RENFE the Spanish national company, SNCF was joined by the French national company, to these were added two more "private" low-cost companies AVLO (Spanish) and OUIGO (French) The prices depend on the day and time.
@awdrifter3394
@awdrifter3394 2 жыл бұрын
Trains only work when you're connecting high population centers. That's why the NE Corridor works, NYC and Washington DC have large populations. The California HSR would probably work too if it ever gets built. But to connect the US from east coast to west coast by HSR will require so much unprofitable tracks to be built, unless the federal government is willing to pay for it, it's not going to happen because the investment will never recoup the cost.
@stephanweinberger
@stephanweinberger 2 жыл бұрын
Infrastructure almost never makes a direct financial profit. The profit is in national economy. It's exactly the same with the interstate network.
@ferky123
@ferky123 2 жыл бұрын
Then we should get rid of all public transportation as it’s unprofitable.
@prioris55555
@prioris55555 2 жыл бұрын
@@ferky123 exactly. the reality is that after it is built, most people love it and couldn't imagine life without it.
@CraigFThompson
@CraigFThompson 6 ай бұрын
@@ferky123 That makes as much sense as cutting off your legs because "cities" no longer serve pedestrians....
@CraigFThompson
@CraigFThompson 6 ай бұрын
"But to connect the US from east coast to west coast by HSR will require so much unprofitable tracks to be built...." WHEN was the last time the stuperhighways were "profitable"?! When have airlines been "profitable" without the hand-over-fist blank checks they receive from all governmental levels?! I'll answer for you: NEVER!!
@vasquez123045607890
@vasquez123045607890 2 жыл бұрын
Having grown up in LA, I love and support what California is doing in building high speed rail between LA-SF. Too bad that bad management and corrupt consulting firms made the project lag behind and go over budget. Not too mention all the rich home owners in Hollywood/Beverly Hills and SF/Palo Alto fighting/suing the state so that the rail doesn't pass by their neighborhoods. Californians are all super liberal and woke until the state wants to build a public transportation line that would allow poor/working class residents (Mostly POCs too) to travel by their neighborhood. Hypocrisy all around. One of many reasons I left
@CaseNumber00
@CaseNumber00 2 жыл бұрын
As I recall, it was the woke people and liberals who wanted, planned, and voted for the project. I grew up in and around Cocoran, a farm town, and they were against it since they thought it was a waste of money. I am now a tradesman and travel up and down central CA, even working along side the railworkers, and conservatives are still very against the HSR. They even bad mouth straight to the rail workers, unbennowst to them, in bars and restaurants while collecting the money they bring to the local economy. They were so against it in fact, going as far as going to court over, as well as many other towns in central CA, stalling the project and wasting money in court and delaying to project and wasting even more money. I usually saw this anti HSR campaign when re-election came around for local governments and they put on a play and sue to show their constituents they are doing something and fighting Sacramento, even though many of their farms and heavily subsidized by Sacramento, remember I am a farmboy this is true. So after years of doing this, they go "see, HSR was expensive. We were right!", and they pat themselves on the back. You are confused and mistaken that the woke or liberals you hate so much are causing problems, if any, its the conservatives. Dont get me wrong, I am not a woke one, but why the cost of HSR is so expensive is the reaction political strategy of the party to oppose what the democrats do. Why I stayed in CA, unlike you, is I have been hearing of conservative states union busting for tradesmen, my lively and some of the most hard working folks left. No threat of that happening here so my salary, health benefits, and pension are safe.
@ebeb516
@ebeb516 2 жыл бұрын
@@CaseNumber00 spot on. Loving your comment, thank you 😊 🙏 .
@barbeej12
@barbeej12 Жыл бұрын
In addition to not having to arrive super earlier. Once you are on the train, there are no seat belts you have to buckle. The train can start moving even before one gets seated. You don't have to check your bags there is a rack to store even big suitcases. Tje bathrooms are more spacious and clean than the typical bathroom on an airplane. Me living in the LA area I would use it all the time when I go to Vegas or San Francisco, and I love to drive.
@robakagyser2300
@robakagyser2300 9 ай бұрын
I vote for pro passenger train! I strongly believe that the US is far pass the need of a full and complete national railway system for passenger transportation. Travel by train is more practical and economical overall in my opinion. I think in time, when such travel option is available, the majority of individuals will find travel by rail to be very accetable mode of transportation. As mentioned in this video, it is those shorter routes within the longer routes which will have the most users. Therefore, such use will be beneficial to those passengers often on a frequent basis, and perhaps with some daily or weekly commutes to work or to school and such. As i have increased in age, the thought of having a option to not having to drive long distances is now more appealing to me, especially an option which would most likely be more economical. Having such a more widespread passenger rail system could open up the probability for having electric powered trains. This would conserve fosil fuel use for other vehicles. These are my thoughts and my opinions. -Rob in Tennessee
@c.simmons2147
@c.simmons2147 2 жыл бұрын
The problem with these is that the private companies building the high speed rail don't want to spend to build the stations in the city center and most of these cities still don't have good public transport, so many people would be willing to trade some speed in getting there for having a vehicle once they are there. Creating a functional and sustainable high speed rail system in this country would need a lot more change than simply laying new track.
@Dogod2
@Dogod2 2 жыл бұрын
Other than Brightline, I don't think it's private companies building the HSR. Brightline's Miami station is in the city center. Unfortunately, Orlando station will be in the airport. But look at all the Northeast Corridor stations, or the proposed CHSR stations - all in city center.
@xoxxobob61
@xoxxobob61 2 жыл бұрын
@@Dogod2 Brightline's 3 stations are all in major downtowns in the cities they currently serve. As for Orlando having it's station at the Airport it makes sense for now considering it's closer to Disney & the Theme parks whereas Downtown Orlando isn't really a destination point. Eventually SunRail will complete that connection between both.
@pigboykool
@pigboykool Жыл бұрын
The MAJOR problem of High Speed Rail Network is the CRAZY High Maintenance cost. While it make sense to have HSR in Asia where they have a huge concentrated population cities close to each other. It does not make sense because America does not have a large enough population to support the maintenance cost and it will be TOO Expensive for regular people to use it. It is a lot cheaper & faster to fly instead or even driving your own car.
@kev2034
@kev2034 Жыл бұрын
80% of Americans live East of the 98th Meridian which, north to south, is the length of Japan. There's a tonne of major urban areas there, just connect them up. You have a large enough population since plenty of countries with a fraction of your population have high speed rail. Hell, my European city has the same population as Albuquerque and yet has a better public transit system. If it's too expensive to maintain then it's definitely too expensive to maintain the national highway system. That shit haemorrhages money and you still maintain it.
@daleviker5884
@daleviker5884 10 ай бұрын
@@kev2034 What a nonsense post. The poster said that HSR across the US is not warranted, and you respond that your CITY has a good public transit system. And the comment that if trains aren't affordable then highways aren't is just classic liberal false equivalence. Roads don't exist just for cars - they are the basic means by which all parts of society are connected with each other, and the means by which services are brought to each individual person. Roads don't exist because of cars - the ancient romans had highway networks thousands of years before cars were invented, as has been the case with every civilization on the planet. Cars are an efficient means of transport that utilizes infrastructure that ALREADY NEEDS TO EXIST ANYWAY. Maybe you might be happy to have a fire crew attend to your burning house by taking the train, but no one else is. Train infrastructure doesn't need to exist; it is a nice to have, which is why it needs a cost/benefit justification. Roads are needed whether private cars are used for transport or not, so the economics are completely different.
@davids9520
@davids9520 2 жыл бұрын
My only experience with train travel, was when I was visiting family in England. I loved traveling by train. A great experience. I recommend traveling by train to anyone, when they have the opportunity. Hopefully, high speed train travel will become a regular event here in the U.S.
@italia689
@italia689 2 жыл бұрын
I am a train fan. None of that will happen, at least in my lifetime.
@indianapatsfan
@indianapatsfan 2 жыл бұрын
I think the only we'll ever see a nationwide hide speed passenger rail system would be if someone developed a major technical breakthrough which could move heavy freight cars at high speed and maintain a competitive price. If that were to happen, entrepreneurs would immediately develop a passenger line that would piggyback on to these new freight lines.
@franzzrilich9041
@franzzrilich9041 2 жыл бұрын
Weirdly, the Defense Department between 1995 and 2000 examined two concepts for massive planes to run thousands of troops per flight per plane to any part of the world inside of four days. Thus, with 150 such planes, we could put a half million troops anywhere. These were the Aerocon Dash 1.6 Wingship, and the Boeing Pelican. The Navy and Marine Corps were unofficially interested in a flying boat version of the Aerocon Dash 1.6. I was asked to rough-outline a dozen plus recruiting novels of the paperback type, similar to the old Mike Mars series. We were to call these "The Wingships of M.A.R.S." series. Maritime Amphibious Reconnaissance Ships. Alas, Darpa dropped the Wingships in 1994, and then Boeing went on to do a study of the Pelican, which lands on runways. Pelican was 8,000 tons capacity, flew at 700 feet to ride on a bubble of air. Fuselage was--on the inside--16-feet high and 24-feet long, 100-feet long. Full length was 420-feet, wingspan 500-feet. 76 tires, unpressurized fuselage, 11,500-mile range, 276 mph, upwards of 16 engines operating on four contra-rotating propellors of 50-foot diameter. 178 shipping containers, some in the wings.
@sabotabby3372
@sabotabby3372 2 жыл бұрын
no thats the problem, freight takes priority over passengers because cargo companies own the rails every other country prioritizes passenger lines and makes cargo wait, we do the opposite used amtrak to get to LA from Texas, barely 2 hours of delays once en route, but when hit the outskirts of LA 5 times we got sidelined and had to watch mile long cargo trains pass us before we could continue. just eliminating those delays and actually allowing AmTrak to set schedules and get people to the damn destination would halve a lot of long haul delays
@franzzrilich9041
@franzzrilich9041 2 жыл бұрын
@@sabotabby3372 That would aggravate the shortage of goods in stores. However, freight tracks and structures are set to lower standards of safety than for passengers. In Ohio, Amtrak warns it would cost at least $25 billion to rebuild freight tracks to 79mph passenger safety standards. That would be a route from Cleveland to Cincinnati via Columbus. Most of the bridges, cuttings, embankments, retaining walls, culverts, signaling, and drainage date back to 1890-1915. If you haven't inspected these structures, you would be shocked if you were to do so.
@mattsprojects1556
@mattsprojects1556 2 жыл бұрын
Great video! Also I love the T-shirt haha
@benq5487
@benq5487 2 жыл бұрын
you deserve many more subs!!!!!
@nunyabidniz2868
@nunyabidniz2868 2 жыл бұрын
Ever since airline deregulation, there have been areas that are no longer well-served [or at all] by airlines due to unprofitability. Building out high-speed passenger service to those areas first would seem to be a justifiable use of govt. subsidies to get a high-speed rail network off the ground (if you'll pardon the pun.) Once there is a big enough installed base, it will be self-sustaining. Instead, so far the emphasis has all been on rail connections between population centers that will only compete w/ existing air-service, who will just cut their ticket prices to kill off the newbie rail competitor.
@BS-vx8dg
@BS-vx8dg 2 жыл бұрын
So you're proposing that HSR be built to connect *small* towns? What does that do to the time it takes HSR to travel long distances (the ostensible advantage of HSR)?
@seanthe100
@seanthe100 2 жыл бұрын
Empty ass trains this is dumbass idea, this is also part of the reason we haven't built it yet.
@kalle911
@kalle911 2 жыл бұрын
There is no such thing as self-sustaining HSR. In my opinion there's a certain limit at which it's worth to subsidise a small town with a (high-speed) rail link, and that's also competitive with cars. If such a small town is near a large city, regional/local rail would help tremendously while being affordable. Just need to set the timetables right to facilitate easier switching of trains. Like in Switzerland.
@franzzrilich9041
@franzzrilich9041 2 жыл бұрын
@@kalle911 The old Interstate Commerce Commission required that all tiny towns be served by railroads. They had to provide passenger cars on most freight trains. The costs were astronomical. The result was that railroads used all sorts of dodges to get out of public service. Those that could not evade began to go bankrupt in the first decade of the 1900s. This was before auto and passenger planes were used.
@kalle911
@kalle911 2 жыл бұрын
@@franzzrilich9041 I guess that trying to tell the government that somebody needs to provide the cash for it didn't work?
@chrispontani6059
@chrispontani6059 2 жыл бұрын
There will never be a single unified high speed rail network in the US. The population density just isn’t there. And once you start trying to build secondary and tertiary lines between smaller cities, you’ll quickly find the demand just doesn’t exist to justify the expense to build.
@k.c1126
@k.c1126 2 жыл бұрын
IF you build it, they will come. Kinda hard to have a demand for what's not there. I think east and west coast north-south routes would get the traffic; so would a decent route CHICAGO-ST. LOUIS-DALLAS-HOUSTON. Eventually you could extend to Las Vegas and Salt Lake City.
@banksrail
@banksrail 2 жыл бұрын
You’re right. There will never be. But that’s why operating between large population densities has always been the plan. He even stated it in the video.
@chrispontani6059
@chrispontani6059 2 жыл бұрын
@@banksrail the demand will never be there to connect the east to the west. There’s too much nothingness in the Rockies and Great Plains to justify the expense of building a HSR ROW.
@ronclark9724
@ronclark9724 2 жыл бұрын
America is NOT a TINY nation like France or Germany one can drive across in a single day. It is a five and a half hour flight from NYC to LA, not less than a one hour flight from London to Paris...London to Tel Aviv is a five hour flight. less than NYC to LA... European FLY long distances too, more do so beyond a train ride of around three hours...
@laurie7689
@laurie7689 2 жыл бұрын
@@banksrail Except that the land between those population dense cities does not belong to those cities or even, in some cases, those same States. Take, for instance, California and New York: to connect them by HSR means that it passes through various States. Why would those States and the people of those States want HSR going through? To what benefit is it to them? Having their land taken to build for some other place just because it makes traveling easier for people in denser areas? Nope. Airplanes don't steal the land that belong to the States when they pass over, rail does.
@gcrum2416
@gcrum2416 2 жыл бұрын
It's the airplane industry that is hampering the ability to build such a network. But if thought out intelligently and built fast. The benefits as in other developed parts of the world are just clear. It just lobbies and weak/short sighted politicans who are getting in the way.
@ronclark9724
@ronclark9724 2 жыл бұрын
Nonsense. The FACT remains proven on Amtrak's northeast corridor, HSR is competitive winning passengers at a distance of around three hours, no matter the top speed of a train. NYC to Washington is less than 3 hours and Amtrak wins three times more passengers than all that fly on that route. On the other hand Boston to Washington is over six and a half hours, nearly seven hours and wins only one in ten passengers... NUMBERS DO NOT LIE! The sweet spot for HSR winning the ridership war with the airlines is around three hours, not six or seven hours...Especially when the flight is less than 90 minutes in the air...
@Meirstein
@Meirstein 2 жыл бұрын
Airplanes and trains would ideally compliment each other, not compete. Like he says, nobody is going to take a train from New York to LA. In the same vein, you might opt to take the train from Minneapolis to Chicago rather than fly since it would be just as fast and more convenient. For trips below 500 miles, a train would be preferable, and for trips above 500 miles, planes would be preferable.
@jasonreed7522
@jasonreed7522 2 жыл бұрын
@@ronclark9724 teains should have a slight bump in viability just over the 8hr mark for overnight routes just because time spent sleeping on the train isn't noticed as part of travel time. But otherwise the sweet spot for HSR is the 200-300 mile range.
@billwilson3609
@billwilson3609 2 жыл бұрын
A lack of daily riders to make HSR profitable is the major reason we don't see those being built. The light rail lines in all the big cities need to be subsidized due to low ridership so the average taxpayer has no interest in seeing HSR in their state that their tax dollars will be wasted on.
@MarcHatePage
@MarcHatePage 2 жыл бұрын
this is the first video of you I'm watching and I noticed you have the same jingle as Tasting History :o
@petercook3143
@petercook3143 2 жыл бұрын
Dont fool yourself, you will get the same Lines and X ray machines as an airport. You wont be bypassing any of these or saving time by taking the train for 200 miles.
@elli003
@elli003 2 жыл бұрын
Average population density in Western Europe is just under 500/sq. mile and their governments still have to subsidize the cost for their High-Speed systems. High-Speed Rail only approaches to make sense in MA, CT, NY, PA, RI, NJ. California already failed not only because of cost overruns, but the realization that the state would have to subsidize a density 1/2 that of Western Europe. Guaranteed to fail. Now, High-Speed Cargo Rail to establish a foothold for 20+ years before adding High-Speed Passenger Rail ?
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