Posted on 05/09/2014 9:49:39 PM PDT by Cronos
AMERICA has by far the largest rail network in the world, with more than twice as much track as China. But it lags far behind other first-world countries in ridership. Instead of passengers, most of America's massive rail network is used to carry freight. Why don't Americans ride trains?
..the Japanese, the Swiss, the French, the Danes, the Russians, the Austrians, the Ukrainians, the Belarussians and the Belgians all accounted for more than 1,000 passenger-kilometres by rail in 2011; Americans accounted for 80. Amtrak carries 31m passengers per year. Mozambique's railways carried 108m passengers in 2011.
There are many reasons why Americans don't ride the rails as often as their European cousins. Most obviously, America is bigger than most European countries. Outside the northeast corridor, the central Texas megalopolis, California and the eastern Midwest, density is sometimes too low to support intercity train travel. Underinvestment, and a preference for shiny new visions over boring upgrades, has not helped. Most American passenger trains travel on tracks that are owned by freight companies. That means most trains have to defer to freight services, leading to lengthy delays that scare off passengers who want to arrive on time.
(Excerpt) Read more at economist.com ...
Ain’t the government grand? Used to be a shorter rail route from New York to Atlantic City through the Pine Barrens. They let Conrail (the government-owned freight railroad) abandon that.
The infrastructure of roads has come at a tremendous... cost to the taxpayer. Nothing is free.
I still want my flying car that Back to the Future said would be here by now! Actually, just gasoline at real market prices would be pretty cool, and just as imaginary.
I really want to spend three days on a train from SF to PHL at three times the price of a 4 hour air flight. Makes perfect sense to me.
Talk about DUH!!
Cars are freedom, and even very poor people in the US can avail themselves of the highway. and they can take their kids and their gear.
I love train rides, but I never want the roads, and cheap used cars, to go away. They are a leg up in the world, not just a means to a destination.
Trains are successful in certain corridors with the right distance and shape. Take St Louis to Chicago, for instance, or New York to DC.
Other regions, not so much.
True...and I also prefer to take the chopper to avoid ground-level traffic. Let’s face it: you have a much better chance of finding a helipad near your destination than a train station.
Our cities also have something theirs don’t.
No doubt. The Eisenhower Interstates enhanced bidness.
They stink!
“Too expensive, too slow, too remote.”
You forgot it doesn’t go where you want to go.
So first, I don't ride trains because I don't trust unions to run them safely.
Second, I don't ride trains because they're incredibly expensive for long trips.
Third, I don't ride trains because they're always late and never deliver me where I need to go. And because I don't trust unions.
It’s because willie green was taken to the gulag on the last train
Bingo.
Exactly!
The US currently moves 38% of freight by rail vs. 10% in Europe. Take over the freight railroads to move people and there could be a 4x increase of the number of Trucks on the road. I don’t think passenger rail would is the environmental panacea the commies seem to believe.
I rode trains as a 14 year old kid going to and from boarding school. They used to wind through the back woods of our nation, a path where you would see things you couldn’t from other vantage points. Talk about a lovely trip from Joplin, Missouri to Siloam Springs, Arkansas. It was about as beautful as you would ever want to see.
I’ve ridden them to Kansas City a few times.
If you have the shekels and the time, it’s a romantic way to travel.
Other than that, no thanks.
Some commuter trains are doing pretty good here in Los Angeles. I’m not sure they’re turning a profit, but it sure gives the local politicos something to brag about.
BTW, the cost of the California Super-Train just went up again. I know, I know, who could have believed it would? /s
If it’s too far to drive (time constraints), we fly there and rent a car.
The article answers its own question. Why don’t Americans ride trains more? Because the freight trains control most of the track.
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