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this post was submitted on 25 Sep 2023
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Can we get a rail that isn't absurdly expensive so that only old people will take it for Olde time trainy fun, and that does not have freight share the tracks and take priority? Oh and if it rains, maybe the tracks are under water... And actual useful internet, and decent food options?
I would dearly love to take a train across the country in a sleeper car, but the price is insane.
It’s also super frustrating living in the Northeast, because though we do have halfway decent Amtrak service, it’s priced so high that it’s often cheaper to fly from Boston to NYC. This is because the NE corridor (basically BOS to WAS) is the only part of the entire network that’s reliably profitable, so the ticket prices I pay directly subsidize Amtrak service for the entire rest of the country.
I did it from NYC to LA. It's not fun. I highly recommend not doing it.
What's not fun about it? I admit most of my idea of the romance of crossing the country on a train is from 1930s and 1940s movies, so I'm sure things are quite different.
The beds are too short if you're 6' or above. The food is not good. And there's really nothing to see when you're passing through the never ending nothingness of Middle America. It's not like you get to hop out and walk around any of the cool looking towns you may come across. You don't really experience anything except a mediocre, slow ass train ride.
Believe it or not, none of that bothers me. I've crossed America by car 3 times, so the Middle America part is fine with me and I'm under 5'10", so the bed would be okay, and I've had train food before on Amtrak trips from southern Illinois to Chicago and yeah, it's not great, but it's not terrible to me either. I guess after being raised on 12 years of school-made lunches, I can eat anything. I could also bring my own food.
Now I don't know that I could convince my wife or daughter to come along, but you haven't actually deterred me from the idea. I guess your mileage may vary.
Here in Europe sleeper trains went through quite a slump, DB even got rid of their whole fleet, then ÖBB started to conceptualise sleeper trains not as trains with beds but as hotels on wheels and their most expensive tickets sell so well that they increased the number of expensive seats erm cots on their train. You can also get what's essentially capsules and a seat, no more of that "four person cabin or bust" type of attitude of ole.
Yes, you could take high-speed rail and arrive the same day, then sleep in a hotel, then do what you came to do. Or you can spend actually less and stay in a maybe modest, but definitely nice hotel for one night and arrive in the morning.
And the little things matter. If your breakfast buns aren't crisp (plenty of room on a train for an oven) and your coffee is as bad as what Starbucks calls coffee don't even start.
As to distance: In principle a high-speed sleeper train could do NY to LA in one night, something like 12-14 hours. Certainly not with the current rail infrastructure, though.
No. You get the status quo with all those funds being absorbed by contractors for operating costs. Nothing substantive will change. Did I mention budget overruns? Those also.
Which would be fine if it didn't take two days and had an actual schedule.
North America is also the continent of commuter trains which drive to the city from 7 to 8:30, then back from 5:30 to 7, with no trains in between and who cares if you want to stay in the city after work for a bit and shop for model planes and would like to take a train back at 9.
Noone gets used to just using the train with that kind of service quality, noone will actually get rid of their car. Also supermarket within biking distance is the bare minimum when it comes to everyday needs... walking distance would be better but isn't realistic in super low density suburbia. Are Americans capable to mentally conceptualise a suburban supermarket without car parking? Slap a cafe and restaurant on there with outside seating (weather permitting, of course), as well as a handful of 4-5 storey apartment buildings to get some density to be able to justify a tram stop and small primary school and you have something going.
Whoa there. That sounds suspiciously like socialism.