Okay, now we're closer. Sinema sponsored the amendment, but do you know which amendment to the amendment it was in? Here's a list of all 500. www.congress.gov/amendment/117th-congress/senate-amendment/2137 But if you open them up, they don't let you read them and instead give you a page number in the congressional record. It's almost like they're trying to make this impossible!
@@cut_and_cover S.Amdt.2137 is the amendment. The 500 that are inside of it are amendments to the amendment. Sinema and Schumer introduced 2137 which was the senate version of the bill, which completely removed the section about Amtrak being able to sue. Those other amendments were just amendments to the main amendment, which already removed the section.
@@slevelneves Ah, that makes sense. So that's why I couldn't find it. I'm gonna pin this comment to the top so everyone knows who removed our beloved § 9204. A huge thank you to the scholarly slevelneves!
@@cut_and_cover any time. I really have to say that I was very surprised when I saw who did it, but I guess nothing should surprise me when it comes to lobbies with deep pockets.
Yeah, seriously. You know, I haven't seen any media coverage dredge this piece of information out of the depths before we did. I'm going to put this on Wikipedia, with a citation to congress.gov.
@@seamusmckeon9109 He explains alot of why they have that reputation. They are NOT allowed to compete against those private companies! That get all the funding they do every year!
It's amazing how in the US double track electrified lines have been turned into single track non electrified lines. It's like going against what is happening in the rest of the world.
Trenton cut off, Port deposit line, sections of the Atlantic City Line and other former commuter lines in South Jersey. And those are the lucky ones that didn't just get abandoned entirely.
The best way to address this point would be to dig out regulatory hearings and support documents and to see what the numbers were when these decisions were made.
@@adelaide7822 two incidents this year -- Amtrak essentially had the votes to be able to sue for access to freight-owned tracks directly, rather than indirectly through the Justice Department, but Senator Sinema managed to get an amendment adopted to stop that; this kind of horse trading is common when control of congress is as close as it is and bad actors have much more influence in this situation -- and also the same Senator Sinema in conjunction with Senator Manchin undoing an additional sustainable energy and infrastructure bill. In practice it's going to be very hard for this kind of legislation to pass going forward at the federal level until either the Republican Party stops reflexively voting against investment and economic development, or the Democrats regain their competitiveness in mostly small-population Midwestern states where they've lost ground. (For example, 30 years ago, the Dems had both Nebraska seats, both North Dakota seats and both South Dakota seats in the Senate and now they have none of those seats). The states where Democrats are currently gaining ground are large in population while the Senate is the same number of senators for every state regardless of population, so no gain there.
Same here from the Netherlands. I somehow became fascinated by how rail transport in parts of the developed world evolved so completely differently. This video definitely sheds more light on the current state of affairs in the US.
when I was in my mid-teens I really wanted to get a car, but now, there's nothing I want more than for the public transport infrastructure of the US to finally reach a point that's comparable to what we see in Europe, or in Japan, where you can live your everyday life with out having to rely on a car just to be able to get to work on time
as a european who is used to high-quality passenger rail its really nice to see that america is working towards reliable rail transport for passengers, keep it up!!
As someone who uses the Colorado corridor mentioned earlier, I really hope that gets built sooner rather than later. I have lived on it for over ten years and a train along it would make so much sense. But instead I-25 just becomes a giant parking lot day in, day out
Go read the feasibility study it's pretty interesting. I think they said $13 billion for a full freight-separated double track buildout and $2 billion to basically run a pilot program on the BNSF tracks that already exist.
omg. This. All this. I drove the new Springs to Castle Rock expansion just after it finished and was wondering why we didn't just build a really awesome passenger train? Of course, anyone with two brain cells has been wondering this for decades. If they built a high-speed line that could handle the Colorado weather, *it would be a boon*. Instead, we should probably expand I-25 from Springs to Pueblo for millions more so that we can do it again in 20 years.
I live in Colorado too and on occasion, travel on I-25. I'm hoping to go to college in one of the cities that are proposed as stops on the Colorado Corridor too. My Dad has lived in Colorado since at least the 1990s and he said that I-25 was always under construction. So I believe it could be a good idea to create a rail line that goes along the front range. I don't really expect it to be finished by the time I'm finished with college, but if it goes through and is implemented, hopefully a lot of people will be able to enjoy the luxury of going along the front range without going on the I-25 parking lot. I also wonder what will they name the train line if it's implemented.
@@harrisonofcolorado8886 It could be almost magical if they designed and implemented it well. And yes, I was in the Springs when they widened I-25 through downtown from 2 to 3 lanes each way. So. much. construction. And for what? No vision. I haven't seen any proposed designs but I'm pretty sure it's gonna be the Amtrak special: underpromise, underdeliver. Delayed during entirely predictable snow storms, not high speed, and stations placed poorly.
Partially because there are two bottlenecks where there’s only a single track: - Palmer Lake south through the Air Force Academy to just south of the Fillmore Street overpass, particularly through Monument; the right of way may not be wide enough for a doubling, and the old Santa Fe right of way which was east of the current single line is not available south of the Academy; - From south of the South Nevada Avenue overpass to just a couple miles north of the city of Fountain; it’s single track south of the South Academy Blvd. overpass but that can be doubled I would think pretty much easily-its the stretch north to South Nevada that would cause a headache, again due to a narrow right of way at that end. -And of course you’ll have to deal with the NIMBY’s on the route.
Virginia’s rail reinvestment plan is actually incredible. In addition to buying the old Virginian Railway between Salem (near Roanoke) and Merrimac (near Christiansburg) and half CSX’s route between DC and Petersburg, they also bought a long abandoned stretch of right-of-way between Petersburg, VA and Norlina, NC (near Raleigh) with the intent to rebuild and use for passenger service, and also the former C&O between Clifton Forge and Doswell (near Richmond). They are already surveying for station locations in Christiansburg and expect to start service in 2025 or 2026. I believe the rebuilt line currently has a target date of 2030 or so. Beyond these projects, VDOT and the Virginia Passenger Rail Authority (the new state org dedicated to the successful execution and operation of the projects) are looking to eventually expand service to places like Bristol, VA/TN - though this project has not gotten off the ground yet. Excellent video, by the way. I absolutely loved it.
@@conorreynolds9739 Truthfully, I don’t think it will impact current projects all too much. All the policy lining this out and funding it was signed by Northam in the last couple years of his term. Youngkin appears to be significantly more focused on fighting in a culture war and against Covid mandates than he does anything else and I-95 was catastrophically shut down in the first few days of his term, so I’m betting the trains are safe (though this comment may not age terribly gracefully).
The question is what will the new republican Trump type governor do now with the rail program? Trump hated Amtrak an planned to finally get the cut back lines dropped Oct 2020.The lines that had the best ridership, and revenue for the whole company. And that is not the money pit Northeast Corridor.
@intercityrailpal Trump and Youngkin might share some talking points, but they do have different policy platforms, and youngkin is more of a moderate when it comes to passenger rail. For him, transportation in general is a back burner issue.
Regarding that "weird redundant long island thing" it's more than likely an attempt to have trains that generally terminate at New York Penn Station terminate somewhere else, allowing more trains to go through Penn Station. Which would explain why they set the terminus at Ronkonkoma the end of electrification on the LIRR main line, as apposed to Babylon or Montauk on the southern mainline which is used more frequently.
That's a really good point, considering there is a limit to the number of slots East Side Access will be able to relieve. Thank you for the correction.
I've gone to NYC and stayed at a friends house in Ronkonkoma... A Rush-hour LIRR Train can change a man. It's crazy there. You see a million people all waiting behind what looks like blast doors with "RONKONKOMA" beside it, then it beeps and opens, cut to the same Million people all running down steps to get into a poor M7... Standing room only, it's like this for a good 45mins. That line needs way better capacity
@@coastaku1954 the MTA has added a second track all the way to Ronkonkoma, and are in the prosses of adding a third track from Floral Park to Hicksville. This should increase capacity.
Sunnyside coach yard, is full of NJ Transit trains. Plus a one seat ride from Long Island is a good idea. It was part of the Empire tunnel project up the west side Amtrak does not open routes that will have strong demand. Cause those in congress that hate rail would have a shut down fit. A one seat ride just kills competition. That is why the cab mob didn't want one seat rides to the airports.
I just think we're crazy for running passenger rail over freight tracks, Amtrak should have their own separate tracks. Maybe one day. I understand why freight eliminating double track, all the taxes they have to pay pending how the state has their system set up.
Yeah, a lot of states don't have track mileage taxes. For instance, both of the examples in the video were in Pennsylvania, where railroads are taxed by square foot of property. The biggest contributing factor is that now, freight trains are so long that freight companies now see short sidings as useless. And instead of extending them, they let them rot.
@@cut_and_cover at the very least if we're going to use fright tracks double track most of the main routes and give Amtrak 50% ownership so they can actually have priority.
Do you really believe it makes sense to own and maintain railroad tracks for running a handful of passenger trains (outside the nec) carrying a couple hundred passengers per day?
@@johnweber6612 that depends on perspective, it not necessarily about today but tomorrow's ridership, or whether anyone cares if Amtrak expands and tries to get their customers to their destination on time.
@@johnweber6612 I’m from Milwaukee and I ride the Hiawatha. The Hiawatha is one of Amtraks best routes outside of the NEC. But we need to get more investment into it. We need better tracks, double tracking and track upgrades so that we can get a lot more train trips. Those are some of the main reasons ridership isn’t even higher.
This is one of the best videos on the topic I've seen. Really great journalistic presentation, editing, writing. Keep it up. Subscribed. Edit: so happy to see this has popped off since I saw it. Was at about 50 views and a handful of subs, now 22k views! Nice work
This really makes me appreciate HS2 in the UK. We’re just fighting over who gets to have train stations and how quickly it can happen, rather than just trying to make a coherent network.
I can't speak for other towns in PA, but here in Phoenixville a passenger line connecting all the way from Reading to Philly would be *really* nice. There's lots of shops and houses here, and it would be great not only for residents but also for businesses if a passenger rail line was installed. There's even an old train station-turned-restaurant (that's now out of business) right on the existing freight line that is close to the center of town!
Me patiently waiting for the return of Amtrak to Kentucky... But seriously, being a transit enthusiast here and having little to no transit at all when you live in the second most populated city in the state feels very wrong. I do hope amtrak comes back to Louisville, so I can finally experience it without having to drive out of state.
When I was growing up in the 1950-60's there was a Pennsylvania Railroad passenger train called the South Wind that connected Chicago to Miami using the Louisville and Nashville RR tracks through Kentucky, Tennessee and Alabama. It ran right by my house at around midnight southbound and 6:30am northbound. Later it was renamed the Floridian after Amtrak took over before discontinuing service in 1979. Amtrak currently has no plans to revive that route even though Florida is growing like mad and everyone is leaving Illinois because of high taxes! LOL.
Of all the proposed new long-distance routes, the Floridian is the one that I think might actually be cost-effective if it were to start tomorrow. If you overlay highway traffic as a proxy for demand, the Chicago Atlanta Florida corridor shows up as a massive gaping hole in our long distance rail system. Unfortunately, they would now need Congressional approval to restart it, since it is over the 750 mi limit.
People tolerate lower frequencies if they're traveling farther, since farther trips are planned farther in advance. Top speeds over 110mph would require grade separation, but if the train did an average of 90 mph (New England nec speeds), you could leave Chicago at 7:00 am and get to Orlando at 9:00 pm. Twice a day, 14 hours. You wouldn't ride that train?.
Yes Alex!! This was awesome! I’ve never been more invested in our Amtrak railways. Very informative and your presentation was impeccable. Keep making these high quality videos and you’ll reach a bigger crowd in no time.
Congress has passed legislation to expand Amtrak before, not much has been expanded. The states of New York, Illinois, and California have siphoned off infrastructure funds to other programs.
That's some graduate school-level reporting there! Add that to your high tech and engaging presentation, and you are a great presenter of important information!
@@ronclark9724 Well he did miss that. Loss of mail and package business General Motors leadership and lobbying the government. Finally bankrupted the system Oct 1967. Under funded cut back Amtrak was the result. A system that avoids major cities and dropped trains running with 40 cars like the massive Cities trains the first day May 1, 1971
I just want to say, I appreciate your channel a lot. The level of attention to transportation trivia in your videos has taught me so much, especially about my home state of Pennsylvania. I also love how you're not afraid to get in front of the camera. Thank you for what you do, seriously.
Great stuff, hoping for more content soon! As a European I really started to appreciate the state of most of our countries public transport systems! Fingers crossed for more Passenger Rail in the USA
You might see some more local commuter rail in America, but do not expect any large investment for long distance intercity trains, much less for regional trains unless the states are willing to fork up significant resources. There is NO public support nationwide for a larger Amtrak budget...
Phenomenal production quality! I've never seen a channel this small produce such a great video on this topic. I'm really looking forward to seeing more of your videos. You're going places. Keep up the good work!
In Florida we are building Brightline which will connect Miami to Ft Lauderdale and now building further to include Orlando and finally to Tampa. Can't wait for it to be completed and not have to put up with all that traffic going north and south !!
@@edwardmiessner6502 Brightline and the FEC are actually owned by the same parent company, Florida East Coast Industries , which is itself owned by Fortress Investment Group. So I don't think it will be a problem since they can work together to give Brightline trains priority.
@@jacorp7476 Exactly. Brightline is a perfect example to see how freight companies can integrate passenger rail into their schedule when they WANT to. I've ridden Brightline a few times. The trains (Siemens Charger) are beautiful and very comfortable.
@@edwardmiessner6502 also from Coco to Orlando and possibly Tampa Brightline runs on its own tracks, and how the tracks are built freight trains can’t run on them bc of the how steep the grades are
This is gotta be one of my favorite videos on why we should be funding Amtrak instead of trying to kill it. Knowing that Amtrak is the last bastion of American passenger railroading infrastructure of the country is a bit scary(not counting commuter rail).
Brilliant work. So well researched and presented. Keep it up. I had no idea that Amtrak was able to cover 66% of their operating costs with fare revenue.
When the bill was first published, I went through it and saw a lot of good tweaks in it, showing that some dude who frequently took the train between Wilmington and Washington had studied Amtrak in depth. The one aspect that struck me (not sure if it made it to final signed legislation) was a change of Amtrak's goal to run only routes with potential to become profitable (or revenue neutral, not sure if exact wording) to a mandate to run train services that serve people across the USA.. And this makes a big difference when you pitch a new route because you need to show potential for good ridership instead of trying to pretend the route could one day be profitable. (again, not sure if it made it to final bill).
This was a great video and well put together. I find it hilarious when people get up in arms when it comes to passenger rail subsidy but then turn a blind eye when compared to airline, and car subsidies. I did agree with the previous Amtrak CEO who turned to deactivate some of the long distance routes to focus on more urban dense intercity routes. I do like what Amtrak is doing upgrading their rolling stock. If only we could get passenger rail dedicated lines, it would solve all the freight company non sense. Also, when the freight companies (see FEC) want to run their own passenger train like Brightline, the schedule opens up clearly and the trains run on time. They'll even build new track too! Brightline (Seimens Charger SCB-40) is a beautiful trains and very comfortable. I've ridden it a few times. Their Brightline West (Vegas to Victorville to start) should also run smoothly as they seem to have less red tape to fight than Amtrak.
I moved from Philly to Pittsburgh and for the first time decided to take the train back home to Philly instead of driving down 76 due to rising gas prices and not wanting to wait until after work to drive. The train was super quiet, had wifi somewhat steadily the whole way, and even had a dining car. Driving usually takes me around 4.5 hrs to get back and forth between the two cities, but the train took 8 hours! In fact it only took 2 hours to get from Philly to Harrisburg (pretty similar to how long it takes driving), but took 6 whole hours to get from Harrisburg to Pittsburgh (usually less than 3 hours driving). The reason for this was exactly what you outlined in this video, Norfolk southern trains forced our train to a crawl for almost the entire second part of the journey. If Amtrak owned that stretch of rail and brought the trip down to less than 6 hours, I would take the train everytime without a doubt. The only reason I drive is because of the nearly doubled trip time it takes on the train. Other than that, the train is so much more convenient in almost every way.
Wow that was an awesome video, you are obviously very passionate about trains and it shows through. Thanks for such a good watch especially liked the track ahead segment keep it it up man!
Amtrak needs a dedicated Federal trust fund, just like the interstate highways and commercial aviation. How to pay for it? 1) Take 1-2 percent of both the highway and aviation trust funds and funnel them into an Amtrak fund. 2) Have a $1 per ticket surcharge 3) a one percent surcharge on all rail freight (aviation trust fund has a 6.25 percent surcharge on air cargo, so one percent is perfectly reasonable) 4) require a one percent contribution of annual revenues from the freight carriers, who are making BILLION$$$$. - This combined would raise one billion per year (minimum) for Amtrak, dedicated revenue that could replace (or more realistically supplement/reduce) the current Federal funding and/or individual state contributions. - Staggers Act (deregulation) eliminated the freight railroads' post-WWII financial woes and they are now making money hand over fist - they can now WELL afford to help out.
Nationalising railways or at least state expropriation for denser coastal states, will allow Amtrak to operate profitability without having to worry about paying a freight company for using their lines or paying them. New Jersey already bought the rail lines within it's boundaries.
The highway trust fund doesn't produce enough revenue to maintain the current highway infrastructure 1% isn't that much anymore and if such a diversion of revenue was possible it would have been done decades ago. The ticket surcharge was done in the 50's and that helped price passenger rail out of the market. Why repeating a past mistake and thinking the outcome this time would be different is beyond magical thinking. You can't compare the railroads and airfreight. The railroads are private companies that provide their own infrastructure. The government Fed, State, and local provide most of the airlines facilities, air traffic control ect. Why should rail freight shippers be required to support a government operated passenger rail when they already pay taxes? All these 1% contributions end up being paid by someone. You and me.
@@OldsVistaCruiser The government can't force the railroads to sell if they do not wish to sell. Furthermore, the railroads are owned by the wealthiest and most powerful people in America.
This is why we need to nationalize the main railways. Ps. This is why I'm a PoliSci major, I want to be one of the people to help improve passenger rail, especially cus I depend on them for Intercity travel.
This channel stands out, to me, based on one video, for going on at length about specific legislation and legal-barriers-to-change lately underlying the US' rail woes 7:1510:30 , but also not least for speaking to the camera on location in Amtrak trains
Wow, what an incredible video! Dedication of all that filming along your trip! I love how you made the information digestible by people without railroad knowledge. Seriously, awesome video.
I've been using the only auto train in the country for about 6 years now. It runs daily between Lorton, Virginia to Sanford, Florida. Haven't figured out where the trains meet each other during the night but you depart around 4:30pm arrive around 8:30am. Nice thing is your car arrives with you no car rental fees while in vacation. Wish there were more running nation wide.
@kingallstar6460 The Starlight doesn't have overnight sleeper service between LA and San Francisco because the Stsrlight leaves LA at 10 a.m. arriving in the San Francisco area around 9 p.m. What would be ideal is the addition of an overnight train leaving LA at 8 p.m. arriving in San Francisco (not the general area as is now the route) itself
We need to rethink the entire rail system in America. May have to rebuild it. And it will have to be a National project. They will have to limit road crossings, to allow the trains to move faster thru given areas. They might need a seperate rail designated for passenger service, parallel to the rail being used to move freight. Either way, America needs to rethink this, then act on it, and make it a reality. Make it a system to move massive amounts of people and freight, long distances, cheaply and efficiently with a much lower impact on the environment over the lifetime of the rail services.
@@Dog.soldier1950 go ask China and India passenger rail doesn’t work shared with freight that’s why China removed passenger trains from freight corridors and had HSR lines replace them and India build dedicated freight corridors for freight trains.
This is an amazing video! Even though I will probably never ride on it since I live in Oregon, I'm so invested in train transportation that I'm very excited for the track being added to that line in Pennsylvania. At least something good for trains is happening in Pennsylvania.
As a proud Republican, I can’t stand it when my party shuts down rail projects. I think the left is wrong and corrupted in pretty much everything, but their stance on passenger rail is something I definitely respect. Railroads literally built America and have been around almost as long as the country itself. It’s time we start using passenger rail again. And there are plenty more republicans like me who get overshadowed by these obnoxious and annoying politicians. I hate that transit is even a political argument.
The problem is that those annoying and obnoxious politicians have taken over your party and are also wrong and corrupted in pretty much everything. And SCOTUS enables it! It's all in the nature of the beast (of Revelation?) called the United States government, which simpky cannot be reformed.
Republicans are slanted towards rural interest in America. They don't see the point of wasting tax money on rail if they just drive 20 miles to get to the nearest store
Oh wow, I didn't realize Paoli station got totally overhauled. Last time I was at that stop was way back in 2007 when it was just the little ticketing building but this redevelopment looks colossal
I love the review of the empire builder and capitol limited casually playing in the background. Fantastic cross-country trip. Other than that, great video, something I've always been interested in.
what im hoping for is surfliner streightening and 2x track on current singletrack areas, and then electrification of it so that it can have a seemless transition to calihsr track
Really like your presentation style. I have to admit, your optimism at the beginning almost turned me off bc Ive heard grand public transportation promises for years, but I really liked your breakdown of the legal friction between Amtrak and private railways. I come from Missouri. The drive between St. Louis and Kansas City takes ~4 hours. On Amtrak, it takes 8 because the route is mostly single-tracked, owned by Union Pacific.
The solution is simple. Nationalize the rail network. Take the lines away from the rail companies and pay them what they paid (adjusted for inflation) when they stole the land from farmers. I think you'll find most of the rail lines were built using eminent domain so in my opinion, the rail companies are entitled to nothing. Set high standards for construction and maintenance, upgrade our infrastructure accordingly, and lease routes/slots to anyone willing to pay for them and use them. It would have to be an immediate use it or lose it basis so you don't have large companies trying to sabotage the network. Also, charge heavy route penalties for any company using heavy diesel locomotives. Also, on any route with at-grade crossings, greatly limit the length of the train. Let freight companies run more frequent trains that are shorter, lighter, and safer. This can also be used to get big rigs off of our national highways and interstates. Let the cargo be shipped in containers across the country with container stations covering the map. A truck could take a container to the station in LA and drop it off and another could pick it up in Columbus, Ohio for local delivery. Very efficient.
Ha ha! Very bold. I like it. Though if we were to actually do a full nationalization, I would be afraid that just as soon as Conrail 2.0 had gotten everything sorted out, the next administration would start trying to sell everything back, and we'd be back to where we were in the '80s.
Great example of the failure of the American education system. Just about everything you wrote is the opposite of what really happened. The railroads in most of the us predated the farmers. They were given land grants to build a line. So many one mile sections on either side of the line per mile of track built. The railroads would then sell the land to prospective farmers to generate traffic over the line. So no they weren't built with eminent domain. Most states have in their Constitutions prohibitions against the taking of private land for use by for profit companies.
@@emilkarpo True, with one caveat. Most of those state restrictions on eminent domain were put in in the last couple decades in response to Kelo v. City of New London.
Very nice writing style for your script. Your video production and narration are absolutely top notch. Please don’t stop making rail videos. You’re a natural producer. I’m rewatching all of your Amtrak videos.
You killed it with this video man! As a transit employee in PA the state government frustrates the hell out of me. Proposed transit cuts, but at the same time a turnpike, 95, and rte 1 widening project??? You have to be kidding me!
The simple truth is less than 2 percent of Americans have ever rode a regional or long distance Amtrak train, while more than 80 percent have flown at least once and 100 percent have used a highway one way or another... Where do you think the government should invest more? The 100 percent or for the less than 2 percent?
This was VERY well put together. While watching it, I found myself wondering if you were a communications major. Went to your LinkedIn and saw that you were (with a side order of urban planning and design and a dash of politics). That explains that! Well done, young sir!!! You have a really engaging manner while providing substantive info. I quite enjoyed this!
Really awesome video! I love the Hiawatha Line between Chicago and Milwaukee, even if it's not "high speed", it's super convenient and one of the only trains in the Midwest where it makes sense over driving besides just the novelty. I'm sad plans to extend to Madison and Minneapolis haven't panned out yet, but I'm hoping it could still happen now!
Boy will you guys be surprised when Amtrak retires the Superliners and replaces them with Siemens single level cars. They have said they will, but no one reads the end of press releases.
I expect new Superliners eventually, but presently Amtrak is only refurbishing their aging 40 year old Superliners. If they do build new single level sleepers, they will be new Viewliners, not European sleepers. America prefers Roomettes and Standard Bedrooms, not European Couchettes...
Such an awesome video. I didn't knew about any of all that legal obstacles Amtrak has to deal with. Such a pain in the ass. I absolutely love your style of presenting. Informative and entertaining. Immediately subscribed.
You showed that map at the beginning, and I was so confused because it looked like nothing had changed. Then I realize you're talking about the East Coast. Until Amtrak can expand on the ALREADY EXISTING RAILS between the Cascades corridor and SLC and beyond, the service will never thrive
really great job on this, im from ireland and we are facing the same problem except in the 50s and 60 the wripped up the network and sold it for scrap, now for the last 25 years they can see the value of a train network and pay millions upon millions for planning that goes nowhere and gets nothing
The political and legal system in the USA makes big infrastructure projects nearly impossible. China has a huge bullet-train network, because they can just put it where the want to put it without challenge. Everything done in the USA is a challenge. Projects are always take a lot longer than scheduled and cost many times their original budgets. Rules and regulations are the enemy of progress.
Thats because Chinas rail network is not profit driven. For some reason people in USA keep expecting passenger rail to pay for itself. Like infrastructure is supposed to be profitable. Nobody complains that the highway dept "loses" money every year. Nobody says we should do away with the pentagon because it "loses" BILLIONS every year. The DOJ hasnt shown a profit once since the founding of the country, and everybody is fine with that. For some reason its different for passenger rail.
You should go in to journalism. You're really good at this. Spot on reporting on what Amtrak has already done and what has to be done before America can, indeed, say itself to be a railroad pioneer once again. The best but most radical solution is to nationalize the *track* and have it under one operating company treating both freight and passenger railroad companies equally scheduling the trains to minimize all delays. And least that is what happened to the former (still semi)-national railways in Europe. All the track in my home country of The Netherlands used to belong to the NS (Dutch Railways) before that company was split up in NS and ProRail. ProRail owns the track and the stations and NS pays a little trackage fee for the rail lines they run on. Other companies such as Arriva or Keolis pay their fees for their trains. Every five years all the rail lines are up for concession and companies bid to keep running them. Since the split of NS and Prorail trains run a >95% on time schedule and freight rail traffic has increased (!) because the profits of NS and therefore Prorail (and the state owning a majority in shares in both companies) are largely paying for new railroad projects increasing capacity. Really this expenditure on capacity is meant for passenger traffic however freight rail companies are profiting from this as well. Prorail and the freight companies have even gone so far as to build a dedicated freight railroad (ofcourse owned by ProRail) from the port of Rotterdam to the German border. Same story in France, Italy, Spain, Switzerland and Austria. Germany has much the same story: the Deutsche Bahn (DB) used to own everything but then that got split up in DB Netze (Network) and DB Fernverkehr (and also DB Cargo). However DB is lacking in on time performace with trains often runnin up to an hour late.
As someone who lives in THE car state (Michigan) but has one of the most corrupt DoT's,, I can only imagine what it would be like to have a more functional training system throughout my state. I would love to be able to get 'up north' via train instead of the conjested freeway.
I keep emailing candidates about their opinion on transit. The answer I always get, is thank you for reaching out. I never got one candidate to even acknowledge that transit exists.
People in power don't not have cars. Like, if you know me you know I hate contributing to cynicism, but if I was writing a transit authority's bylaws, I would would say that to be on the board, you had to turn in your driver's license. It is utterly shocking how 14 out of the 15 people on SEPTA's board haven't depended on transit for any section of their entire adult lives.
In Pittsburgh we spent the same money to build a tunnel under the river to cover a six minute walk that would have covered the cost of cut and cover along the busiest bus corridor for six miles. Local government communities at their best.
Great work. Nice video, excellent information! There is no better way to travel which would be quicker if we were not always delayed by freight. I do not mind unless it is seemingly forever. Charming, relaxing, and a great way to see the country.
What a great video!! And you have only 390 subscribers? Who or what did you sacrifice to the algorithm gods for this to come up in my recommended? Keep making awesome content like this.
wow, i knew freight companies were dicks to amtrak but i had no idea the delays were that bad. and ripping up their own tracks just to inconvenience amtrak and/or please greedy shareholders... where's conrail when you need it :(
Conrail did so much right and so much wrong with abandoning and deelectrifying railroads. What they did to the Lackawanna Cut-Off, South Jersey's commuter rail, the cut services in Pennsylvania and the Trenton Cut-Off was just unforgivable. I never understood why they never gave it to the State instead.
I felt like I was watching a Tom Scott video with you ending up in a different location every other clip lmao. Awesome video, very informative and well thought out!
I work on the railways in Britain, and the more I learn about the system in this country the less sense it makes. And then I watch stuff like this and remember no matter what this country does badly it's always something the Yanks do worse
![[LIVE] : ONE ลุมพินี 89 | คู่เอก "ยอดไอคิว vs คิริลล์"](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Z3vYkHJ_5Ig/mqdefault.jpg)
6:40 Kyrsten Sinema and Chuck Schumer in the amendment S.Amdt.2137, which basically rewrote the entire bill.
Okay, now we're closer. Sinema sponsored the amendment, but do you know which amendment to the amendment it was in? Here's a list of all 500. www.congress.gov/amendment/117th-congress/senate-amendment/2137 But if you open them up, they don't let you read them and instead give you a page number in the congressional record. It's almost like they're trying to make this impossible!
@@cut_and_cover S.Amdt.2137 is the amendment. The 500 that are inside of it are amendments to the amendment. Sinema and Schumer introduced 2137 which was the senate version of the bill, which completely removed the section about Amtrak being able to sue. Those other amendments were just amendments to the main amendment, which already removed the section.
@@slevelneves Ah, that makes sense. So that's why I couldn't find it. I'm gonna pin this comment to the top so everyone knows who removed our beloved § 9204. A huge thank you to the scholarly slevelneves!
@@cut_and_cover any time. I really have to say that I was very surprised when I saw who did it, but I guess nothing should surprise me when it comes to lobbies with deep pockets.
Yeah, seriously. You know, I haven't seen any media coverage dredge this piece of information out of the depths before we did. I'm going to put this on Wikipedia, with a citation to congress.gov.
This has great writing and pacing! Also how long did this take to film? haha
71h 58m. Right on schedule. 😉🚅
@@cut_and_cover that’s actually pretty good considering Amtrak’s reputation
@@seamusmckeon9109 Lmao
"Railway Connoisseur"
@@seamusmckeon9109 He explains alot of why they have that reputation. They are NOT allowed to compete against those private companies! That get all the funding they do every year!
It's amazing how in the US double track electrified lines have been turned into single track non electrified lines. It's like going against what is happening in the rest of the world.
Examples include?
Trenton cut off, Port deposit line, sections of the Atlantic City Line and other former commuter lines in South Jersey. And those are the lucky ones that didn't just get abandoned entirely.
The best way to address this point would be to dig out regulatory hearings and support documents and to see what the numbers were when these decisions were made.
Because electrified lines are more expensive to maintain. But train people don't care about costs because it's always someone else's money.
@@jameslogan6626 Who pays for highway maintenance again?
As a Dutch person I am really happy for you guys, I hope this genuinely goes well.
it's already been kneecapped by our representatives.
@@dalton-at-work oof, sorry to hear that. Can you elaborate please?
@@adelaide7822 two incidents this year -- Amtrak essentially had the votes to be able to sue for access to freight-owned tracks directly, rather than indirectly through the Justice Department, but Senator Sinema managed to get an amendment adopted to stop that; this kind of horse trading is common when control of congress is as close as it is and bad actors have much more influence in this situation -- and also the same Senator Sinema in conjunction with Senator Manchin undoing an additional sustainable energy and infrastructure bill.
In practice it's going to be very hard for this kind of legislation to pass going forward at the federal level until either the Republican Party stops reflexively voting against investment and economic development, or the Democrats regain their competitiveness in mostly small-population Midwestern states where they've lost ground. (For example, 30 years ago, the Dems had both Nebraska seats, both North Dakota seats and both South Dakota seats in the Senate and now they have none of those seats). The states where Democrats are currently gaining ground are large in population while the Senate is the same number of senators for every state regardless of population, so no gain there.
Same here from the Netherlands. I somehow became fascinated by how rail transport in parts of the developed world evolved so completely differently. This video definitely sheds more light on the current state of affairs in the US.
This plan is sadly pathetic
when I was in my mid-teens I really wanted to get a car, but now, there's nothing I want more than for the public transport infrastructure of the US to finally reach a point that's comparable to what we see in Europe, or in Japan, where you can live your everyday life with out having to rely on a car just to be able to get to work on time
Yo I'm actually one of these people and currently waiting until riding a train 🚆
as a european who is used to high-quality passenger rail its really nice to see that america is working towards reliable rail transport for passengers, keep it up!!
I was just about to comment that next is Canada then i saw my other account here
As someone who uses the Colorado corridor mentioned earlier, I really hope that gets built sooner rather than later. I have lived on it for over ten years and a train along it would make so much sense. But instead I-25 just becomes a giant parking lot day in, day out
Go read the feasibility study it's pretty interesting. I think they said $13 billion for a full freight-separated double track buildout and $2 billion to basically run a pilot program on the BNSF tracks that already exist.
omg. This. All this. I drove the new Springs to Castle Rock expansion just after it finished and was wondering why we didn't just build a really awesome passenger train? Of course, anyone with two brain cells has been wondering this for decades. If they built a high-speed line that could handle the Colorado weather, *it would be a boon*. Instead, we should probably expand I-25 from Springs to Pueblo for millions more so that we can do it again in 20 years.
I live in Colorado too and on occasion, travel on I-25. I'm hoping to go to college in one of the cities that are proposed as stops on the Colorado Corridor too. My Dad has lived in Colorado since at least the 1990s and he said that I-25 was always under construction. So I believe it could be a good idea to create a rail line that goes along the front range. I don't really expect it to be finished by the time I'm finished with college, but if it goes through and is implemented, hopefully a lot of people will be able to enjoy the luxury of going along the front range without going on the I-25 parking lot. I also wonder what will they name the train line if it's implemented.
@@harrisonofcolorado8886 It could be almost magical if they designed and implemented it well.
And yes, I was in the Springs when they widened I-25 through downtown from 2 to 3 lanes each way. So. much. construction.
And for what? No vision.
I haven't seen any proposed designs but I'm pretty sure it's gonna be the Amtrak special: underpromise, underdeliver. Delayed during entirely predictable snow storms, not high speed, and stations placed poorly.
Partially because there are two bottlenecks where there’s only a single track:
- Palmer Lake south through the Air Force Academy to just south of the Fillmore Street overpass, particularly through Monument; the right of way may not be wide enough for a doubling, and the old Santa Fe right of way which was east of the current single line is not available south of the Academy;
- From south of the South Nevada Avenue overpass to just a couple miles north of the city of Fountain; it’s single track south of the South Academy Blvd. overpass but that can be doubled I would think pretty much easily-its the stretch north to South Nevada that would cause a headache, again due to a narrow right of way at that end.
-And of course you’ll have to deal with the NIMBY’s on the route.
Virginia’s rail reinvestment plan is actually incredible. In addition to buying the old Virginian Railway between Salem (near Roanoke) and Merrimac (near Christiansburg) and half CSX’s route between DC and Petersburg, they also bought a long abandoned stretch of right-of-way between Petersburg, VA and Norlina, NC (near Raleigh) with the intent to rebuild and use for passenger service, and also the former C&O between Clifton Forge and Doswell (near Richmond). They are already surveying for station locations in Christiansburg and expect to start service in 2025 or 2026. I believe the rebuilt line currently has a target date of 2030 or so. Beyond these projects, VDOT and the Virginia Passenger Rail Authority (the new state org dedicated to the successful execution and operation of the projects) are looking to eventually expand service to places like Bristol, VA/TN - though this project has not gotten off the ground yet.
Excellent video, by the way. I absolutely loved it.
How is Youngkin's election likely to effect that?
@@conorreynolds9739 Truthfully, I don’t think it will impact current projects all too much. All the policy lining this out and funding it was signed by Northam in the last couple years of his term. Youngkin appears to be significantly more focused on fighting in a culture war and against Covid mandates than he does anything else and I-95 was catastrophically shut down in the first few days of his term, so I’m betting the trains are safe (though this comment may not age terribly gracefully).
The question is what will the new republican Trump type governor do now with the rail program? Trump hated Amtrak an planned to finally get the cut back lines dropped Oct 2020.The lines that had the best ridership, and revenue for the whole company. And that is not the money pit Northeast Corridor.
@intercityrailpal Trump and Youngkin might share some talking points, but they do have different policy platforms, and youngkin is more of a moderate when it comes to passenger rail. For him, transportation in general is a back burner issue.
@@cut_and_cover We will know very soon.
Regarding that "weird redundant long island thing" it's more than likely an attempt to have trains that generally terminate at New York Penn Station terminate somewhere else, allowing more trains to go through Penn Station. Which would explain why they set the terminus at Ronkonkoma the end of electrification on the LIRR main line, as apposed to Babylon or Montauk on the southern mainline which is used more frequently.
That's a really good point, considering there is a limit to the number of slots East Side Access will be able to relieve. Thank you for the correction.
I've gone to NYC and stayed at a friends house in Ronkonkoma... A Rush-hour LIRR Train can change a man. It's crazy there. You see a million people all waiting behind what looks like blast doors with "RONKONKOMA" beside it, then it beeps and opens, cut to the same Million people all running down steps to get into a poor M7... Standing room only, it's like this for a good 45mins. That line needs way better capacity
@@coastaku1954 the MTA has added a second track all the way to Ronkonkoma, and are in the prosses of adding a third track from Floral Park to Hicksville. This should increase capacity.
@@kcpatri Good, it was 2013 when I went so I’m glad things have gotten better
Sunnyside coach yard, is full of NJ Transit trains. Plus a one seat ride from Long Island is a good idea. It was part of the Empire tunnel project up the west side Amtrak does not open routes that will have strong demand. Cause those in congress that hate rail would have a shut down fit. A one seat ride just kills competition. That is why the cab mob didn't want one seat rides to the airports.
As i am a recent train enthusiast, you and your approach to this subject are very important and informative. Thanks.
This is insanely well produced! The music, transitions, and video attributions-everything is beautifully put together.
I just think we're crazy for running passenger rail over freight tracks, Amtrak should have their own separate tracks. Maybe one day.
I understand why freight eliminating double track, all the taxes they have to pay pending how the state has their system set up.
Yeah, a lot of states don't have track mileage taxes. For instance, both of the examples in the video were in Pennsylvania, where railroads are taxed by square foot of property. The biggest contributing factor is that now, freight trains are so long that freight companies now see short sidings as useless. And instead of extending them, they let them rot.
@@cut_and_cover at the very least if we're going to use fright tracks double track most of the main routes and give Amtrak 50% ownership so they can actually have priority.
Do you really believe it makes sense to own and maintain railroad tracks for running a handful of passenger trains (outside the nec) carrying a couple hundred passengers per day?
@@johnweber6612 that depends on perspective, it not necessarily about today but tomorrow's ridership, or whether anyone cares if Amtrak expands and tries to get their customers to their destination on time.
@@johnweber6612 I’m from Milwaukee and I ride the Hiawatha. The Hiawatha is one of Amtraks best routes outside of the NEC. But we need to get more investment into it. We need better tracks, double tracking and track upgrades so that we can get a lot more train trips. Those are some of the main reasons ridership isn’t even higher.
This is one of the best videos on the topic I've seen. Really great journalistic presentation, editing, writing. Keep it up. Subscribed.
Edit: so happy to see this has popped off since I saw it. Was at about 50 views and a handful of subs, now 22k views! Nice work
I disagree. He left out a lot of issues and information...
@@ronclark9724 Like what? I'd be curious to learn more about this
This is a really really underrated video. The effort is clearly seen and I enjoyed every minute of it. Glad to say I was here before you blew up!
This really makes me appreciate HS2 in the UK.
We’re just fighting over who gets to have train stations and how quickly it can happen, rather than just trying to make a coherent network.
crying rn
Well, we lost that too.
Bad news…
Good job Sunak
I can't speak for other towns in PA, but here in Phoenixville a passenger line connecting all the way from Reading to Philly would be *really* nice. There's lots of shops and houses here, and it would be great not only for residents but also for businesses if a passenger rail line was installed. There's even an old train station-turned-restaurant (that's now out of business) right on the existing freight line that is close to the center of town!
@gk4506 Columbia Station
Me patiently waiting for the return of Amtrak to Kentucky...
But seriously, being a transit enthusiast here and having little to no transit at all when you live in the second most populated city in the state feels very wrong. I do hope amtrak comes back to Louisville, so I can finally experience it without having to drive out of state.
It’s a good candidate for fast trains
When I was growing up in the 1950-60's there was a Pennsylvania Railroad passenger train called the South Wind that connected Chicago to Miami using the Louisville and Nashville RR tracks through Kentucky, Tennessee and Alabama. It ran right by my house at around midnight southbound and 6:30am northbound. Later it was renamed the Floridian after Amtrak took over before discontinuing service in 1979. Amtrak currently has no plans to revive that route even though Florida is growing like mad and everyone is leaving Illinois because of high taxes! LOL.
Of all the proposed new long-distance routes, the Floridian is the one that I think might actually be cost-effective if it were to start tomorrow. If you overlay highway traffic as a proxy for demand, the Chicago Atlanta Florida corridor shows up as a massive gaping hole in our long distance rail system. Unfortunately, they would now need Congressional approval to restart it, since it is over the 750 mi limit.
@@cut_and_cover it would only work if it had the frequency of the NEC and gets the 150 mph speed or 200 for express trains
People tolerate lower frequencies if they're traveling farther, since farther trips are planned farther in advance. Top speeds over 110mph would require grade separation, but if the train did an average of 90 mph (New England nec speeds), you could leave Chicago at 7:00 am and get to Orlando at 9:00 pm. Twice a day, 14 hours. You wouldn't ride that train?.
Yes Alex!! This was awesome! I’ve never been more invested in our Amtrak railways. Very informative and your presentation was impeccable. Keep making these high quality videos and you’ll reach a bigger crowd in no time.
Congress has passed legislation to expand Amtrak before, not much has been expanded. The states of New York, Illinois, and California have siphoned off infrastructure funds to other programs.
That's some graduate school-level reporting there! Add that to your high tech and engaging presentation, and you are a great presenter of important information!
This is an excellently well researched and produced video, great work!
Not really... He failed to explain why Amtrak was created in the first place ignoring the USPS completely...
@@ronclark9724 Well he did miss that. Loss of mail and package business General Motors leadership and lobbying the government. Finally bankrupted the system Oct 1967. Under funded cut back Amtrak was the result. A system that avoids major cities and dropped trains running with 40 cars like the massive Cities trains the first day May 1, 1971
This is a GREAT explainer video! You deserve way more subs.
I just want to say, I appreciate your channel a lot. The level of attention to transportation trivia in your videos has taught me so much, especially about my home state of Pennsylvania. I also love how you're not afraid to get in front of the camera. Thank you for what you do, seriously.
collabbbb
This is brilliant! Thank you.
Great stuff, hoping for more content soon! As a European I really started to appreciate the state of most of our countries public transport systems! Fingers crossed for more Passenger Rail in the USA
You might see some more local commuter rail in America, but do not expect any large investment for long distance intercity trains, much less for regional trains unless the states are willing to fork up significant resources. There is NO public support nationwide for a larger Amtrak budget...
Phenomenal production quality! I've never seen a channel this small produce such a great video on this topic. I'm really looking forward to seeing more of your videos. You're going places. Keep up the good work!
My favorite TH-camr
In Florida we are building Brightline which will connect Miami to Ft Lauderdale and now building further to include Orlando and finally to Tampa. Can't wait for it to be completed and not have to put up with all that traffic going north and south !!
Except Brightline still has to deal with the FEC railroad
@@edwardmiessner6502 Brightline and the FEC are actually owned by the same parent company, Florida East Coast Industries
, which is itself owned by Fortress Investment Group. So I don't think it will be a problem since they can work together to give Brightline trains priority.
@@jacorp7476 Exactly. Brightline is a perfect example to see how freight companies can integrate passenger rail into their schedule when they WANT to. I've ridden Brightline a few times. The trains (Siemens Charger) are beautiful and very comfortable.
@@edwardmiessner6502 also from Coco to Orlando and possibly Tampa Brightline runs on its own tracks, and how the tracks are built freight trains can’t run on them bc of the how steep the grades are
@@CaptainJeau - There are grades in Florida? The highest point in the state is 442'.
This is gotta be one of my favorite videos on why we should be funding Amtrak instead of trying to kill it. Knowing that Amtrak is the last bastion of American passenger railroading infrastructure of the country is a bit scary(not counting commuter rail).
its not the last bastion of American passenger Rail. Brightline Florida is running and privately owned.
Lol no there are many more passenger rail services like brightline, they just go unnoticed and get overshadowed by amtrak
In many places, Amtrak and commuter rail coexist.
Why add expensive trains when we could add more buses?
@@ronclark9724 - Because trains are more fuel efficient, and in commuter service, don't get stuck in traffic jams on I-80 in northern NJ.
My home state of Minnesota I believe plans to build a rail line between Rochester, St Paul, and Duluth.
Man, this is based, good job.
Just a well made video! Excellent work, Alex.
I'm still waiting for the Boston to Honolulu route.
Deep sea trains Man one day
Orbital ring vacuum trains with space elevators when?
Amtrak does not serve Honolulu Hawaii
@@DakinSmith-tr8ik humor my man
Brilliant work. So well researched and presented. Keep it up. I had no idea that Amtrak was able to cover 66% of their operating costs with fare revenue.
This will blow up
Yet another transportation channel that will blow up in 2 years
When the bill was first published, I went through it and saw a lot of good tweaks in it, showing that some dude who frequently took the train between Wilmington and Washington had studied Amtrak in depth. The one aspect that struck me (not sure if it made it to final signed legislation) was a change of Amtrak's goal to run only routes with potential to become profitable (or revenue neutral, not sure if exact wording) to a mandate to run train services that serve people across the USA.. And this makes a big difference when you pitch a new route because you need to show potential for good ridership instead of trying to pretend the route could one day be profitable.
(again, not sure if it made it to final bill).
Good news! That part did.
This was a great video and well put together. I find it hilarious when people get up in arms when it comes to passenger rail subsidy but then turn a blind eye when compared to airline, and car subsidies. I did agree with the previous Amtrak CEO who turned to deactivate some of the long distance routes to focus on more urban dense intercity routes. I do like what Amtrak is doing upgrading their rolling stock. If only we could get passenger rail dedicated lines, it would solve all the freight company non sense.
Also, when the freight companies (see FEC) want to run their own passenger train like Brightline, the schedule opens up clearly and the trains run on time. They'll even build new track too! Brightline (Seimens Charger SCB-40) is a beautiful trains and very comfortable. I've ridden it a few times. Their Brightline West (Vegas to Victorville to start) should also run smoothly as they seem to have less red tape to fight than Amtrak.
Brightline is it's own entity just with deep cooperation with FEC I believe.
@@PrograError Correct. However Brightline & FEC have a mutual parent company in Fortress Investment Group.
Excellent video.
That was amazing! Perfect video and so well done, thanks for making it fun and informative, I'll be sharing this with friends :D
This is simple put. A high quality TH-cam video: ) Great content, keep it up!
I moved from Philly to Pittsburgh and for the first time decided to take the train back home to Philly instead of driving down 76 due to rising gas prices and not wanting to wait until after work to drive. The train was super quiet, had wifi somewhat steadily the whole way, and even had a dining car. Driving usually takes me around 4.5 hrs to get back and forth between the two cities, but the train took 8 hours! In fact it only took 2 hours to get from Philly to Harrisburg (pretty similar to how long it takes driving), but took 6 whole hours to get from Harrisburg to Pittsburgh (usually less than 3 hours driving). The reason for this was exactly what you outlined in this video, Norfolk southern trains forced our train to a crawl for almost the entire second part of the journey. If Amtrak owned that stretch of rail and brought the trip down to less than 6 hours, I would take the train everytime without a doubt. The only reason I drive is because of the nearly doubled trip time it takes on the train. Other than that, the train is so much more convenient in almost every way.
This is going in my public transport playlist for if I should eventually run for office.
@Dino Con That sounds cool. Which office?
I really hope this blows up man.
Wow that was an awesome video, you are obviously very passionate about trains and it shows through. Thanks for such a good watch especially liked the track ahead segment keep it it up man!
One of the Best videos out there
Amtrak needs a dedicated Federal trust fund, just like the interstate highways and commercial aviation. How to pay for it?
1) Take 1-2 percent of both the highway and aviation trust funds and funnel them into an Amtrak fund.
2) Have a $1 per ticket surcharge
3) a one percent surcharge on all rail freight (aviation trust fund has a 6.25 percent surcharge on air cargo, so one percent is perfectly reasonable)
4) require a one percent contribution of annual revenues from the freight carriers, who are making BILLION$$$$.
- This combined would raise one billion per year (minimum) for Amtrak, dedicated revenue that could replace (or more realistically supplement/reduce) the current Federal funding and/or individual state contributions.
- Staggers Act (deregulation) eliminated the freight railroads' post-WWII financial woes and they are now making money hand over fist - they can now WELL afford to help out.
Nationalising railways or at least state expropriation for denser coastal states, will allow Amtrak to operate profitability without having to worry about paying a freight company for using their lines or paying them. New Jersey already bought the rail lines within it's boundaries.
The highway trust fund doesn't produce enough revenue to maintain the current highway infrastructure 1% isn't that much anymore and if such a diversion of revenue was possible it would have been done decades ago.
The ticket surcharge was done in the 50's and that helped price passenger rail out of the market. Why repeating a past mistake and thinking the outcome this time would be different is beyond magical thinking.
You can't compare the railroads and airfreight. The railroads are private companies that provide their own infrastructure. The government Fed, State, and local provide most of the airlines facilities, air traffic control ect. Why should rail freight shippers be required to support a government operated passenger rail when they already pay taxes?
All these 1% contributions end up being paid by someone. You and me.
@@peach7469 - Amtrak owns the NEC. NJT did buy branch lines. They should have bought the Bel-Del as far north as Phillipsburg to extend the RiverLINE.
@@OldsVistaCruiser The government can't force the railroads to sell if they do not wish to sell. Furthermore, the railroads are owned by the wealthiest and most powerful people in America.
@@ronclark9724 - The government, in fact, took over all the railroads in WW1. They should have kept the trackage after the war.
lets goo!!
To different places around the United States without the need of a private automobile
This is why we need to nationalize the main railways.
Ps. This is why I'm a PoliSci major, I want to be one of the people to help improve passenger rail, especially cus I depend on them for Intercity travel.
This channel stands out, to me, based on one video, for going on at length about specific legislation and legal-barriers-to-change lately underlying the US' rail woes 7:15 10:30 , but also not least for speaking to the camera on location in Amtrak trains
Excellent Video! It's full of information that I don't quite grasp. I need to watch it over and over.
Wow, what an incredible video! Dedication of all that filming along your trip! I love how you made the information digestible by people without railroad knowledge. Seriously, awesome video.
I've been using the only auto train in the country for about 6 years now. It runs daily between Lorton, Virginia to Sanford, Florida. Haven't figured out where the trains meet each other during the night but you depart around 4:30pm arrive around 8:30am. Nice thing is your car arrives with you no car rental fees while in vacation. Wish there were more running nation wide.
I wish for sleeper service between San Francisco and Los Angeles.
@@mariegarside8830 The Coast Starlight provides service between San Francisco and LA.
@kingallstar6460 The Starlight doesn't have overnight sleeper service between LA and San Francisco because the Stsrlight leaves LA at 10 a.m. arriving in the San Francisco area around 9 p.m.
What would be ideal is the addition of an overnight train leaving LA at 8 p.m. arriving in San Francisco (not the general area as is now the route) itself
@@mariegarside8830 Oh. Yeah it would make more sense for a sleeper service that fits in that schedule.
We need to rethink the entire rail system in America. May have to rebuild it. And it will have to be a National project. They will have to limit road crossings, to allow the trains to move faster thru given areas. They might need a seperate rail designated for passenger service, parallel to the rail being used to move freight. Either way, America needs to rethink this, then act on it, and make it a reality. Make it a system to move massive amounts of people and freight, long distances, cheaply and efficiently with a much lower impact on the environment over the lifetime of the rail services.
Remove passenger trains from host railroads
Both comments show a total lack of railroad understanding
The time to start doing that was in the 1950s at the same time as the Interstate Highway System.
@@Dog.soldier1950 you can always build bridges and undercrossings for the motor vehicle roads. Passenger and cargo trains need to be separate anyway
@@Dog.soldier1950 go ask China and India passenger rail doesn’t work shared with freight that’s why China removed passenger trains from freight corridors and had HSR lines replace them and India build dedicated freight corridors for freight trains.
This is an amazing video! Even though I will probably never ride on it since I live in Oregon, I'm so invested in train transportation that I'm very excited for the track being added to that line in Pennsylvania. At least something good for trains is happening in Pennsylvania.
This is fantastic! Looking forward to seeing what future work you make.
As a proud Republican, I can’t stand it when my party shuts down rail projects. I think the left is wrong and corrupted in pretty much everything, but their stance on passenger rail is something I definitely respect. Railroads literally built America and have been around almost as long as the country itself. It’s time we start using passenger rail again. And there are plenty more republicans like me who get overshadowed by these obnoxious and annoying politicians. I hate that transit is even a political argument.
Holy hell I forgot how bipartisan transit is
The problem is it's difficult to get lucrative rich off of passenger trains so republicans have no interest
The problem is that those annoying and obnoxious politicians have taken over your party and are also wrong and corrupted in pretty much everything. And SCOTUS enables it! It's all in the nature of the beast (of Revelation?) called the United States government, which simpky cannot be reformed.
Republicans are slanted towards rural interest in America. They don't see the point of wasting tax money on rail if they just drive 20 miles to get to the nearest store
Republican railfans rise up!
Oh wow, I didn't realize Paoli station got totally overhauled. Last time I was at that stop was way back in 2007 when it was just the little ticketing building but this redevelopment looks colossal
This video is fantastic and very informative! Great Job!
This was so well made. Keep pushing this message my guy.
I love the review of the empire builder and capitol limited casually playing in the background. Fantastic cross-country trip. Other than that, great video, something I've always been interested in.
Much support for you Alex Davis. Can't wait to see whats next
Great video!! real Tom Scott energy in your camera presence
ooo good comparison, I agree!
i love this video so much. the editing, narration, and just the overall message. the stretch from 14:14 to 16:20 literally gave me goosebumps
what im hoping for is surfliner streightening and 2x track on current singletrack areas, and then electrification of it so that it can have a seemless transition to calihsr track
The easy areas where a second main track can be added are just about all done. Any more and the NIMBY issues in California become insurmountable.
California presently has serious electricity blackouts and you desire to depend upon electricity as your power source? Think again please....
@@ronclark9724 I live here, we don't.
Sadly rn we cant doubletrack due to cliffs
@@TexanMAGABOI that is the point of the straightening
Really like your presentation style. I have to admit, your optimism at the beginning almost turned me off bc Ive heard grand public transportation promises for years, but I really liked your breakdown of the legal friction between Amtrak and private railways.
I come from Missouri. The drive between St. Louis and Kansas City takes ~4 hours. On Amtrak, it takes 8 because the route is mostly single-tracked, owned by Union Pacific.
The solution is simple. Nationalize the rail network. Take the lines away from the rail companies and pay them what they paid (adjusted for inflation) when they stole the land from farmers. I think you'll find most of the rail lines were built using eminent domain so in my opinion, the rail companies are entitled to nothing. Set high standards for construction and maintenance, upgrade our infrastructure accordingly, and lease routes/slots to anyone willing to pay for them and use them. It would have to be an immediate use it or lose it basis so you don't have large companies trying to sabotage the network. Also, charge heavy route penalties for any company using heavy diesel locomotives. Also, on any route with at-grade crossings, greatly limit the length of the train. Let freight companies run more frequent trains that are shorter, lighter, and safer. This can also be used to get big rigs off of our national highways and interstates. Let the cargo be shipped in containers across the country with container stations covering the map. A truck could take a container to the station in LA and drop it off and another could pick it up in Columbus, Ohio for local delivery. Very efficient.
Ha ha! Very bold. I like it. Though if we were to actually do a full nationalization, I would be afraid that just as soon as Conrail 2.0 had gotten everything sorted out, the next administration would start trying to sell everything back, and we'd be back to where we were in the '80s.
Great example of the failure of the American education system. Just about everything you wrote is the opposite of what really happened. The railroads in most of the us predated the farmers. They were given land grants to build a line. So many one mile sections on either side of the line per mile of track built. The railroads would then sell the land to prospective farmers to generate traffic over the line. So no they weren't built with eminent domain. Most states have in their Constitutions prohibitions against the taking of private land for use by for profit companies.
@@emilkarpo True, with one caveat. Most of those state restrictions on eminent domain were put in in the last couple decades in response to Kelo v. City of New London.
Very nice writing style for your script. Your video production and narration are absolutely top notch. Please don’t stop making rail videos. You’re a natural producer. I’m rewatching all of your Amtrak videos.
Great video!
I'm really impressed by your video! You should be a journalist!
This was incredible! Very well done video, excited to see more :)
Me too! More please!
You killed it with this video man! As a transit employee in PA the state government frustrates the hell out of me. Proposed transit cuts, but at the same time a turnpike, 95, and rte 1 widening project??? You have to be kidding me!
The simple truth is less than 2 percent of Americans have ever rode a regional or long distance Amtrak train, while more than 80 percent have flown at least once and 100 percent have used a highway one way or another... Where do you think the government should invest more? The 100 percent or for the less than 2 percent?
Very well done! I subscribed and look forward to your other work. Clear and entertaining delivery. You’ve got talent.
An amazing video of amazing quality! Hope to see more in the future!
You are right the southern rail comission does have the best tagline. its so simple and yet perfect.
This was VERY well put together. While watching it, I found myself wondering if you were a communications major. Went to your LinkedIn and saw that you were (with a side order of urban planning and design and a dash of politics). That explains that! Well done, young sir!!! You have a really engaging manner while providing substantive info. I quite enjoyed this!
Really awesome video! I love the Hiawatha Line between Chicago and Milwaukee, even if it's not "high speed", it's super convenient and one of the only trains in the Midwest where it makes sense over driving besides just the novelty. I'm sad plans to extend to Madison and Minneapolis haven't panned out yet, but I'm hoping it could still happen now!
Really looking forward to the next one!!!
Boy will you guys be surprised when Amtrak retires the Superliners and replaces them with Siemens single level cars. They have said they will, but no one reads the end of press releases.
No shock
I expect new Superliners eventually, but presently Amtrak is only refurbishing their aging 40 year old Superliners. If they do build new single level sleepers, they will be new Viewliners, not European sleepers. America prefers Roomettes and Standard Bedrooms, not European Couchettes...
Such an awesome video. I didn't knew about any of all that legal obstacles Amtrak has to deal with. Such a pain in the ass.
I absolutely love your style of presenting. Informative and entertaining. Immediately subscribed.
Amazing video Alex, felt like a professional production but packed with way better commentary and references to specific legislation!! Subscribed!!
This is an amazing and informative video about the legal state of Amtrak!
You showed that map at the beginning, and I was so confused because it looked like nothing had changed. Then I realize you're talking about the East Coast.
Until Amtrak can expand on the ALREADY EXISTING RAILS between the Cascades corridor and SLC and beyond, the service will never thrive
really great job on this, im from ireland and we are facing the same problem except in the 50s and 60 the wripped up the network and sold it for scrap, now for the last 25 years they can see the value of a train network and pay millions upon millions for planning that goes nowhere and gets nothing
The political and legal system in the USA makes big infrastructure projects nearly impossible. China has a huge bullet-train network, because they can just put it where the want to put it without challenge. Everything done in the USA is a challenge. Projects are always take a lot longer than scheduled and cost many times their original budgets. Rules and regulations are the enemy of progress.
Thats because Chinas rail network is not profit driven.
For some reason people in USA keep expecting passenger rail to pay for itself. Like infrastructure is supposed to be profitable.
Nobody complains that the highway dept "loses" money every year. Nobody says we should do away with the pentagon because it "loses" BILLIONS every year. The DOJ hasnt shown a profit once since the founding of the country, and everybody is fine with that.
For some reason its different for passenger rail.
@@nottiification Good point!
You should go in to journalism. You're really good at this. Spot on reporting on what Amtrak has already done and what has to be done before America can, indeed, say itself to be a railroad pioneer once again. The best but most radical solution is to nationalize the *track* and have it under one operating company treating both freight and passenger railroad companies equally scheduling the trains to minimize all delays. And least that is what happened to the former (still semi)-national railways in Europe. All the track in my home country of The Netherlands used to belong to the NS (Dutch Railways) before that company was split up in NS and ProRail. ProRail owns the track and the stations and NS pays a little trackage fee for the rail lines they run on. Other companies such as Arriva or Keolis pay their fees for their trains. Every five years all the rail lines are up for concession and companies bid to keep running them. Since the split of NS and Prorail trains run a >95% on time schedule and freight rail traffic has increased (!) because the profits of NS and therefore Prorail (and the state owning a majority in shares in both companies) are largely paying for new railroad projects increasing capacity. Really this expenditure on capacity is meant for passenger traffic however freight rail companies are profiting from this as well. Prorail and the freight companies have even gone so far as to build a dedicated freight railroad (ofcourse owned by ProRail) from the port of Rotterdam to the German border. Same story in France, Italy, Spain, Switzerland and Austria.
Germany has much the same story: the Deutsche Bahn (DB) used to own everything but then that got split up in DB Netze (Network) and DB Fernverkehr (and also DB Cargo). However DB is lacking in on time performace with trains often runnin up to an hour late.
As always, the solution is to copy the Netherlands.
As someone who lives in THE car state (Michigan) but has one of the most corrupt DoT's,, I can only imagine what it would be like to have a more functional training system throughout my state.
I would love to be able to get 'up north' via train instead of the conjested freeway.
MDOT owns some of the few lengths of 110mph track outside of the NEC though.
I keep emailing candidates about their opinion on transit. The answer I always get, is thank you for reaching out. I never got one candidate to even acknowledge that transit exists.
People in power don't not have cars. Like, if you know me you know I hate contributing to cynicism, but if I was writing a transit authority's bylaws, I would would say that to be on the board, you had to turn in your driver's license. It is utterly shocking how 14 out of the 15 people on SEPTA's board haven't depended on transit for any section of their entire adult lives.
In Pittsburgh we spent the same money to build a tunnel under the river to cover a six minute walk that would have covered the cost of cut and cover along the busiest bus corridor for six miles. Local government communities at their best.
Great work. Nice video, excellent information! There is no better way to travel which would be quicker if we were not always delayed by freight. I do not mind unless it is seemingly forever. Charming, relaxing, and a great way to see the country.
The dispatchers know who puts butter on their bread, and it isn't Amtrak...
This was amazingly produced and an excellent watch!
I want all the Amtrak and Amtrak trains all year and every year.
This is some very high quality journalism! I really can't wait to see more!
If there's hope for Rail transport in the USA then as a British person I am much more hopeful that rail can make a comeback in the UK.
What a great video!! And you have only 390 subscribers? Who or what did you sacrifice to the algorithm gods for this to come up in my recommended?
Keep making awesome content like this.
wow, i knew freight companies were dicks to amtrak but i had no idea the delays were that bad. and ripping up their own tracks just to inconvenience amtrak and/or please greedy shareholders... where's conrail when you need it :(
Thank Bill Clinton for what happened to Conrail.
Conrail did so much right and so much wrong with abandoning and deelectrifying railroads. What they did to the Lackawanna Cut-Off, South Jersey's commuter rail, the cut services in Pennsylvania and the Trenton Cut-Off was just unforgivable. I never understood why they never gave it to the State instead.
I felt like I was watching a Tom Scott video with you ending up in a different location every other clip lmao. Awesome video, very informative and well thought out!
If I was on the train and I heard someone badmouth amtrak for no reason, while on the amtrak, I'd super confused
🤣
Best transportation video (and cousin) out there!
I work on the railways in Britain, and the more I learn about the system in this country the less sense it makes. And then I watch stuff like this and remember no matter what this country does badly it's always something the Yanks do worse
Glad we could help
@@cut_and_cover lmao
This video is so well done. Immediately you've become one of my favorite TH-camrs!
I want all the trains and Amtrak and Amtrak trains all year and every year.
Your channel is FANTASTIC! Great job!