Why Trains are so Expensive
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 6 เม.ย. 2017
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Sound by Graham Haerther (www.Haerther.net)
Thumbnail by Joseph Cieplinski (joec.design)
Research by William Mayne
Passenger and conductor icons courtesy H Alberto Gongora from the Noun Project
Select footage courtesy Amtrak
Amtrak locomotive photo courtesy Nathan D. Holmes
Amtrak advertisement photo courtesy Oran Viriyincy
“Whispering Through” song by Asura
Acela express photo courtesy Ben Schumin
Virgin Trains EC photo courtesy Virgin Trains East Coast
Kings cross photo courtesy Wikipedia commons user “Colin”
Yemasse Amtrak station photo courtesy DanTD
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“Why is AMTRAK so expensive?” would be a more accurate title.
And which other major train companies are running through the entire USA?
@@AndrooUK There is other countries except the USA who have train services
Yea but even in other countries with somewhat good rail service the prices are high compared to other transport means
Germany Sweden France
Because the US taxpayers are not exactly happy about anteing up about giving someone else a free ride.
@@vincentperratore4395 So who builds the interstates?
In the us: amtrak carries 31.7 million in 2017
In germany: the DB carries 2.5 billion People in 2017
also in Germany: db always delayed for all strange reasons
@@ky8920 yes
@@antoniusnoll9670 Senk ju for träveling wis deushe ban...
@@ky8920 the DB is one of the worst companies in german history. They keep rails and bridges until they're completely worn down, so the taxpayer has to pay for new ones instead of repairing the old ones for far less money. And they build crazy train stations like Stuttgart 21 for litteraly no reason other than making profit for the people who own land surroundin it.
And finally the pricing is complicated and way too high.
Indian railways be like hold my beer
10:08 YOU MENTIONED MY HOME TOWN!!! Nobody has ever mentioned my home town, Havre, ever in my entire 20 years of using the internet.
My dad used to work at an indie record label called Southern Records, and they had an office in Le Havre; look it up, they signed a lot of cool bands. Their HQ was in Chicago
@@Fishmanist That's really cool! But I think you may be mixing my town up with the one in France. It's a more common mistake than you'd think.
enjoy your moment )
Huh well I’m glad your town got mentioned.
Of course nobody mentions it, it costs so much to get there
Why Trains are so Expensive
*in the U.S*
Why _passenger_ trains are so expensive in the us
Its an american youtube channel so...
@@mannytafuerte but most of the subscribers are foreign
But that’s a class 180... Used in Britain on the thumbnail
IveRanOutOfNameIdeas Doesn’t mean it’s gonna be a video about the British Rail Network
Side note: *Wide Adelante*
I think this is mostly a us video. The largest Dutch railway company (NS) employs 5000 people and they have 1 000 000 passengers a day.
+Ward Huyskes - Not entirely fair if you're not including ProRail in that figure, but yes, railways in the Netherlands are far superior to those in the US.
Same look at British trains from Northampton to London is only 50 pounds or 100 and we have millions of each but we have train companies and ours are fast and our companies wand nice companies like virgin trains
FOR A FAIR COMPARISON YOU NEED TO COMPARE AMTRAK TO ANOTHER SYSTEM WITH THE SAME AMOUNT OF TRACK.
aero luxe shut up dickhead
And they are NEVER on time
The hi speed trains of Europe mean I can step aboard 1 minute before departure in the middle of the city, cruise at 300kmh and step off at a destination in the middle of a city without Queues, waiting, taxis, baggage checks, body scans and all the other crap that goes with flying. Flying is no quicker and less convenient up to 700 or even 1000km trips
Absolutely. I've also taken the kind of luggage on high-speed trains before that airlines would charge me vast quantities of money for, while train companies really don't care; if you can fit it on the overhead shelves, you can take it for free.
Yep. Here in Spain they don´t really care about your luggage (they have a small limit but never stop anybody). Of course not all of the trains are bullet trains, but even if you get a slow one, it really beats flying, in my opinion. No airport stress and better service. You can walk around a bit and get something to drink in the little restaurant car. It is nice to see the landscape changing too.
Also it's a lot better for the environment than flying...
Trains are so much more relaxing as well. In England the train are often slower than driving, but you don’t have to concentrate at all.
@@gtsguy4138 Oh definitely. Especially on the Edinburgh-London East Coast Main Line; look outside the windows on the right (Left if you're heading to London) for one hell of a view.
Plus, the seats aren't quite as hilariously bad as Ryanair's (which is a joke of an airline; I will never spend another penny with them again!)
"They just use the sky, which is for free.."
Russia : Hold my vodka!
Wendover here made a mistake, sky is never for free, even for domestic flights airlines have to pay fare to airports they pass during the flights. But for international flights the price is always higher, not only in Russia
@@jamesoo96571 Except Russia has the power to refuse permission to airlines based in foreign countries to overfly Russia.
@@E1craZ4life I think every country has a list of permitted airlines to pass it. Do you think that any random airline can pass any country just if it wants to pass it? For Russia maybe this list is considerably narrow, that is the problem for small airlines, but big advantage for those which have this permission
@@jamesoo96571 most countries signed a treaty that allows almost all commercial airlines that meet basic safety measures to fly over them. Russia doesn't and it can and does use that as a trade coin.
@@rosco3 Ну нам деньги нужны, знаете ли!
You literally chose the worst countries for train commuting
MattoManiac Spain is worse.
Well the point was why trains are so expensive, I doubt that’d be different in other countries. Also France is pretty good when it comes to trains.
@@Shartrais Romania is even worse!
@@trainspotting_and_tech2023 really? We even have different train tracks, with different width, so you have to leave a train and take another depending the origin and destination.
@@Shartrais in Romania, în some cases you will leave the point A by train and reach in point B by bus! 🤦♂️😂
In czech republic:
Main track: Prague>Ostrava(300km/200mi)
Train ticket: 12.5$
Plane ticket: 150$
There is no plane at this route
Next week i'm traveling 500km by train in Finland and only paying 18€ for it. If i flew i would have to pay around 100€
In sweden
Stockholm-Gothenburg (around 400 km)
High-speed train in first class: 32$
Plane: 80$
Less than 4$ for students
I once had a flight from Prague to Brussels for 9€.
The tile should really say, "Why are PASSENGER trains so expensive." Freight trains are doing fine. Efficient. In demand. Cheap.
r w brilliant idea: treat people as freight!💡💡💡
You know how many people we can fit in a single CONEX box?
As stupid as that sounds, it actually makes a lot of sense. Amtrak can just simply rent a freight operator to transport patrons to their destinations while also hauling their cargo. Whenever they get to junction where they need to have freight transported elsewhere, another locomotive is already there to pick-up.
MarloSoBalJr MJofLakeland2 I don't think that's how it works.
You need seats and instructions. and a security gaurd.
Wendover production: why are trains so expensive?
Me living in India: realy?
Sirf sleeper aur general cheap hai
@@naveenjain9942 lmao noo , even 3rd AC sleeper , and 2nd and 1st class in india are much cheaper than regular class American trains
@@naveenjain9942 general and sleepers are even more dirt cheap
I would not say that airlines are 'highly profitable' as they have extremely tiny margins
Leo Meili especially when they beg for government bailouts every decade or so.
Yeah, there's a difference between being extremely profitable and circulating around huge amounts of money.
Truth be told, most extremely influential industries through history - like the car industry and tech companies like TH-cam - haven't been very profitable. They gain a lot of money, but they spend a lot of it as well.
I was about to say this.
They can be and are sometimes
I don't think "highly profitable" necessarily refers to profit margins.
Solution: Flying Trains !!
Manus pulled/lifted by unicorns
Knaughty F Exactly
Thank You
Vinay Ramanjulu but still requires infrastructure and real estate between destinations.
I will raise you one, Space Trains!
we can attach wings with jet engines onto the side of the train and we shall call it a plane
In the Netherlands I can go from the train station to the big city for €3,70, and a ticket that brings you everywhere in the country for a whole day costs €19. ( edit ) students can use all public transport for FREE.
Start of the video: Why are trains so expensive?
End of the video: *THE TRAINS ARE THE FOUNDATION OF DEMOCRACY AND THE ONLY THING KEEPING THIS COUNTRY TOGETHER*
well he's not wrong
@@WesternOhioInterurbanHistory it’s facts really
I used to take the train that passed through New York and went to DC. I hugely preferred it to the hassle of flying. You just take a taxi to the station, walk on when the train arrives, show your ticket, and chill. No annoying security.
I live in Germany. I use the train every day because it is MUCH cheaper than driving my car.
No LaLaO. It is not. You pay for it in taxes that you are not accounting for.
Patrick EH ... And in return get an awesome infrastructure that allows me to commute quickly and reliably.
Just take a bike bro. Much cheaper. ;)
Fruit500. I would. If I could...
+LaLaObeRoT No money?
Hold on, $59 for a flight??? In Canada, a train to Vancouver from Edmonton costs about $170, on a plane its $400
Yup you heard that right...
I still question the cost of Canadian trains. If they lowered the cost, they might find that many more people use this service - especially now that we have no Greyhound in BC.
Well simply fly to Seattle and take a bus there, way way cheaper. Canadian domestic services are ridiculously expensive.
Yeah. You can get a round trip from Denver to Los Angeles for $250 easily.
Honestly if the train tickets aren't stupid expensive, I'd probably go to Montreal (from Toronto) a few times a year.
American youtuber: Why trains are so expensive?
Me: *Laughs in Bulgarian*
How do u laugh in Bulgarian? Make sure you translate your laugh for us Americans pls.
Laughs in sweden.
@@Bregott07 How dare you!
Imagine thinking Bulgaria is actually developed lmao, even Turkey is better. The richest city in Bulgaria is probably equivalent to Jackson, Mississippi.
@Spoutnik - Way worse, GDP per capita in Mississippi is $30k, just looked up Bulgaria it’s $8k lol.
You don't "pay the railways to kill or injure people", you pay the railways to help victims of train crashes and their families
Yeah, this sentence is so stupid. Ofc we don't
probably you pay for an insurance that pays the victims and their families in the case of a train crash. And also pays the infrastructure that might be damaged.
Thije, WHAT?
That's literally the same t
That was a heavily overdramatized sentence, Amtrak Tries to be as safe as possible
I really love trains. I live in Sweden, and my family sometimes go from the South to the North to go skiing. We usually go on a nighttime train. I love the gentle bumps and the cozy room and bunks where I can read and talk to my family. ILUVIT!
DoSo I am also swedish. The trains here just work. They are awesome.
You should try American trains lol
Even Sweden is behind a lot of countries in terms of speed and access for trains, that being said, way ahead of USA.
@@sethaldrich6902 Tho comfort is nice?
Greetings from Finland 🇫🇮:)
Damn Thomas, you too expensive.
With America's long distance overnight trains think of them as hotel trains. Notice he did not mention when one takes a overnight train you save a night or two of hotel expenses. Which in many cases balances out the expensive train fare....
Yes?
Also, trains run so infrequently here in the US that the schedules rarely work well for any traveller. Combine that with the lack of speed and the fact that most people don't live in the city center...it's better to drive for under 300 miles than to ride the train/fly.
After 300 miles, the trip takes most of the day so if the flight is cheap enough...just makes sense to fly and/or drive.
There is a train called the West Coast Express which costs only 12 dollars to get from Vancouver to Mission, British Columbia. That's even less than a Greyhound bus ride (and Greyhound doesn't operate anymore within the province anyway). There are lots of people who travel as well, so it must pay for itself.
£30 Edinburgh to London?
Yeah, if you book 10 weeks in advance, perhaps. Buy on the day and your eyes will water
Dom Thorrington buying in advance is the only fare that actually matters. It's the most like air travel and fits the use cases of those that are travelling for leisure very well. Anytime tickets are just for business customers and unlucky ones that leave it late. Advance, off peak and anytime should all be available at the same time.
Dom Thorrington indeed, try buying a '£13' plane ticket on the day!
Dom Thorrington you can negotiate extremely low prices if there are spare seats and the flight will leave soon as the airline would lose more money if it's empty
I just looked. It's £137 off-peak pleb class if you buy same day.
>pleb class
holy shit my sides
Did not add the cost of traveling to and from the airport, railway stations are usually in the CBD of a city whereas airports air really often in outer suburbs.
Aj C exactly. This video is INCREDIBLY biased in favor of airline companies. Given Wendover Productions' general favoritism shown towards particular forms of air travel over all other means of transportation, one has to wonder about the sources of his bias...
Well, I think the station access fee for Intl and domestic terminals is around $2 in Sydney? I could be off by a lot, but it doesn't seem like too much
D Mack it's 14 dollar on top if usual fare. It's quite expensive
You'll probably find a bus which will take you to your destination for a third of the cost of a train, and buses usally also depart from central parts of cities.
CBD... *shudder*
In India, I travelled 500km in an AC sleeper coach for about 10$!
The same route costs 30$ and above on a plane!
The sky isn't free though. You mentioned overflight fees, which goes to the government whose airspace you are flying over.
technically its free between domestic destinations in the US tho
You mean airlines pay for every cent of the cost of running airports, air traffic control, etc. etc?
But does that fee go into making sure the air keeps working properly?
Like with rail maintenace?
@@revimfadli4666 Yeah that's more like a tax and less of "paying for the air that they use."
And if you polute it with greenhouse gasses it get's warmer and starts to do more damage and becomes dangerous more often. That is also not factored in.
£13 pounds on a plane from London to Edinburgh?!
It's probably counted as some ryanair ticket from gatwick or something
Benny Graves the seat would be £13. Everything else would cost extra, but it's possible to travel it at that price
Benny Graves Welcome to low cost europe flights
He probably run with the figure expressed on the Ryanair ads, which at least in italy are much much cheaper than actual prices as they aren't including taxes and airport costs
edinhbourgh to stansted, which is 40 miles away from london
New title: Why are American trains so expensive.
zh11147 it made up about 1% of the entrie video
Irrelevant. You need as a video for each to treat it by country. The title is missing the point about the nature of rail vs air in general, misleading viewers to generalize, even the US system.
true, this video is very misleading. this video isn't about train vs plane, it's about some countries mismanagement of industry.
@wh11147 You mean where it is cheaper and also faster, yeah i've seen them.
ozmoz01 I think the concept of the video is fantastic and I enjoyed it a lot however there are minor details such as the title and certain topics in the video that can make the video less pleasing and satisfying to watch
You deserve an award for deciphering the UK rail ticketing system. Actually your breakdown of different fares is for a relatively simple part of the network.
Lol, hardly anyone flies between cities in the UK.
Ikr! With all the queues and having only rubbish airlines going between London and Edinburgh against LNER and Grand Central where it is MUCH more enjoyable
I know this is a late reply but with Flybe gone, it’s now just far better to take the train. Plus with the time in security and check in, I’d prefer the train.
Touring Bewdley exactly! As inflated as the prices get it just seems a lot more comfortable and enjoyable in general
IveRanOutOfNameIdeas my father once took a plane from Birmingham to Glasgow once, with Flybe. Now that’s gone, intercity flights are non existent. And when the train trip isn’t really that long anyway, it’s quite beautiful going cross country in the uk.
In terms of time taken, convenience and overall experience, the train is just better. Besides, trains go to more places than planes
...... in america.
Cars are really cheap here tho, so that makes up for it
Germany too. For the same route like in france I`n not paying 30€ but 90-120€ ina average
The Swiss train network is excellent, but very far from cheap. Traveling 30 miles and back can easily set you back 50 dollars. Being travel wherever and as often as you want costs you about 2000 dollars per year.
in deutschland gehts voll fit von den preisen her
engineers frequently make in excess of 140k/yr in pre-tax income, with a tremendous set of benefits, plus paid accommodation and meals (granted, the schedules can be pretty erratic, and make it hard to plan an involved life around).
I am from INDIA here trains are the cheapest means of transport Chandigarh to New Delhi costs ₹220 (4 dollars) for distance of 300 KM (180 miles) and there are cheaper options too on the same train
There are even cheaper ones available. chandigarh to delhi on Himalaya Queen costs rs 110.
There is like 3000 people using a train made for 500.
I bet is a nice profit
Do they shit on the rails too over there?
Wow, Indians think they're so superior in trains. The key is speed, comfort and luxury, Indian Trains don't always have them.
Same as in Indonesia, Jakarta to Purwakarta 100km just 6000 rupiah, or 45 cent. Full AC and seating.
In Italy there are only the train driver and the conductor in a 500 seat regional train, and the rails are government owned. You can go from Milan to Florence (more than 300km) in the Italian fastest train (Frecciarossa) in 1 hour and 40 minutes for 25€
Actually more like 55 €
As an Indian, I must say I can go an equivalent distance of 1/3rd the width of the USA in about $10, with a place to sleep for the overnight journey. Any time of the year. It's not fast at all, but it's dirt cheap.
OMG 75,000 a year for a job working on a train?! SIGN ME UP!
And then there's the pension and healthcare benefits. It shows that public sector employees are not public servants. They are public MASTERS.
Not an American but, the video is right about the personnel being specialized on their respected field.
or they'll take a sustainable business approach that doesn't require federal funding to operate
God damn, I'd take that. AND it has a union too, for slightly added job security
Starting wage is more like £30,000
Hey hope you enjoy this (early) new video!
Edit: I forgot to add that I'm at VidCon Europe this weekend in Amsterdam! If you want to say hi there's a Science creator meetup that I'll be at at 6:15 pm Sunday in the "Europe Foyer Meetup Area."
If you missed when I said it at the beginning, I started a podcast with Brian from Real Engineering! We chatted with Hank Green on the first episode which you can find with the link in the description or at showmakers.fm.
Also please go check out Videoblocks! I'm not exaggerating at all when I said I've used them since day one. I'm also not lying when I say that that 7-day free trial is not publicly available! The only way to get it is to use the link the description and it'll give you up to 140 free fully licensed stock footage clips. If you're a TH-camr there's absolutely no reason for you not to try them out.
Who the eff is Hank?
(Please note that correct answers fail to get the joke, and thus are wrong.)
OMG trains! I love your informative content, it so entertaining. KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!
In Canada to promote train travel Via Rail our railway company offered a ~$149.00 ticket to anywhere in the country. Pretty cool to see how many expenses go into that, but I guess in this specific case the volume of travelers incentivises the promotion rather than bigger profits. Tbh i didn't think about train travel before this promotion because of the cost, but if your going cross country from where I am (Ottawa) to BC its worth it for that price.
Sorry but I wasn't able to find your podcast in my android app (Pocket Cast). Do you have an RSS feed set up yet? I also have also hosted a podcast via squarespace, so if you need a hand getting any of the back end stuff set up, I'd be happy to help where ever I can. Looking forward to hearing it!
Would love to meet you, especially since you're in my country, buy I can't go this weekend. :c
@2:07 "highly specialized workers, demanding high salaries" *watches war movie in the background*
He says as if the Airline workers are armature.
@@sathvikpasumarthy I think the point was that airlines need fewer workers per passenger-km.
Americans: why trains are expensive
Me : laughs in HINDI
Yeah true
Tbh for the cheap trains, we get basically zero facilities or luxury on the train
@@shishsuke but you save money that is important
@@rmedix7201 do we? Trains are subsidized in India,no? It's waste of taxpayer's money. Should be Privatized
@@gabbar51ngh like the video ends... The profitable routes and the government subsidies helps ope routes to rural locations and keep the fare affordable for the economically weaker society.
For a country like India the subsidies help pull more people out of poverty, which there is a lot of.
I think 9 times out of 10, if a train runs over you, it's not really the trains fault? They run generally on schedules and if you use crossings, they warn you every time one is coming. Kinda your own fault if you get hit by a train.
Thomas is not too happy about squishing a few people.
Its not the people fault *they like trainz* .... they were just trying to give the trains a hug :(
How can you even get on the track by accident if a train is coming. You would need to duck under the barrier.
Roy Hoeksema, relatively few RR crossings at grade have "barriers." Many drive around the barriers. Many stop on the tracks when the vehicle that has just cleared the crossing has to stop. Some even run into the side of a train that is already blocking the crossing.
I recall one person whose car had just been smashed by a train saying, "I didn't know they still had trains anymore!" Boggles the mind.
DING! DING! DING! DING! (Crossing lights flashing) BLAATT! BLAATT! BLAAAAAAAAATT!! (SMASH! GRIND! CRUNCH!)
Don't forget to look both ways before you cross the train tracks
London to Edinburgh 30 quid? Perhaps if you book a hundred years in advance
Nakas Dougen if you book ahead about 4 weeks ahead you can get them.
Nakas Dougen if you have railcards and off peak travel times, even less
or your grandmother is 85 on a Wednesday!
I found this actually really funny.... haha
This video didn’t really cover how inefficiently train routes are in the USA.
Trains shouldn’t try to compete with planes on very long routes. What they SHOULD do in the USA (but generally don’t), is provide medium distance transport to the nearest major airport. There SHOULD be a train station Co-located with every major airport to transport people to/from the surrounding area, including small towns.
In this way, people could get all over the US at a reasonable cost, including to rural areas.
First off, medium distance routes from Amtrak are basically prohibited by law, unless state supported.
Second off, airports are very overrated as train destinations. Better to have a train station in the middle of downtown.
@@austinpapageorge7210 medium distance routes prohibited by law? Which law are you referring to, I've never heard of this.
As far as airports vs downtown, I'm not implying that we shouldn't have them downtown too. But why choose? In Europe and Japan (I've spent plenty of time on both their train systems) they go both downtown and to the airport.
I used to live in Groton, CT and I would fly out of Providence RI or Hartford, CT (they were about equidistant from my house). There was an Amtrak line that ran right through the city (we had a stop) and I could catch the train to PVD...easy peasy. Did it ALL the time.
I avoided BDL (Hartford) like the plague, it was much less convenient and more expensive to drive my car and park it for a week.
So I'm just saying from personal experience, they really should have stops at airports.
@@mattc7939 look at any amtrak document and you see a distinction between long distance and state supported. Amtrak cannot unilaterally make a route less than 750 miles.
Also I don't think any Japanese Shinkansen stations are in airports, but if there is one I'd like to know of it.
@@mattc7939 I think avoiding BDL like the plague is a good idea for many reasons. It makes Newark look functional.
There’s no way London to Edinburgh is £30
4:53 , you phrased that in the worst way possible. Take this for example. A friend of mine was riding an Amtrak outside NYC a few days ago. Somebody jumped in front of that speeding train and was killed. That isn’t amtrak’s fault at all
@Mario Lisa Who cares, gag away. snowflake.
@Mario Lisa It's a normal Dutch name you ignorant turd
@Mario Lisa At least he shows his name while you hide behind a meme to protect your precious identity that no one cares about.
@Mario Lisa Your use of emojis make me want to kill myself
The figure of people killed by trains in general is deceptive.
Most of it is not caused by accidents, it is caused by people willingly throwing themselves on the rails. If you count only train accidents then the train is the safest mode of long transportation by a landslide. Train accidents almost never happen in developed countries and when they do, they have way lower death rates than you'd expect. Most train related death come from either people committing suicide or crossing with their car when they shouldn't.
Everyone should take an Amtrak ride at least one time. It can be a really cool experience. I've done rides that are 3 hours long. One of these days I'd like to try doing a route that's like a couple days long like from Chicago to LA.
I’ve done it and I highly recommend it. They timed the route to pass through the most beautiful views during the day and the most boring spots at night.
Good luck paying for it.
Me watching this while riding a train through Germany for free due to it being included in the 250 Euro per Semester I pay for my University degree: Trains are what?
Subsidized?
Philippine National Railway cost you 0.42$ for a 425km Ride
It's all Air-conditioned and comfy
The ceo even said "We will not increase the fare yet,we have to increase service first"
you might have missed that the bullet train generally get you to the center of town, while you need to add transportation, hence time and money, when you take the plane. In particular, to go from Paris to Lyon by plane is not *at all* the same journey as with the train.
Why are rebuttals to this video stating how much cheaper taking a train is FOR THEM … like the was the argument.
When this video is mostly about how NOT profitable most train route are and how planes are in fact, safer transportation.
The dishonesty of pro train folks never cease to amazing me …
I think American trains are the worst example of railway network maintenance and management
One thing this video clearly forget about is that passengers service for any railway network is not the main revenue making entity, it is the freight carrier that make money .
Unless its a inner city metro service, trains are run as essential part of the economy and mostly run for serving people
+phillyslasher - It's a bit of a chicken-and-egg problem. You absolutely can make the case that there are few people using train services in the US, therefore it doesn't make sense to run countless trains, but equally I could make the case that there are very few trains, therefore it doesn't make sense to use a train service in the US. The geography of the US plays a massive role in all of this, but even in heavily urbanised parts of the US, both the quality and quantity of train services falls far behind those of similar regions in Europe and the Far East.
+phillyslasher - Just FYI, a lot of Europe's most rail-happy countries also have privatised railways...
In fact it's so private that the Federal Railway Administration should be called the Railway Federal Administration.
The us system sounds simular to the uk system
Naturally because their both based on making profits for investors.
this is exactly where the rail systems of India and China comes in!
Did you know diesel fuel is WAY safer than water? Thousands of people drown in water every year. Almost no one ever drowns in diesel.
What about blood? Nobody ever drowns in blood.
Ok, that's creepy
@@darnit1944 technically when someone got injury that let the blood goes into the lungs, you can...
Mess up with the Mafia, then you can drown in a barrel of diesel, if you are lucky they will not set it alight and cook your corpse.
Did you know that the yakuza drowns opponents in liquid concrete and build. Skyscrapers on the site, in the middle of cities.
In the words of a wise man
DIESLE WONT DROWN ME OF ITS ALLREADY ON FIRE TURNING ME INTO A COOKIE
"You're paying 79¢ for Amtrak to kill or injure someone" good to know
Eric Li Yup your paying for the moron who decided it was a great idea to try to beat the train at the crossing...
I can be faster on the train if you take into account the amount of time it takes to get through the airport.
It depends a lot on distance. Trains and metro systems/trams are best within cities, cars are best for distances up to maybe 100 or 200 miles. High speed trains are good for longer distances, until finally taken over by planes. The slower regional trains that stop along route at every town and village are nearly always loss-making and inferior to cars.
that's true and in the past i've seen some virgin trains adverts using that as a selling point on taking the train over flying
Absolutely. I'm traveling from my hometown in the Netherlands to Warsaw by train next week, and while it costs about twice as much as going by plane, and takes significantly longer too, I don't have to bother with luggage restrictions, customs, check-ins and check-outs, etc. A train also doesn't have to taxi for half an hour, follow the instructions of an air traffic controller, spend an eternity in a holding pattern, and most importantly, a train goes from city centre to city centre, rather than from remote airport to remote airport...
mark lawson absolutely!
But, the regional trains are sometimes, more superior than the other. It's useful that regional trains actually stop at a destination which many employees can commute faster to their workplace than the main station.
9:05 In Germany everyone can buy one of six railcards (excluding the one for young people). They can generally be split in two groups, first and second class with downwards compatibility and three tiers, that as their name tells remove 25%, 50% or 100% of the ticketprice. The last one doesn't require any real ticket. You just hop on a train and show your railcard.
"disabled" *shows senior card*
"And elderly" *shows disabled card*
Amtrak across LA county on the weekend costs only $10 a person. Round trip all day from 6am to 9pm and it also includes the metro and bus lines inside of the city. Its honestly a very convenient way to get into the city from the suburb and back.
London to Edinburgh for £30? Add a zero and you might be closer to the mark 😂😂😂
yer if you are booking for 20180 you may get that big a discount, never otherwise.
If you book as far in advance as possible, the 14:30, 15:30, 16:00, 16:30 and 17:00 can all be bought for as little as £25
Benny C 19:26 on a Saturday, if you book a few weeks in advance that’d cost you £40 if you book a few weeks in advance
Didnt the old operator (East Coast) offer tickets for £25 before?
Very far in advance, and since East Coast operated it inflation has occurred, and they didn't have to pay the ridiculously high amounts for Network Rail as this was before the GWML electrification started being delayed and the costs spiralled
4:50 grossly incorrect.
It means that you're paying 79 cents in order for Amtrak to apologise/pay to victims/relatives in case they do kill someone.
"You're paying that money in order for the company to kill people" means that if you removed the fee, the people would stop being killed.
But the reality is quite the opposite - if you removed the fee, people would not stop being killed, but relatives/victims would stop getting ...at least a bit compensated.
Btw a moment like that in your script, I think, is not a one to try and snappily/quippily "summarize". A moment like that in your script is one that requires clarity in expressing the concept, and clarity in understanding what the actual concept is, so that you don't misrepresent or miscommunicate it.
Trains are not like cars and trucks. They run on rails, remember? These rails are on right-of-ways that people shouldn't be trespassing on. These rails cross roads on level crossings that have gates and warning signals. If somebody wants to drive around the gates and take their chances, why should their families be compensated? Gotta love America. The family should be fined for the grief and delay they caused the driver and the passengers.
@@ronstux4428 did the family cause the delay _themselves?_ Or were they also burdened by the "victim's" behavior?
@@revimfadli4666 Familys are supposed to teach each other stuff like how not to get caught up in front of a train.
@@jannikheidemann3805 that assumes accidents wouldn't still happen despite that effort. Or that people wouldn't use it to commit suicide insteaf
@@revimfadli4666 If the railway operator is to blame for an accident, for example if a crossing did not function or a train derails and crashes into a person, then they are obviously liable, but this is verry rare.
But why should a railway operator pay for somones suicide?
A railway being nearby is usually not the reason someone decides to end thier own life. Most railway operators even conduct efforts to help people who are considering suicide on thier railways to come to the decision not to do just that.
It seems you haven't been in Eastern Europe
@John Boy Nobody in Europe likes UK anymore. You guys are Coronaspreaders, have a moron as Premier and are annoying us with your Brexit shit. Actually more people go to France than to Britain.
@@heybenjii5544 Does europe know that the UK doesnt like the UK either?
@@heybenjii5544 does Europe know that the government does not represent everyone in the country
@@coasteryaris6710 Well at least the majority. Like Scotland is really nice, so is Northern Ireland and Gibraltar. But in England and Wales, the majority voted that Government, so the Government represents the majority
@@heybenjii5544 the torys only got 47.2% of englands popular vote in the election (not a majority) bur do to the unfairness of the voting system they got 64% of the English seats. And that vote was only due to brexit . (witch ill remind you the referendum was only won by 2.5% ). Yeh some of us are twats but not all of us
I'm not too familiar with the Airline industry in Europe, but the Airline industry in the US is far from 'highly profitable'. Airlines in the United States makes razor thin margins, and they too are heavily subsidised by the government through airport grants, ATF, FAA, etc.
Tao Liu No airline operates on large margins. The ones in the US just have comparatively higher operating margins.
Profitable airlines in the US are a fairly recent development. Airlines lost huge amounts of money for decades. It took several rounds of bankruptcies and mergers before they consolidated to the point that they became profitable.
Tao Liu Ryanair is Europe's most profitable airline and their business model us based on blackmailing airports into cheap landing fees.
Oh have I mentioned that most airports in Europe are state owned and lose money?
Tao Liu 😂
They are not profitable. They are artificially making money right now for as long as the older employees are still working for them. A newer generation is not replacing the older ones quick enough because the wages are non-existent. Why would someone pay 100+ grand for a career that pays them fast food wages? Airlines are artificially making money now in the US based on heavy subsidies on unsustainable wages. It won't last.
expensive but cheaper than teleportation
Dr.StickFigure teleportation would be amazing! Breakfast in France and lunch in LA
and baggage in Hong Kong
we have to save Amtrak. It is so important to America. Please help spread this to congress. Donald trumps budget totally cuts all Amtrak trains in 26 states and over 15 routes. I personally love to take the train and would hate to see it go. Save Amtrak.
Hoscale Crashes Amtrak needs Decent infrastructure.
In a Rome-Milan Trip in a highs speed ticket in 1st class for 74€ buying 5 days in advance...
With the Private company, not the state owned one...
Hoscale Crashes Amtrak is a good investment.
It brings more tourists than it costs money.
In Greece
Main line: Athens>Thessaloniki(500km/310miles)
Train ticket= 25€
Airplane ticket=80€
Car=130€
The airplane ticket price can be found around 60-70€.And the full price for a economy class train ticket is 45.40€.Unless you are student ,kid etc.But you forgot to mention how slow the train is.Right now the trains competition is not the airplane but the bus.
*3 hours with the plane* including transportation time to and from the airport
*4+ hours with the train*
*6 hours with the bus*
Until the train can exceed the airplane time or at least match it the train is a failure in Greece.All these without taking into consideration the services.
@@manos527 you didn't include the extra 2.5 hours that you have to come early to get your ticket, go through TSA and get to your boarding gate and then, wait another 30-40 minutes before the plane will take off.
This video has a flaw. It states that Amtrak has 1 employee for every 4 passengers. That may be true for Amtrak passengers, but it’s not only them. Amtrak provides ALL maintenance of the northeast corridor which at least 3 other railroads pay Amtrak to use. The Hudson River tunnels see 400,000 people travel between them per day.
Holy crap American trains are so damn expensive. Now I've done some research. I live in Czech republic, which is post communism county so one of the few good things that came out of that is that government invested heavily to commute plus we have one of the most complex railway network since Austria-Hungarian empire so trains goes to pretty much every larger village or small town.
To compare from Brno to Prague which is approx. 200 km (125 miles) train costs about 8,5$ for ordinary ticket and 5$ for students. The ticket is valid all day and you can leave and board again on whatever station the train stops, provide it is the same day as the ticket was bought (For comparison bus cost 8$ normal and 6$ student). And that is just regular rail company tickets.
For a few years now we have something called Integrated Public Transport System, which is region based system for universal transport tickets. That means that you can take public transport, bus and train with the same ticket. System works that the whole region is separated into "zones" and you pay the price according how many zones are between your town and your destination. Base cost (2 zones) is about 1$ with 0,30$ for every additional zone.
I mean yeah that's it. We have public transport cheap, convenient and it goes to even the smallest villages at least every 2 hours. Also noted most of our buses and trains are new, clean and have a free wi-fi. So America, you know, take a lesson here.
Kristo Vanek
Oh quit gloating!
compare the size of the U.S. to Czech republic, and compare the average wage between the two countries
jberda_95 bullshit trains can work in California, Texas, Illinois and New England and Florida but they will NOT work in the rust belt states or the Appalachian areas
They can't and I'll explain why. I was born in Europe and lived 12 years in the States.
The distances between towns are ENORMOUS. 200 km is absolutely fucking nothing, most people in the States have a 90 mile commute (145 km). That profitable train route he mentioned, DC to NY, is 200 ish miles or so, 330 KM, 1.5 x longer than the route you mentioned. For same distance I can travel from Romania, through Hungary to Czech Republic.
Our population density is much higher in Europe, compared even with the Eastern board of US, we also lack highways. They have this great alternative mode of transportation called the highway, which is basically like german Autobahn, but with more speed restrictions. Still it allows you to travel very quickly between towns, short to mid range (european mid range).
There are highways in Czech Republic, I know cause I traveled on them on the way to Poland but they don't offer the kind of integration US highways do, at some point you have to get off and travel on "normal" roads. Trains are a great way to bypass those sections and still make great time. But in the States, is impossible. Passengers trains travel at about same speed a car on a highway does and once you factor in the train has to stop and wait for passengers to get on/off, car wins, at least for now.
As the oil becomes more expensive as we near the point of depletion, car transportation will become more and more expensive and trains will win out in USA as well, especially since they can be converted to green electric.
Zamolxes77 especially as driverless cars would make getting to the train far easier than ever before
in indonesia,you only have to pay around $16 (business class) and $9 (economy class) from jakarta to yogyakarta,the distance between is 560 kilometers
Dimas Aldi.P The prices have to fit the average human's salary.
inner jakarta whole day less then $2 hhhh anjin
commuter line? super cheap for short trip less then 2 hours :D
yeah,thats why many people here prefer to use train than plane , because the trains are cheap so everyone can afford it
but,im talking about train in my country, its indonesia,not india,mate
That's true: your video clips in the video makes it alive and connects information with a picture. Thanks videoblocks and thank you for the video!!!
Corrected Title: Why trains in US is so costly?
Asia - Smiling in background
What about Bullet Trains? Those Japan, South Korea and Uzbekistan uses?
Tamu Audwodia Japan's one is super expensive, France's one is kinda cheap but heavily subsidized
I don't konw for the other countries
Tamu Audwodia uzbekis got those? good for them
Tamu Audwodia Japan is expensive, but luxurious and fast. The Toukaidou route, for instance (Tokyo to Osaka) is about 450km long but can be done in two and a half hours, but costs over $200 for a regular seat. Planes aren't much cheaper though and take a lot longer so trains are preferred.
And our TGV in France
I've never yet travelled on a high-speed train, but I'm about to do so next week, when I'll be scything through Germany on the ICE. When I booked it I have to say I was surprised at how inexpensive they are; going from Duisburg to Berlin (which is the relevant leg of my journey) on an ICE costs only about €20 more than doing it on a regular intercity train.
- Claims trains are expensive
- Uses Virgin Trains East Coast as an example
- Puts a Grand Central train in the thumbnail
- Does not metntion Grand Central is cheaper than Virgin on the same routes (Half the price).
Plus, Grand Central is more reliable than Virgin Trains East Coast- the only problem is that they only run four trains a day
That's because of slots at Sunderland - Nexus stole them all for Metro. GC run more from Bradford and could potentially run more if slots open up, which will likely happen when Nexus change the timetables.
You can blame the DfT for Virgin fares. Anyway it was about the London-Edinburgh journey, which Grand Central only serves between Northallerton and London
I never heard of Virgin Trains East Coast and I thought Grand Central was only a train station. I thought Amtrak, New Jersey Transit, and SEPTA were the only passenger railway services in America.
Thanks for mentioning GC. It’s actually cheaper to travel from Leeds to London via Bradford Interchange. Just saying
Very interesting , I worked on the railways here in Britain all my life and I didn't know half of this . Thank you for posting !
please change the title to "Why AMERICAN trains are so expensive"
With all due respect, he noted some British and French routes as well in the beginning.
@@yaj1v yeah and he said 30 euros is "pretty much the same" as 53 euros.
Is it?
All passenger trains are very expensive. In many countries someone else just pays (subsidy).
So American trains are more expensive BUT they:
-create more jobs than planes
-run on clean electric energy
-and have well paid middle class salaries with benefits.
-Support small towns in America
The profitable routes run on electricity, the ones going outside a few corridors in the northwest use diesel. The jobs created are at a huge subsidy from general tax payers as well as travelers on the profitable routes. On the order of $100,000 per employee. It would be cheaper to shut it down and just pay every employee retirement. Amtrak stops at less than 500 small towns out the 17000 small towns in America. It is irrelevant to the transportation needs of rural america, which is met by diesel buses.
The non-profitable routes are a boondoggle run at tax payer expense for the benefit of the employees (including the management) that provides a tax payer subsidized benefit to tourists.
Yeah he brought up the expense too. I'm summarizing the video.
1. Debatable
2. 99% of trains in America are ran by Diesel Electric Locos, this means they have a diesel engine onboard that generates electricity to drive electric motors. It's not like Europe where they have dedicated overhead lines.
3. True
4. Not really, Amtrak is rarely used in the middle of nowhere and is extremely slow compared to driving on an interstate.
How much a DE train burn of diesel fuel per passenger per mile, just to compare with the plane?
I'm pretty sure that busses do the train's job a lot better. Also, there are a thousand invisible effects of having an artifically sustained government element in the market.
Then, why is it so cheap in India ?
Qaz Wsx no airplanes jk
Qaz Wsx because govt is ready to take humongous losses.
Because they can fit thousands of people in one train.
Qaz Wsx Well, India's population isn't that rich so they have to have cheaper tickets that fits for the average human's salary.
Also try buying AC-I or AC-II, it will cost same as a "almost preplanned" flight ticket.
3:15 The sky isn't free airlines have to pay for flyover fees and atc fees
Ok. But trains would have to pay for both "go-over" fees and railways.
Planes "only" pay flyover fees.. that is not the same at all...
István Igyártó Trains pay for the tracks and stations, the same why planes pay for the “sky” and airports.
But do those fees go into making sure the air itself keeps working properly? Like with rail maintenance?
Better infrastructure designed for high speed trains would fix more than half of these problems
The issue is that the private freight companies that own the rails don't have much of an incentive to.
Extremely interesting analysis. This also fits with the situation of South Italy - the poorest part of the nation - which is reached only by very few old trains and sometimes not even those. Many relatively small towns can only be reached by car (or paying huge taxi bills), since the closest train station is too far or getting to it is extremely impractical.
Amtrak is an amazing service, staffed by friendly staff who care about you, unlike airlines. Admittedly I used it for a holiday travelling and was not concerned about timings. Managed to get a railcard and travel from Chicago to New Orleans,via memphis and then back via San Antonio, Houston, dallas and St. Louis. Holiday of a lifetime and Amtrak were wonderful and travel was awesome. Much better than airline and so much more personal
3:11 ‘the sky is free’
Siberian/Canadian overflight fees: Am I a joke to you?
That "you pay amtrak to kill someone" comment was really sensationalist
Wait, a for-profit channel uses sensationalism to get viewership and advertising? I'm shocked, shocked!
I pay my car insurance company to kill somone
We have a major issue with the Rail provider in Bulgaria. It has HUGE loss. About 0.3 billion EUR which for a small economy as ours is a major dept. There are few routes that are profitable and they don't add up for the ones that are on loss. However the government is keep pouring money by saying "It is more of a social service. Without the rail thousands of people, mostly elderly and poor, will not be able to go to the town for food or job." It makes sense.
Marush Denchev it employs more people too
True. On the other hand it accumulates so much dept that the service is crappy, less and less people who chose to use it (i.e. are not force to use it) are using it, and less money are coming in. In the end the tax payer is putting money into an abyss. Basically it is stuck between rock and a hard place.
Pretty much that's the case everywhere in the world for traditional railways! Though there are some profitable metros in some parts of the world.
You're basically describing the Romanian rail provider too... It's vital for some people and provides a cheap way to get to a ski resort (although a car can be cheaper if you have more then 1 person), but it's also a loss. they're also really against private rail operators that provide much better service (clean toilets and free Wifi), at 50% of the price. With the new government giving free rides to all students without paying the private railways in any way, they're cutting 10% of the earnings and putting them out of business. Then they pay close to 100 million EUR a year to bail the state operator out instead of replacing 60-year old train tracks.
Same story in Italy. And being a public service it's highly inefficient, dirty, badly maintained, unreliable, in other words a rolling nightmare for masochists.
4:50
This is so very misleading it's disgusting. Those people are TRYING to die. Being run over by a train is one of the most guaranteed methods of committing suicide. My cousin's husband is a train conductor. The train company (maybe amtrak?) drilled this one thing into his head: its not IF you will kill someone, but WHEN. And there's nothing they can do about it. So the phrase "you are paying them to kill people" makes it sound like they are having great fun time having human target practice, when really people are having a great fun time giving my cousin's husband PTSD.
Interesting. If as stated in video company pays, it implies to me those deaths are not considered suicide (as AKAIK e.g. insurance do not pay after suicide). Or they are and still relatives get paid?
Wording was insensitive and misleading for the sake of sounding dramatic.
As soon as I heard that I hit stop.
I subscribed to this channel, because it remindet me roughly (without hitting the crazy high quality) of mustard. But after this statement and the overall tenor of this video i seriously concider to unsubscribe againg ...
@@oh0stv If that really makes you consider unsubscribing, do it. You don't need this information in your life if something as simple as a misworded sentence will upset you. You have bigger issues than these videos.
Thank you for writing in km. Very helpful!!!😁
According to the Dutch railways they pay about 6 million euros per train for 10k passangers.
They also have only 34 thousand employees for a million daily passangers.
In Germany we have/had "Sprinters". These are train lines that only stop in the biggest cities in drive right through the smaller ones. Now I understand, why they are so unprofitable and why only a few of these are left.
Fly to Europe? What if I live in Europe
If you live in europe you are better
I love the clips of the Amtrak diesel trains. So satisfying
meanwhile in australia (where most rural communities are not served by the train)
an economy ticket on the interstate train costs twice as as much as flying (even more if you compare it to a budget airline), and the train companies wonder why they are not making any money and are about to go bankrupt
if a ride from adelaide to darwin on the train didnt cost nearly $1500, more people might take the trip
adelaide to darwin (about 3000km) average cost 1 way
Train: $1600, 2 days (cheapest ticket i could find) or $4200 for the most luxurious class available
Car: $1300, 3 days (cost of fuel, vehicle wear and tear, food, accommodation.etc and based on a 6 cylinder holden VN commodore)
Bus: $550 4 days (plus cost of hotel rooms.etc)
Air: $550 4 hours (full service airline such as Qantas) or $1900 for the most luxurious class available
Air: $220 4 hours (budget airline such as Jetstar) or $590 for the most luxurious class available
in all cases, flying is the cheapest way, even when there are fewer or even no unprofitable train routes to subsidize
Who love wendover productions
*loves
Yeah I guess
Loolo
If the argument to support Amtrack is to supply Rural America with access to larger markets, they suck at that too. Their service area in the Midwest, West, and Rural South is paltry. And dont forget about bus lines. Airplanes aren't the only way to get around you know.
and you know the interstate system. If you live in a rural area you need a car. So if you need to travel every once and a while somewhere medium distance away you can drive. Or take a bus....he really doesn't have all the facts and assumes so much.
THIS! I'm from rural American where EVERYONE drives. I'm shocked when I meet someone from an urban setting who can't drive or doesn't own a vehicle.
Not really convenient to own a vehicle when you live in NYC or someplace similar. I´ve lived in the US so I know that you can afford to drive long distances, but in Spain and in other places the price of gas is much more prohibitive.
Craig F. Thompson actually most cities don't have a rail system, and the bus systems that most cities do have are heavily subsidized through tax money.
Craig F. Thompson, Women LOVE their cars. In a car they don't get leered at (at least they have windows and steel barriers), have lewd comments directed at them or GROPED like on public transport. In some countries, India and Japan come to mind, railway and commuter cars reserved exclusively for women are provided during "crush" hours.
Even if a woman is a martial arts black belt she doesn't want to have to beat some creepy jerk bloody every time she goes anywhere.
My mother positively HATED riding a bus because of the mashers. And that was 80-90 years ago.
The east coast main line in UK is now LNER
This would also make a great podcast. You have a great voice for this. :)
@Wendover Productions, comparing the cost of a single one-way train ticket to that of a plane ticket is also patently unfair. While airlines usually force passengers to purchase tickets for each and every trip, and offer few if any multi-tickets, it is usually entirely possible to secure MASSIVE discounts with a monthly, yearly, or even weekly ticket for a train-route. These reduced-price tickets MASSIVE sway the balance of costs in favor of trains, not to mention that senior citizens, young people, the disabled, and other favored groups can often secure train tickets MUCH cheaper than the rest of the populace, as you yourself mentioned. Further, many travelers must travel to a more rural destination than an airport- the major hub cities are not their final destination. For these individuals, a train ticket is DRASTICALLY cheaper than a plane ticket, even without any special discounts... Finally, let's not forget that in addition to receiving a MASSIVE basket of subsidies, as I recounted earlier, airlines are often able to base their operations overseas, wherever taxes are lower- MASSIVELY reducing tax revenue for the national governments where the travelers reside. Oh, and though an aside, it is worth mentioning that the high labor costs paid by trains raise average incomes in the populace by a great deal more than less labor-intensive air travel, increasing passengers' ability to afford higher ticket-prices in the first place (also, many airlines practice vicious anti-union practices which train operators are not allowed to engage in by their national governments, which help reinforce this disparity in labor-costs in the first place...)
I really don't understand these people deriding unions... What if we all now got our collective heads out of our asses and try to wonder what it would be like if we all had a good union fighting for our rights to get fairly compensated. Don't hate on train drivers - hate on those who are getting away with not paying you a train driver's salary!
The thing about trains is that they're enjoyable without costing that much. Planes are small and uncomfortable, and the food sucks. Travelling by train is a journey. You see where you are going, you have a goal!
I would rather be on a train ride that takes a whole day, than on a plane ride which takes 4 hours.
TheHipClip I much rather take a four hour train ride than a one hour flight
You also have to remember that there are time overheads on that 1 hour flight. Travelling from city centre to the airport on both ends, checkin queues, baggage claim delay, waiting to board, and airplane taxiing on runway at both ends of the trip. I did a rough calculation and came up with about 2.5 hours of time overhead, making the total travel time on a 1 hour plane flight more like 3.5 hours, almost the same as the train trip.
What long distance train are you travelling on that doesn't serve food. The only country I haven't used a rail network in is the US. So I guess that's who you are talking about because all the other networks serve superior food to airplanes.
Eurostar gives you breakfast in premium or business class and it's much nicer than any plane food i've had
TheHipClip they used to be until two years ago in my country. They replaced all the train with the fast one that take only about 4 hours journey. Before it was around 12 hours journey. And we got a price hike at 300-700% for the ticket. I really miss travelling by the train. But now I don't bother thinking about train as a transport anymore. Better with a bus or an airplane. X'(
Great presentation. Very thorough with a fair amount of insight and very professional visuals. I would expect no more from a top rated television studio. (hope that's not an insult :-) I especially liked your hypothetical ticket pricing model and how you compare it with the actual pricing model. This is the first of your videos I've seen and I'll be sure to see what else you have to offer. If your selection is a reasonable fit for me I'll subscribe. Thanks!
This is my new favorite channel.
they could automatize some of those workers
they could build the hyperloop
Which is an engineering nightmare and cost a lot more than airplanes to operate
Yan Amor they can do drive cars.
rhn94 that wont be profitable though
I'm American and have only ever used the train (Amtrak) once, and absolutely hated it. Here's comparing the same route (New Orleans to Northern Ohio) with a plane vs a train.
Plane: 6 hours with a 2 hour layover in Chicago airport
Train: 30 hours with a 12 hour layover in Chicago station
Plane: Chicago airport was clean with plenty of places to sit, eat, or walk around
Train: Chicago station was dirty, and cold and completely packed with no places to sit (Security even yelled at me when I sat on the floor)
Plane: Plane seat was comfortable, refreshments provided.
Train: Train seat was so uncomfortable that I left it and went and slept at a table in the dining car (it was an overnight journey). No refreshments provided.
Plane: Had a canceled return flight, they found me an alternative flight 1 day later, provided me a hotel room, and even refunded me a decent amount for the inconvenience.
Train: Notified me at the station that the train for my return trip was going to go by the station, but wasn't going to stop to pick up passengers due to a time crunch. Had to spend that night on a bench OUTSIDE the station. No alternatives provided. The attendant suggested that I try flying back.
I spent half a year in Italy, where I could buy a ticket to a destination and hop on pretty much any combination of trains that would take me there from that station, of the purchased ticket class; i.e. regional vs high speed, 2nd vs 1st. This cost fuck all. There wasn't even an airport nearby; you would need to use train and bus to get to one --and one would need to keep in mind that there are no guarantees your destination is available, in demand, timely, or cheap, with air travel.
These are simply completely different modes of transportation, and while in certain circumstances the plane is definitely more convenient, (though highly polluting) it's obvious that the US has neglected investing in their trains as public infrastructure and capital, which is why they are so shit and don't go anywhere you actually need to (outside of a couple of major urban centers where they exist as a legacy).
Agreed. North American rail infrastructure is about 50 years if not more behind on technology. It's embarrassing.
I can't speak from your experience but living in the N.E. U.S., and regularly using Amtrak to travel from D.C. to N.Y., I've found the train to be far more comfortable than the average plane. Trains offer plenty of room, while coach fair passengers are crammed into tight cabins. While planes are technically fast than trains, it's actually fast to take the train from DC to NY than it is to fly. The train goes from city center to city center. Airports are typically a good 45 minutes to an hour from city center.
As for train stations go, Union Station is one of the most beautiful train stations in the world, and Penn Station and Grand Center are clean and efficient.
I won't argue with the fact that in many cases air travel is faster than train travel, but for most short to distance trips (50-200 miles), I'll take the train over plane any day of the week.
That's what the socialists don't understand. They want people to give their hearth and passions to trains whilst people will use train ONLY when it is more confortable, affordable and convenient. And that's provided by private sector and concurrency.
Who would have figured that Chicago-Indy would have been one of Amtrak's few profitable routes?
Thanks for the video!! :)