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I live in WNY so I just drive over and take the GO train from Oakville into Toronto. Depending on the boarder crossing it doesn’t usually take that long
1:56 You can see that they had installed large screens as a departure board, but at some point an executive came around with the great idea that you could also just play advertisements on those
In Euston (in real London) our horrifically overcrowded rail terminus decided to replace its departure board with ads too. Somebody started a fundraiser to display the actual departure info on it, and show the platforms before the actual mini boards do to prevent the 5 minute rush to the platform. Not sure it’ll work, but I’d love to see it.
I hate signs that interrupt my attempt to read them by trying to hijack my attention and control my purchases. Had to fight the impulse to smash the thing, settled on walking away and never making any purchase there.
I'm an airline pilot in the US, which means that (like many of my colleagues) I spent years flying in our "Regional Airline" system. Even as some one whose livelihood depends on people wanting to get on airplanes, I found so many of our routes to be absolutely frustrating. We have countless city pairs that are absolutely perfect for high speed regional rail but are instead served either by obnoxiously short airline flights (where an airliner is at its absolutely worst cost-benefit ratio) or clogged freeways. It used to drive me nuts to fly from Tucson to Phoenix, or Houston to Dallas. These are large cities, that are relatively close and there are no major topographical obstacles between them. There should absolutely be high speed rail between city pairs like those. If they either terminated in, or had easy transfer to the local international airport, then you could all but end regional airline flying in the US.
I used to fly for a regional and totally agree, some of our routes were so ridiculously close... like Milwaukee to Appleton Wisconsin. We'd barely be up to altitude before we'd start a decent for arrival 😅 It seems like such a bad fit to use airlines to service these routes (and several of the routes would just go away as soon as they weren't subsidized as "essential air service")
Senior in Toronto here, and a big fan of your channel. In your intro, you described your trip to Toronto from New York, adding, "If you think Amtrak was bad, VIA Rail has a new baggage policy and, Oh boy! do I need to rant about it!" You caught me so completely off guard that my beer shot out of my nose, I laughed so hard! You had my total attention right to the bitter end. Now it's my turn to tell you my horror story of train travel on that very same route. I was travelling from Union Station to fake London (so appropriate!) to visit my son. As we all lined up on the Departures level, a VIA staff was checking our tickets. And pulling a weigh scale on wheels! He had everyone put their luggage on it to check the weight! I'd never seen the likes of this before and asked, just to be sure, "Are we flying?", prompting laughter all around. He said it was for 'safety reasons'. Someone shouted, "So we've been in danger all these years?!", prompting gales of laughter again. We could tell he was getting a little annoyed at the mockery, so we just quietly obliged. All this and we haven't even boarded the train yet. I just noticed that I've written such a long response to this episode. That's because what you describe affects me and my travelling companions directly. Now, to be honest, I can't decide which horror story to describe to you, there have been so many. Should I tell you about the one where the train stops in the middle of nowhere at night and it's pitch black outside? We just sat there. Silently. With three dim bulbs of light for the whole car. With no announcement. Silently. For over an hour. And no staff ever showed up to tell us anything. Or should I tell you about the time the train only went half way!? (Surprise!) We had to stand in a parking lot, in the rain while we waited for a bus! I could go on. And on. Do you see a pattern here? You mentioned using tracks that a freight rail owns.... (eye roll here). Of course, it speaks volumes about what VIA thinks of their customers. Thank you for allowing me to vent.
And shops. Funny I was working at the Cleveland airport when they did the renovation. Amazing how important it was for them to get the most shops in there so people could buy over expensive crap that they didnt need.
@@ianhomerpura8937 those are regular stores though. They are the regular shopping centers the population do their shopping at. You can do your grocery shopping while taking the train home. Not the same as the nonsense stores in an airport.
Trains are the US and Canada's true heritage. It's TRAGIC that we have abandoned it. We used to have the biggest craziest trains and literally patterned the way we built towns and cities around our railroad network.
You do realize that the reason the networks were so big was because the native americans we're too powerless to stop the might of the government-backed railroad companies?
this is true. the US and Canada used to pride itself on their railroads, connecting both coastlines. then the automobile industry and Big Oil took over and ruined everything with their ugly multi-lane highways and pouring asphalt all over the tracks.
North American heritage trains are peak comfy. So wonderful that the Japanese made an anime about them (Baccano!) The trains in FMA are also based on old American golden era trains. America was built by the railways and bulldozed for cars.
You are correct and the ones who made the present the rail Network in North America are the class one railroads since back in the day they operated Freight and passenger these days. which explains why you encounter longer freight trains as opposed to the ones in the Netherlands and Europe shorter ones. Try running a 1.2mi 2km long freight trains in Europe you will be blocking multiple trains while in the United States you are allowed to do that except for the Northeast Corridor.
I can't believe that Canadian Rail is so bad that we got a mostly positive video about American Rail. For college I've been on the line between Buffalo and Syracuse multiple times. It's only slightly slower than driving, boarding is convenient, and that stretch in coach is rather uncrowded. So even with a $30 ticket for coach, it's incredibly comfortable. Unfortunately the station in Syracuse is at a dismal location, while Buffalo at least has a station downtown and even light/heavy rail a block away.
A relatively low infrastructure change to fix the stations location would be to move it a little ways down the tracks to eat one of the mall's parking lot. (Probably not a big deal considering how empty they are on google maps and that multiple have already turned to grass) Then phase 2 is to use the existing tracks to bring light rail service back to Syracuse with a Y configuration trying to reach the airport, college, and fairgrounds. (The mall should be happy to be the hub of the network) Obviously this isn't the perfect™ solution but it atleast would be a decent start to getting transit to the big trip generators for atleast some people, and to the 2 intercity connections. Hopefully as part of the state's plans to get the empire corridor to a 90mph diesel standard they can upgrade some stations along the way.
I'm Canadian and recently went almost across the whole continent via train, and I did it through the US because it was 1/3 the cost of the Canadian train and more comfortable.
I've taken it from NYC to Rochester when I went to college there, as well as from Utica to Rochester. It's not bad and quite comfortable, although we waited forever at Albany, like 3 hours, because the freight company was doing maintenance on a bridge and just decided not to tell Amtrak ahead of time
Oh god I remember the Syracuse station so well! It is such a dystopian station, especially since Syracuse University is so close to the corpse of the old station on Erie. It's not so bad during the day, but when I was there at night to catch the train to Chicago and eventually LA, OOF was that a disconcerting experience.
Speaking of Amsterdam to Berlin, the relatively new company Eurosleeper are trying to make sleeper trains big again. They have a route from Brussels all the way to Prague, and plan to extend it and make more routes. Anyone reading this, please do support them. They are starting with renting old rolling stock from the 50s and 80s and are slowly buying it and renovating it. Really cool stuff
It's also crowdfunded, so literally owned by the people. They sent out notifications through their e-mail newsletter every time there's a new funding round
I would love to take a ride if I ever find myself in Europe again. Last time I took a train from Amsterdam to Hamburg and it was great even though the experience shattered my belief German trains ran on time! I had to queue up twice along the way due to delays and cancellations on the German side. It was still a better experience than Amtrak. I do like the possibility of a sleeper to Prague.
@@justusrometh8530 that'd be stupid, it'd be after one in the night, that would be a gigantic disturbance to everyone onboard. Prague would be under six hours from Hannover when combining ICE and EC, so I don't see why it would need a sleeper connection
Also something you forgot to mention... You CANNOT bring your bicycle on Via Rail unless its foldable. I wanted to bring it to Montreal with me to take the train, so I could explore Montreal solely by bike. Unfortunately I ended up driving there as that was the only option. Can't bring your bike on a plane either. Via Rail said this will change when all their rolling stock is upgraded, but God knows how long this will take.
Ah, I didn't know this as I had never tried. I heard that VIA was already deploying their new rolling stock on the corridor routes so I was pretty disappointed to see that our train was the ancient (not even recently renovated) stuff for both parts of our trip. 😢
You generally can take bikes on planes with caveats. They must be checked unless they can somehow be folded into carry-on size. I generally see them in heavy duty fabric cases. I wouldn't recommend trying to check one without a case. Airlines will charge them as an oversize checked bag. It's fairly common to see them seasonally in Canadian airports, like ski, snowboard, golf and surfing bags.
I've done this between Vancouver, BC and Portland because even Amtrak has a small area set aside where they can hang up bikes. Rail in Canada used to be legendary. People used to take a CANOE and all of their supplies on the train and get dropped off on a lake somewhere in the middle of nowhere Northern Ontario for a couple of weeks of fishing and now you can barely bring more than a few changes of clothes.
@@EvaristeWK The train that used to have a baggage car is no longer available. Via doesn't have checked baggage on the corridor anymore. Via rail is getting worse
I’m not kidding when I say this, but half of my family is Nigerian and when I visited earlier this year, they actually have better trains than Canada, I was shocked. Most trains in Lagos have level boarding and trains are usually always on time. Canada needs to step their game up, especially if a chaotic country like Nigeria is doing it better
@@tombo416 fellow Nigerian how you dey? Yes though, Lagos and Abuja have better trains than even some European countries I have travelled to, if our government keeps investing then trains Nigeria could be something great.
Last year I was travelling between Osaka and Hiroshima The Shinkansen service was frequent enough that I was able to choose a later train (by just 6 mins), simply because it featured a newer train model (N700S) with individual AC power ports on every seat. The fact that there’s only 6 daily services between two major population centres in Canada is a travesty lol
Its even worse that that as this isn't just "two major population centers", but literally half of Canada's population lives in a line between Windsor and Quebec City so a more or less linear route covering that would have fake London and Toronto as a small part of this much larger corridor that should have 100+ trains a day easy. To put that in perspective, that's more than twice as large, as a percentage, than the percentage of the US population that lives in the Acela corridor (Boston-DC).
@@KillinTime2792 Melbourne to Adelaide doesn't even have daily service, The Overland departs from Adelaide on Sunday and Thursday, and from Melbourne on Monday and Friday. Meaning that if you want a short-ish round trip from Adelaide to Melbourne, you must choose to spend either Friday, Saturday and Sunday in Melbourne, or Monday to Thursday.
@KillinTime2792 oh and it'll get worse too, because it's owned by the same company that runs The Ghan and the Indian Pacific, they've already started pretending its a "premium tourist experience" so by the end of the decade it probably will be entirely useless as a travel service.
The frustrating thing is, freight trains aren’t actually supposed to have priority. So called “Precision Scheduled Railroading” just made the freight trains so long that they couldn’t fit on the sidings, so they *have* to have priority
Whenever I need to process a really bad experience with Deutsche Bahn (which, as any other regular Deutsche Bahn passenger can confirm, happens on practically every train ride) I just watch one of Not Just Bikes’ videos about train travel in Canada, and I feel better instantly! What a tough situation for the people in Canada who have to rely on trains. I wish you all a better 'ZugKunft' ('train future' in English, a playful blend of the German words 'Zug' for 'train' and 'Zukunft' for 'future') :)
The episode that's sending me is the one with the brand new train station built in the middle of absolutely fucking nowhere along with a giant parking lot.
After living in Toronto for almost two years I was humbled to the core…. I will NEVER ever complain about any Bahn ever again! 15 mins delay because the Ubahn was cancelled? The one in Toronto took twice as long if it was on time and cost 3 to 4 times the price!
Hey NJB, I just wanted to thank you for opening my eyes and making me see that driving isnt the only way to get to places. I just recently started biking to my school, which is about 25 minutes from my house on car, but since the stroads are always so jammed up with traffic, a local bike path going in the same direction gets me to school in about 35 minutes. Considering how much money that saves me on gas, and how much more exercise im getting, its been a great help
Same here ! I've learned to really embrace my urban life thanks to NJB. I've been bike commuting for 3 years now and nothing in my city is more than a 20 min ride on my Dutch bike. I've recently added trains and an e-bike for work trips outside of the city and it's been a blast as well. The car is now reserved for family trips in the countryside or road trips. Absolutely liberating.
Are we sure VIA rails board hasnt been infiltrated with execs planted by the auto/airline industry? They seem to be doing a great job in ensuring people take any mode of travel bar the train
Current Board of Directors of VIA Rail: - Chairperson - Françoise Bertrand - more into media and comms - Télé-Québec, CRTC, Quebecor - Board Member - Grant Christoff - mostly about his links with First Nations - Board Member - Daniel Gallivan - more into the banking sector, i.e. Bank of Canada - Board Member - Jonathan Goldbloom - connection is with The Centre for Israel & Jewish Affairs - Board Member - Miranda Keating Erickson - electricity industry executive from Alberta - Board Member - Glenn Rainbird - another electricity industry executive - Board Member - Gail Stephens - into finance and public administration - Board Member - Kenneth Tan - more into real estate in BC - Board Member - Catherine Kloepfer - financial officer based in Winnipeg - Board Member - Filipe Dinis - former COO of Bank of Canada - Board Member - Jonathan Scott - politician and conservationist from Ontario Yep, some of them have connections to the airline industry. Some of them from Alberta too, so likely they have links to the oil industry.
Françoise Bertrand -- no apparent auto/airline ties Grant Christoff -- law background Daniel Gallivan -- law background Jonathan Goldbloom -- public relations Miranda Keating Erickson -- Electric utilities background (electric train when?) Glenn Rainbird -- oil, telecommunications Gail Stephens -- Management background Kenneth Tan -- Finance Catherine Kloepfer -- Finance Filipe Dinis -- Finance Jonathan Scott -- Media/marketing
The problem with transporting people is that for trains it's almost always a net loss compared to transporting goods. That shit needs to be subsidized so that train companies don't just cut passenger services to the bone for cost saving reasons.
@MCArt25 There is only a single rail passenger system in the world that pays its own operating expenses, capital costs, expansion, and still returns a profit to to shareholders: that's the Hong Kong Metro. And it only works due to long-time wealthy area combined with the most extreme population density.
The lack of seating in Train Halls could be the result of a) being hostile to homeless people or b) a trick borrowed from airport design whereby cafes and restaurants have seating in order to get you to sit there and spend.
Its 100% so that homeless don't move into the station and take over all the seats and benches. This has been done at nearly every large rail station in the US.
The actual reason has nothing to do with that. The train hall was designed by mostly international builders who were under the false interpretation that people would just show up and the train would be their like in most railways across the world so when it was built and amtrak did not intact have that high of a frequency you get the trouble of lack of seating today. Same goes for alot of major passanger rail stations.
@lainiwakura1776 Airports also don't have flights from the same airline, leaving every 10 min for the same destination. I'm not saying that their shouldn't be seating just saying that it's unusual to have it when most people would ordinarily only wait for a few minutes as intended by designers but clearly not thought out by amtrak.
Hi! Student here. Just wanted to say thank you so much for putting references and sources within the descriptions of every video. It tremendously helps out with research. Please keep up the great work! 🚲
"The old clunker" on the Amsterdam to Berlin train - the locomotive is quite new. The Vecton locos are around 5 - 10 years old. The coaches are old - built in the 70s/80s but I wouldn't call them 'old' - they are comfortable and quite a modern feel to them
"Canadian labor laws state that employees cannot be required to lift more than 50 lbs without assistance." I've taken Via Rail many times over decades and never once has a Via employee offered to help with my luggage, so wtf is this rule all about? 😒
Because you are allowed to ask for help, and they need to comply if you ask. But if it's over 50 pounds, good luck, you're not boarding the train cause nobody will help
"without assistance", read: you cant understaff past a certain point and force the remainder to lift something heavy without a buddy to help or tooling that even crappy industrial companies already have and dont even need to licence the employee for. In other words, the excuse via uses is terrible and an attempt to blame government regulation for scummy practices and laziness for profits sake
Maybe thats another reason why level boarding should exist. or that the vertical gap between the train and the platform should be minimised as much as possible. UK railway stations often have a vertical gap, though not this big. It's good that the baggage limit isn't due to limits on the train, but their staff.
Do you really lose your previous citizenship when becoming Dutch? In Spain, they don't ask you for proof of renouncing anything when you become Spanish.
I wanted to take a moment to express my sincere gratitude for your incredible TH-cam channel. Your videos inspired my family and me to embark on a one-month train trip through Switzerland this past summer, and we were thoroughly blown away by how easy and enjoyable the experience was. As someone who uses VIA Rail twice a month to travel between Toronto and Ottawa-doing my part for carbon emissions-I can truly appreciate efficient and user-friendly public transportation. Your insights into urban planning and transportation opened our eyes to what is possible when these systems are well-designed. I also couldn't help but relate to your grievances about VIA Rail's baggage policy. Being a premier member due to my frequent travels, I've had my fair share of frustrations. Interestingly, the only perk I've noticed is that I get to pick my business class meal before anyone else, often under the watchful eyes of fellow passengers who are confused about why they can't choose their meal options. It's a ridiculous situation, and it highlights how much room there is for improvement. Thank you again for the inspiration and for shedding light on these important topics. Keep up the fantastic work!
I’m with you…I LOVE TRAINS! There is NO better way to travel. Ever since I took my first train trip when I was a young child (I’m 71 now), I’ve been hooked. I’m terrified of flying, and buses and cars are too cramped. And you get to see views you miss when you’re thirty thousand feet in the air and , as with buses and cars, you get to see a part of the scenery from a different perspective. There’s a certain romance about them, too, maybe because of all the classic Hollywood films I’ve seen…ah, yes.
@@ain92ru what juulm said, but also worth noting that a lot of countries require this, dual citizenship is messy for a variety of reasons and it can be expensive and time consuming for governments to navigate situations where some citizens have conflicting obligations, so many just don't.
@@ain92ru yes. That’s strange. Countries require you to renounce your citizenship when you get a new passport, but that renouncing only really is for the country you are in. Other countries can’t , and won’t, enforce it. So basically whenever he is in the Netherlands, he’s Dutch, and whenever he is in Canada, he’s Canadian.
I've taken the Coast Starlight Amtrak from San Francisco to Portland, Oregon about 3 times. The last time I took it, it was over $300 for regular old Coach seating. They overbooked the train, so they were taking volunteers who would want to give up their seats. It was actually quite chaotic with lots of people sitting on the floor. I offered my seat, because honestly I'd rather spend all of my time in the observation car. It's a beautiful trip, but SO SO expensive and SO SO slow, you don't get access to any food other than the snack car, and it was about a 16 hour journey including all the delays. I really wish the trains in the U.S. didn't suck so bad.
I once took that train too and it was soo slow! Regional trains here in Europe that stop at every tiny village are faster. After watching this video, I finally understand why. At least the views were great.
@@SomeRPGFanRussian trains make american trains look like a joke, and Russia is 3x the size. Americans themselves are just a joke - and this is coming from an American
I went in 2018 and padded it with the bus on both ends. I got on a bus between San Francisco and Sacramento, and another between Eugene and Portland to save some money. I was delayed because there was a boulder that had fallen onto the tracks. No overbooking on my train. The coach seats were old, but in great shape and pretty comfy. I think both the snack car and the restaurant car was still available then, but I wouldn't be surprised if that's changed. The views are fantastic and it's great to hang out at the observation car when you're not sleeping. I'm on the Canadian side of Amtrak Cascades and it's just depressing. 1 train and 1 or 2 train replacement bus a day lately. Pretty comfy, but pricy and slow.
No. It's 50% correct. The other 50% are: If people can sit outside the area where they can only sit if they buy something, we make less profit! (The "Well there is your problem" podcast guys made an episode about this station, I recommend watching it. But only if you are not already feeling down.)
Ah, just like the wavy roof station, designed against "loitering", really unpleasant, no seating, no bins, and a private operator who can't be bothered replacing light bulbs.
Your channel inspired my family to take our first Amtrak trip to Chicago last year on the Empire builder. I have to say I really enjoyed this method of travel.
Great video! I love how your video's went from mostly "but that is a something for another video" to "I have made a video on this topic before". Been following you for a long time and thought that was a funny progression in your channel!
Re the coaches DB sends to the Netherlands: Yes, they are the oldest intercity rolling stock we have, but I think that's fine. From the one time I've been in them, I think they're far from uncomfortable, not the worst in the fleet. They can go 200km/h, and unpowered passenger carriages have very few ways in which they could fail to stop the entire train. So I think they're decent rolling stock, even today. But the actual reason they're being sent to the Netherlands is because of what you can see in the clip you used, the locomotive. The Netherlands and Germany have different train protection systems, as well as different overhead power systems. A train crossing the border needs to be able to deal with both. Only one type (two by now actually) of ICE is able to do that, and they're mostly rostered to go from Frankfurt to Paris and also through Belgium to the Netherlands, so not on the Berlin - Amsterdam route. These trains have proven to be quite unreliable. So that not being an option either just leaves the old intercity carriages pulled by a Vectron locomotive, which was specifically designed to deal with the mess of train protection and overhead electrification systems found all over Europe. That eliminates a change of locomotive at the border, which was probably what they did before multi system locomotives were more common. Edit: I forgot to mention the ICE L, more about that in the several replies this comment already got about it.
Also, they are supposed to be replaced by new ICE L trains next year. Since these have a top speed of 230 km/h, the journey will likely speed up a bit. But you will have to pay the ICE surcharge
@@jstarberlin oh god I wanted to include the ICE L in my comment, but I somehow forgot about it while writing the comment. You're right, the ICE L is set to replace the last remaining IC coaches, probably in 2025, but who knows how often it's gonna get delayed again.
Also the Amsterdam - Berlin route is getting the new ICE L trainsets. These will also be push/pull with a max speed of 230km/h but new built by Talgo and level boarding.
The Vectron multivoltage locomotive is indeed new, up until December 2023 they would switch locomotives at Bad Bentheim (switching between an NS class 1700 and a DB class 101).
got this video recommended to me on my homepage only 2 minutes after being released! this is EXTREMELY RARE, but definitely shows that youtube thinks this channel is worth promoting! (and it is) i have also watched all of your videos. (excluding your no commentary walking/biking POVs) but i have done that to several other channels and still get recommended videos several days after upload. so this is definitely still notable!
@@413TomaccoRoad I usually watch urbanist videos so it makes sense, but this guy gets recommended to me more than the other urbanist channels I watch consistently
Getting recommended videos of channels you're subscribed to is dumb. If you're getting them recommended to you, then what's even the point of being subscribed? You can see all the videos from channels you're subscribed to on the subscriptions page. The homepage/recommendations should be exclusively for videos from channels you're not subscribed to.
@NotJustBikes I think you only touched one of the biggest advantages, trains could possibly have: Functioning Internet. When you have good internet on trains, you can entertain yourself and your kids - damn important on long distance trips - and even do proper work. In Germany, in my last job I used to commute from my hometown Duesseldorf to Frankfurt quite often. I used the high-speed train, because it was faster and I could do some useful work. That did not always work and never flawlessly, as getting internet on trains is harder for Germany than getting on the moon was for the USA, but it is getting there. With proper internet available, I even pay the business class uplift to get a "better working environment" - aka more space, wider table, etc. I genuinely think, that topic deserves an entire video on its own, as having internet on trips with nothing to do turns useless travel times into productive or fun hours.
want to here something funny. on the a3 you would have perfect internet. i honestly do not know, what db is doing. it is almost always a complete waste of time to take the db. something always goes wrong and except for next to the cities there is no internet ...
>That did not always work and never flawlessly, as getting internet on trains is harder for Germany You're traveling at 250-300 km/h and wondering why the mobile internet is bad? Yes, the internet on the train also depends on the mobile network.
@@Flyingdutchy04 And you seriously think the train uplinks to the mobile network are just plain simple basestations? It requires special tech, but that is available since at least a decade or so.
@@saveddijon maybe a typo? Near 11 minutes it's also mentioned at 4h. Considering we're comparing it to over 12h, it seems that 1h doesn't really make a difference.
@@saveddijon This is based on published timetables. I can't personally comment on their accuracy, but it is not an isolated typo. It is also consistent with the average speed of Shanghai-Beijing service.
I live in Seattle, WA and I some times take the train to Vancouver, BC. They do all of the customs and passport control right on the train (except at Vancouver Pacific Station when you're going into the US), so while taking the train takes longer than driving on paper (4 hours + 45 minutes taking the bus from my apartment to the train station vs a 3 hour drive), in practice with the long line of cars at the border crossing that's close to the same amount of time. Tickets cost $35 as long as you book in advance. Personally, my preference is to take the train there if I'm just visiting Vancouver but drive there if I'm also gonna be skiing or something in a place that doesn't have good transit access. Flying isn't really an option in my income bracket because plane tickets between Seattle and Vancouver are expensive.
So excited for this! I take Amtrak from NYC a fair amount, and just recently took an 8-hour trip within the US on business class, so I have a little additional data for you: -Moynihan train hall actually does have seating! Pros: comfy seats, lots of room, tables and charging stations all over the place. Cons: you have to show your ticket to get in, and clearly the signage isn't good enough if people aren't finding it. (It's right next to the main area, at 1:55 you can see a bit of the sign for "Ticketed Waiting Area") -Another Moynihan train hall detail: those little signs with all the departure times are scattered throughout the station; you're always in view of one in the waiting area. I think there's a couple in the main area, but as someone pointed out, it was clearly designed to be up on that big ad space as well. -For business class, looks like you got one of the good ones! For my trip, one train had the same big reclining seats with a ton of room, but the other one was basically... exactly the same as coach, but with slightly more leg room. (And on both my trains there were huge delays and malfunctions on other trains resulting in us being overbooked, but that's another story...) -Hope you knew that your business class ticket gets you a free coffee or tea! It's barely a perk, but still. -Agreed on the third-party app for tracking train progress. Amtrak's site is glitchy as hell. -Another note on train vs. plane, which I'm sure you've covered but always bears repeating: train stations are MUCH more conveniently located than airports. In the US at least, many of our towns and cities were built around these train lines. When I took my 8-hour trip, I realized that not only was it about half the cost of a flight, but I could literally walk from the train station to my hotel at my destination. In NYC, I can walk from my apartment to the subway and take that to the train hall. If it was a flight, I'd have to pay for a car in both cities. Airports just can't be integrated into an urban space the same way. -Okay this is the most off-topic little piece of New Yorker pedantic whining BUT if you go back to Moynihan train hall, that bagel place is not the best choice for breakfast IMHO. Try Maman if you can (M-F they're open at 5:30am, though 8am on weekends), they're my favorite. Anyway, thank you for your work! I feel like this video was a special treat for me, especially since you went along a route I used to take very often. Thank you for spreading the gospel of trains, North America deserves better ♥ (edit: fixed a typo!)
"Cons: you have to show your ticket to get in" Ah so its adversarial design meant to dissuade homeless from sleeping there, not just a design oversight. Honestly if we spent half as much money trying to house people as we do trying to keep the homeless out of sight through incarceration and adversarial design then we would probably have solved the entire problem by now.
@@Captain.Mystic but where is the profit in that???? ( Yea, I know it's ultimately cheaper). But, how can non-profits make profits if you fix the problems????? That woudn't be fair. /s
Airports can be integrated well, there: streetcars, subways and busses. How the heck cant a city afford bus to the airport when in major cities in europe its very unusual when there is no streetcar or subway to the airport. In fact most have a complete line mainly focused on connecting train stations and city centers with the airport
@wumwum42 That's true, plenty of airports have figured this out! I just meant more specifically in the US, the infrastructure for trains is already there. Up here in the northeast, train stations tend to be right in the center of town, while airports are often a few miles outside the closest major city. And if you're lucky enough to have some kind of public transit directly to the airport... well, it's such an afterthought that you're still better off hiring a car. I've taken the subway to the airport here, and... woof.
@@Captain.Mystic Yup! In America, you are only permitted to sit down and rest if you can prove you've spent money. It's especially hostile to the unhoused, but also to teens, the elderly, the disabled, and anyone who's just had a long day. I get so mad at this design philosophy.
As a born and raised European who hasn't been to North America yet and who happens to be very normal about trains (not only as the 100% superior means of transport but also just trains being beautiful and amazing because I'm weird enough to almost see them as sentient creatures), that last part about VIA Rail feels like a fever dream. :'D What is happening here. Why do they bring all of the inconvenience of using an airline to a frickin' train station. HOW ON EARTH is one _not allowed_ to bring an extra lunch bag with themself unless they pay extra 25 bucks, PER DIRECTION MAY I ADD 😭 I never thought something this atrocious could exist but lo and behold, Canada apparently did it! I'm both terrified and slightly amazed, if I'm being honest. Thanks for yet another flawless video, Jason! I always enjoy your content. I'd absolutely love to spend 12 hours on that Amtrak train just listening to music and watching the world go by. And btw, huge congrats on officially becoming a Dutch person!!
@@rapsahtaa Reverse is nice when it's in a formation of four & even better with a table in the middle, especially when traveling as a family & trying to keep the children entertained.
@@rapsahtaa Well, in standard world you do not turn around carriages to face the direction it will go, so you did get about half the seats the right way and half the other (with doubles facing each other usually). Turning seats have only became frequent in latest years, as it gets an extra cost to add such niche thing
10:30 German rail enthusiasts are very fond of this old klunker called Intercity 1 and I mean _very_ fond of it. It's slowly being phased out and replaced by double decker push-pull trains (which people hate, some of them are called regional trains with carpet, "Teppich-RE", because it's the exact same train sets with marginally upgraded interior) and EMUs. Your IC1 between Amsterdam and Berlin is waiting for the delayed Talgo delivery of DB's new ICE L trains, which I am very excited about but given Talgo's recent releases could also be a total disaster. Dank je voor het leuke video, Grüße aus Berlin.
this guy is 100% the guy that talks about this stuff to his extended family about these things and pisses the whole dinner table off and I love him for that.
I'm glad to see that Moynihan got the NJB blessing! There are actually duplicates of those tiny little departure boards at several points in the main hall, but I don't blame you for missing them. The big screens are saved for the ads that pay the bills. I've said to my wife many times that if every train station were like Moynihan, and people got to their destinations in sane travel times, everyone would take the train.
Hey greetings from a DB worker. Our newest IC Trains are not able to drive outside of Germany. So for the EC Connections we still use old wagons, with one advantage: beeing able to drive above 160 km/h, bcs the wagons are allowed to drive 200. So late greetings from a german train lover
The older DB IC cars (loco-hauled) as used on the Amsterdam-Hannover-Berlin service (see clip in the film) are very comfortable - and they run at 200 km/h on the high-speed sections. Have the old toilets in those IC cars that flushed onto the track been replaced by modern ones which discharge the effluent at the depot?
@@marc21091 They have. For more than a decade. There was a law-suit, iirc, that forcefully phased out the track-flushing toilets. I haven't seen them for quite some time.
@@qla-z4n Its because its rehauled rolling stock from the Regional Service. So the wagons where not planned to drive international and above 160 km/h. Maybe DB Fernverkehr (the Long distance company of DB) want to focus on international ICE trains and therefore dont buy new rolling stock
@@qla-z4n most international ICs will be replaced by the new ICEL cars (you can find more on that on youtube), also Berlin - Amsterdam. These old cars are being sold of slowly, some are now the pride of the Bulgarian train fleet (and really do hold up well over there).
As a native "upstate" New Yorker, I appreciate that NJB got Poughkeepsie right. Look, I don't know why we say Pough-kip-see either but that's just how it is. Lord knows I also hate trying to say Schenectady as well.
I rode Amtrak from Portland to Chicago for work and it took 50 hours (48 + 2 for maintenance). I'm pretty sure my collegues thought I was crazy, but I got a lot of good coding done on the ride and wasn't jetlagged or stressed out when I arrived or returned.
Tbf I don't think you'd get jet lag from a 4 hour time zone difference, never really had it when I flew from mountain to east time zones and I'm very prone to having my sleep fucked up It is better if you just wanna relax though
@@kjhuang I rode coach. There were very few people on the train between WA and MN, so I was able to stretch out and sleep pretty well. A neck pillow is recommended.
In America we're constantly led to believe that everything in Canada is nicer, and I would have just assumed that trains would be top of that list since they're so bad here. But I am heartened - and simultaneously dismayed - to find out that trains are actually worse in Canada. And I'm fairly sure the lack of seating in the train station is to encourage people to do their sitting in one of the restaurants in the food court.
I used to live near the Canadian border and I've been to Canada many, many times, and dealt with Canadian tourists for years. I can promise you, very little, including the people, in Canada is nicer than in the US. I don't know who's been bankrolling that weird propaganda, but it is definitely not true. Well, Niagara is nicer on the Canadian side. That's one thing that's better in Canada than in the US. Niagara, NY is one of the more depressing cities I've visited. And it's too bad, because it's got good bones.
Most things in Canada are worst than the USA. The only thing that’s probably better is access to “free” healthcare in case of VERY serious conditions for people with low income or moderate income. If you’re well employed in the USA you probably have access to better and faster care .
@@anasfrh yeah, as someone who has spent much of his life as a low-wage cog in the US Corporate Machine, I have looked with envy at aspects of Canadian healthcare. It may not be great, like the NHS in England, but it's at least better than what we have in the States. There's nothing quite like having your boss ask you, "why haven't you gone to see a doctor about your smashed up knee?" Telling them, "I can't afford to." Then having them say, "you're a full time employee, so you have insurance available. That should help." I then had to explain that the basic insurance package our company offered would take about 80% of my paycheck and still not cover most costs. And since more than 80% of my paycheck was currently devoted to paying my rent, that wasn't going to fly. Also, I couldn't afford to take a day off to go to the hospital, which was a town away. She then said I wouldn't need a whole day off, because it was only a 30 minute drive. I explained that I didn't have a car and it was more than 2 hours each way by public transit. She then asked me why I didn't just buy a car. I guess I shouldn't complain. The company did give me a 30% employee discount.
Not the food court, they just don’t want junkies and homeless schizos taking over the train hall. Have you been to New York? The area around penn is not the best, to say the least
@@matthewconstantine5015 The NHS in England is not great. It has many many problems and it has gotten a lot worse since Covid because our former Conservative government didn't care about it. Hopefully the new government will do a better job with it, but it's going to take a long time and a lot of money to fix it.
That's because it does drive you insane. I live in fake London and he is absolutely right about the things he says about this place. I want out but it's going to take me a few years at least before I can afford that.
Via is shockingly bad. Having lived in both London and Kingston, I got to know "the corridor" well---and what always made the experience extra grim was the knowledge that THIS was route Via put the most energy into.
Having just gotten back from Texas, I am sad to inform you that there are highways much much worse than the 401. Many highways in Texas have literally no acceleration lane, the ramp just dumps you straight into high-speed traffic. Highway 401 has very long acceleration lanes which gives you time to find a good spot to merge. Many onramps in Texas dump you into a short lane which immediately gets off the highway again, so while you're trying to accelerate onto the highway, other people are trying to slow down and exit. Highway 401 does not do that. When enountering another major freeway in Texas, often several lanes will exit onto that freeway. So if you're in the right lane, you may need to suddenly move four lanes to the left just to stay on the same highway. On Highway 401 there are express and collector lanes when the freeway gets wide and there are usually ramps from both portions onto major intersecting freeways. So at most one lane from each portion would go off onto other freeway so you only need to move over by one lane to stay on the 401.
As an American railfan myself, Amtrak trains on the west coast are probably the best routes Amtrak has to offer, mainly because of scenery. Also in recent years Amtrak has gotten significantly more support and funding from the government and Amtrak has several infrastructure improvements plans across the system, including the replacement of the locomotive and cars you took on the so called "Mapel Leaf" with all new Siemens Airo equipment
as a canadian who lives in ontario, who has to go on the 401 to get absolutely anywhere, it feels so good hearing someone actually telling people how bad the 401 is. i have friends all over the world who say "traffic here is worse!!!" and i see their traffic, and it's something i would DREAM of. the worst part, for me, is that - where i live, in Oxford County, you literally can't go more than like, five minutes, without seeing a railway station. yet none of these railway stations actually service passenger trains. in a logical country, i could ride my bicycle not 3 minutes down the street to the railway station, hop on a passenger train, and be in fake london in less time than it would take to drive. but nope! welcome to ontario! :) thanks for actually talking about how terrible the 401 is, and how awful via rail is.
I think you would enjoy Saint Paul Union Depot for being a modern renovation of a station and train hall, all the while actually having seating. Maybe the events being hosted on occasion would throw some people off, but as a station building it is so comfortable for both Amtrak and intercity bus services. Glad to see a video giving Amtrak some love!
I rode VIA Rail from Montreal to Kingston last summer, and yeah, basically what you said. CN's tracks are bumpy, only a small number of departures, and not quite as badly overpriced, but I always travel extremely light, so I didn't notice the baggage policy. Dedicated and maintained passenger-only tracks between T.O. and MTL. It's worth whatever it costs.
I've taken the Amtrak between Pittsburgh and New York. It was infinitely better than a Greyhound. Despite not being any where as fast as any train in Taiwan, I will say it was much more comfortable and the view was amazing. You should look up the Amtrak stop at Latrobe, PA, it'll blow your mind.
Wow, surprising how many Canadians there were. Sometimes you can get a slightly cheaper ticket by booking two legs, NYP to Niagara, ON, then Niagara, ON to Toronto on Via Rail. And it's impossible to miss the connection.
Great show, very interesting. Thank you very much 🙏🏼 I can't believe you have to line up for checking in to a TRAIN. Living in Germany you buy a ticket, go to the platform and go. And usually you have a train every hour for the same route. If you miss one, take the next. We're usually not very happy with Deutsche Bahn for constant construction works, delays and technical issues with certain types of ICE trains, but after watching this video I feel quite privileged. We have very good railway infrastructure in Europe all in all and people use them intensely for commuting and long range travelling. And my advice to every North-American: if you want to travel around Europe take the train 👍🏼
They're a crown company. They don't need to provide great service, only good enough service that the population doesn't request change in leadership en masse. Sometimes it works well, like Hydro Quebec, but sometimes it causes bad service, like with Via rail
17:15 that is so true. I went to Vancouver and was blown away how good the public transport was. After weeks i came back to cologne germany and nothing worked. My first thought was. "man all these people dont know how bad this really is."
Your take with Amtrak being enjoyable so long as you just don't think about how much it could be better definitely agrees with my experiences, ha! I've amtraked from ABQ to (close to) Chicago a couple times, and it's deadly slow and sleeping in coach is never the best experience ever, but honestly I've always just felt pretty happy after each trip. Never had an issue with an Amtrak employee ever, never had an issue with a passenger, always been a very relaxing, predictable trip. Undoubtably better than Greyhound!
Oh my god, I just did this trip at the end of August, but only from Utica to Toronto. And it blew my mind how poor the connection between NYC and Toronto is given how huge the two cities are. Thanks for making this video! They told us the long pause in Niagara Falls, NY is due to scheduling with the Canadian border control. They are expecting you at a certain time and won't let you in any earlier.
In my youth I travelled by train a lot in Canada. My mother used to send me to spend time with an older brother and I travelled alone, at the age of 12!) between two major Canadian cities. My mom would put me on what was called the "milk run" which departed at around 11 pm and arrived around 7 am. I found it thrilling to be on my own and would often move from my seat to the bar car. I liked to read and the lights were always on in the bar car which would be empty (can't remember what time service stopped). There was a light above my seat that I could have used but I guessed it would disturb the people around me. That was in the 1970s and 80s. As an adult I continued to travel by train when I could, but it became waaay more expensive than the bus and it got waaay slower with far fewer options as to train stops and times. CN and CP rail were gutted by the govt in the 80s and 90s in favour of Air Canada I suspect. Privatization didn't really work, did it? Lastly, the new baggage requirements in line with air travel, may be an attempt to streamline those train passengers who will be transferring onto air planes. It's all so sad when you know how much better it could be.
@@sascharambeaud1609laughing is quite a normal response to a terrible situation, helps people cope and process… Anyways, I’d just bring a mini portable folding chair in my bag if I did, for some reason, need a seat before sitting on a train for hours.
This was touched on in the video, but I really can’t stress enough how awful the lack of train service really hurts the viability of Amtrak. I recently took a trip to NYC from Massachusetts in August using Amtrak, and if I remember correctly, there were only four train times available to get back to western MA for the weekend. Sure, NYC to western MA and Vermont is bound to see less passenger traffic than NYC to Boston, but given that the first train departed at like 11:30, the lack of service and rather high prices make it hard to justify taking Amtrak for traveling, especially if you need to get to a specific city as soon as possible. As a result, a more realistic plan would involve driving for a full 3-4 hours, or at the very least drive to Connecticut to get a commuter rail into the city (and I imagine it’s a similar story for people coming into NY via New Jersey). That said, I remain optimistic about the direction which Amtrak has taken in the past few years, and I’m grateful to be in an area that has probably the best train service in the states - I know that serviceable inter-city transit would not even be possible in Texas. Great video as always!
I’ve always loved the idea of taking an Amtrak as a form of vacation in of itself. There are specific scenic routes you can take across the country, and if you can afford the sleeper car (or are good sleeping in a seat), you could theoretically just have an entire vacation chillin on the train. Maybe that just appeals to me because I A.) love trains, and B.) usually enjoy chilling in the hotel, airbnb, or super local area whenever I go on a vacation (I’m not a “do all the things” person when I’m trying to relax, ha), but I feel like it would be lovely to just spend a few days popping into the observation deck and drawing or something
Queuing for a regional train like you are boarding an airplane is something unheard of in the UK, and our rail system leaves a lot to be desired compared to Europe! I feel bad for you Canadians and Americans who love taking the train!
It's not a regional train, it's an Intercity train. The regional trains are run by GO and you just tap your chip card and get on the train. The regional trains also have an on time performance of 91% within 5 minutes of scheudule, which is almost as good as NS in the Netherlands (93%), and far better than most regional trains in Germany.
If anyone’s curious, the reason the “Amtrak” announcements became bilingual after the border (and probably the wait at Niagara Falls NY too) is because the section of the train from the Canadian border to Toronto is operated as a VIA Rail train by VIA staff. You can, if so desired, book tickets from Toronto to Niagara Falls Ontario or the reverse on this train.
But in practice it almost always makes more sense to ride a regional (GO) train between Toronto and Niagara instead of Via/Amtrak. The GO train is almost as fast (equally fast when you consider that you only need to show up 3 minutes before departure and just get on the train) and much cheaper ($18.09 each way via chip card, but on weekends you can get a day pass for $10). When you take GO you also have the option of riding the GO bus that departs every hour with the same ticket
I just recently been to the Moynihan Train Hall when I visited NYC a week or so ago. I was impressed with how nice is was but also noticed the lack of seats while you wait for your train. I took an Amtrak from NYC to Hartford, CT to see family. My only complaint was having a 20 minute delay in NY and had me worry about my connection in New Haven. Thankfully I made it in time but one thing I have to consider for future train trips is to just take one train only. I really hope rail can improve here in the US. At least the seats on Amtrak are nicer than most of our airline options in the US.
the distance form helsinki to tampere is only slightly smaller than toronto to london and vr the finnish train service only charges around 30 euros for it and it takes around 1 hour 40 minutes to make the trip
4:53 no no, it is enforced its just oopsie the freight companies made all their trains too long to physically fit on rail sidings, how clumsy of them now theyre incapable of giving way to amtrak
I am sure if the freight companies were fined $100,000 for every hour a passenger train was delayed: they would figure out how to run shorter trains pretty quick.
@@jamesphillips2285They are fined, actually. They pay the fine b/c their mile long train is making them millions in profit. "Precision Scheduled Railroading" strikes again!
Fantastic content! Watching these videos makes me realize how well and efficiently everything is arranged in Europe (and for me as a resident of the Netherlands).
Yep, kind of sad that the country in our neighbourhood that does a LOT of things right unfortunately only has a few years until they'll be the new Atlantis.
Agreed that VIA Rail is the worst! My partner and I went to Uzbekistan last month and their Afrosiyob high speed train between Tashkent, Samarkand, and Bukhara blows VIA out of the water. In addition to the speed (max 250 km/h), the Afrosiyob train gives you free tea and pastry which VIA doesn't do. Even Uzbekistan's sleeper train from Bukhara to Khiva is more punctual and comfortable than the Ocean line I used to take between Montréal and Moncton.
I live in Illinois but went to school in Virginia. I didn’t have a car so when going to school/back home I’d regularly take Amtrak just because it was cheaper than flying if you booked coach early enough. There are only two lines that connect Illinois to Virginia and both go through literally all the Midwest stations. So it would be a 20 hour train ride at minimum (usually 24-25). Basically a 3 hour flight / 11 hour drive gets turned into an overnight train trip. Another thing I’ve noticed about Amtrak in the Southeast US is that pretty much all of the lines connect to DC and not to each other. If your start/end stations are on two different lines, good luck! An hour long drive between two cities can literally be like a 9 hour train ride because the train needs to go all the way north to DC to connect to the other line. So dumb.
@@melanieyork8975 I totally agree!! I visited my mom in NC (I go to school in VA) and my girlfriend flew in from Illinois. It was actually faster and cheaper for her to fly from Chicago to Charlotte than for me to take a train (which would have taken 6 hours because I would have needed to gone through DC first)! I really hope Amtrak becomes more developed so that I can visit my loved ones more often, especially my girlfriend since we are doing long-distance at the moment. The lack of quality of train infrastructure is another reason why I’m considering moving to Germany ❤️
@@johnperm2345 omg what a coincidence haha! My boyfriend lives in Virginia too! Definitely get the long distance thing. It’s so hard lol. I get the vibe that you’re really cute and smart so maybe we could move to Germany and spend the rest of our lives together? Idk just spitballing
although a high-speed train from NY-Toronto in today’s time is a pipe dream, an overnight train is very much possible. You could have a train leaving NYC around 9 or 10 pm and arrive at the border around 6 am for an arrival into Toronto just after 9 am. a NY-bound train could leave after 7 pm so the border is crossed before 10 and arrive NYC around 8 am. No plane could get you into midtown Manhattan by 8 in the morning unless you wake up brutally early to get on it.
That would definitely be a great option. And while 6 am for passport control is still early, it's just about acceptable. Just too bad that you'd still be forced to leave the train in Niagara Falls, they seem to not like the idea of checking passports on the train itself.
@@barvdw They do it on the Montreal line. I think they just don't want to bother with the little bit of extra logistics for the overnight train. I'd take it, compared to having to get the 4 am NE train to connect to Montreal, and I'm not sure any connection at all would work for Toronto.
@@josephfisher426 but Montreal has a customs facility in their main station, because no local travel is permitted on the Adirondack between Montreal and the Canadian border. On the Maple Leaf, you can travel domestically between Niagara Falls and Toronto, so the facility is at the border itself.
CalTrains just electrified nearly their whole line from San Jose to San Francisco. Would love to see your take on how Amtrak could do this. Would it even be possible?
Why shouldn't it be possible? Nearly all of Germanys train routes are lectrified, except a few minor and major route and that major route is sheduled for electric for a while now, but has other problems.
@@betaich much of the Amtrak lines are on rail lines that are owned by large freight companies. They seemingly don’t have much say over what they can do. The other option is building rail owned and operated by Amtrak which is extremely expensive especially in the US
@@betaich because Amtrak doesn’t own most of the tracks and the Freight networks have zero interest in electrifying and I’m pretty sure that our government would rather shut down Amtrak and use the money for more bombs so good luck getting them to invest in duplicate electrified rail lines
I'd honestly love to see your opinion on trains in England. We've had a lot of issues over the years with poor service and reliability, and as someone who's unfortunately not had the opportunity to see how good or bad other countries are at it, it does make me curious.
@@Enriath Well it is still better than what we have in Canada. I used complain a lot when I was using East Midland trains, but compare to what we have in Canada, it is way way better.
I just looked it up and London to Nottingham is a similar distance as between fake London and Toronto, after converting Canadian dollars to pounds, the London to Nottingham is half the price and runs over 15 times a day, it could be so much worse.
Taking a train is still a viable option for many intercity journeys in the UK. It might be behind many countries in the EU, but still lightyears ahead of the US and Canada. Trains are basically never a reasonable choice to go between cities in Canada unless you live in select small cities in the greater Toronto area and want to go to Toronto.
Your last Tory government stopped the HS2 project from London to Manchester and Leeds. Only the segment to Birmingham will be completed. Planned where 18 trains per hour and direction with a top speed of 400 km/h (these numbers look ambitious).
6:30 I love seeing what other people put in their dock. Today I learned that NJB cares about privacy in addition to urbanism and knows how to use a terminal. Didn’t know I could love this channel more than I already did.
At least you *can* cross that border by train; I've done the Seattle Vancouver, BC train trip a bunch of times, and that's even easier than what you experienced, but here in SE MI we *cannot* take a train from Detroit to Canada. The tracks are there. Freight rail uses them. Passenger rail *used* to use them until about 1970. Amtrak has apparently been trying to restore service there for years and fairly recently (2022) received permission from the freight company... but yeah. We went to Toronto this weekend, a city I love, but to do so we first had to DRIVE over the border and park at the VIA rail shack in Windsor, then deal with the same sort of nonsense you had to on your Toronto -> London, ON leg. I love traveling by train; I've done so in Japan and all over Europe, and in those places it's a wonderful and inexpensive experience. I've had plenty of good, if kind of slow, train trips on Amtrak. Amtrak cascades is pretty reliably good. I've done the Empire Builder from the west coast to Chicago twice, and loved it both times (both trains were on time too). The Wolverine line from SE MI to Chicago is one of the faster lines and it's really pretty good. But yeah, so much potential...
@@gwarguraqueentrickstarcoat9110 You DO realize that Singapore is not representative of the wider region? Would make more sense comparing that to living in a city like Paris or London, not Europe as a continent.
@@gwarguraqueentrickstarcoat9110the MRT is pretty good, but the KTM (basically the only thing we have in terms of "intercity" train travel) kind of stinks. When I rode the train back when Tanjong Pagar station was still a thing, the trains were old, slow, and we were over 2 hours late upon arrival in Kuala Lumpur. I more recently rode the much shorter SG-JB route and it's still as slow and terrible as I remembered. I just hope the SG-KL high speed rail plan actually goes ahead. Singapore and KL is another city pair that benefits greatly from high speed rail, but that project has been through so much political kerfuffle that I'm not even sure if it's being worked on.
@@sascharambeaud1609 Look what you made me do, you made me write praise about China, which i'm loathe to do: while Singapore obviously doesn't border China, China is pretty effing huge & their high speed rail is incredible. And China isn't the only country in Asia that has great railways, there's also Japan, South-Korea & Taiwan. So that's five countries from the top of my head. Yes Asia also has poorer countries with poorer service, but Europe isn't all Switzerland either.
As someone who often zips along at 300kph on the TGV yep, you are all missing out. Always amazes me when you get on the high speed sections, fast as hell if you look out the window, if you close your eyes and put headphones on you can barely tell you're moving
@@chucky29949 I'm ngl I fkin love cars but remember in actual reality they can only sustain that kind of speed for a few minutes at best. Trains can blast at 300 for hours on end. Also the TGV record is over 500kph. And have you ever actually driven on an autobahn?? Good luck going anywhere over 250 for more than 10 seconds. Most people barely top 160 and for the most part there's only 2 lanes. Although I gotta admit, it would be pretty damn cool
I don't think there is a single flat-fare service in the US that can travel 150 km at that speed a commute like Philadelphia-Baltimore on Amtrak fits the speed criteria, but it's dynamically priced such that it's $30 round-trip 2 months in advance, and $100+ the day of
for some reason people are genuinely so opposed to public transit such as trains because "cars are better". Despite them complaining about bad drivers, bad traffic, and time crunch every single day when all that could literally be alleviated with public transit.
The point on productive travel time is spot on. I'm teaching classes to artisans in a 100 km radius and recently switched to train commute (with an e-bike for the last part of the commute). Not only have I been able to save time thanks to french TERs driving at 160km/h, but I can also transform commuting time into billing time as I get so much done on my computer during the travel.
The Berlin to Amsterdam train will, from the 10th december, only take 5 hours and 52 minutes, mainly due a dissapearing train change. But that will also be temporary until the ICE L comes around next year or so! Also, one more train per day is scheduled :)
Even with diesel, a train carries more passengers than a plane so carbon footprint per passenger is still considerably lower. Electric can make that lower but some subversive people are starting to use electrification as a delaying tactic, basically claiming there's no reason to improve the rail service/frequency unless the line is electrified. Which is BS.
I like the RTD light rail system we have here in Denver, CO. It basically connects the International airport to downtown and everything in-between. I've been on it on slow days at midnight and when a big artist is having a concert downtown and the trains are packed and it works great, it's fast and consistent. It's also super cheap and they actually don't even check tickets but you didn't hear that from me.
RTD should definitely buy all the idle land around their railway stations and spam them with apartments and commercial spaces, just like what Japanese railway companies are doing, and boom, housing and traffic congestion solved
Last year, visiting Canada from Australia, and after a side trip to NY, we went from NY to montreal on Amtrak, including as we also like the scenery and chill of a train vs the rugby scrum of airports. All those things you saw applied too - fare didn’t seem bad considering the time (not so much, distance…12 hr, but then realise it’s only 600km) it’d take, comfortable train, staff were good, great scenery (Hudson, lake Champlain, small towns) but….it’s SLOW, lot of waiting for freight trains, lot seemed to be single track, 1.5 stop at the border (2 border staff to handle the whole train…I get it, Roushes Point doesn’t get much traffic otherwise) , and it got even slower once in Quebec to the point of what seemed like walking pace through the eastern outskirts of montreal and over (I think it was…) Pont Victoria. We’re “fans” of Canada (daughter lives there) and so had been hoping the Canadian segment would’ve “won” … but it was a tie. Speaking of station signage, when arriving in montreal for the first time…and esp when faced with that city’s preference for speaking French….it’s be great for decent signage to get from Gare Centrale train station main hall to the (its connected, though you wouldn’t know…) Bonaventure metro station. No obvious signage, info desk is closed in evening, so need some “pardon, Monsieur…” and follow their “ici, et puis…” down connecting walkways
Watching this video on a very comfortable train journey in the UK, got up for a stroll and bought a coffee to make sure I'm enjoying the comfort of train travel 🚅✨️
Regarding luggage policies, Trenitalia (the Italian state-owned train company) tried to implement something similar one year ago (for high-speed trains), but just the news of it caused such backlash that they had to put it "on hold"
Exactly. I noticed a huge lack of benches on the streets of New York last time I visited, just under a year ago. It's not just in train stations or other large public places.
@@szymex22 so you remove anything comfortable for anyone else to sit on because they "shouldn't be in train stations" and if you aint gonna provide them anywhere else to go what choice have they got
@@szymex22 On the contrary! Train stations should not be allowed to deprive YOU of seating. Even if you are a heartless monster, homeless people aren't the problem.
The VIArail part speaks to me a lot, as I've been planning a trip from Montreal to Hamilton and Brantford. One single glance at Google Maps put mass transit right out of the question: the schedules are poor and would've required my host to get up unreasonably early to bring me back to the station, every trip included multiple transfers, every route displayed a host of warning messages about severely disrupted service... and the total travel time was *longer than driving*. My only remaining viable option is to get up at 5:00 AM in order to avoid the morning rush hour, and drive on over. Anything else made no sense whatsoever. It's just _wild_. Getting between the two biggest cities in Canada is already an embarrassingly convoluted hassle even under the most ideal conditions - but the moment one wants to go just a little beyond even that and reach a suburb or a smaller city outside the metropolis, then the trip just goes straight into a Kafkaesque realm of fantasy that no reasonable person would want to put themselves into. ...Meanwhile there's a train linking Paris to Marseille in 3:10 hours, fifteen times per day, for a third of a VIArail ticket.
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Lol, this Moynihan dude really loves himself, eh? His name is plastered everywhere, even the food court.
You might have missed it but Doug Fords latest solution for traffic on the 401 is to build a tunnel under it because it can't be widened anymore.
I live in WNY so I just drive over and take the GO train from Oakville into Toronto. Depending on the boarder crossing it doesn’t usually take that long
The largest hwy in north america is the katy in houston
1:56 You can see that they had installed large screens as a departure board, but at some point an executive came around with the great idea that you could also just play advertisements on those
In my country, they play a 10 sec ad followed by 10 sec of train info. Not ideal, but works.
In Euston (in real London) our horrifically overcrowded rail terminus decided to replace its departure board with ads too.
Somebody started a fundraiser to display the actual departure info on it, and show the platforms before the actual mini boards do to prevent the 5 minute rush to the platform.
Not sure it’ll work, but I’d love to see it.
@PootisHasBeenEngaged Apparently they've just turned it off as part of a review ordered by the transport secretary
@@PootisHasBeenEngaged That's a stop gap solution at best, if it works out. I wouldn't love it. There should be some kind of regulation for this.
I hate signs that interrupt my attempt to read them by trying to hijack my attention and control my purchases. Had to fight the impulse to smash the thing, settled on walking away and never making any purchase there.
If someone tried to charge me $25 to take a lunch bag on a train I think my head would explode.
I actually thought the VIA Rail employee was joking at first; it seemed so ridiculous.
$25 for taking lunch on a train? damn that's a hostage situation
It is just a driving easyjet.
@@NotJustBikes I'd eat it on the spot in front of them, just out of spite.
But -- at least they allowed you to keep your nail clippers! (right?)
If I can't take a 3 course meal with me on the train, I'd riot.
I'm an airline pilot in the US, which means that (like many of my colleagues) I spent years flying in our "Regional Airline" system. Even as some one whose livelihood depends on people wanting to get on airplanes, I found so many of our routes to be absolutely frustrating. We have countless city pairs that are absolutely perfect for high speed regional rail but are instead served either by obnoxiously short airline flights (where an airliner is at its absolutely worst cost-benefit ratio) or clogged freeways. It used to drive me nuts to fly from Tucson to Phoenix, or Houston to Dallas. These are large cities, that are relatively close and there are no major topographical obstacles between them. There should absolutely be high speed rail between city pairs like those. If they either terminated in, or had easy transfer to the local international airport, then you could all but end regional airline flying in the US.
I used to fly for a regional and totally agree, some of our routes were so ridiculously close... like Milwaukee to Appleton Wisconsin. We'd barely be up to altitude before we'd start a decent for arrival 😅 It seems like such a bad fit to use airlines to service these routes (and several of the routes would just go away as soon as they weren't subsidized as "essential air service")
The best part about TUS-PHX is that it's not even HSR territory, it's regional rail territory.
The fact that Tucson to Phoenix flights even exist is patently insane.
> Shows train station lacking basic amenities
> "This needs to be the norm for train stations in the US"
The worst part is, it's true.
Senior in Toronto here, and a big fan of your channel. In your intro, you described your trip to Toronto from New York, adding, "If you think Amtrak was bad, VIA Rail has a new baggage policy and, Oh boy! do I need to rant about it!" You caught me so completely off guard that my beer shot out of my nose, I laughed so hard! You had my total attention right to the bitter end.
Now it's my turn to tell you my horror story of train travel on that very same route. I was travelling from Union Station to fake London (so appropriate!) to visit my son. As we all lined up on the Departures level, a VIA staff was checking our tickets. And pulling a weigh scale on wheels! He had everyone put their luggage on it to check the weight! I'd never seen the likes of this before and asked, just to be sure, "Are we flying?", prompting laughter all around. He said it was for 'safety reasons'. Someone shouted, "So we've been in danger all these years?!", prompting gales of laughter again. We could tell he was getting a little annoyed at the mockery, so we just quietly obliged. All this and we haven't even boarded the train yet.
I just noticed that I've written such a long response to this episode. That's because what you describe affects me and my travelling companions directly. Now, to be honest, I can't decide which horror story to describe to you, there have been so many. Should I tell you about the one where the train stops in the middle of nowhere at night and it's pitch black outside? We just sat there. Silently. With three dim bulbs of light for the whole car. With no announcement. Silently. For over an hour. And no staff ever showed up to tell us anything.
Or should I tell you about the time the train only went half way!? (Surprise!) We had to stand in a parking lot, in the rain while we waited for a bus!
I could go on. And on. Do you see a pattern here? You mentioned using tracks that a freight rail owns.... (eye roll here). Of course, it speaks volumes about what VIA thinks of their customers. Thank you for allowing me to vent.
The only big Departure board in a major station being in the FOOD COURT is the most American thing ever 💀
😂😂🫡
And shops. Funny I was working at the Cleveland airport when they did the renovation. Amazing how important it was for them to get the most shops in there so people could buy over expensive crap that they didnt need.
America is built on consumerism. It makes u realize that countries like the USSR had it right. Basic necessities, even today @@DutchinCle
@@DutchinCle meanwhile, Japan: build entire department stores and hotels on top of and underneath major railway stations
@@ianhomerpura8937 those are regular stores though. They are the regular shopping centers the population do their shopping at. You can do your grocery shopping while taking the train home.
Not the same as the nonsense stores in an airport.
Trains are the US and Canada's true heritage. It's TRAGIC that we have abandoned it. We used to have the biggest craziest trains and literally patterned the way we built towns and cities around our railroad network.
You do realize that the reason the networks were so big was because the native americans we're too powerless to stop the might of the government-backed railroad companies?
this is true. the US and Canada used to pride itself on their railroads, connecting both coastlines. then the automobile industry and Big Oil took over and ruined everything with their ugly multi-lane highways and pouring asphalt all over the tracks.
North American heritage trains are peak comfy. So wonderful that the Japanese made an anime about them (Baccano!) The trains in FMA are also based on old American golden era trains.
America was built by the railways and bulldozed for cars.
We didn't abandon it, I reckon. We had it aggressively pulled away by a bunch of rat bastard Capitalist goons in the name of anti-labor activity.
You are correct and the ones who made the present the rail Network in North America are the class one railroads since back in the day they operated Freight and passenger these days. which explains why you encounter longer freight trains as opposed to the ones in the Netherlands and Europe shorter ones. Try running a 1.2mi 2km long freight trains in Europe you will be blocking multiple trains while in the United States you are allowed to do that except for the Northeast Corridor.
I can't believe that Canadian Rail is so bad that we got a mostly positive video about American Rail. For college I've been on the line between Buffalo and Syracuse multiple times. It's only slightly slower than driving, boarding is convenient, and that stretch in coach is rather uncrowded. So even with a $30 ticket for coach, it's incredibly comfortable. Unfortunately the station in Syracuse is at a dismal location, while Buffalo at least has a station downtown and even light/heavy rail a block away.
A relatively low infrastructure change to fix the stations location would be to move it a little ways down the tracks to eat one of the mall's parking lot. (Probably not a big deal considering how empty they are on google maps and that multiple have already turned to grass)
Then phase 2 is to use the existing tracks to bring light rail service back to Syracuse with a Y configuration trying to reach the airport, college, and fairgrounds. (The mall should be happy to be the hub of the network) Obviously this isn't the perfect™ solution but it atleast would be a decent start to getting transit to the big trip generators for atleast some people, and to the 2 intercity connections.
Hopefully as part of the state's plans to get the empire corridor to a 90mph diesel standard they can upgrade some stations along the way.
Which is ironic considering Canada is the sparsely populated country between the two, so it's much easier to work over.
I'm Canadian and recently went almost across the whole continent via train, and I did it through the US because it was 1/3 the cost of the Canadian train and more comfortable.
I've taken it from NYC to Rochester when I went to college there, as well as from Utica to Rochester. It's not bad and quite comfortable, although we waited forever at Albany, like 3 hours, because the freight company was doing maintenance on a bridge and just decided not to tell Amtrak ahead of time
Oh god I remember the Syracuse station so well! It is such a dystopian station, especially since Syracuse University is so close to the corpse of the old station on Erie. It's not so bad during the day, but when I was there at night to catch the train to Chicago and eventually LA, OOF was that a disconcerting experience.
Speaking of Amsterdam to Berlin, the relatively new company Eurosleeper are trying to make sleeper trains big again. They have a route from Brussels all the way to Prague, and plan to extend it and make more routes.
Anyone reading this, please do support them. They are starting with renting old rolling stock from the 50s and 80s and are slowly buying it and renovating it. Really cool stuff
It's also crowdfunded, so literally owned by the people. They sent out notifications through their e-mail newsletter every time there's a new funding round
I would love to take a ride if I ever find myself in Europe again. Last time I took a train from Amsterdam to Hamburg and it was great even though the experience shattered my belief German trains ran on time! I had to queue up twice along the way due to delays and cancellations on the German side. It was still a better experience than Amtrak. I do like the possibility of a sleeper to Prague.
My goodness! I must check that out.
If only they‘d also let you board/ get out in Hanover :(
@@justusrometh8530 that'd be stupid, it'd be after one in the night, that would be a gigantic disturbance to everyone onboard. Prague would be under six hours from Hannover when combining ICE and EC, so I don't see why it would need a sleeper connection
VIA Rail looks like a deliberate attempt to sabotage passenger rail in Canada.
Also something you forgot to mention... You CANNOT bring your bicycle on Via Rail unless its foldable. I wanted to bring it to Montreal with me to take the train, so I could explore Montreal solely by bike. Unfortunately I ended up driving there as that was the only option. Can't bring your bike on a plane either.
Via Rail said this will change when all their rolling stock is upgraded, but God knows how long this will take.
Ah, I didn't know this as I had never tried. I heard that VIA was already deploying their new rolling stock on the corridor routes so I was pretty disappointed to see that our train was the ancient (not even recently renovated) stuff for both parts of our trip. 😢
You generally can take bikes on planes with caveats. They must be checked unless they can somehow be folded into carry-on size. I generally see them in heavy duty fabric cases. I wouldn't recommend trying to check one without a case. Airlines will charge them as an oversize checked bag. It's fairly common to see them seasonally in Canadian airports, like ski, snowboard, golf and surfing bags.
But also the folding bike will count as your carry-on...
I've done this between Vancouver, BC and Portland because even Amtrak has a small area set aside where they can hang up bikes. Rail in Canada used to be legendary. People used to take a CANOE and all of their supplies on the train and get dropped off on a lake somewhere in the middle of nowhere Northern Ontario for a couple of weeks of fishing and now you can barely bring more than a few changes of clothes.
@@EvaristeWK The train that used to have a baggage car is no longer available. Via doesn't have checked baggage on the corridor anymore. Via rail is getting worse
Everytime I complain about trains in my country, I just think “it could be worse. I could be American or Canadian” 😂
It could be romanian!
I’m not kidding when I say this, but half of my family is Nigerian and when I visited earlier this year, they actually have better trains than Canada, I was shocked. Most trains in Lagos have level boarding and trains are usually always on time. Canada needs to step their game up, especially if a chaotic country like Nigeria is doing it better
@@tombo416 fellow Nigerian how you dey?
Yes though, Lagos and Abuja have better trains than even some European countries I have travelled to, if our government keeps investing then trains Nigeria could be something great.
@@yuu-kun3461is Romania really that bad? Can’t be worse than Canada
@@bababababababa6124 "A fate worse than Canada" is not the oxymoron I expected when I clicked NJB😂
Last year I was travelling between Osaka and Hiroshima
The Shinkansen service was frequent enough that I was able to choose a later train (by just 6 mins), simply because it featured a newer train model (N700S) with individual AC power ports on every seat.
The fact that there’s only 6 daily services between two major population centres in Canada is a travesty lol
Its even worse that that as this isn't just "two major population centers", but literally half of Canada's population lives in a line between Windsor and Quebec City so a more or less linear route covering that would have fake London and Toronto as a small part of this much larger corridor that should have 100+ trains a day easy. To put that in perspective, that's more than twice as large, as a percentage, than the percentage of the US population that lives in the Acela corridor (Boston-DC).
could be worse, Melbourne to Adelaide in Australia only has 2 daily services, a day train and an overnight train.
@@KillinTime2792 Melbourne to Adelaide doesn't even have daily service, The Overland departs from Adelaide on Sunday and Thursday, and from Melbourne on Monday and Friday.
Meaning that if you want a short-ish round trip from Adelaide to Melbourne, you must choose to spend either Friday, Saturday and Sunday in Melbourne, or Monday to Thursday.
@@waveman1500 oh damn it got scaled back even more, outstanding.
@KillinTime2792 oh and it'll get worse too, because it's owned by the same company that runs The Ghan and the Indian Pacific, they've already started pretending its a "premium tourist experience" so by the end of the decade it probably will be entirely useless as a travel service.
The frustrating thing is, freight trains aren’t actually supposed to have priority. So called “Precision Scheduled Railroading” just made the freight trains so long that they couldn’t fit on the sidings, so they *have* to have priority
Whenever I need to process a really bad experience with Deutsche Bahn (which, as any other regular Deutsche Bahn passenger can confirm, happens on practically every train ride) I just watch one of Not Just Bikes’ videos about train travel in Canada, and I feel better instantly! What a tough situation for the people in Canada who have to rely on trains.
I wish you all a better 'ZugKunft' ('train future' in English, a playful blend of the German words 'Zug' for 'train' and 'Zukunft' for 'future') :)
The episode that's sending me is the one with the brand new train station built in the middle of absolutely fucking nowhere along with a giant parking lot.
After living in Toronto for almost two years I was humbled to the core…. I will NEVER ever complain about any Bahn ever again! 15 mins delay because the Ubahn was cancelled? The one in Toronto took twice as long if it was on time and cost 3 to 4 times the price!
Hey NJB, I just wanted to thank you for opening my eyes and making me see that driving isnt the only way to get to places. I just recently started biking to my school, which is about 25 minutes from my house on car, but since the stroads are always so jammed up with traffic, a local bike path going in the same direction gets me to school in about 35 minutes. Considering how much money that saves me on gas, and how much more exercise im getting, its been a great help
Same here ! I've learned to really embrace my urban life thanks to NJB. I've been bike commuting for 3 years now and nothing in my city is more than a 20 min ride on my Dutch bike.
I've recently added trains and an e-bike for work trips outside of the city and it's been a blast as well. The car is now reserved for family trips in the countryside or road trips. Absolutely liberating.
Are we sure VIA rails board hasnt been infiltrated with execs planted by the auto/airline industry?
They seem to be doing a great job in ensuring people take any mode of travel bar the train
Current Board of Directors of VIA Rail:
- Chairperson - Françoise Bertrand - more into media and comms - Télé-Québec, CRTC, Quebecor
- Board Member - Grant Christoff - mostly about his links with First Nations
- Board Member - Daniel Gallivan - more into the banking sector, i.e. Bank of Canada
- Board Member - Jonathan Goldbloom - connection is with The Centre for Israel & Jewish Affairs
- Board Member - Miranda Keating Erickson - electricity industry executive from Alberta
- Board Member - Glenn Rainbird - another electricity industry executive
- Board Member - Gail Stephens - into finance and public administration
- Board Member - Kenneth Tan - more into real estate in BC
- Board Member - Catherine Kloepfer - financial officer based in Winnipeg
- Board Member - Filipe Dinis - former COO of Bank of Canada
- Board Member - Jonathan Scott - politician and conservationist from Ontario
Yep, some of them have connections to the airline industry. Some of them from Alberta too, so likely they have links to the oil industry.
Françoise Bertrand -- no apparent auto/airline ties
Grant Christoff -- law background
Daniel Gallivan -- law background
Jonathan Goldbloom -- public relations
Miranda Keating Erickson -- Electric utilities background (electric train when?)
Glenn Rainbird -- oil, telecommunications
Gail Stephens -- Management background
Kenneth Tan -- Finance
Catherine Kloepfer -- Finance
Filipe Dinis -- Finance
Jonathan Scott -- Media/marketing
It's also a "penny wise, pound foolish" attitude in the public service.
The problem with transporting people is that for trains it's almost always a net loss compared to transporting goods. That shit needs to be subsidized so that train companies don't just cut passenger services to the bone for cost saving reasons.
@MCArt25 There is only a single rail passenger system in the world that pays its own operating expenses, capital costs, expansion, and still returns a profit to to shareholders: that's the Hong Kong Metro. And it only works due to long-time wealthy area combined with the most extreme population density.
The lack of seating in Train Halls could be the result of a) being hostile to homeless people or b) a trick borrowed from airport design whereby cafes and restaurants have seating in order to get you to sit there and spend.
@@haweater1555a) OR b)… not a &b
Its 100% so that homeless don't move into the station and take over all the seats and benches. This has been done at nearly every large rail station in the US.
The actual reason has nothing to do with that. The train hall was designed by mostly international builders who were under the false interpretation that people would just show up and the train would be their like in most railways across the world so when it was built and amtrak did not intact have that high of a frequency you get the trouble of lack of seating today. Same goes for alot of major passanger rail stations.
But airports have seating in boarding areas? Have you never flown before?
@lainiwakura1776 Airports also don't have flights from the same airline, leaving every 10 min for the same destination. I'm not saying that their shouldn't be seating just saying that it's unusual to have it when most people would ordinarily only wait for a few minutes as intended by designers but clearly not thought out by amtrak.
Hi! Student here. Just wanted to say thank you so much for putting references and sources within the descriptions of every video. It tremendously helps out with research. Please keep up the great work! 🚲
"The old clunker" on the Amsterdam to Berlin train - the locomotive is quite new. The Vecton locos are around 5 - 10 years old. The coaches are old - built in the 70s/80s but I wouldn't call them 'old' - they are comfortable and quite a modern feel to them
"Canadian labor laws state that employees cannot be required to lift more than 50 lbs without assistance." I've taken Via Rail many times over decades and never once has a Via employee offered to help with my luggage, so wtf is this rule all about? 😒
Because you are allowed to ask for help, and they need to comply if you ask. But if it's over 50 pounds, good luck, you're not boarding the train cause nobody will help
@@LudwigVaanArthansthat's so silly though. Let a full grown man carry his 70 lbs luggage!
"without assistance", read: you cant understaff past a certain point and force the remainder to lift something heavy without a buddy to help or tooling that even crappy industrial companies already have and dont even need to licence the employee for.
In other words, the excuse via uses is terrible and an attempt to blame government regulation for scummy practices and laziness for profits sake
Maybe thats another reason why level boarding should exist. or that the vertical gap between the train and the platform should be minimised as much as possible. UK railway stations often have a vertical gap, though not this big. It's good that the baggage limit isn't due to limits on the train, but their staff.
@@LudwigVaanArthans
If you paid for it they should...?
What sort of aid do they have -- or didn't Via put any in place??
Oh, congratulations on becoming a Dutchie! I'm super happy for you 😃
Ja, en hij kan zelfs "Groningen" uitspreken. ^^
Do you really lose your previous citizenship when becoming Dutch? In Spain, they don't ask you for proof of renouncing anything when you become Spanish.
@@MrColaKOI wondered the same thing.
@@MrColaKO
Not that I'm aware of, no.
More that the Dutch passport becomes his primary one, since he now fully incorporated into the Netherlands.
Super happy, AND super jealous ^.^ lmao If I had the means to, I'd be doing the *exact* same thing.
"It could be worse" currently is the best compliment you can give to 'murrican train infrastructure.
Didn't expect to see a fellow FailRace fan here
@@MadDawg010 Hello and welcome to the show! We're here today on NJB for some train chaos.
“could be worse” describes a hell of a lot of america
Well.. it could be. Like in India, where you see people on the roof of a train and hanging off the side
@@tacticallemon7518 Describes a lot of the rest of the world.
I wanted to take a moment to express my sincere gratitude for your incredible TH-cam channel. Your videos inspired my family and me to embark on a one-month train trip through Switzerland this past summer, and we were thoroughly blown away by how easy and enjoyable the experience was.
As someone who uses VIA Rail twice a month to travel between Toronto and Ottawa-doing my part for carbon emissions-I can truly appreciate efficient and user-friendly public transportation. Your insights into urban planning and transportation opened our eyes to what is possible when these systems are well-designed.
I also couldn't help but relate to your grievances about VIA Rail's baggage policy. Being a premier member due to my frequent travels, I've had my fair share of frustrations. Interestingly, the only perk I've noticed is that I get to pick my business class meal before anyone else, often under the watchful eyes of fellow passengers who are confused about why they can't choose their meal options. It's a ridiculous situation, and it highlights how much room there is for improvement.
Thank you again for the inspiration and for shedding light on these important topics. Keep up the fantastic work!
I’m with you…I LOVE TRAINS! There is NO better way to travel. Ever since I took my first train trip when I was a young child (I’m 71 now), I’ve been hooked. I’m terrified of flying, and buses and cars are too cramped. And you get to see views you miss when you’re thirty thousand feet in the air and , as with buses and cars, you get to see a part of the scenery from a different perspective. There’s a certain romance about them, too, maybe because of all the classic Hollywood films I’ve seen…ah, yes.
NJB: *whips out Dutch passport*
Me: One of us! One of us!
In all honesty tho.Thanks for calling our small, humble nation home and hearth!
@@JackRannoch wouldn’t call ourselves humble though.;)
Why does the Dutch government require to renounce Canadian citizenship on naturalization?
@@ain92ru the reasoning is that this prevents problems with double/conflicting loyalty and it clarifies the persons rights and duties.
@@ain92ru what juulm said, but also worth noting that a lot of countries require this, dual citizenship is messy for a variety of reasons and it can be expensive and time consuming for governments to navigate situations where some citizens have conflicting obligations, so many just don't.
@@ain92ru yes. That’s strange. Countries require you to renounce your citizenship when you get a new passport, but that renouncing only really is for the country you are in. Other countries can’t , and won’t, enforce it. So basically whenever he is in the Netherlands, he’s Dutch, and whenever he is in Canada, he’s Canadian.
I've taken the Coast Starlight Amtrak from San Francisco to Portland, Oregon about 3 times. The last time I took it, it was over $300 for regular old Coach seating. They overbooked the train, so they were taking volunteers who would want to give up their seats. It was actually quite chaotic with lots of people sitting on the floor. I offered my seat, because honestly I'd rather spend all of my time in the observation car. It's a beautiful trip, but SO SO expensive and SO SO slow, you don't get access to any food other than the snack car, and it was about a 16 hour journey including all the delays. I really wish the trains in the U.S. didn't suck so bad.
I once took that train too and it was soo slow! Regional trains here in Europe that stop at every tiny village are faster. After watching this video, I finally understand why. At least the views were great.
@@SomeRPGFanRussian trains make american trains look like a joke, and Russia is 3x the size. Americans themselves are just a joke - and this is coming from an American
@@Ellary_Rosewood Amtrak changed their pricing algorithm somewhat recently
I went in 2018 and padded it with the bus on both ends. I got on a bus between San Francisco and Sacramento, and another between Eugene and Portland to save some money. I was delayed because there was a boulder that had fallen onto the tracks. No overbooking on my train. The coach seats were old, but in great shape and pretty comfy. I think both the snack car and the restaurant car was still available then, but I wouldn't be surprised if that's changed.
The views are fantastic and it's great to hang out at the observation car when you're not sleeping.
I'm on the Canadian side of Amtrak Cascades and it's just depressing. 1 train and 1 or 2 train replacement bus a day lately. Pretty comfy, but pricy and slow.
Let me guess: the lack of seating inside the station is to discourage the homeless from staying. Am i wrong?
I'm guessing the food court people are not hating the lack of competition for resting your rear end, either. Standard American dystopia.
Yeah my first thought was stop the homeless and second thought is encourage people to spend money and sit in the food court
No. It's 50% correct. The other 50% are: If people can sit outside the area where they can only sit if they buy something, we make less profit!
(The "Well there is your problem" podcast guys made an episode about this station, I recommend watching it. But only if you are not already feeling down.)
@@steemlenn8797 ah, the blessed Penn Station bonus episode
Ah, just like the wavy roof station, designed against "loitering", really unpleasant, no seating, no bins, and a private operator who can't be bothered replacing light bulbs.
Your channel inspired my family to take our first Amtrak trip to Chicago last year on the Empire builder. I have to say I really enjoyed this method of travel.
Great video! I love how your video's went from mostly "but that is a something for another video" to "I have made a video on this topic before". Been following you for a long time and thought that was a funny progression in your channel!
Re the coaches DB sends to the Netherlands: Yes, they are the oldest intercity rolling stock we have, but I think that's fine. From the one time I've been in them, I think they're far from uncomfortable, not the worst in the fleet. They can go 200km/h, and unpowered passenger carriages have very few ways in which they could fail to stop the entire train. So I think they're decent rolling stock, even today.
But the actual reason they're being sent to the Netherlands is because of what you can see in the clip you used, the locomotive. The Netherlands and Germany have different train protection systems, as well as different overhead power systems. A train crossing the border needs to be able to deal with both. Only one type (two by now actually) of ICE is able to do that, and they're mostly rostered to go from Frankfurt to Paris and also through Belgium to the Netherlands, so not on the Berlin - Amsterdam route. These trains have proven to be quite unreliable. So that not being an option either just leaves the old intercity carriages pulled by a Vectron locomotive, which was specifically designed to deal with the mess of train protection and overhead electrification systems found all over Europe. That eliminates a change of locomotive at the border, which was probably what they did before multi system locomotives were more common.
Edit: I forgot to mention the ICE L, more about that in the several replies this comment already got about it.
@@namenamename390 And additionally the new ICE L is going to start service soon on the route to Amsterdam.
Also, they are supposed to be replaced by new ICE L trains next year. Since these have a top speed of 230 km/h, the journey will likely speed up a bit. But you will have to pay the ICE surcharge
@@jstarberlin oh god I wanted to include the ICE L in my comment, but I somehow forgot about it while writing the comment. You're right, the ICE L is set to replace the last remaining IC coaches, probably in 2025, but who knows how often it's gonna get delayed again.
Also the Amsterdam - Berlin route is getting the new ICE L trainsets. These will also be push/pull with a max speed of 230km/h but new built by Talgo and level boarding.
The Vectron multivoltage locomotive is indeed new, up until December 2023 they would switch locomotives at Bad Bentheim (switching between an NS class 1700 and a DB class 101).
got this video recommended to me on my homepage only 2 minutes after being released! this is EXTREMELY RARE, but definitely shows that youtube thinks this channel is worth promoting! (and it is)
i have also watched all of your videos. (excluding your no commentary walking/biking POVs) but i have done that to several other channels and still get recommended videos several days after upload. so this is definitely still notable!
@@Egoryotu Or youvwatch train videos.
@@413TomaccoRoad I usually watch urbanist videos so it makes sense, but this guy gets recommended to me more than the other urbanist channels I watch consistently
That's not how TH-cam works... This is not being promoted to non viewers / non subscribers
Getting recommended videos of channels you're subscribed to is dumb. If you're getting them recommended to you, then what's even the point of being subscribed?
You can see all the videos from channels you're subscribed to on the subscriptions page. The homepage/recommendations should be exclusively for videos from channels you're not subscribed to.
@NotJustBikes I think you only touched one of the biggest advantages, trains could possibly have: Functioning Internet. When you have good internet on trains, you can entertain yourself and your kids - damn important on long distance trips - and even do proper work. In Germany, in my last job I used to commute from my hometown Duesseldorf to Frankfurt quite often. I used the high-speed train, because it was faster and I could do some useful work. That did not always work and never flawlessly, as getting internet on trains is harder for Germany than getting on the moon was for the USA, but it is getting there. With proper internet available, I even pay the business class uplift to get a "better working environment" - aka more space, wider table, etc.
I genuinely think, that topic deserves an entire video on its own, as having internet on trips with nothing to do turns useless travel times into productive or fun hours.
want to here something funny. on the a3 you would have perfect internet. i honestly do not know, what db is doing. it is almost always a complete waste of time to take the db. something always goes wrong and except for next to the cities there is no internet ...
>That did not always work and never flawlessly, as getting internet on trains is harder for Germany
You're traveling at 250-300 km/h and wondering why the mobile internet is bad? Yes, the internet on the train also depends on the mobile network.
@@Flyingdutchy04 And you seriously think the train uplinks to the mobile network are just plain simple basestations? It requires special tech, but that is available since at least a decade or so.
>needing internet to entertain your kids
There's these things called books and toys.
@@lainiwakura1776 Yeah, and this is the 21st century, in which you don't haul tons of books and toys around for a trip.
Get real...
The Maple leaf express is 875 km long and takes 12h27m. The Shanghai-Jinan HSR is 912 km long and takes 2h58m.
Is this new rolling stock? I did this last year and it took 4 hours. Top speed 353km/h. How are they getting it down to 3 hours?
@@saveddijon maybe a typo? Near 11 minutes it's also mentioned at 4h. Considering we're comparing it to over 12h, it seems that 1h doesn't really make a difference.
@@saveddijon This is based on published timetables. I can't personally comment on their accuracy, but it is not an isolated typo. It is also consistent with the average speed of Shanghai-Beijing service.
I live in Seattle, WA and I some times take the train to Vancouver, BC. They do all of the customs and passport control right on the train (except at Vancouver Pacific Station when you're going into the US), so while taking the train takes longer than driving on paper (4 hours + 45 minutes taking the bus from my apartment to the train station vs a 3 hour drive), in practice with the long line of cars at the border crossing that's close to the same amount of time.
Tickets cost $35 as long as you book in advance.
Personally, my preference is to take the train there if I'm just visiting Vancouver but drive there if I'm also gonna be skiing or something in a place that doesn't have good transit access. Flying isn't really an option in my income bracket because plane tickets between Seattle and Vancouver are expensive.
So excited for this! I take Amtrak from NYC a fair amount, and just recently took an 8-hour trip within the US on business class, so I have a little additional data for you:
-Moynihan train hall actually does have seating! Pros: comfy seats, lots of room, tables and charging stations all over the place. Cons: you have to show your ticket to get in, and clearly the signage isn't good enough if people aren't finding it. (It's right next to the main area, at 1:55 you can see a bit of the sign for "Ticketed Waiting Area")
-Another Moynihan train hall detail: those little signs with all the departure times are scattered throughout the station; you're always in view of one in the waiting area. I think there's a couple in the main area, but as someone pointed out, it was clearly designed to be up on that big ad space as well.
-For business class, looks like you got one of the good ones! For my trip, one train had the same big reclining seats with a ton of room, but the other one was basically... exactly the same as coach, but with slightly more leg room. (And on both my trains there were huge delays and malfunctions on other trains resulting in us being overbooked, but that's another story...)
-Hope you knew that your business class ticket gets you a free coffee or tea! It's barely a perk, but still.
-Agreed on the third-party app for tracking train progress. Amtrak's site is glitchy as hell.
-Another note on train vs. plane, which I'm sure you've covered but always bears repeating: train stations are MUCH more conveniently located than airports. In the US at least, many of our towns and cities were built around these train lines. When I took my 8-hour trip, I realized that not only was it about half the cost of a flight, but I could literally walk from the train station to my hotel at my destination. In NYC, I can walk from my apartment to the subway and take that to the train hall. If it was a flight, I'd have to pay for a car in both cities. Airports just can't be integrated into an urban space the same way.
-Okay this is the most off-topic little piece of New Yorker pedantic whining BUT if you go back to Moynihan train hall, that bagel place is not the best choice for breakfast IMHO. Try Maman if you can (M-F they're open at 5:30am, though 8am on weekends), they're my favorite.
Anyway, thank you for your work! I feel like this video was a special treat for me, especially since you went along a route I used to take very often. Thank you for spreading the gospel of trains, North America deserves better ♥
(edit: fixed a typo!)
"Cons: you have to show your ticket to get in"
Ah so its adversarial design meant to dissuade homeless from sleeping there, not just a design oversight.
Honestly if we spent half as much money trying to house people as we do trying to keep the homeless out of sight through incarceration and adversarial design then we would probably have solved the entire problem by now.
@@Captain.Mystic but where is the profit in that???? ( Yea, I know it's ultimately cheaper).
But, how can non-profits make profits if you fix the problems????? That woudn't be fair. /s
Airports can be integrated well, there: streetcars, subways and busses. How the heck cant a city afford bus to the airport when in major cities in europe its very unusual when there is no streetcar or subway to the airport.
In fact most have a complete line mainly focused on connecting train stations and city centers with the airport
@wumwum42 That's true, plenty of airports have figured this out! I just meant more specifically in the US, the infrastructure for trains is already there. Up here in the northeast, train stations tend to be right in the center of town, while airports are often a few miles outside the closest major city. And if you're lucky enough to have some kind of public transit directly to the airport... well, it's such an afterthought that you're still better off hiring a car. I've taken the subway to the airport here, and... woof.
@@Captain.Mystic Yup! In America, you are only permitted to sit down and rest if you can prove you've spent money.
It's especially hostile to the unhoused, but also to teens, the elderly, the disabled, and anyone who's just had a long day. I get so mad at this design philosophy.
Me, an American; “well, it could be worse… I could live in Canada and have to use VIA rail instead of Amtrak.”
We at least run daily routes across most of the country and at a reasonable price...
AND at least Amtrak doesn't make you weigh your bags as THEY know that's NOT how train travel works
*Cries in car-less canadian*
I was actually shocked how bad VIA rail was compared to Amtrak
Me, a German: "well it could be worse... I could live in the US and have to use Amtrak instead of DB."
As a born and raised European who hasn't been to North America yet and who happens to be very normal about trains (not only as the 100% superior means of transport but also just trains being beautiful and amazing because I'm weird enough to almost see them as sentient creatures), that last part about VIA Rail feels like a fever dream. :'D What is happening here. Why do they bring all of the inconvenience of using an airline to a frickin' train station. HOW ON EARTH is one _not allowed_ to bring an extra lunch bag with themself unless they pay extra 25 bucks, PER DIRECTION MAY I ADD 😭 I never thought something this atrocious could exist but lo and behold, Canada apparently did it! I'm both terrified and slightly amazed, if I'm being honest.
Thanks for yet another flawless video, Jason! I always enjoy your content. I'd absolutely love to spend 12 hours on that Amtrak train just listening to music and watching the world go by. And btw, huge congrats on officially becoming a Dutch person!!
High speed rail in Asia are higher quality than Europe🎉
THERE ARE NO REVERSE FACING SEATS 🎉🎉
@@matpk Honestly I 100% agree, the reverse facing seats are bizarre and should NOT be a thing 😂🙏
@@rapsahtaa Reverse is nice when it's in a formation of four & even better with a table in the middle, especially when traveling as a family & trying to keep the children entertained.
@@LeafHuntress Oh, that absolutely, then it's a very nice setup. But randomly placed reverse seats are a misunderstanding 😆
@@rapsahtaa Well, in standard world you do not turn around carriages to face the direction it will go, so you did get about half the seats the right way and half the other (with doubles facing each other usually). Turning seats have only became frequent in latest years, as it gets an extra cost to add such niche thing
10:30 German rail enthusiasts are very fond of this old klunker called Intercity 1 and I mean _very_ fond of it. It's slowly being phased out and replaced by double decker push-pull trains (which people hate, some of them are called regional trains with carpet, "Teppich-RE", because it's the exact same train sets with marginally upgraded interior) and EMUs. Your IC1 between Amsterdam and Berlin is waiting for the delayed Talgo delivery of DB's new ICE L trains, which I am very excited about but given Talgo's recent releases could also be a total disaster. Dank je voor het leuke video, Grüße aus Berlin.
this guy is 100% the guy that talks about this stuff to his extended family about these things and pisses the whole dinner table off and I love him for that.
I'm also that guy but been trying to reign it in to not be too obnoxious
@@Josukegaming same here man
It's America. It's a country of FAILURES. the RICHEST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD with NO BORDER, NO TRAINS, NO SAFE TRANSPORT@@Josukegaming
@@bldontmatter5319 There are trains just not very good ones
I'm glad to see that Moynihan got the NJB blessing! There are actually duplicates of those tiny little departure boards at several points in the main hall, but I don't blame you for missing them. The big screens are saved for the ads that pay the bills. I've said to my wife many times that if every train station were like Moynihan, and people got to their destinations in sane travel times, everyone would take the train.
Hey greetings from a DB worker. Our newest IC Trains are not able to drive outside of Germany. So for the EC Connections we still use old wagons, with one advantage: beeing able to drive above 160 km/h, bcs the wagons are allowed to drive 200.
So late greetings from a german train lover
The older DB IC cars (loco-hauled) as used on the Amsterdam-Hannover-Berlin service (see clip in the film) are very comfortable - and they run at 200 km/h on the high-speed sections. Have the old toilets in those IC cars that flushed onto the track been replaced by modern ones which discharge the effluent at the depot?
@@marc21091 They have. For more than a decade. There was a law-suit, iirc, that forcefully phased out the track-flushing toilets. I haven't seen them for quite some time.
Thanks for the explanation! Why are the new IC trains not able to drive outside of Germany?
@@qla-z4n Its because its rehauled rolling stock from the Regional Service. So the wagons where not planned to drive international and above 160 km/h. Maybe DB Fernverkehr (the Long distance company of DB) want to focus on international ICE trains and therefore dont buy new rolling stock
@@qla-z4n most international ICs will be replaced by the new ICEL cars (you can find more on that on youtube), also Berlin - Amsterdam. These old cars are being sold of slowly, some are now the pride of the Bulgarian train fleet (and really do hold up well over there).
As a native "upstate" New Yorker, I appreciate that NJB got Poughkeepsie right. Look, I don't know why we say Pough-kip-see either but that's just how it is. Lord knows I also hate trying to say Schenectady as well.
Was just considering taking Amtrak somewhere so this couldn't have come at a better time! Thanks
Good to see you, Jon! If you're not in too much of a hurry, Amtrak is great!
I rode Amtrak from Portland to Chicago for work and it took 50 hours (48 + 2 for maintenance). I'm pretty sure my collegues thought I was crazy, but I got a lot of good coding done on the ride and wasn't jetlagged or stressed out when I arrived or returned.
Tbf I don't think you'd get jet lag from a 4 hour time zone difference, never really had it when I flew from mountain to east time zones and I'm very prone to having my sleep fucked up
It is better if you just wanna relax though
I've done that train the other way, out to western Montana. It's a worthwhile trip if you have the time.
But did you have your own room? If not, did you sleep well?
@@kjhuang I rode coach. There were very few people on the train between WA and MN, so I was able to stretch out and sleep pretty well. A neck pillow is recommended.
@@kjhuang Not... I rode in coach ... lol ... The seats are remarkably comfortable once you figure out how to open them out properly... but YMMV ...
In America we're constantly led to believe that everything in Canada is nicer, and I would have just assumed that trains would be top of that list since they're so bad here. But I am heartened - and simultaneously dismayed - to find out that trains are actually worse in Canada. And I'm fairly sure the lack of seating in the train station is to encourage people to do their sitting in one of the restaurants in the food court.
I used to live near the Canadian border and I've been to Canada many, many times, and dealt with Canadian tourists for years. I can promise you, very little, including the people, in Canada is nicer than in the US. I don't know who's been bankrolling that weird propaganda, but it is definitely not true.
Well, Niagara is nicer on the Canadian side. That's one thing that's better in Canada than in the US. Niagara, NY is one of the more depressing cities I've visited. And it's too bad, because it's got good bones.
Most things in Canada are worst than the USA. The only thing that’s probably better is access to “free” healthcare in case of VERY serious conditions for people with low income or moderate income. If you’re well employed in the USA you probably have access to better and faster care .
@@anasfrh yeah, as someone who has spent much of his life as a low-wage cog in the US Corporate Machine, I have looked with envy at aspects of Canadian healthcare. It may not be great, like the NHS in England, but it's at least better than what we have in the States.
There's nothing quite like having your boss ask you, "why haven't you gone to see a doctor about your smashed up knee?" Telling them, "I can't afford to." Then having them say, "you're a full time employee, so you have insurance available. That should help." I then had to explain that the basic insurance package our company offered would take about 80% of my paycheck and still not cover most costs. And since more than 80% of my paycheck was currently devoted to paying my rent, that wasn't going to fly. Also, I couldn't afford to take a day off to go to the hospital, which was a town away. She then said I wouldn't need a whole day off, because it was only a 30 minute drive. I explained that I didn't have a car and it was more than 2 hours each way by public transit. She then asked me why I didn't just buy a car. I guess I shouldn't complain. The company did give me a 30% employee discount.
Not the food court, they just don’t want junkies and homeless schizos taking over the train hall. Have you been to New York? The area around penn is not the best, to say the least
@@matthewconstantine5015 The NHS in England is not great. It has many many problems and it has gotten a lot worse since Covid because our former Conservative government didn't care about it. Hopefully the new government will do a better job with it, but it's going to take a long time and a lot of money to fix it.
I love how NJB sounds hes's going insane whenever he's talking about the abysmal car-dependent cities and bad trains.
Yeah, because that's the more correct reaction that everyone should be having.
@@NathanaelTak Real Wonko the Sane vibes
i live in abysmal car-dependent cities with bad trains and i assure you, i am going insane
That's because it does drive you insane. I live in fake London and he is absolutely right about the things he says about this place. I want out but it's going to take me a few years at least before I can afford that.
He just sounds like me at the dinner table lol. I'm involved in local infrastructure politics and it makes me want to pull my hair out some days.
Via is shockingly bad. Having lived in both London and Kingston, I got to know "the corridor" well---and what always made the experience extra grim was the knowledge that THIS was route Via put the most energy into.
Highway 401 looks absolutely terrifying.
Nah. People barely move. No fear. Just countless hours wasted staring off in the distance. Hoping for something, anything to change.
Having just gotten back from Texas, I am sad to inform you that there are highways much much worse than the 401.
Many highways in Texas have literally no acceleration lane, the ramp just dumps you straight into high-speed traffic. Highway 401 has very long acceleration lanes which gives you time to find a good spot to merge.
Many onramps in Texas dump you into a short lane which immediately gets off the highway again, so while you're trying to accelerate onto the highway, other people are trying to slow down and exit. Highway 401 does not do that.
When enountering another major freeway in Texas, often several lanes will exit onto that freeway. So if you're in the right lane, you may need to suddenly move four lanes to the left just to stay on the same highway. On Highway 401 there are express and collector lanes when the freeway gets wide and there are usually ramps from both portions onto major intersecting freeways. So at most one lane from each portion would go off onto other freeway so you only need to move over by one lane to stay on the 401.
12:57 this "Get here" ad with a beach is a challenge from Canadian rail. They are mocking you guys lmao
As an American railfan myself, Amtrak trains on the west coast are probably the best routes Amtrak has to offer, mainly because of scenery. Also in recent years Amtrak has gotten significantly more support and funding from the government and Amtrak has several infrastructure improvements plans across the system, including the replacement of the locomotive and cars you took on the so called "Mapel Leaf" with all new Siemens Airo equipment
as a canadian who lives in ontario, who has to go on the 401 to get absolutely anywhere, it feels so good hearing someone actually telling people how bad the 401 is. i have friends all over the world who say "traffic here is worse!!!" and i see their traffic, and it's something i would DREAM of. the worst part, for me, is that - where i live, in Oxford County, you literally can't go more than like, five minutes, without seeing a railway station. yet none of these railway stations actually service passenger trains. in a logical country, i could ride my bicycle not 3 minutes down the street to the railway station, hop on a passenger train, and be in fake london in less time than it would take to drive. but nope! welcome to ontario! :)
thanks for actually talking about how terrible the 401 is, and how awful via rail is.
I think you would enjoy Saint Paul Union Depot for being a modern renovation of a station and train hall, all the while actually having seating. Maybe the events being hosted on occasion would throw some people off, but as a station building it is so comfortable for both Amtrak and intercity bus services. Glad to see a video giving Amtrak some love!
I rode VIA Rail from Montreal to Kingston last summer, and yeah, basically what you said. CN's tracks are bumpy, only a small number of departures, and not quite as badly overpriced, but I always travel extremely light, so I didn't notice the baggage policy.
Dedicated and maintained passenger-only tracks between T.O. and MTL. It's worth whatever it costs.
I've taken the Amtrak between Pittsburgh and New York. It was infinitely better than a Greyhound. Despite not being any where as fast as any train in Taiwan, I will say it was much more comfortable and the view was amazing. You should look up the Amtrak stop at Latrobe, PA, it'll blow your mind.
0:40 At least he's honest with himself
Airports are for masochists, too.
1:01 seeing this bench... ugh just pain
🤮
In my town some bus stations have waist high 30° angled boards with the bars in-between them. Abysmal leaning experience
At least it has proper armrests that can be used...
@@KityKatKiller those are designed to keep homeless from sleeping on the benches....
Wow, surprising how many Canadians there were. Sometimes you can get a slightly cheaper ticket by booking two legs, NYP to Niagara, ON, then Niagara, ON to Toronto on Via Rail. And it's impossible to miss the connection.
Great show, very interesting. Thank you very much 🙏🏼
I can't believe you have to line up for checking in to a TRAIN. Living in Germany you buy a ticket, go to the platform and go. And usually you have a train every hour for the same route. If you miss one, take the next.
We're usually not very happy with Deutsche Bahn for constant construction works, delays and technical issues with certain types of ICE trains, but after watching this video I feel quite privileged.
We have very good railway infrastructure in Europe all in all and people use them intensely for commuting and long range travelling. And my advice to every North-American: if you want to travel around Europe take the train 👍🏼
Does VIA WANT to go outta business?
Not having to pay for luggage was one of the major benefits of train travel
They're a crown company. They don't need to provide great service, only good enough service that the population doesn't request change in leadership en masse.
Sometimes it works well, like Hydro Quebec, but sometimes it causes bad service, like with Via rail
Why on earth don't they just raise the platforms up and have ramps from platform to the wagons....
@@davidty2006 Costs money and F the disabled and elderly, i guess
But that station still looked rather packed so apparently not enough people care about the new fees and restrictions.
@@Zetharion1 a lot of people have no other option than the train
Dutch passport reveal was sick 🔥
I'm still hoping one day he'll make a "Dutch oven" joke.
17:15 that is so true. I went to Vancouver and was blown away how good the public transport was. After weeks i came back to cologne germany and nothing worked. My first thought was. "man all these people dont know how bad this really is."
Your take with Amtrak being enjoyable so long as you just don't think about how much it could be better definitely agrees with my experiences, ha! I've amtraked from ABQ to (close to) Chicago a couple times, and it's deadly slow and sleeping in coach is never the best experience ever, but honestly I've always just felt pretty happy after each trip. Never had an issue with an Amtrak employee ever, never had an issue with a passenger, always been a very relaxing, predictable trip. Undoubtably better than Greyhound!
Oh my god, I just did this trip at the end of August, but only from Utica to Toronto. And it blew my mind how poor the connection between NYC and Toronto is given how huge the two cities are. Thanks for making this video!
They told us the long pause in Niagara Falls, NY is due to scheduling with the Canadian border control. They are expecting you at a certain time and won't let you in any earlier.
In my youth I travelled by train a lot in Canada. My mother used to send me to spend time with an older brother and I travelled alone, at the age of 12!) between two major Canadian cities.
My mom would put me on what was called the "milk run" which departed at around 11 pm and arrived around 7 am.
I found it thrilling to be on my own and would often move from my seat to the bar car. I liked to read and the lights were always on in the bar car which would be empty (can't remember what time service stopped). There was a light above my seat that I could have used but I guessed it would disturb the people around me.
That was in the 1970s and 80s. As an adult I continued to travel by train when I could, but it became waaay more expensive than the bus and it got waaay slower with far fewer options as to train stops and times.
CN and CP rail were gutted by the govt in the 80s and 90s in favour of Air Canada I suspect. Privatization didn't really work, did it?
Lastly, the new baggage requirements in line with air travel, may be an attempt to streamline those train passengers who will be transferring onto air planes.
It's all so sad when you know how much better it could be.
No it is a shameless cash grab, because they are also charging $7 each way to choose your seat rather than be randomly assigned a seat.
haha WTF, no seating and no departure/arrivial board.. LOL :D
Typical New York hobo policy
I'm not sure that 'LOL' is an appropriate reaction towards hostile architecture that's hurting thousands and inconveniencing millions.
@@sascharambeaud1609laughing is quite a normal response to a terrible situation, helps people cope and process…
Anyways, I’d just bring a mini portable folding chair in my bag if I did, for some reason, need a seat before sitting on a train for hours.
@@sascharambeaud1609it's America. Everyone is laughing. Such a joke of a country
tbf, there's *very* little seating in the bullet train stations in Japan, too. I don't know what train station designers have against chairs.
This was touched on in the video, but I really can’t stress enough how awful the lack of train service really hurts the viability of Amtrak. I recently took a trip to NYC from Massachusetts in August using Amtrak, and if I remember correctly, there were only four train times available to get back to western MA for the weekend. Sure, NYC to western MA and Vermont is bound to see less passenger traffic than NYC to Boston, but given that the first train departed at like 11:30, the lack of service and rather high prices make it hard to justify taking Amtrak for traveling, especially if you need to get to a specific city as soon as possible. As a result, a more realistic plan would involve driving for a full 3-4 hours, or at the very least drive to Connecticut to get a commuter rail into the city (and I imagine it’s a similar story for people coming into NY via New Jersey).
That said, I remain optimistic about the direction which Amtrak has taken in the past few years, and I’m grateful to be in an area that has probably the best train service in the states - I know that serviceable inter-city transit would not even be possible in Texas. Great video as always!
Your first TH-cam video as a Dutch citizen!
About the old DB rolling stock to Amsterdam:
DB is actually about to introduce the new ICE L on that route sometime next year.
I’ve always loved the idea of taking an Amtrak as a form of vacation in of itself. There are specific scenic routes you can take across the country, and if you can afford the sleeper car (or are good sleeping in a seat), you could theoretically just have an entire vacation chillin on the train. Maybe that just appeals to me because I A.) love trains, and B.) usually enjoy chilling in the hotel, airbnb, or super local area whenever I go on a vacation (I’m not a “do all the things” person when I’m trying to relax, ha), but I feel like it would be lovely to just spend a few days popping into the observation deck and drawing or something
Have you watched the video Technology Connextras made about a trip like that?
Queuing for a regional train like you are boarding an airplane is something unheard of in the UK, and our rail system leaves a lot to be desired compared to Europe! I feel bad for you Canadians and Americans who love taking the train!
@@mrvwbug4423 Euston is probably the worst train terminal in London, especially that connection with Euston Square station. The rest are okay though.
It's not a regional train, it's an Intercity train. The regional trains are run by GO and you just tap your chip card and get on the train. The regional trains also have an on time performance of 91% within 5 minutes of scheudule, which is almost as good as NS in the Netherlands (93%), and far better than most regional trains in Germany.
If anyone’s curious, the reason the “Amtrak” announcements became bilingual after the border (and probably the wait at Niagara Falls NY too) is because the section of the train from the Canadian border to Toronto is operated as a VIA Rail train by VIA staff. You can, if so desired, book tickets from Toronto to Niagara Falls Ontario or the reverse on this train.
You have the casinos to thank for VIA coming to the Niagara area.
With the exception of business class. For some reason, that is an Amtrak only offer.
But in practice it almost always makes more sense to ride a regional (GO) train between Toronto and Niagara instead of Via/Amtrak. The GO train is almost as fast (equally fast when you consider that you only need to show up 3 minutes before departure and just get on the train) and much cheaper ($18.09 each way via chip card, but on weekends you can get a day pass for $10). When you take GO you also have the option of riding the GO bus that departs every hour with the same ticket
I just recently been to the Moynihan Train Hall when I visited NYC a week or so ago. I was impressed with how nice is was but also noticed the lack of seats while you wait for your train. I took an Amtrak from NYC to Hartford, CT to see family. My only complaint was having a 20 minute delay in NY and had me worry about my connection in New Haven. Thankfully I made it in time but one thing I have to consider for future train trips is to just take one train only. I really hope rail can improve here in the US. At least the seats on Amtrak are nicer than most of our airline options in the US.
11:58 say it louder: AMERICA DESERVES BETTER TRAIN TRAVEL THAN THIS!!
the distance form helsinki to tampere is only slightly smaller than toronto to london and vr the finnish train service only charges around 30 euros for it and it takes around 1 hour 40 minutes to make the trip
Not to mention the lack of gates and boarding trains like airplanes
You can actually get the ticket for less than 10 € if you buy it well in advance. There are 2-3 trains going between those cities every hour.
4:53 no no, it is enforced
its just oopsie the freight companies made all their trains too long to physically fit on rail sidings, how clumsy of them
now theyre incapable of giving way to amtrak
I am sure if the freight companies were fined $100,000 for every hour a passenger train was delayed: they would figure out how to run shorter trains pretty quick.
@@jamesphillips2285 minute, not hour ;)
@@sascharambeaud1609 Figured hourly rates were easier for accounting.
But i see your point.
Even a 20 minute delay would be annoying.
@@jamesphillips2285 Lol, no I meant 100k/minute to increase the incentive ;)
@@jamesphillips2285They are fined, actually. They pay the fine b/c their mile long train is making them millions in profit.
"Precision Scheduled Railroading" strikes again!
Fantastic content! Watching these videos makes me realize how well and efficiently everything is arranged in Europe (and for me as a resident of the Netherlands).
Yep, kind of sad that the country in our neighbourhood that does a LOT of things right unfortunately only has a few years until they'll be the new Atlantis.
And that’s despite how powerful the unions are in much of Europe…🙃
Agreed that VIA Rail is the worst! My partner and I went to Uzbekistan last month and their Afrosiyob high speed train between Tashkent, Samarkand, and Bukhara blows VIA out of the water. In addition to the speed (max 250 km/h), the Afrosiyob train gives you free tea and pastry which VIA doesn't do. Even Uzbekistan's sleeper train from Bukhara to Khiva is more punctual and comfortable than the Ocean line I used to take between Montréal and Moncton.
I live in Illinois but went to school in Virginia. I didn’t have a car so when going to school/back home I’d regularly take Amtrak just because it was cheaper than flying if you booked coach early enough. There are only two lines that connect Illinois to Virginia and both go through literally all the Midwest stations. So it would be a 20 hour train ride at minimum (usually 24-25). Basically a 3 hour flight / 11 hour drive gets turned into an overnight train trip.
Another thing I’ve noticed about Amtrak in the Southeast US is that pretty much all of the lines connect to DC and not to each other. If your start/end stations are on two different lines, good luck! An hour long drive between two cities can literally be like a 9 hour train ride because the train needs to go all the way north to DC to connect to the other line. So dumb.
@@melanieyork8975 I totally agree!! I visited my mom in NC (I go to school in VA) and my girlfriend flew in from Illinois. It was actually faster and cheaper for her to fly from Chicago to Charlotte than for me to take a train (which would have taken 6 hours because I would have needed to gone through DC first)! I really hope Amtrak becomes more developed so that I can visit my loved ones more often, especially my girlfriend since we are doing long-distance at the moment. The lack of quality of train infrastructure is another reason why I’m considering moving to Germany ❤️
@@johnperm2345 omg what a coincidence haha! My boyfriend lives in Virginia too! Definitely get the long distance thing. It’s so hard lol.
I get the vibe that you’re really cute and smart so maybe we could move to Germany and spend the rest of our lives together? Idk just spitballing
@@melanieyork8975 Poop
although a high-speed train from NY-Toronto in today’s time is a pipe dream, an overnight train is very much possible. You could have a train leaving NYC around 9 or 10 pm and arrive at the border around 6 am for an arrival into Toronto just after 9 am. a NY-bound train could leave after 7 pm so the border is crossed before 10 and arrive NYC around 8 am. No plane could get you into midtown Manhattan by 8 in the morning unless you wake up brutally early to get on it.
That would definitely be a great option. And while 6 am for passport control is still early, it's just about acceptable. Just too bad that you'd still be forced to leave the train in Niagara Falls, they seem to not like the idea of checking passports on the train itself.
@@barvdw They do it on the Montreal line. I think they just don't want to bother with the little bit of extra logistics for the overnight train. I'd take it, compared to having to get the 4 am NE train to connect to Montreal, and I'm not sure any connection at all would work for Toronto.
@@josephfisher426 but Montreal has a customs facility in their main station, because no local travel is permitted on the Adirondack between Montreal and the Canadian border. On the Maple Leaf, you can travel domestically between Niagara Falls and Toronto, so the facility is at the border itself.
CalTrains just electrified nearly their whole line from San Jose to San Francisco. Would love to see your take on how Amtrak could do this. Would it even be possible?
Not likely without building their own dedicated line
Why shouldn't it be possible? Nearly all of Germanys train routes are lectrified, except a few minor and major route and that major route is sheduled for electric for a while now, but has other problems.
@@betaich much of the Amtrak lines are on rail lines that are owned by large freight companies. They seemingly don’t have much say over what they can do. The other option is building rail owned and operated by Amtrak which is extremely expensive especially in the US
@@betaich because Amtrak doesn’t own most of the tracks and the Freight networks have zero interest in electrifying and I’m pretty sure that our government would rather shut down Amtrak and use the money for more bombs so good luck getting them to invest in duplicate electrified rail lines
@@betaich Because Amtrak does not own the track, so how can they decide to electrify it?
I'd honestly love to see your opinion on trains in England. We've had a lot of issues over the years with poor service and reliability, and as someone who's unfortunately not had the opportunity to see how good or bad other countries are at it, it does make me curious.
@@Enriath Well it is still better than what we have in Canada. I used complain a lot when I was using East Midland trains, but compare to what we have in Canada, it is way way better.
I just looked it up and London to Nottingham is a similar distance as between fake London and Toronto, after converting Canadian dollars to pounds, the London to Nottingham is half the price and runs over 15 times a day, it could be so much worse.
Taking a train is still a viable option for many intercity journeys in the UK. It might be behind many countries in the EU, but still lightyears ahead of the US and Canada.
Trains are basically never a reasonable choice to go between cities in Canada unless you live in select small cities in the greater Toronto area and want to go to Toronto.
Your last Tory government stopped the HS2 project from London to Manchester and Leeds. Only the segment to Birmingham will be completed. Planned where 18 trains per hour and direction with a top speed of 400 km/h (these numbers look ambitious).
High speed rail in Asia are higher quality than Europe🎉
THERE ARE NO REVERSE FACING SEATS 🎉🎉
6:30 I love seeing what other people put in their dock. Today I learned that NJB cares about privacy in addition to urbanism and knows how to use a terminal. Didn’t know I could love this channel more than I already did.
At least you *can* cross that border by train; I've done the Seattle Vancouver, BC train trip a bunch of times, and that's even easier than what you experienced, but here in SE MI we *cannot* take a train from Detroit to Canada. The tracks are there. Freight rail uses them. Passenger rail *used* to use them until about 1970. Amtrak has apparently been trying to restore service there for years and fairly recently (2022) received permission from the freight company... but yeah.
We went to Toronto this weekend, a city I love, but to do so we first had to DRIVE over the border and park at the VIA rail shack in Windsor, then deal with the same sort of nonsense you had to on your Toronto -> London, ON leg. I love traveling by train; I've done so in Japan and all over Europe, and in those places it's a wonderful and inexpensive experience.
I've had plenty of good, if kind of slow, train trips on Amtrak. Amtrak cascades is pretty reliably good. I've done the Empire Builder from the west coast to Chicago twice, and loved it both times (both trains were on time too). The Wolverine line from SE MI to Chicago is one of the faster lines and it's really pretty good. But yeah, so much potential...
I'm glad I live in Europe
@@PhoenixHen
I glad I live in Singapore
The MRT train is way more better than in Canada or US trains for a mile
@@gwarguraqueentrickstarcoat9110 You DO realize that Singapore is not representative of the wider region? Would make more sense comparing that to living in a city like Paris or London, not Europe as a continent.
@@gwarguraqueentrickstarcoat9110the MRT is pretty good, but the KTM (basically the only thing we have in terms of "intercity" train travel) kind of stinks. When I rode the train back when Tanjong Pagar station was still a thing, the trains were old, slow, and we were over 2 hours late upon arrival in Kuala Lumpur. I more recently rode the much shorter SG-JB route and it's still as slow and terrible as I remembered.
I just hope the SG-KL high speed rail plan actually goes ahead. Singapore and KL is another city pair that benefits greatly from high speed rail, but that project has been through so much political kerfuffle that I'm not even sure if it's being worked on.
High speed rail in Asia are higher quality than Europe🎉
THERE ARE NO REVERSE FACING SEATS 🎉🎉
@@sascharambeaud1609 Look what you made me do, you made me write praise about China, which i'm loathe to do:
while Singapore obviously doesn't border China, China is pretty effing huge & their high speed rail is incredible.
And China isn't the only country in Asia that has great railways, there's also Japan, South-Korea & Taiwan. So that's five countries from the top of my head. Yes Asia also has poorer countries with poorer service, but Europe isn't all Switzerland either.
As someone who often zips along at 300kph on the TGV yep, you are all missing out.
Always amazes me when you get on the high speed sections, fast as hell if you look out the window, if you close your eyes and put headphones on you can barely tell you're moving
You know you're going fast when you're handily overtaking cars on the Autobahn 🚄
Until there’s a Porsche Turbo S going 340
@@chucky29949 I'm ngl I fkin love cars but remember in actual reality they can only sustain that kind of speed for a few minutes at best.
Trains can blast at 300 for hours on end. Also the TGV record is over 500kph.
And have you ever actually driven on an autobahn?? Good luck going anywhere over 250 for more than 10 seconds. Most people barely top 160 and for the most part there's only 2 lanes.
Although I gotta admit, it would be pretty damn cool
@@elliotcowell3139 With a bit of timing I cruise at around 180 (where allowed).
@@elliotcowell3139 don't forget about roadworks every 10 km.
16:15 Just one more lane, bro. Just one more. That’ll fix it.
In Germany I commute 150 km (one-way) every day by train which takes a little more than one hour. I can't imagine what this would be in NA.
I can get in 1.5h from my city to Paris (over 350 km). It takes more than twice as long by car.
@@SomeRPGFan I am taking the regional train, if I took the high speed train it would be less than 60 minutes.
That too on ~49€~ 58€ /mo ticket 😂
Residents in most North American cities can't imagine it either when the option doesn't exist!
I don't think there is a single flat-fare service in the US that can travel 150 km at that speed
a commute like Philadelphia-Baltimore on Amtrak fits the speed criteria, but it's dynamically priced such that it's $30 round-trip 2 months in advance, and $100+ the day of
for some reason people are genuinely so opposed to public transit such as trains because "cars are better". Despite them complaining about bad drivers, bad traffic, and time crunch every single day when all that could literally be alleviated with public transit.
The point on productive travel time is spot on. I'm teaching classes to artisans in a 100 km radius and recently switched to train commute (with an e-bike for the last part of the commute).
Not only have I been able to save time thanks to french TERs driving at 160km/h, but I can also transform commuting time into billing time as I get so much done on my computer during the travel.
The Berlin to Amsterdam train will, from the 10th december, only take 5 hours and 52 minutes, mainly due a dissapearing train change. But that will also be temporary until the ICE L comes around next year or so! Also, one more train per day is scheduled :)
Isn't the train change already gone
@@marcogeurts9881 its already gone but iirc they havent adapted the schedule yet
Even with diesel, a train carries more passengers than a plane so carbon footprint per passenger is still considerably lower. Electric can make that lower but some subversive people are starting to use electrification as a delaying tactic, basically claiming there's no reason to improve the rail service/frequency unless the line is electrified. Which is BS.
I like the RTD light rail system we have here in Denver, CO. It basically connects the International airport to downtown and everything in-between. I've been on it on slow days at midnight and when a big artist is having a concert downtown and the trains are packed and it works great, it's fast and consistent. It's also super cheap and they actually don't even check tickets but you didn't hear that from me.
RTD should definitely buy all the idle land around their railway stations and spam them with apartments and commercial spaces, just like what Japanese railway companies are doing, and boom, housing and traffic congestion solved
@byronhernandez2088 i just wish the a line didnt cost $10.50...
Last year, visiting Canada from Australia, and after a side trip to NY, we went from NY to montreal on Amtrak, including as we also like the scenery and chill of a train vs the rugby scrum of airports.
All those things you saw applied too - fare didn’t seem bad considering the time (not so much, distance…12 hr, but then realise it’s only 600km) it’d take, comfortable train, staff were good, great scenery (Hudson, lake Champlain, small towns) but….it’s SLOW, lot of waiting for freight trains, lot seemed to be single track, 1.5 stop at the border (2 border staff to handle the whole train…I get it, Roushes Point doesn’t get much traffic otherwise) , and it got even slower once in Quebec to the point of what seemed like walking pace through the eastern outskirts of montreal and over (I think it was…) Pont Victoria. We’re “fans” of Canada (daughter lives there) and so had been hoping the Canadian segment would’ve “won” … but it was a tie.
Speaking of station signage, when arriving in montreal for the first time…and esp when faced with that city’s preference for speaking French….it’s be great for decent signage to get from Gare Centrale train station main hall to the (its connected, though you wouldn’t know…) Bonaventure metro station. No obvious signage, info desk is closed in evening, so need some “pardon, Monsieur…” and follow their “ici, et puis…” down connecting walkways
Watching this video on a very comfortable train journey in the UK, got up for a stroll and bought a coffee to make sure I'm enjoying the comfort of train travel 🚅✨️
on a journey to REAL London 😉
Regarding luggage policies, Trenitalia (the Italian state-owned train company) tried to implement something similar one year ago (for high-speed trains), but just the news of it caused such backlash that they had to put it "on hold"
This is Canada though. We just take it in the ass.
The complete lack of seating I am pretty sure is an anti homeless thing, gotta make things uncomfortable for everyone just to punish the homeless
And it forces people to buy something to be able to sit in the foodcourt..
Profit baby.
Exactly. I noticed a huge lack of benches on the streets of New York last time I visited, just under a year ago. It's not just in train stations or other large public places.
@@szymex22 so you remove anything comfortable for anyone else to sit on because they "shouldn't be in train stations" and if you aint gonna provide them anywhere else to go what choice have they got
@@szymex22The problem isn't the homeless but homelessness.
@@szymex22 On the contrary! Train stations should not be allowed to deprive YOU of seating. Even if you are a heartless monster, homeless people aren't the problem.
8:28 When the intercity direct train enters Belgium
@@spicybaguette7706 not only with trains 😂
The VIArail part speaks to me a lot, as I've been planning a trip from Montreal to Hamilton and Brantford. One single glance at Google Maps put mass transit right out of the question: the schedules are poor and would've required my host to get up unreasonably early to bring me back to the station, every trip included multiple transfers, every route displayed a host of warning messages about severely disrupted service... and the total travel time was *longer than driving*.
My only remaining viable option is to get up at 5:00 AM in order to avoid the morning rush hour, and drive on over. Anything else made no sense whatsoever. It's just _wild_. Getting between the two biggest cities in Canada is already an embarrassingly convoluted hassle even under the most ideal conditions - but the moment one wants to go just a little beyond even that and reach a suburb or a smaller city outside the metropolis, then the trip just goes straight into a Kafkaesque realm of fantasy that no reasonable person would want to put themselves into.
...Meanwhile there's a train linking Paris to Marseille in 3:10 hours, fifteen times per day, for a third of a VIArail ticket.