Over investment in wars and interfering in other country’s affairs imagine what could be done with the hundred billion +usd sent to Ukraine or the trillion dollars spent in afg

@@B21_raider while I don't support our imperialist wars, they are not the reason why money was spent subsidizing cars above and beyond trains. Different people, same rot

outside boston-washington, maybe all the way to miami cars are better though the east coast corridor could and should be primarily rail.

If Amtrak was a railroad, they would lay their own track on federal land, such as the ROW for interstate highways where the grades allow. They would be building their own stations and transit support. Cities that want downtown service would be required to build their own connector spurs of interurban from downtown to the express Amtrack station out where space is broad and rail congestion is low. Instead it is more fun to just bi+ch about it for 50 years and never reach any promised goals...but everyone on the team gets paid and pensioned.

@@QuizmasterLaw true at least Brightline is bringing trains back in modern way in Florida with these expansions from Miami to Orlando then Tampa and possible Jacksonville

Someone has to pay for that.

@@akivaplutno Yes, us. And we should. The long term benefits of getting people out of cars should far outweigh any costs associated with building out the network. The longer we take to do it, the more difficult it will get. This is something that should have been done 50 years ago as we started to realize that the "suburban experiment" wasn't really working. Instead we continued to damage our cities and way of life to the point where it's now going to be extremely painful and expensive to get back to a sane development pattern; but as I said before, the longer we take to do it, the worse it will be for us.

I have been saying that for years.

@@akivaplutno yes, and it should be those of us riding the trains. Amtrak is already getting government subsidies. It said in the video they got 22 Billion and are slated for another 44 Billion. They need to use that money to build their own infrastructure.

One size fits all is too simplistic. Passenger rail in the Northeast Corridor (NEC) works not only because Amtrak owns the trackage, but also given that the geographic proximity of large population centers allow high-speed passenger rail to compete effectively with both airline and bus/automobile roadway travel. The Interstate 95 Boston-New York-Philadelphia-Wilmington-Baltimore-Washington DC corridor is unlike any other in the United States. There is simply not enough consumer demand to run the frequency of passenger rail traffic between most of the other large metropolitan areas in the United States that would warrant the huge outlay to acquire and or build independent trackage assets, nor the enormous annually recurring required maintenance cost in a manner similar to which it occurs on the NEC. This is why it has not - and likely will not - ever happen at scale. The rest of the nation is just not a good fit from a geographic and a population density standpoint. If individual states were to step up and do it in targeted intrastate rail corridors, it could improve those service performance times, but the long distance Amtrak trains like the *Empire Builder, Southwest Chief, Sunset Limited,* etc, are not going to purchase or build (let alone maintain) the thousands of miles of track required to isolate those services from the freight-owned trackage.

I don’t take the train because I’m worried about on time performance …. I like to relax and arrive…. So what if I’m late? That’s why I have a sleeper room… wake me when we get there

@@RandomRandomnessKCMO What if you have a hotel reservation and if you’re too late you lose that room? If the hotel is fully booked you’re screwed.

​@@FatherManusHow can you reserve something and still be overbooked?

@@FatherManus I always book Airbnb’s. I do not deal with hotels and normal accommodations but generally issues like that be resolved with a simple phone call. Again I don’t take the train because I’m worried about on-time performance. The train as part of my journey part of the vacation if something happens during the vacation it’s just part of the experience

i dont see why we dont ban trains! right?

Exactly and Brightline which is a privatized passenger rail service is executing this philosophy for it's Florida Miami - Soon Orlando operations with enough Train stock to support hourly services.

@@rodimcgeesums633 Brightline is supported by the state of FL. This is socialism as is AMTRAK. The govt controls the operation, which any corporation won't touch because there's no profit to be made. Buses run all over FL, but apparently that wasn't good enough.

@@ernestimken6969 Uhm no they're offloading the operation costs by selling the real estate for development within proximity of their stations. They have strong negotiations with the railroad as they are the subsidiary of the parent company of the freight rail operator. The state of Florida does provide subsidies yes, but the operations is run by Brightline. Nothing against national rail or AMTRAK but the operator doesn't have consistent enough service for high populated areas aside from the NE corridor.

@@rodimcgeesums633 Selling real estate near stations was, I've read, how the streetcar system in greater Los Angeles was (privately) funded, and, I understand, the reason that the system later failed (no more real estate to sell). Real estate sales also seem to be how otherwise money losing golf courses support themselves (until the land runs out, then redevelopment of the bankrupt golf course). It's an interesting model (with its limits).

Agree. National security makes things bipartisan

@@bigfella3411 wrong. it's not an issue. just use trucks!!!

@@bigfella3411 imagine if we spent $200 billion on building trains and amtrak instead of giving it to dictator vlad in ukraine.

Nope...The Govt. can already take over rail tracks during a time of war to move troops.

@@555Trout Physically impossible. Freight trains are too long to get out of the way. Plus, they built the interstate highway for army trucks, so why on earth a different standard for rails?

Lol, literally this. The freight rail industry has by far the highest profit rate from any industry, and they go around bragging that they spend $20 billion a year on maintenance and capital upgrades

@@yossisprei1664 Exactly. They do the minimum to keep their trains going. Double track? Nope if it's not needed.. Extra long trains (that don't fit on sidings) to maximize freight and keep low crew numbers? Yep.. Oh did we mention the woes of the crews/working. They should probably try to strike or something..😏

@@Ven100 The only company that I have seen upgrade their tracks to improve experience for passenger service is the Florida East Coast Railway/Brightline. It's a smaller company run by a capital investment group, and has nowhere near the amount of resources that the big four have. Make this make sense!

@@funtomco.studios8106 Because their business is passenger rail. The freight companies decided not to do passenger rail, so they have no reason to improve it.

@@funtomco.studios8106 It does help that the Florida East Coast Railway freight and Brightline share a parent company. It just goes to show that if other freight companies actually wanted to work with Amtrak on scheduling, ect - they could.

We really need Amtrak to be the express line and bypass the traditional cities completely. Interurban spurs and loops built by the metropolitan authorities should provide downtown and suburb to Amtrak station connection. Therefore making Amtrak a railroad high speed "airline". But neither you or I matter in this. Amtrak officials know this but they fly to conferences and drive cars to the Amtrak offices

@@STho205 What's wrong with routing Amtrak through cities? I rode from Philadelphia to Washington and the train went just as fast through cities as it did in the more sparsely populated areas.

@@bobbyc1120 because that's where you lose major time on the train and where you lose time as a traveller. If you don't live downtown, and most of the nation's travelling public dies not, you have to spend hour(s) slugging through congested traffic. Get your vehicle parked in expensive garages and walk through often sketchy areas to the station with luggage....or take a uber/taxi for an expensive interurban ride. You arrive at a downtown....say Richmond VA or New Orleans on Tulane in a very sketchy slum neither part of the hotel and shop district but an open railyard. You then need to find a rental car but most of those offices are out at the airport....so it's Enterprise or nothing that's still a taxi ride to get there.....or you can taxi the whole trip. The train averages 30-60mph on most routes including stops, so it is the same speed as a car, but unless your business and intent is within a quick walk to the station....the trips add hours and $$$$ to the train ride. If you want to do NYC or downtown Philly or DC Smithsonian museums or visit Williamsburg VA then those stations work. If you are going to visit relatives or do business in Cleveland, Chicago, New Orleans, Richmond, Salt Lake City, Denver, LA, ..... then you are dumped off at the wrong spot.

@@bobbyc1120 I've sat for 3 hours on Amtrak owned lines to get into DC from Virginia because the south Amtrak approach is full of Amtrak freight (yeah they carry freight too)....so it happens, but in most cities as you roll into the congested freight yards the delays begin. If you keep rolling into congested yard districts or industrial corridors then slow running is mandated. If you have to back the train into a terminal, expect an extra hour. You're riding a special bubble Philly, NYC, DC where Amtrak is really just an interurban commuter service of three close cities. If you ride real distance you'll see why trains: Leave when you don't want to From a place you'd rather not be To a place you'd rather not be At a time you don't like. Pulling into a downtown slum in middle america at 11pm or 3am is not fun, even if you have family waiting for you in their car.

@@STho205 the major cities are what justify the trains in the first place.

True Joe Biden only used the Metroliner service in the Northeast no surprise that are added more project expansions there which is good but everywhere else is still just in legal battles or slow progression

America does NOT need high speed rail. We first need to improve our current regular rail system before wasting a bunch of money on hsr

@@664theneighbor5 We need both, really.

@@664theneighbor5 Both please!

Highspeed rail doesnt really make sense when you consider ticket prices are more expensive than airplane tickets and planes are faster. Trains are really cool but not economical for mass long distance transit

@@kipter how about we just build the highspeed and not charge outrages Prices. I’m sure If the system is used a lot this will offset the costs.

Brightline has mentioned 15 potential city pairs to run service on in the coming decades. Finger crossed they make it happen

If they nationalized rail here that would definitely happen, and other companies would pop up and create competition, similar to the airlines boom.

There's a big positive externality with rail infrastructure that companies like Brightline can't benefit from. Therefore, waiting for private investment means leaving opportunity on the table.

There is definitely a consensus among some other videos and articles I’ve seen on the matter that agree this is the way. Private companies coordinating with governments to make this happen because they are way more agile and have more flexibility. Brightline’s partnership with Orlando is bringing multiple station that connect to the local train system that lets people quickly switch

What train?

N a t i o n a l i z a t i o n. Its the only way to save the railroads from eating themselves in the name of the almighty operating ratio.

He doesn't need to. He has already covered half of the points mentioned in this video.

Facts, some things cannot be run for profit.

@@afaxmachine5045 yeah like car infrastructure lol

Buses and planes are for profit and they work pretty well 🤷‍♂️

@@ling636 busses aren't run for profit, when they are they do not work. planes are not public transport.

@@afaxmachine5045 Greyhound, Megabus etc. are not run as for-profit?

Well if they double tracked everything that would mean double the maintenance cost for the freight companies and they might not be able to afford that either...

@@marknystrom1984 I did acknowledge that. Honestly my pipe dream scenario would be having the surplus track space on the lines sold to Amtrak for exclusive passenger use. But that is unlikely to happen since Amtrak doesn't have the money for it, and even if they did, I doubt the freight companies would be willing to sell, on the off chance they need the surplus track space in the future.

@@marknystrom1984 then Amtrak needs to pay its share from the Billions of dollars in government subsidies. Or, the government should subsidize freight railroads so they can afford to maintain the extra track.

@@marknystrom1984 can’t they just there trans even longer

@@David-yo5re Amtrak basically inherited the old passenger rail obligations held by the freight RRs. The only reason these RRs existed to begin with was because they were required to run regular passenger services in exchange for their grants. When Passenger Service became unprofitable due to competition from highways and airlines, the government stood up Amtrak to take over these obligations IN EXCHANGE for trackage rights these RRs are trying to weasel their way out of. That said, Amtrak is frequently used as a piggy bank by the freight railroads to build new infrastructure for new service. See the recent fiasco with the Gulf Stream service. CSX basically wanted Amtrak to pay BILLIONS to restore rail service to Mobile that consists of TWO trains a day despite the fact that Amtrak already paid to expand the infrastructure decades ago when they were running the Sunset Limited to Jacksonville. It would be better for the government to straightup purchase the ROW outright than to keep paying into this scam RRs are running. That is what Virginia did with CSX in 2019.

First those trains would have to actually be electric. So many are diesel in the US

100%

I mean.. even grouping tens to hundreds of cars worth of people onto a single diesel powered train would be more fuel efficient than give everyone their own co2 spouting box on wheels.

@@sheevone4359 it'd be better for them to be electric, but even if they aren't, just having diesel could still make an impact because that's still significantly better than cars.

@Nico Kelly indeed even that would be better

Not sure exactly what this means, if you could elaborate in a bit more detail.

@@HRHolm-bi6zu I think they mean that the rails other infrastructure are owned by state corporations, while the companies that own the trains and provide the actual service are private.

@@HRHolm-bi6zu the rail network is controlled by the govt while the trains have both state owned and private investment

@@HRHolm-bi6zu it means that rail is similar run than roads - the rail is owned by state and everyone can use it for a fee and who is able to follow the common rules.

Europe is not exactly doing that great so im not sure why we should be emulating them lol.

Regular people too, unfortunately. Car-centricism is deeply ingrained in so many people's minds.

I can think of one thing the gov can do to ameliorate the situation, but I don't want to get shadow banned by KZfaq for saying the n word

They didn't privatize rail in the US (or Canada). They were always private businesses since the B&O and others opened in the early 1830s.

Nationalization

@@whoisthatkidd2212 Let's start by nationalizing your Mom's house. Then you can apply for residency in the basement, but there are 3 million needy new arrivals ahead of you. Some people are quite free thinking with other people's property.

@@STho205 there are 16 million unoccupied homes in the US, this isn't the own you think it is.

Perhaps, but the same issue exists of cost, to reactivate and maintain the line. Also a number of rail trails are actually still owned by freight railroads, who would be reluctant to part with them on the off chance in the future they are needed. And of course you have pushback from the rail trail lobbies and the NIMBY's who live along the right-of-way. Some people would rather have a free bike trail, than a railroad that costs to ride.

And those lines in Metro areas go behind someone's house. NIMBY problem.

@@potblack6043 Private RRs are more than happy to sell underused ROW. Virginia just purchased 380 miles of ROW from CSX.

Those places are fertile ground for maglev (medium speed)

Your local store also pays its owner a % of what it makes as a dividend....

Dividends are not “free gifts” they are a share of profits that owners are entitled to

@@jackfrancis107 I'm just saying, if Class I's said to their investors that they're gonna reduce their dividends by half, or even a quarter, that's $5 billion more they could spend on improving infrastructure over the entire united states.

@@meganegan5992 investments need to yield results. Companies pay dividends when there are not highly profitable projects to develop.

@@jackfrancis107 they literally are not entitled to it. the only thing they have rights to is the share price, which they took the risk in buying

that is the right answer but the trick is getting anyone right of center to play along with "socialism"

@@mitchellb4551 there's nothing of socialist in my proposal, is more open than actual system, that is monopolistic, to concurrency.

​@@d1234as any American right of center will "nationalization" and assume you are a "socialist" (used incorrectly but they don't care) and then proceed to cuss you out and raise their taxes and give to "the man". especially today when the cost of living and practical things like eggs are more expensive than ever. they will argue for not spending to magically bring the prices back down (the pheseabilty of this be dammed)

This completely ignores the fact that the NEC connects Boston, NYC, Philly and DC, AKA four large metro areas with some of the best public transit systems and easily the best walkability in the country. The NEC's popularity is not solely because of trackage; if anything, it has more trackage for the reasons previously mentioned. A train station that functions as a park-and-ride is only so useful.

Try convincing the freight rail companies that own most of Amtrak's rails to do that.

I’d think building 2 more tracks falls under the “massive capital investment” they don’t have money for. Good idea though

Your totally overlooking the fact it costs on average 1 million $/mile to install new track. Which means it ain't gonna happen

@@skyking6989 It can if the will is there. Virginia purchased half the ROW from CSX from DC to the NC state border. The goal is to double train service within the state and introduce new higher speed rail service to Raleigh. In other words, it's happening (in VA).

Yeah, it's expensive to run under capacity. Solving delays will go a long way towards increasing ridership and reducing the cost per ticket.

Even in Europe you don't ride trains long distance except for maybe overnight trains. Most trips are within 400~500 miles. Chicago to Seattle is 2000 miles, nobody is going to ride trains for that distance even in Europe. People will however ride trains from Chicago to St Louis, or from Srattle to Portland.

The amount of lobbying against railroads from Tire and Automobile companies also killed many short lines and regional routes.

Don't forget airlines. As rail companies built, maintained and paid tax on their lines, airlines had governments build airports all over.

Airlines and cars and trucks are better and more efficient go cope.

@@warlordop713 cars and trucks are not more efficient lol

@@EthanL21800 Yes they are for sure

Thats not how it works... The skies are not owned by the government...

@@danielchou5895 correct, sounds silly. I mean in the sense of federal airspaces.

That’s how it works in Europe.

The government could make an offer to buy the rails... Right, just compensation for taking of private property?

@@JamesSmith-ij8nj That would cost billions of dollars and no railroad would accept the offer. RRs earn more money than offered...

USA is not advanced

A well-reasoned and well-outlined answer. I read a Reddit comment once that described Amtrak's long distance routes as "land cruises for senior citizens", subsidized in part by revenues generated from Amtrak's Northeast Corridor operations. They don't make a whole lot sense the way things are currently organzied with Amtrak.

That's not true. Both NEC and long distance services are subsidized. The NEC most of all as it requires huge infusions of capital funding to keep it going. There is currently a huge maintenance backlog most notably the Hudson tunnels which is in dire need of repair/replacement. In fact, the amount of funds required to bring the NEC to a state of good repair can fund expansions of long distance rail many times over. In other words, canceling long distance rail is barely going to make a dent to improve its capital needs in the NEC. As to existing corridors, Outside the NEC Amtrak is pretty much completely reliant on State funding and support. State supported routes consists of HALF of Amtraks passengers, and States are responsible for funding these routes. Not only do these routes carry the most passengers and have the most growth in ridership, it is a lot more cost effective to fund them than the NEC.

@@taoliu3949 At long last, in FY22 Amtrak began showing the fully allocated cost for its three service line, i.e., NEC, state corridors, and long-distance. In FY22, on a fully allocated cost basis, which includes depreciation, interest, and miscellaneous capital charges, the NEC had a profit of $1 million. The state corridor trains had a loss of $185 million, while the long-distances trains had a loss of $563 million. The losses for the state corridor trains does not factor in the state subsidies. The impact of the infrastructure upgrades on the NEC's financlal outcomes will depend on the cost, funding mechanisms, timing of the expenditures, and ability of the carrier to raise fares to cover them. Those that point to the need for the NEC infrastructure improvements seem to assume that they have to be done at once. That is not true. Amtrak's long-distance trains incurred a combined operating loss of more thant $1.9 billion for the four years ended September 30, 2022. They have never come close to covering their operating expenses, and they never will. If it were not for the politics, no reasonable management team would argue for their continuance.

@@paulsmith3820 That "profit" of $1 million does not include the literal BILLIONS of dollar it is asking for to bring the NEC back to good repair. Amtraks own audit from 2020 states that it requires $42B to restore the NEC to a state of good repair.

@@taoliu3949 A future expenditure is not a factor in current operating and/or fully allocated financial results. Amtrak's estimeate of the amount of money to required to bring the NEC up to "standards" is a wish list. Whether all the projects really need to be done is problematic. Moreover, depending how the projects are scheduled, which is likely to be over many years, the hit to Amtrak's NEC financials will be spread out for 30 to 50 years.

The freight trains have nothing to refund. They didn't sell the tickets; Amtrak did lol. Good luck moving that idea forward.

Amtrak is a non profit government corporation like the usps

AMTRAKs problem is freight gets priority so this causes all the delays which makes passengers not take amtrak who otherwise might.

Let's turn your house or apartment into a migrant shelter or halfway house. Sounds effective and solves a problem.

@@QuizmasterLaw Amtrak's problem is it is a squatter on other businesses property. The service really only exists in 1972 to keep the Metroliner/Acella, Boston and Philly Harrisburg lines open for the political class. They have to make a show of service in other states or Congressmen would cut them off due to their heavy home pork diet.

@@STho205 The Acela and other NEC lines are profitable, the only profitable Amtrak lines in the entire country. They bring in billions in revenue every year. They are the only lines that didn't need any bailing out, and they currently pay for the rest of the Amtrak network.

Sleepers are equivalent to first class on Amtrak. Only way to make them cheaper is to introduce shared cars. And honestly, Amtrak hasn't even saturated the overnight services. Many 8~12 hour corridors perfect for overnight trips are still underutilized.

@@taoliu3949 yeah, what they offer now is way too luxurious

@@Clippercarduser That's not really an issue if the demand is there. Not to mention sleepers does have a market, I just feel like Amtrak is not making full use of it. Sleepers are perfect for 8~12 hour corridors where people can get a full night's rest between their destinations. Not saying Amtrak is screwing up as they have a shoe string budget, but there's a lot of missed opportunities out there.

@@taoliu3949 given that greyhound does operate quite a lot of overnight buses, it’s not a question that overnight transportation does have a market in the us, but Amtrak for some reason is just not offering any product in this sector

@@Clippercarduser That's probably why Amtrak only does private rooms. They offer a level of luxury buses can't match. Until they can increase overnight trips to speeds that beats buses, I don't think it's going to change much.

Yup, it's a dispatching problem. Essentially every other country uses public-sector dispatchers (and every other country is not communist). US roads, airways, and waterways are all publicly controlled and don't have any of the same issues that rail has allowing multiple carriers to share the same lanes. Once tracks are actually required to serve passenger trains, with real penalties for delays, even private track owners would be incentivised to invest in infrastructure upgrades like electrification and straightening.

@Zaydan Alfariz you’d be surprised to learn that the Class 1s that own the lines are also terrible at maintaining the tracks

Nah. Its better privatized. Stop trying to be „like the restof the world” and focus what is the best

@@ling636 and that mindset is what made the US railway system disintegrate into the clusterf*** it is today. Nowhere to go but up.

@@EthanL21800 Yes, terrible, just look at the multiple derailments, DAILY.. Well maintained rails are important to the safe transit of goods, do you really think rail companies don't want safe rails? Disingenuous arguments hurt more then help your cause.

build new track instead of nationalization

highways are far more expensive to build and maintain than rail projects!

@@marcoroberts9462 so maybe let's build more trains instead of wasting that money on highways

you've remind me of what someone once said "The mind is the man, the poor is in it and the rich is it too".

This sentence is the secret of most successful investors.

and i most tell you the truth.investment is the key that can secure your family future.

You are right and it's the truth 👍

That's true , In-vesting in bit coin now is the best thing to do especially with the current state in the market

That will only cost a Trillion, or so...

@@HardRockMaster7577 or, an emergency nationalisation...

@@HardRockMaster7577 they can start off with small sections City to City... Or one route at a time ... We send that much money overseas every couple years... The government just needs to switch up its priorities and work on the people...

Literally at that point gas became an addiction when there’s a oil crisis blames it on the government even if it’s external factors + still running gas guzzling cars cause automotive manufacturers thought a couple of decades ago gas will be cheap

🥱

Being able to go where you want, when you want, is invaluable. Anyone would be correct to throw a conniption about having that taken.

depending on the area the sheer cost won't be terrible, it's a question of who putting up the $$. the freight lines that run the current tracks don't have an interest too since they won't get anything out of it and the federal government is too hamstrung by bureaucratic and the gas/ oil lobby to put meaningful full money (thanks Biden for at least trying with BBB) toward the project. the best answer as of late has been the private angle with Brightline in Florida.

Not difficult at all. Many mainlines historically had 3 to 4 tracks to deconflict passenger and freight trains. What happened after deregulation was many of these extra tracks were torn up by the railroads to reduce costs. It would be significantly more cheaper to acquire underutilized ROW and build tracks than trying to acquire completely new ROW (property acquisition issues, grading, etc). The issue is the lack of political will. Amtrak is operating on a shoestring budget that's mainly focused on the NEC. Outside the NEC the routes are reliant on State funding which ranges from not a lot to non-existent. That said, Virginia just recently purchased 380 miles of ROW from CSX as part of a $ 3.7B initiative. The goal is to double rail service throughout the state by 2030 with almost hourly trains running from DC to Richmind. If Virginia can do this, so can any other state but they don't.

Did you get a settlement?

That's basically what Virginia is doing. They just purchased 380 miles of ROW from CSX to expand passenger rail services across the State. But that requires the States to be actually on board and doesn't apply to long distance lines that are not State supported.

You can build parallel tracks on current mainlines capable of at least 110+mph service. You don't need a completely new ROW. Tracks "rattle" because you're running on tracks not suitable for higher speeds.

Both have no idea about how politics or railroad ops work.

It's 3:40 by car. Add a 45 min break, you are at 4.5 hrs. Traffic delays 1 hr. You are at 5.5 hrs. You can't sleep, relax, or do any work in your car. I'd say it's a good deal. It could be better, but it's not bad.

@@truthalonetriumphs6572 good point

@@truthalonetriumphs6572 it’s quicker by plane, however, you always have to factor in a delay, travel to and from the airport, and airport check in. The best thing about Amtrak to NYC is the stations is in Midtown West, and your not fighting traffic to get into Manhattan or paying 60 plus dollars for a taxi from JFK to Manhattan.

It's improved a lot since then. You can make the trip today in 3.5~4 hours.

Airports and Highways are all subsidized. Neither are completely funded with user-based fees.