“Why is AMTRAK so expensive?” would be a more accurate title.

In the us: amtrak carries 31.7 million in 2017 In germany: the DB carries 2.5 billion People in 2017

"They just use the sky, which is for free.." Russia : Hold my vodka!

10:08 YOU MENTIONED MY HOME TOWN!!! Nobody has ever mentioned my home town, Havre, ever in my entire 20 years of using the internet.

The hi speed trains of Europe mean I can step aboard 1 minute before departure in the middle of the city, cruise at 300kmh and step off at a destination in the middle of a city without Queues, waiting, taxis, baggage checks, body scans and all the other crap that goes with flying. Flying is no quicker and less convenient up to 700 or even 1000km trips

I think this is mostly a us video. The largest Dutch railway company (NS) employs 5000 people and they have 1 000 000 passengers a day.

Why Trains are so Expensive *in the U.S*

Wendover production: why are trains so expensive? Me living in India: realy?

The tile should really say, "Why are PASSENGER trains so expensive." Freight trains are doing fine. Efficient. In demand. Cheap.

Solution: Flying Trains !!

You literally chose the worst countries for train commuting

I would not say that airlines are 'highly profitable' as they have extremely tiny margins

In czech republic: Main track: Prague>Ostrava(300km/200mi) Train ticket: 12.5$ Plane ticket: 150$

I really love trains. I live in Sweden, and my family sometimes go from the South to the North to go skiing. We usually go on a nighttime train. I love the gentle bumps and the cozy room and bunks where I can read and talk to my family. ILUVIT!

Start of the video: Why are trains so expensive? End of the video: *THE TRAINS ARE THE FOUNDATION OF DEMOCRACY AND THE ONLY THING KEEPING THIS COUNTRY TOGETHER*

American youtuber: Why trains are so expensive? Me: *Laughs in Bulgarian*

Damn Thomas, you too expensive.

I live in Germany. I use the train every day because it is MUCH cheaper than driving my car.

You don't "pay the railways to kill or injure people", you pay the railways to help victims of train crashes and their families

I used to take the train that passed through New York and went to DC. I hugely preferred it to the hassle of flying. You just take a taxi to the station, walk on when the train arrives, show your ticket, and chill. No annoying security.

New title: Why are American trains so expensive.

Hold on, $59 for a flight??? In Canada, a train to Vancouver from Edmonton costs about $170, on a plane its $400

In India, I travelled 500km in an AC sleeper coach for about 10$! The same route costs 30$ and above on a plane!

Also, trains run so infrequently here in the US that the schedules rarely work well for any traveller. Combine that with the lack of speed and the fact that most people don't live in the city center...it's better to drive for under 300 miles than to ride the train/fly. After 300 miles, the trip takes most of the day so if the flight is cheap enough...just makes sense to fly and/or drive.

In the Netherlands I can go from the train station to the big city for €3,70, and a ticket that brings you everywhere in the country for a whole day costs €19. ( edit ) students can use all public transport for FREE.

£30 Edinburgh to London? Yeah, if you book 10 weeks in advance, perhaps. Buy on the day and your eyes will water

Americans: why trains are expensive Me : laughs in HINDI

The sky isn't free though. You mentioned overflight fees, which goes to the government whose airspace you are flying over.

...... in america.

I am from INDIA here trains are the cheapest means of transport Chandigarh to New Delhi costs ₹220 (4 dollars) for distance of 300 KM (180 miles) and there are cheaper options too on the same train

There is a train called the West Coast Express which costs only 12 dollars to get from Vancouver to Mission, British Columbia. That's even less than a Greyhound bus ride (and Greyhound doesn't operate anymore within the province anyway). There are lots of people who travel as well, so it must pay for itself.

Me watching this while riding a train through Germany for free due to it being included in the 250 Euro per Semester I pay for my University degree: Trains are what?

I think 9 times out of 10, if a train runs over you, it's not really the trains fault? They run generally on schedules and if you use crossings, they warn you every time one is coming. Kinda your own fault if you get hit by a train.

OMG 75,000 a year for a job working on a train?! SIGN ME UP!

As an Indian, I must say I can go an equivalent distance of 1/3rd the width of the USA in about $10, with a place to sleep for the overnight journey. Any time of the year. It's not fast at all, but it's dirt cheap.

Lol, hardly anyone flies between cities in the UK.

£13 pounds on a plane from London to Edinburgh?!

Did not add the cost of traveling to and from the airport, railway stations are usually in the CBD of a city whereas airports air really often in outer suburbs.

You deserve an award for deciphering the UK rail ticketing system. Actually your breakdown of different fares is for a relatively simple part of the network.

this is exactly where the rail systems of India and China comes in!

London to Edinburgh 30 quid? Perhaps if you book a hundred years in advance

Hey hope you enjoy this (early) new video! Edit: I forgot to add that I'm at VidCon Europe this weekend in Amsterdam! If you want to say hi there's a Science creator meetup that I'll be at at 6:15 pm Sunday in the "Europe Foyer Meetup Area." If you missed when I said it at the beginning, I started a podcast with Brian from Real Engineering! We chatted with Hank Green on the first episode which you can find with the link in the description or at showmakers.fm. Also please go check out Videoblocks! I'm not exaggerating at all when I said I've used them since day one. I'm also not lying when I say that that 7-day free trial is not publicly available! The only way to get it is to use the link the description and it'll give you up to 140 free fully licensed stock footage clips. If you're a KZfaqr there's absolutely no reason for you not to try them out.

@2:07 "highly specialized workers, demanding high salaries" *watches war movie in the background*

In Italy there are only the train driver and the conductor in a 500 seat regional train, and the rails are government owned. You can go from Milan to Florence (more than 300km) in the Italian fastest train (Frecciarossa) in 1 hour and 40 minutes for 25€

"You're paying 79¢ for Amtrak to kill or injure someone" good to know

Everyone should take an Amtrak ride at least one time. It can be a really cool experience. I've done rides that are 3 hours long. One of these days I'd like to try doing a route that's like a couple days long like from Chicago to LA.

This video didn’t really cover how inefficiently train routes are in the USA. Trains shouldn’t try to compete with planes on very long routes. What they SHOULD do in the USA (but generally don’t), is provide medium distance transport to the nearest major airport. There SHOULD be a train station Co-located with every major airport to transport people to/from the surrounding area, including small towns. In this way, people could get all over the US at a reasonable cost, including to rural areas.

There’s no way London to Edinburgh is £30

London to Edinburgh for £30? Add a zero and you might be closer to the mark 😂😂😂

I can be faster on the train if you take into account the amount of time it takes to get through the airport.

Philippine National Railway cost you 0.42$ for a 425km Ride It's all Air-conditioned and comfy The ceo even said "We will not increase the fare yet,we have to increase service first"

That's true: your video clips in the video makes it alive and connects information with a picture. Thanks videoblocks and thank you for the video!!!

I think American trains are the worst example of railway network maintenance and management One thing this video clearly forget about is that passengers service for any railway network is not the main revenue making entity, it is the freight carrier that make money . Unless its a inner city metro service, trains are run as essential part of the economy and mostly run for serving people

you might have missed that the bullet train generally get you to the center of town, while you need to add transportation, hence time and money, when you take the plane. In particular, to go from Paris to Lyon by plane is not *at all* the same journey as with the train.

Did you know diesel fuel is WAY safer than water? Thousands of people drown in water every year. Almost no one ever drowns in diesel.

4:50 grossly incorrect. It means that you're paying 79 cents in order for Amtrak to apologise/pay to victims/relatives in case they do kill someone. "You're paying that money in order for the company to kill people" means that if you removed the fee, the people would stop being killed. But the reality is quite the opposite - if you removed the fee, people would not stop being killed, but relatives/victims would stop getting ...at least a bit compensated. Btw a moment like that in your script, I think, is not a one to try and snappily/quippily "summarize". A moment like that in your script is one that requires clarity in expressing the concept, and clarity in understanding what the actual concept is, so that you don't misrepresent or miscommunicate it.

4:53 , you phrased that in the worst way possible. Take this for example. A friend of mine was riding an Amtrak outside NYC a few days ago. Somebody jumped in front of that speeding train and was killed. That isn’t amtrak’s fault at all

I'm not too familiar with the Airline industry in Europe, but the Airline industry in the US is far from 'highly profitable'. Airlines in the United States makes razor thin margins, and they too are heavily subsidised by the government through airport grants, ATF, FAA, etc.

Very interesting , I worked on the railways here in Britain all my life and I didn't know half of this . Thank you for posting !

please change the title to "Why AMERICAN trains are so expensive"

expensive but cheaper than teleportation

Holy crap American trains are so damn expensive. Now I've done some research. I live in Czech republic, which is post communism county so one of the few good things that came out of that is that government invested heavily to commute plus we have one of the most complex railway network since Austria-Hungarian empire so trains goes to pretty much every larger village or small town. To compare from Brno to Prague which is approx. 200 km (125 miles) train costs about 8,5$ for ordinary ticket and 5$ for students. The ticket is valid all day and you can leave and board again on whatever station the train stops, provide it is the same day as the ticket was bought (For comparison bus cost 8$ normal and 6$ student). And that is just regular rail company tickets. For a few years now we have something called Integrated Public Transport System, which is region based system for universal transport tickets. That means that you can take public transport, bus and train with the same ticket. System works that the whole region is separated into "zones" and you pay the price according how many zones are between your town and your destination. Base cost (2 zones) is about 1$ with 0,30$ for every additional zone. I mean yeah that's it. We have public transport cheap, convenient and it goes to even the smallest villages at least every 2 hours. Also noted most of our buses and trains are new, clean and have a free wi-fi. So America, you know, take a lesson here.

Thank you for writing in km. Very helpful!!!😁

Great presentation. Very thorough with a fair amount of insight and very professional visuals. I would expect no more from a top rated television studio. (hope that's not an insult :-) I especially liked your hypothetical ticket pricing model and how you compare it with the actual pricing model. This is the first of your videos I've seen and I'll be sure to see what else you have to offer. If your selection is a reasonable fit for me I'll subscribe. Thanks!

Amtrak across LA county on the weekend costs only $10 a person. Round trip all day from 6am to 9pm and it also includes the metro and bus lines inside of the city. Its honestly a very convenient way to get into the city from the suburb and back.

4:50 This is so very misleading it's disgusting. Those people are TRYING to die. Being run over by a train is one of the most guaranteed methods of committing suicide. My cousin's husband is a train conductor. The train company (maybe amtrak?) drilled this one thing into his head: its not IF you will kill someone, but WHEN. And there's nothing they can do about it. So the phrase "you are paying them to kill people" makes it sound like they are having great fun time having human target practice, when really people are having a great fun time giving my cousin's husband PTSD.

This would also make a great podcast. You have a great voice for this. :)

"disabled" *shows senior card* "And elderly" *shows disabled card*

Extremely interesting analysis. This also fits with the situation of South Italy - the poorest part of the nation - which is reached only by very few old trains and sometimes not even those. Many relatively small towns can only be reached by car (or paying huge taxi bills), since the closest train station is too far or getting to it is extremely impractical.

Fly to Europe? What if I live in Europe

In Greece Main line: Athens>Thessaloniki(500km/310miles) Train ticket= 25€ Airplane ticket=80€ Car=130€

This is my new favorite channel.

What about Bullet Trains? Those Japan, South Korea and Uzbekistan uses?

- Claims trains are expensive - Uses Virgin Trains East Coast as an example - Puts a Grand Central train in the thumbnail - Does not metntion Grand Central is cheaper than Virgin on the same routes (Half the price).

I love the clips of the Amtrak diesel trains. So satisfying

It seems you haven't been in Eastern Europe

Who love wendover productions

So American trains are more expensive BUT they: -create more jobs than planes -run on clean electric energy -and have well paid middle class salaries with benefits. -Support small towns in America

Better infrastructure designed for high speed trains would fix more than half of these problems

That "you pay amtrak to kill someone" comment was really sensationalist

in indonesia,you only have to pay around $16 (business class) and $9 (economy class) from jakarta to yogyakarta,the distance between is 560 kilometers

@Wendover Productions, comparing the cost of a single one-way train ticket to that of a plane ticket is also patently unfair. While airlines usually force passengers to purchase tickets for each and every trip, and offer few if any multi-tickets, it is usually entirely possible to secure MASSIVE discounts with a monthly, yearly, or even weekly ticket for a train-route. These reduced-price tickets MASSIVE sway the balance of costs in favor of trains, not to mention that senior citizens, young people, the disabled, and other favored groups can often secure train tickets MUCH cheaper than the rest of the populace, as you yourself mentioned. Further, many travelers must travel to a more rural destination than an airport- the major hub cities are not their final destination. For these individuals, a train ticket is DRASTICALLY cheaper than a plane ticket, even without any special discounts... Finally, let's not forget that in addition to receiving a MASSIVE basket of subsidies, as I recounted earlier, airlines are often able to base their operations overseas, wherever taxes are lower- MASSIVELY reducing tax revenue for the national governments where the travelers reside. Oh, and though an aside, it is worth mentioning that the high labor costs paid by trains raise average incomes in the populace by a great deal more than less labor-intensive air travel, increasing passengers' ability to afford higher ticket-prices in the first place (also, many airlines practice vicious anti-union practices which train operators are not allowed to engage in by their national governments, which help reinforce this disparity in labor-costs in the first place...)

9:05 In Germany everyone can buy one of six railcards (excluding the one for young people). They can generally be split in two groups, first and second class with downwards compatibility and three tiers, that as their name tells remove 25%, 50% or 100% of the ticketprice. The last one doesn't require any real ticket. You just hop on a train and show your railcard.

Corrected Title: Why trains in US is so costly? Asia - Smiling in background

Amtrak is an amazing service, staffed by friendly staff who care about you, unlike airlines. Admittedly I used it for a holiday travelling and was not concerned about timings. Managed to get a railcard and travel from Chicago to New Orleans,via memphis and then back via San Antonio, Houston, dallas and St. Louis. Holiday of a lifetime and Amtrak were wonderful and travel was awesome. Much better than airline and so much more personal

Then, why is it so cheap in India ?

3:15 The sky isn't free airlines have to pay for flyover fees and atc fees

This video has a flaw. It states that Amtrak has 1 employee for every 4 passengers. That may be true for Amtrak passengers, but it’s not only them. Amtrak provides ALL maintenance of the northeast corridor which at least 3 other railroads pay Amtrak to use. The Hudson River tunnels see 400,000 people travel between them per day.

If the argument to support Amtrack is to supply Rural America with access to larger markets, they suck at that too. Their service area in the Midwest, West, and Rural South is paltry. And dont forget about bus lines. Airplanes aren't the only way to get around you know.

We have a major issue with the Rail provider in Bulgaria. It has HUGE loss. About 0.3 billion EUR which for a small economy as ours is a major dept. There are few routes that are profitable and they don't add up for the ones that are on loss. However the government is keep pouring money by saying "It is more of a social service. Without the rail thousands of people, mostly elderly and poor, will not be able to go to the town for food or job." It makes sense.

3:11 ‘the sky is free’ Siberian/Canadian overflight fees: Am I a joke to you?

Thanks for the video!! :)

The amount of knowledge I get from watching a single video of yours is amazing. Thank you for the efforts, this channel is far better than all other TV channels, even Discovery.

In Germany we have/had "Sprinters". These are train lines that only stop in the biggest cities in drive right through the smaller ones. Now I understand, why they are so unprofitable and why only a few of these are left.

Amtrak is really important to Philmont. The only other option is personal car or a really expensive bus. I'm glad you touched on the importance to rural areas

I like how you always show Boston airport when you show a busy airport.

Can't wait to check out the podcast!

they could automatize some of those workers

Excellent quantitative presentation

Very nice angle, good job.