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pc86 you are wrong. I have bought tickets on Amtrak, and Amtrak sucks. I have done the price/time opportunity cost calculation for several destinations, and A

pc86 you are wrong. I have bought tickets on Amtrak, and Amtrak sucks. I have done the price/time opportunity cost calculation for several destinations, and Amtrak came out a big loser, and I ended up driving. I have taken trains in Europe many times, and the overall difference is astounding. I don't know how to fix it, but American trains just seem to want to fail.

bunderbunder 9y ago
Amtrak is a bit of a special beast. It's a Frankenstein's monster that the government assembled from the corpses of the many independent rail companies that were failing in the mid 20th century. As for why Amtrak's service is so poor, my personal sense is that Amtrak made a bunch of bad decisions that maximized their bottom line, such as using excessively cushy (and heavy, and low-capacity) rolling stock for the kinds of routes that would be covered by something more like IC service in Europe. In essence, they made a gamble that what rail travelers want is luxury, which translated into 250lb seats with half an acre of leg room and 3" of foam padding, when what they really want is frequent, regular service. Commuter train systems like Chicago's Metra are much better, but they're unable to extend themselves out to full-fledged intercity service, no matter how successful they might be at it, because Amtrak enjoys a statutory monopoly.
- deleted 9y ago
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- AnimalMuppet 9y ago
  Amtrak is something the government assembled from the corpses of the passenger operations of many independent rail companies. Those passenger operations were (all of them) losing money, even if the rail companies themselves were not failing (some were, some weren't).
pc86 9y ago
> I have bought tickets on Amtrak Me too. > Amtrak sucks It sure does. > I have done the price/time opportunity cost calculation for several destinations, and Amtrak came out a big loser, and I ended up driving. Which proves my point. > pc86 you are wrong Okay.

bunderbunder 9y ago

Amtrak is a bit of a special beast. It's a Frankenstein's monster that the government assembled from the corpses of the many independent rail companies that were failing in the mid 20th century. As for why Amtrak's service is so poor, my personal sense is that Amtrak made a bunch of bad decisions that maximized their bottom line, such as using excessively cushy (and heavy, and low-capacity) rolling stock for the kinds of routes that would be covered by something more like IC service in Europe. In essence, they made a gamble that what rail travelers want is luxury, which translated into 250lb seats with half an acre of leg room and 3" of foam padding, when what they really want is frequent, regular service. Commuter train systems like Chicago's Metra are much better, but they're unable to extend themselves out to full-fledged intercity service, no matter how successful they might be at it, because Amtrak enjoys a statutory monopoly.

deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
AnimalMuppet 9y ago
Amtrak is something the government assembled from the corpses of the passenger operations of many independent rail companies. Those passenger operations were (all of them) losing money, even if the rail companies themselves were not failing (some were, some weren't).

pc86 9y ago

> I have bought tickets on Amtrak Me too. > Amtrak sucks It sure does. > I have done the price/time opportunity cost calculation for several destinations, and Amtrak came out a big loser, and I ended up driving. Which proves my point. > pc86 you are wrong Okay.