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> The trains run on time, .... I'll see your belly laugh, and raise you hysterical laughter, rapidly increasing in intensity until I pass out. The last time I

> The trains run on time, .... I'll see your belly laugh, and raise you hysterical laughter, rapidly increasing in intensity until I pass out. The last time I rode Amtrak, from Denver to Chicago, I spent a 24-hour delay waiting on a siding in the middle of the Great Plains. A train filled with passengers motionless for a complete day as cargo train after cargo train just whoosh by. I once worked out that a internationally-competitive professional cyclist could have beaten me home, even taking a full 8 hours of sleep somewhere along the route. Slow and steady, but with right-of-way, wins the race. The previous instance of riding Amtrak, from Indianapolis to Chicago to catch some touristy activities, and then back again the same day, gave the party just enough time to arrive, take a deep breath, and immediately board the return train, which was also late getting back. The Amtrak customer-facing employees seem courteous and satisfied, but the ones in the corporate offices, setting the timetables, must be completely delusional. I have never once been on an Amtrak train that left on time, or arrived on time. Never. And I likely never will be, since I have stopped giving them the opportunity to disappoint me.

liability 7y ago
A 24 hour delay on a train is still significantly more comfortable than a delay in an airport, or worse, on a plane. I'd sooner spend a day in a train than an hour on the tarmac in a plane; the train is that much more comfortable. Let alone the multi-day delays I've experienced when flying... (And better to sleep on a train than whatever bedbug infested shitbox of a hotel the airline offers you a stay in during your delay... Airlines are up there with Comcast when it comes to customer service.)
WorldMaker 7y ago
> A train filled with passengers motionless for a complete day as cargo train after cargo train just whoosh by. It's way past time America stopped prioritizing cargo over people. We sold almost all our rails to cargo companies for cheap, and now have almost no passenger travel left. It's an unbelievable farce.
- rayiner 7y ago
  "Sold?" Those rails were built by those companies.
  - WorldMaker 7y ago
    On public right of ways acquired through eminent domain with requirements that they also serve the public as passenger transport. We don't expect the rights on toll roads to revert back to the tolling company at the end of the tolling period and become a private road reserved only for cargo trucks, we expect them to continue to serve all traffic, for cheap as free once the tolls are "paid off". (Though Indiana and some other states are certainly working hard to create such privatized disasters this century, because no one remembers these states made the same exact mistakes with their rails.)
    - rayiner 7y ago
      "Public right of way" isn't a magic incantation for justifying Marxism. Railroad companies purchased the rights of way at fair value--which is an essential requirement for the exercise of eminent domain. The only function of eminent domain in that context is avoiding the hold-out problem, where a property owner can demand far more than market value for a parcel that stands in the middle of an already-acquired railroad alignment. Eminent domain isn't "private companies getting property for free"--it's a limited exercise of government power to prevent what would otherwise be a market failure. Privately operated toll roads are completely different. There, the operating company generally never owns the right of way to begin with. Even if they build the toll road, all they are buying is the right to operate the road for for some term.
      - logfromblammo 7y ago
        The history of railroads in North America is a lot dirtier than what you describe. A lot of railroads did, in fact, get their trackway for free. They didn't get it by eminent domain, but by land grant, as the first [white] owner of record. They got a checkerboard of land [0], so they could trade adjacent lands with the other grantees in order to establish a continuous railway. The only holdouts were the Ghost Dancers. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Checkerboarding_(land) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Checkerboarding_(land)

liability 7y ago

A 24 hour delay on a train is still significantly more comfortable than a delay in an airport, or worse, on a plane. I'd sooner spend a day in a train than an hour on the tarmac in a plane; the train is that much more comfortable. Let alone the multi-day delays I've experienced when flying... (And better to sleep on a train than whatever bedbug infested shitbox of a hotel the airline offers you a stay in during your delay... Airlines are up there with Comcast when it comes to customer service.)

WorldMaker 7y ago

> A train filled with passengers motionless for a complete day as cargo train after cargo train just whoosh by. It's way past time America stopped prioritizing cargo over people. We sold almost all our rails to cargo companies for cheap, and now have almost no passenger travel left. It's an unbelievable farce.

rayiner 7y ago
"Sold?" Those rails were built by those companies.
- WorldMaker 7y ago
  On public right of ways acquired through eminent domain with requirements that they also serve the public as passenger transport. We don't expect the rights on toll roads to revert back to the tolling company at the end of the tolling period and become a private road reserved only for cargo trucks, we expect them to continue to serve all traffic, for cheap as free once the tolls are "paid off". (Though Indiana and some other states are certainly working hard to create such privatized disasters this century, because no one remembers these states made the same exact mistakes with their rails.)
  - rayiner 7y ago
    "Public right of way" isn't a magic incantation for justifying Marxism. Railroad companies purchased the rights of way at fair value--which is an essential requirement for the exercise of eminent domain. The only function of eminent domain in that context is avoiding the hold-out problem, where a property owner can demand far more than market value for a parcel that stands in the middle of an already-acquired railroad alignment. Eminent domain isn't "private companies getting property for free"--it's a limited exercise of government power to prevent what would otherwise be a market failure. Privately operated toll roads are completely different. There, the operating company generally never owns the right of way to begin with. Even if they build the toll road, all they are buying is the right to operate the road for for some term.
    - logfromblammo 7y ago
      The history of railroads in North America is a lot dirtier than what you describe. A lot of railroads did, in fact, get their trackway for free. They didn't get it by eminent domain, but by land grant, as the first [white] owner of record. They got a checkerboard of land [0], so they could trade adjacent lands with the other grantees in order to establish a continuous railway. The only holdouts were the Ghost Dancers. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Checkerboarding_(land) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Checkerboarding_(land)