5 ms·
It does not matter. The experience of riding AmTrak and just being left alone and getting your own space to work on whatever you want - especially in the quiet
by dccoolgai 5y ago
It does not matter. The experience of riding AmTrak and just being left alone and getting your own space to work on whatever you want - especially in the quiet car - is fantastic. Every time the trip is over I find myself wishing it was just 30 minutes longer.
- b9a2cab5 5y agoHaving commuted to work via Amtrak before, the train car shakes far too much and mobile data is far too unreliable (even with 5G) to be able to work without interruption.
- brailsafe 5y agoI suppose this would largely depend on how reliant you are on a connection. If you're writing code, you should totally be able to do that, but maybe constant emailing or whatever would need more consistent connection
- toast0 5y agoEmail really should be OK with intermittent connectivity. We used to dial up, send and receive mail and drop the connection. Yes, there'd be some delays here and there, but that's how email works. However, good luck with modern email solutions, seems like most have forgotten how to work well without good connectivity. But if you need to poke at interactive things, it doesn't work well when the connection is spotty.
- wccrawford 5y agoMy experience on Amtrak is that the lines in the north US are nice, and the ones in the south are awful.
- thesausageking 5y agoWhat route? I've done NYC->BOS dozens of time and always get a lot of work done. Mobile data works for most of the route, the train is smooth, and the seats are roomie so you don't feel cramped like on a plane.
- b9a2cab5 5y agoBay Area commuter route, East Bay -> San Jose. Not only is the train restricted from going faster than 35mph in half of the East Bay due to NIMBYism, it also goes through a lot of marshy environmental preservation areas and hilly areas with no signal or weak signal. The seats were nice, I'll give it that. Would still rather be in a car driving at 2x the speed by myself.
- perl4ever 5y agoMy experience on Amtrak is that the train makes good time, until a freight train comes along, and the passengers have to wait, and wait, and wait... This is presumably a policy/lobbying/political problem, not one of physical infrastructure. I think people have said that the US rail system exists for freight, and without the will to change that, passengers are second class.
- michael1999 5y agoThe tracks are owned by freight, and rented for passenger. Changing that would be expensive.
- iluvcommunism 5y agoWe just need Amtrak to own their own rails. Or whoever runs the passenger lines. It’s ridiculous they share it.
- pstuart 5y agoAgreed. Nationalize the rails, invest in and enforce PTC (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positive_train_control https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positive_train_control), and make passenger traffic a peer to freight. We could allow for a "market economy" of the rails where you could have differentiated passenger services with Amtrak being the the fundamental offering and allow third parties to participate as well.
- antognini 5y agoThe British model, where the state owns the rails but the train services are private, seems to work a lot better than the US model which is the opposite.
- pstuart 5y agoIt's a public commons, like the roads, air space, and radio frequencies. I think the downvoters see the word "nationalize" and panic over unfounded fears of communism.