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Do you have any idea of the history of why Amtrak was created? What limitations both funding and regulations are put on it? It's a god damn miracle it runs so w

Do you have any idea of the history of why Amtrak was created? What limitations both funding and regulations are put on it? It's a god damn miracle it runs so well with what it's given. The dumbest thing is that we the people don't fund it and invest in rail, not people doing their best with what limited resource they are given in a country that is half a century behind when it comes to trains.

jazzyjackson 2y ago
the freight companies lobbied for passenger travel to become the government's responsibility, IMO the american people were robbed of the value they were entitled to when the right of ways were granted to the railroads back in the 19th century, but in the 60s and 70s railroads were going bankrupt left and right, establishment of Amtrak was little more than a bailout for the railroads. The government could be asking a lot more of the railroads to run shorter trains so they could fit on their sidings and allow passengers to pass and remain on time. IME the #1 issue with Amtrak outside of north east corridor is most stations are served by long haul routes that cannot be relied upon to show up within 6 hours of their schedule, because any delay causes them to lose their slot and freight companies can tell Amtrak to pound sand, their trains are too long to pull over.
- WorldMaker 2y ago
  It's amazing how many of the railroad companies did the absolute bare minimum of passenger travel they were required to do to get as much eminent domain (public!) land as they did. There's a station I pass all the time that defined entire neighborhoods and towns by creating passenger connections between them but only ran passengers for exactly ten years because that was that was the bare minimum the law allowed, has sat vacant and unused as a passenger station for a lot longer than it was a passenger station, and has deteriorated so much as to be a dangerous home to the underhoused and an eyesore and a reminder that the cargo companies that stole our public land only think of our part of the country as "rollover".
- Kon-Peki 2y ago
  I wonder if there are more examples nationwide, but Union Pacific and BNSF are both still operating passenger service in the Chicago metro area. The locomotives and cars are government owned, but the crews and tracks are UP/BNSF.
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
  - bobthepanda 2y ago
    well, the government pays them to operate the services as well, and they are also still deprioritized relative to freight traffic
woooooo 2y ago
Not denying any of your comment but there are also geographic features? Even with perfect funding and management, it would still be the northeast funding the rest of the country for amtrak, right?
- bobthepanda 2y ago
  not necessarily. the Midwest, for example, is roughly the land area and population of France. In fact, the TGV network overlays pretty well onto it https://preview.redd.it/8g59yft1lfs61.jpg?auto=webp&s=6ef0f3af746a007270e6171770d661d805b2215c https://preview.redd.it/8g59yft1lfs61.jpg?auto=webp&s=6ef0f3... The Northeast is simply the most profitable because it already had the most scheduled services, the highest speed services, and the most Amtrak-owned track when it started out. But most of the country east of the Mississippi and a few corridors west of it are pretty good candidates for decent, profitable rail service.

jazzyjackson 2y ago

the freight companies lobbied for passenger travel to become the government's responsibility, IMO the american people were robbed of the value they were entitled to when the right of ways were granted to the railroads back in the 19th century, but in the 60s and 70s railroads were going bankrupt left and right, establishment of Amtrak was little more than a bailout for the railroads. The government could be asking a lot more of the railroads to run shorter trains so they could fit on their sidings and allow passengers to pass and remain on time. IME the #1 issue with Amtrak outside of north east corridor is most stations are served by long haul routes that cannot be relied upon to show up within 6 hours of their schedule, because any delay causes them to lose their slot and freight companies can tell Amtrak to pound sand, their trains are too long to pull over.

WorldMaker 2y ago
It's amazing how many of the railroad companies did the absolute bare minimum of passenger travel they were required to do to get as much eminent domain (public!) land as they did. There's a station I pass all the time that defined entire neighborhoods and towns by creating passenger connections between them but only ran passengers for exactly ten years because that was that was the bare minimum the law allowed, has sat vacant and unused as a passenger station for a lot longer than it was a passenger station, and has deteriorated so much as to be a dangerous home to the underhoused and an eyesore and a reminder that the cargo companies that stole our public land only think of our part of the country as "rollover".
Kon-Peki 2y ago
I wonder if there are more examples nationwide, but Union Pacific and BNSF are both still operating passenger service in the Chicago metro area. The locomotives and cars are government owned, but the crews and tracks are UP/BNSF.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- bobthepanda 2y ago
  well, the government pays them to operate the services as well, and they are also still deprioritized relative to freight traffic

woooooo 2y ago

Not denying any of your comment but there are also geographic features? Even with perfect funding and management, it would still be the northeast funding the rest of the country for amtrak, right?

bobthepanda 2y ago
not necessarily. the Midwest, for example, is roughly the land area and population of France. In fact, the TGV network overlays pretty well onto it https://preview.redd.it/8g59yft1lfs61.jpg?auto=webp&s=6ef0f3af746a007270e6171770d661d805b2215c https://preview.redd.it/8g59yft1lfs61.jpg?auto=webp&s=6ef0f3... The Northeast is simply the most profitable because it already had the most scheduled services, the highest speed services, and the most Amtrak-owned track when it started out. But most of the country east of the Mississippi and a few corridors west of it are pretty good candidates for decent, profitable rail service.