Taking a train in the U.S. is often more expensive than flying and more expensive than intercity train systems in other developed countries, which often have even faster trains and better service. But Amtrak, the federally funded company that runs many of Americaâs passenger trains, has never made money. In fact, the company has a $42 billion repair backlog and in 2021 wasnât even able to cover half of its expenses from ticket revenue. That business comes mostly from the populous Northeast Corridor, where tickets are quite pricey. Ridership is slowly recovering from an all-time low due to the pandemic, and now Amtrak wants to expand service in a major 15-year plan, with $66 billion in funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
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Why Train Tickets Cost So Much In America
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Every developed country in world has high speed state of the art rail systems. Here we paint the ol clunkers and call it transit? Embarrassing but thats what happens when youâre dependent on oil and gas billionaires, paying for stupid wars & bloated elections. đşđ¸
What we need to do is stop subsidizing the auto industry with wasteful road infrastructure. Then everyone would be able to afford the costs of functional systems, which is to say literally anything else.
Can we stop all subsidies to this monster yet? Can we also end all transit subsidies, in general? I don't want to help anyone afford a train trip or mobility in general. Pay your own way.
When I was a kid (I am 60), we took the train a lot. It was much more affordable than planes. Now? Planes are always cheaper, and don't take nearly as long. I loved taking the train. But they have priced themselves out of my budget. Trains are now for rich people only.
As a kid out west, I used to take the Santa Fe train from San Francisco to New Mexico and the Southern Pacific from San Jose to San Louis Obispo. The Santa Fe service was superb and the SP train was OK. Fast forward over 40 years and I took my first AMTRAK service from Albany NY to Canada last summer. It was a good experience. The train was a little run down and dirty like the old SP trains I used to take and a little slow because of freight traffic. But the staff was great – as were a lot of the other passengers – and it was nice to sit in a wide-comfortable seat. Does AMTRAK need updating and other improvements – Yes – but I would take the train again in a heartbeat.
Amtrak is just another federal gov't program that launders money to friends and family of members of Congress
I can't fathom how air travel is cheaper–and EVERYTHING in aviation is expensive. Rail should cost a fraction of what airlines do. Compare the cost of a modern airport vs. a train station? Compare the operating costs of a 737 vs. an Amtrak locomotive. Anyone notice their highest expense is labor?
Always an excuse….
Say what you want about Amtrack but if even if a mild Yellowstone caldera eruption happened air travel could be extremely hard if not impossible for years. Having this useable fleet of passenger coaches maintained by the government is a good investment by itself. Trains are somewhat affected by weather but are actually the least effected form of transport by weather. Just like we have a mothball fleet of military aircraft, tanks, and ships having these Amtrack coaches might be the thread that could keep us going during a volcano apocalypse.
Train travel costing more than air travel isn't a uniquely American phenomenon. The same thing happens in Japan with the fabled Shinkasen bullet train, a trip from Tokyo to Osaka is under $100 for the 90 minute flight, and about $110 and over 3 hours via train. That is about as close as it gets to being competitive on a time and value basis. Paris to Berlin flights can be found for as little as $120 for the 1hr 45 minute flight, train prices for the same dates average about $100, some fares are as much as $170 for the same class of service but with a different change over city, but the train trip takes over 8 hours at a minimum. Please note those air prices are for national air carriers (Air France and Japan Airlines specifically), not discount airlines, discount air carriers have flights from Tokyo to Osaka for as little as $35 for example. It is important to understand that to get those high speed trains into service places like France and Japan spent billions of dollars to completely re-engineer their railroad systems to enable the trains to safely achieve those speeds. Doing that across Amtrak's national network would not only be formidably expensive, it is also less desirable to travelers as distances get larger due to the much longer time train travel takes compared to air travel.
It's important to remember that no matter how much people romanticise rail travel, we have Amtrak for a reason, and that reason was that private companies who were already providing these services couldn't continue to provide the services at a competitive price and make any money at it (they went broke). Recently my city was reminded of this the hard way after we spent over $100 million on partially restoring a streetcar service that ended in 1975. It ended because they were losing money, and the restored service has resorted to running free of charge now since no one wanted to pay for the service 45 years later either. It simply doesn't go from anywhere anyone is, to someplace else they want to be. It goes all around a bunch of places with hard to find parking, but doesn't go anywhere that people could park to ride the streetcar to those places, or anywhere near where people actually live in this city for that matter.
I wish the US had better public railway service, but I don't think hats happening any time soon…
The three major expenses of steel rail railroads is maintenance of way, catenary overhead power systems and vehicle maintenance. The actual expenses of labor are not that great by comparison to the other three expenses.
How to decrease those three expenses? Move away from steel rail railroads and move to MagLev. Yes conversion would be expensive, but for all intents and purposes the catenary overhead power expense goes away as does bogie motor expense. Maintenance of way expense would be greatly reduced but not go away completely.
Speed would be much higher by as much as double Acela trains
You're comparing the most expensive trains in business class to planes… you should compare standard train tickets (seen at $99 on your video which you happen to not select..)
Cities in europe are near each other. A train trip from a big city to the next big city is usually 30 min with "slow/regional" train, that is already counting the stop time to the smaller stop in between
Amtrak is smoking crack, get with the times
Amtrak must remove the airline competition, by halving ticket prices and doubling the number of passengers. To achieve this, they must invest in new passengers rolling stock and new logistic systems for cargo…
I didnât see any underserved brown peoples, RRRRRRRRACCCCCIST! đ°âď¸đŹđŹ
Build trains safer, multiple ways
I just got done training from SF to South Bend, IN via Chicago. If you have time, it is well worth it. In as much as it was safe, the trains are getting old and definitively need replacement upgrades. Also, internet access is erratic. Amtrak should partner with SpaceX Starlink for satellite broadband internet service. They should keep the long distance routes like the Zephyr. For the most part, the employees of Amtrak have been very professional and caring.
To claim Acela is the fastest train in the western Hemisphere shows a substantial lack of either geographic or transportation knowledge. I just mention France, Spain and Marocco.
The EU places much more of its tax base to supporting rail so the cost per mile will never compare at the fare level. EU fares are subsidized heavily, whereas motor fuels are heavily taxed. Also France just banned air travel between cities served by HSR, which is a social rule overriding customer preferences which guaranteed a rail monopoly.
Nationalize railđ¤ˇđťââď¸. Highways have never made our government a profit EVER, and we continually shovel dumptruck loads of cash into Xibalba to keep them just barely functional. If we did the same for rail, ignored or accepted early losses(you know like an investment does) and actually worked to make work, it would actually work.
Sadly the big 3 (some of whom are advertisers for cnbc) have our tenders in a Vice. So I guess if you want to make middle length journeys in this country and you donât own a car youâre SOL.
Might be a bit nit-picky here, but Spain is mostly in the western hemisphere and have faster trains than the Acela. Acela, according to wiki, goes up to 240 km/h, where the Madrid-Barcelona route in spain goes at 310 km/h and 340 km/h-lines are being built.
Other countries have public rail infrastructure that is first class. In the U$ we subsidize rail corporations same as we subsidize agriculture and healthcare/pharma. Which is why we have the worst rail, unhealthy food, and when you get sick you go bankrupt
Is there any section of track on the east coast capable of over 65mph operation? That… would be news. Rails easements are a pain for any municipality, and besides: trains are for freight really – its becoming ancient technology, and largely suited to manufacturing and moving large stocks of raw materials.
Remember, you don't need a parachute if your train messes up. You're already on the ground. Besides, if you've ever taken a train, yeah it takes longer, but you can get your own room complete with bed and bathroom
There isn't even a train near my house. But there is a national bus company. I could hop on and travel across the country. BUT, they charge twice as much if you don't buy your ticket two weeks in advance. Needless to say, I'm not getting on… I don't plan anything two weeks in advance.
Comparing ridership numbers using the covid years is disingenuous. Forced lock downs, reduced per car capacity, and skeleton schedules skewed the numbers.
There used to be a guy known as "The Big Guy" that rode Amtrak for over a million miles. Of course he was employed by taxpayers so his commute time and travel expenses didn't effect him.
Amtrak was never supposed to make a profit.
Follow the money from the beginning. The US Govt gave every other quadrant of land in the West to the winner, connecting the East and the West.
Again, follow the money, they diversified by creating a massive logging industry, which was spun off as individual companies.
Point is, they're all tied together and making profit for who?
Amtrak was in essence given to the govt under the guise of private ownership. The rail industry is doing just fine, they purposely divested of a product that they knew would never make money, since America runs on rubber.
La had the best trolley system in the world at one time, but Goodyear had a new vision. Again, they're all connected, follow the money.
I was born on the Zephyr in 1954 entering Sacramento.. I have always had an interest in the rail industry. ALWAYS FOLLOW THE MONEY!!!
Not the âfastest train in the western hemisphereâ. Several European trains are much faster.
How can you say you're here for the attendance when you can't go from Atlanta, GA to San Antonio, TX without wasting 4 days going north in Lousiana to CHICAGO!?!?! back down to San Antonio when you have straight rail from Atlanta, GA to Louisiana to San Antonio? Because apparently those two lines aren't timed to be in Louisiana at the same time. There's no way you can use anything but the Northeast corridor to do any kind of travel other than being on the train as the 'travel' itself. At least right now.
Did I get this right, that you claim the Acela to be "the fastest train in the Western hemisphere"? Its not even close to that. Please check your facts before publishing.
I want to know what website he's using for plane tickets….
I used to love taking the train from NYC to DC. Before I had a car and when I could get a student rate, it was the only way to go because Penn Station is so conveniently located. However today, the prices are very high. Particularly if you are with a travel partner. And if you have to carry luggage, want to stop at a waypoint, or need a car once youâve arrived, taking the train is impractical. For many, there are too few scenarios where a train makes sense given the cost/benefits/hassles. Which is why the train is almost always half empty. Amtrak should play with their pricing to find that balance that gets butts-in-seats, sells customers food, and profitability.
I used Amtrak to travel from NYC to DC – with family, as tourists. Would love to do that again, but… Now I live close to the City, but thanks to BLM and other defund my a$$ ideas I don't go there, not mentioning Washington trip. So good luck with earning money.
I can only speak for my experience on Amtrak and it seems very affordable on the Texas Eagle route. Especially if you book it weeks in advance at minimum. I don't think going 1/3 the way across a southern state for $11 is too much to ask.
In the video they imply that Amtrak only stops at major cities but that is far from the truth. Amtrak stops in very small towns at times. I know of a stop specifically in a town of less than 9,000 people.
I think this video should have been titled " why train tickets cost so much in NORTHEAST America" instead
It would also help if the Federal Government would NATIONIZE THE RAILROAD!!!
I went by Amtrak a few years ago from Raleigh NC. It was miserable because people with headphones blasted music directly into my ears. The conductor told me that there was no way to to stop it. I never went that way again. Please make rules for the protection of other passengers.
5:18 – "So the round trip ticket on the Acela is going to cost $674." This deserves a little more information. Minimum price of $100 one way would imply a price as low as $200 round trip. What would be the cheapest round trip, for comparison with Delta?