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Why Trains Suck in America

Wendover Productions · 6M views · 2016-08-16 · 8:25

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Overview

Wendover Productions explains why US passenger rail lags behind other countries. It covers freight companies owning most of the track, geography and population density, and the economics of competing with flying.

On Hacker News

HN recommends it as a short, solid walkthrough of why American trains are slow and limited, most notably because freight gets priority.

Recommended by 6 HN people across 6 months · HN mentions 2017–2022

Topics

Transit, cities & urban planningBusiness & economics (other)
Search by tags
amtrakfreight railtransportation economicshigh-speed railwendover

What people said

Manuel_D · 2022-07 · Recommendation

Trains in the US are widely prevalent! It's just that they're used for freight rather than passenger travel. The main driver behind this is the population density of the USA, cities are spaced too far apart to make passenger travel by train viable. Not coincidentally, the only area that does have significant passenger rail networks, the DC - Boston corridor, has population density similar to Western Europe. An interesting video on this topic: [VIDEO]

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SahAssar · 2020-08 · Recommendation

I might be wrong but this seems like a very US-centric idea. For most of the developed world trains fill this need very well, while the US has had problems with their rail network for reasons partially based on geography, partially based on population density, and partially based on their own fault. I think this explains it pretty well: [VIDEO] The solution is not aircraft, the solution is more and better trains. Or perhaps autonomous buses/trucks depending on how far out you look.

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NoNameHaveI · 2019-03 · Recommendation

This is worth your 8 minutes of time. [VIDEO] I love trains, but the economics of rail travel in the USA can't be overcome. Until robot trains.

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Sources

Video by Wendover Productions, played through YouTube.

Data and selection notes

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