My train went from Milwaukee to Minneapolis
in just over 6 hours
Eve: Mine went from Tokyo to Osaka in 3.
Here’s what that looks like with our handy simulator:
U.S. train travel is underwhelming.
What should we do about it?
Last winter, I took a trip from Milwaukee to Seattle
It was gorgeous.
But it doesn’t make sense to travel by rail very often.
It’s really slow and relatively expensive.
If I wanted to get from the Cream City to the Twin Cities in the fastest
way possible, I would drive or fly.
But in many other countries, over that distance, trains make more sense.
Trains are climate friendlier, can be a huge economic boon,
and are helpful in building dense, resilient cities and regions.
So why can’t the U.S. have nice - more trains, why can’t we have more trains?
Here’s a density map of the U.S.:
Compare that with many countries in Europe or Asia,
where train travel is king: Japan, for example, is 100 times more dense
the U.S.
The more dense a region, the more rail makes sense.
Post- World War II, the U.S. leaned into cars, highways, and the suburbs.
In the late 50s, air travel took off.
Passenger rail was slowly getting squeezed out.
The government attempted to intervene in 1971 by launching Amtrak -- a new for-profit business
with generous subsidies.
But Amtrak has never truly been a national priority.
It’s continually struggled – especially outside of one main route, the
“Northeast Corridor.”
Here’s U.S. investment in rail compared to other countries.
Another thing is Amtrak doesn’t own most of the tracks it runs on.
They’re mostly owned by private freight companies.
That means routes are optimized for transporting stuff -- not people.
So Amtrak is frequently running behind schedule.
It’s important to think of rail, highways, and airways as three parts of the same system.
Each one has an optimal use.
Long train trips are tough to justify.
But at 400 miles or less, they’re often faster downtown to downtown.
Cars and buses get bogged down by traffic and are generally slower on longer trips
And airports aren’t centrally located and can involve long security lines -- so they’re
best for long-haul travel.
Right here is where trains are profitable –
But we can’t get there without investing in rail in the first place.
So what should we do?
The first step is don’t make things worse.
That’s not groundbreaking, but it’s important The rail experts I spoke with all reiterated
this point: We’ve got a decent thing going.
Amtrak ridership is at an all-time high!
It’s important to recognize that, to nourish it...
We even have a sorta high-speed rail on our major corridor.
But it needs increased, capacity, upkeep, and protection from climate change.
“There's nothing else even comes close to being as important as that project right now.”
It ensures our most used line doesn’t break down from existing damage or flooding from
rising seas.
There’s also lots of little, not-so-sexy repairs that are expensive, but are essential
to our network.
“So you can go around the country and you'll see many of the legacy systems are in the
dire state of influx of money.”
OK, now for the shiny new toys: There are some logical spots for increased service or
high-speed rail.
California’s high-speed project is happening, though the construction is... less than high-speed.
It’s going to end up costing a lot more (nearly double) and opens at a slightly later
date.
Most Californians still think it’s somewhat or very important for their future and the
experts I talked to were cautiously optimistic about the state doing what the feds won’t.
“Eventually Washington will be able to respond and react to what's going on.
But right now… it's being led by cities, states, and metros.”
Puentes
And regions around the country are doing their part:.
There’s a new high-speed route in Florida and a planned route in Texas.
And there are new state-supported Amtrak routes being proposed in Kansas and the Gulf Coast.
But until we get serious at a federal level, it’s piecemeal additions and hanging on
to the system we already have.
The hope is that these projects can show a smart way forward -- and maybe-possibly-ideally
push us closer to the best, most sustainable future for our entire transportation system.