Why Trains Suck in America
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- čas přidán 15. 08. 2016
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Trains, well, just aren't that great in America. Here's why.
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Attributions:
Opening Amtrak video courtesy Coleman Place (Creative Commons License)
Amtrak System Map modified from original by Maximilian Dörrbecker (Creative Commons License)
Train icon created by Roman J. Sokolov from the Noun Project
Airport Check-in video courtesy Amsterdam airport Schiphzl (Creative Commons License)
TSA video courtesy Brian Wilson (Creative Commons License)
Acela Express footage courtesy Alexander Wood (Creative Commons License)
Turkey high speed rail photo courtesy B’Tian Denizen P. Dorsam (Creative Commons License)
Poland high speed rail photo courtesy Jakub Halun (Creative Commons License)
Uzbekistan high speed rail photo courtesy Guidecity (Creative Commons License)
Acela express photo courtesy Michael Kurras (Creative Commons License)
Railway post office photo courtesy Bruce Fingerhood (Creative Commons License)
Mail sorting photo courtesy Jason V (Creative Commons License)
USPS truck photo courtesy Jason Lawrence (Creative Commons License)
Amtrak southwest chief video courtesy Walt Loevy (Creative Commons License)
Amtrak sunset limited video courtesy D&Y family travel (Creative Commons License)
US Rail Map used under fair use guidelines
Amtrak idling video courtesy PnPrailroad (Creative Commons License)
TGV video courtesy Bastiaan Blinksma (Creative Commons License)
High speed track photo courtesy S. Terfloth/Sese Ingolstadt (Creative Commons License)
ICE train video courtesy Dutch Train Channel (Creative Commons License)
TGV Sud video courtesy Sylvain Chemist (Creative Commons License)
Amtrak top speed video courtesy Rich Roberts (Creative Commons License)
Meanwhile in Eurasia: China opens direct cargo railway lines from Shanghai to Germany and other European countries
We Chinese do not have a direct route, but you can go on a train to Russia and then go to Germany
@@ntian29 As passenger, yes. But there are direct cargo lines between Duisburg/Hamburg/Berlin and Chinese cities
@@MS-un8hg From where I use to in Shanghai, we take the high-speed rail to Beijing and take a slow railroad trip via the Siberian railroad and them maybe go to like Kiev or Warsaw.
THATS ASIA
NOT EUROPE
Meanwhile in Japan "we are really really sorry but the train will be delayed by 6 seconds, we are ashamed, director of trains already killed himself".
Lol yep. Also, “What do you mean you can’t fit? There’s a whole square centimeter left!”
🄱🄴🅂🅃 🄲🄾🄼🄼🄴🄽🅃 🄰🅆🄰🅁🄳
Man, that turned dark in a second...
@@alanbareiro6806
The joke is that Japanese railways are very efficient and are so proud of their efficiency while placing honour above everything else that the CEO would kill himself in shame rather than bear the dishonour of having a train run even a few seconds late.
Compare that attitude to US public railways.
@@jtveg Yeah, I got the joke. But that hits different when you know that Japan has a huge suicide rate. Not criticizing OP though
As a French person, it feels very weird to see the SNCF be taken as a good example... Everyone hates it here because it's rarely on time... I guess the US really must be shitty service
At least we have one of the fastest train in europe, for Paris-Bordeaux, Paris-Rennes and many more
Same with de
Les gens aiment ce plaindre. Mais en réalité le réseau SNCF est performant. Avec la privatisation en revanche on risque d’avoir beaucoup plus de problèmes 😬.
The french LGV network is really performant but we have to see this network on a map! The network of LGV do not deserve all the country and only biggest cities... and the other train are very bad slowly and old (1970' electric engine sometimes...) the railway are very uncomfortable (bumpy travel...) and some trains have not good services (no power socket and I don’t talk about an internet connexion ^^).
Also : the prices very expansive an LGV ticket is too expansive (for your example PARIS to RENNES is 66$ on average ...) but there are very fast that it very nice.
But for the other lines the ticket is very too expansive (82$ to do PARIS - CLERMONT-FERRAND on average that represent 422km) and that price for old bumpy line ...
But I’m still thinking France have better railway system than America in spite of the delays !
The LGV working very well without many accident (very rare to have an accident of TGV) and the LGV are very fast, beautiful and powerful !
I’m still thinking the SNCF shouldn’t be privatised!
Arnaud Mayet Non à la privatisation 💪🏻💪🏻💪🏻. Notre président c’est un vendu de toute façon.
,,Only 72% of amtrak trains arrive in time"
Hungarian State Railway:
*,,You guys have trains that arrive on time?"*
And people on iceland what even is train
Depends on the definition of ‘on time’ ;)
Germany Railways aka (DB): Wait I never have seen this before.
But at least its cheap!
@@HAM_Smh Yup, its often cheaper to use Lufthansa,of course I talked about Hungary
As a european i found this footage disturbing
@spikedpsycho en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_rail_usage
@spikedpsycho not in England, it's 2 hours from Liverpool to London by train and like 6 hours by bus. In London, the underground is like 1.5-2x faster than the bus, despite a lot of lines being severely outdated.
Mark C. United States sucks admit it
Mark C. I live in Denver
Mark C. Food sucks liberals everywhere. Public transportation sucks.
America : trains aren’t interessant for a such big country
Russia : ** LAUGH IN TRANSSIBERIAN LINE*
Oublie pas d'activer le clavier qwerty sinon ça te corrige en français
Bruh Russian trains better...
Man Russian railway sucks much more than American one ..
@@bruhcc5033 Check your data.
@@bruhcc5033 lol
Japanese people and everyone who lives there: whats this delay everyone is talking about?
the average delay in japan is around a minute ;-;
@@aw2m Theres tracks that have less than 10s average delay...
I love Japan
I saw a few delays due to people killing themselves on the train rails. Not sure if thats better then
Private railways at work.
America: Trains here sucks.
Indian Railways: Hold my whistle.
But the number of people out trains transports in a day is more than their whole population 😂
Actually trains in India don't suck. It employs the largest number of people and has one of the most widely connected networks. There are just too many people to serve, that's it.
@@Deel2506 thats true. But theres always room for improvement. Corruption has become so much that not even 1 percent of the alloted money comes to respective things
Indian Railways still living in the 1950s
@@arbabasukalsar4361 Point 😂
Me an intellectual European sipping his wine: "Fascinating"
At the age of 16-18 (depending on location)
Meh I am sipping my Irish whiskey
@Zizzi's Genetics You don't deserve to live in the USA.
@@Myreactionwhen_80085 You've clearly never been to Japan lol.
I thought Europe is bad
"On average, only 72% of Amtrak's trains arrive on time"
Good that you didn't compare that to Deutsche Bahn's delays
Senk ju for träveling wis deushe ban... But the DB is improving now and it's still better than Amtrak...
@Szymon Kasperczak Amtrak has been know to have 3 hour+ delays.
Y'all living in luxury. Here in Eastern Europe trains can have delays of 12 hours +
@@theq4602 I took Amtrak from Oklahoma City to San Antonio once, had a layover in Fort Worth. The train I switch to, which came from Chicago, was 5 hours late. And there was no estimate of how late it was, just that it was still on it's way. I vowed never to take another train trip in the U.S. that included a layover.
72% is still decent timing.
Despite being sparse, Amtrak journeys are still beautiful and the crew is always really friendly. I’m hoping that they get the funding they need soon.
Pleasure travelers are looking for an experience and Amtrak provides that. It's a good experience but expensive. And there is exactly zero reason to travel 1000+ miles on a train or bus unless you have the money, or hate yourself. The US built an interstate system in the 50's and has by far the most robust, affordable airline capacity in the world.
Missing in this debate is how awful Greyhound is. For not a lot of money they could modernize their busses to make them far more comfortable. Wifi, LCD screens, movie choices, more comfortable seats, etc. That would make traveling 24 hours on a bus much more reasonable (which I've unfortunately done once. Once.)
Air travel is the other thing people leave out of the train debate. In the future when we have robot pilots and supersonic regional jets, the train will be an expensive relic many taxpayers are still paying for in Europe and Asia while also trying to figure out how to modernize their regional airlines while the US is the example. It's really the example right now even before the next advances. I occasionally need to fly regional to Southern Illinois from Chicago and it costs me $300 round trip. That would cost me double for the same distance in Europe.
+1 on the crew being friendly!
@@RJT80 Supersonic regional jets are never going to be a thing. They tried supersonic passenger flights with Concorde, and pretty much every country it flew to banned it from flying above the sound barrier within their airspace. Too many people complained about sonic booms. Even if for the sake of argument supersonic passenger jets did become a thing, you'd still have the fixed time overheads from going through airport security and waiting around for takeoff. No matter how fast planes fly, they aren't going to compete with high speed rail on regional distances.
Amtrak needs to lower their prices its so damm expensive compared to flying.
@@lorddoma6637 The problem is they don't have the money to do that
Been working as a railroad attorney for over a decade. Gotta say, this is pretty spot on. There were, and are, certainly other factors, like how the construction of the interstate highway system had a huge impact on ridership and how antitrust exemptions for freight rail companies like the Staggers Act made it harder to establish passenger services. That being said, great job!
Amazing pronunciation on SNCF
Guess I wasn't the only one to think exactly the same :D
It was amazing, haha
How did I know you were going to be here Ernest? LOL
+Tobias Dahlberg Hahaha 😏
he practiced over and over just so he can do that part.
train companies are responsible for building and maintaining railways, but the government is responsible for building and maintining roads.. not the car companies.
It depends on where you are. Here in the Netherlands, a government-owned company (ProRail) owns and maintains the track, while it is operated by private companies like NS (which used to be government-owned), Arriva and Syntus. Does it work? No, not really. Particularly NS and ProRail have so many fights and arguments over delays and costs that their relationship has become something of a running joke in the Netherlands. I'm not necessarily saying that government-owned rails being operated by privately-owned trains is a bad thing, and there are countries where they make it work, but having the whole system, from rail to train, owned by the same company isn't necessarily a bad thing either, and certainly isn't the one thing that dooms rail travel in the US.
Here in Germany we have a very similar system and there used to be problems too but nowadays it actually works pretty well.
The DB owns the tracks and pretty much all of the high speed and intercity trains while most (but not all) regional trains are owned by different competing private companies.
It really works out for the better since the private companies are running a bunch of very modern and well maintained trains that are slowly pushing the DB out of business when it comes to regional trains and are even starting to push into the mid-range business. This in turn forces the DB to modernize their own trains to keep up to them.
Robert Faber g scale
***** Yes, he is, and I'm providing a counterpoint to it.
Nah, it's Americas low population density per square mile than Europe. A railway network doesn't make sense for a country like that
I rode the Amtrak Pennsylvanian. They were kind and gave me some stuff like a golden ticket, cardboard P42DC, and 2 pins. That was because I was a railfan. Railfan perks :)
Pretty sure New York Cities’ subways are the most successful usage of trains in the US. The trains aren’t great but they’re an extremely important part to a pretty good amount of New Yorkers
Amtrak should be thought of both regionally and nationally. The only people taking national trains are pleasure travelers looking for a unique experience and dont mind paying for it. Those people subsidize the expense for regional business travelers. Air travel is much cheaper but not the experience it used to be when you could smoke and drink in lounge areas 40 years ago on 747's. Regional airlines will never be cheap enough for daily travel until robot pilots are a thing.
So regionally, as someone who lives in the Chicago area, I've known people all my life who would travel 3 hours per day on trains to the Loop because they were making $150k or more and it made sense. Amtrak is cheaper and slightly faster than car travel especially when traffic jams occur. It sounds crazy to travel 3 hours a day to work but it often isnt much different from Europe when you look at the same distances. People routinely travel the same distance into Paris that people travel from the Wisconsin border into Chicago in about the same amount of time.
Amtrak just isnt that bad for what it is.
"American cities aren't built like European cities" *shows Boston as a depiction of an American city*
@Emil Ramos it's like the most European of all cities in the US
@Emil Ramos Let's put it this way: there are not many cities in Europe that have more citizens than Boston in their urban areas, but there is not a defined one to compare against, so there are cities that are worse and there are cities that are better in the categories you described. I still have basically a trauma from our school excursion to Brussels where we had to pass through a subway station from the smell that lingered through the air
I feel like cities such as NYC in a grid-like pattern along with subways can be easy to travel in
@Emil Ramos That is the default for most train stations in Europe I think, haven't been everywhere but based on my personal experiences and my fathers inter rail stories, its definitely not uncommon either
Dont make fun of my states big city you Saud
I love riding on trains.
They are better than a car, YOU HAVE A SEAT AND SOMETIMES ROOM TO YOURSELF AND FOOD!
Its less camped than a plane or bus.
It is as camped like a bus or plane in europe though
Same I went to Europe for a while and I fell I love with trains they’re easily much better than cars or planes
Shut up commie :v
Jj
I prefer being in control of the vehicle. Driving a car also gives you the freedom of making spontaneous detours or unexpected stops. So I prefer driving a car to riding in a train or plane.
Yes Amtrak's cars are pretty comfortable , they were built in the 70s when comfort still mattered.. nowadays it's all about cramming as many people as possible into a tiny area to make extra money off each trip
"72% of Amtrak's trains arrive on time"
Trenitalia: "We're lucky they didn't compare them to us"
Assolutamente
Aww, I had a such interesting experience with Trenitalia.
I was surprised that at the same distance, with a more worse quality, a train ticket cost 30 euros. And in Russia, the same distance, and little bit better quality - price is 6 euros only!
Of course, in Russia people have a completely different salaries. But I was surprised by the difference.
Trenitalia is not really bad in the UK imo.
Windows 98 Trenitalia works in UK too ??
@@AndrewBies Trenitalia buy a lot of Railway companies (for exemple in UK c2c , in Greece TrainOSE , in Italy TI buy FSE and FCU)
America's problem is that we view railroads as a business to make money, rather than a public service meant to help our citizens
Just like healthcare!
@@TalesOfWar And schools and infrastructure and everything else, yeah
@@lucystarlight8887 There'll be an entire year of people calling trains "communist".
Eh, true, but consider that money is a virtual representation of resources. If something isn't generating a form of profit (Being private or global), is basically *sucking* resources that could be of better use somewhere else.
Kinda like all the military spending.
The problem is that trains do benefit the society around them, which is why amtrak have to operate the non-profitable lines, but a private company would never operate such a line even tho they benefit an area
Basically, the problem is that they treated a public service like a company instead of a public service. They kinda "hoped" for it to become profitable instead of helping it become profitable, like other countries did, right?
Some private passenger rail services were profitable before the government completely distorted the market with economic regulation and the subsidization of competition.
Government "help" doesn't ever make anything profitable.
Bushrod Rust Johnson in my experience here in Uruguay, it probably didn't help because it was done wrong in one way or another (I'm gonna find ya lol). But then again, I'm not aware of the particularities of the US in regard to that issue, so I might be wrong.
Infrastructure can hardly ever be made profitable. No matter whether it's train tracks, road networks, electrical grids or the sewer system. If infrastructure always had to return a profit only very few places would have them.
Ziim Exactly, that was some of my initial point. They tried to make money out of it instead of worrying about providing a service, and that's what killed the idea to begin with
Ziim
Train tracks and electrical grids are extremely profitable. In the U.S., very few railroads or electric (or gas or telecommunications) utilities are owned by government. They are "blue chip" investments- things that keep paying dividends even during weak economic periods.
There isn't much of a benchmark for roads and sewers, but only because those things currently tend to be monopolized by the state which crowds out private investment. But private, profitable examples exist.
If fewer places would have certain things when rational economics is taken in to consideration, then the question of whether such places SHOULD have such things is perfectly valid as well. Why should we subsidize people to live in inefficient manners?
Great video
However as a Frenchman : I absolutely GUARANTEE you that Rennes->Paris is not 27€ most of the time.
Our state Train company enjoys overpricing trains litteraly all the time
ça dépends, je viens de vérifier et tu peux bien avoir des billiets Rennes -> Paris pour €20-25 avec Ouigo.
Après tu vas me dire que t'arrive à Marne la Vallée et non Paris même mais le prix du train est bien en dessous des €30
It depends, I just verified and you can get Rennes -> Paris train ticket for €20-25 with Ouigo (SNCF low cost).
Yeah but let's face it Ouigo is not only outside of Paris (meaning you have to take the Metro AND the RER trains to get there, usually 45 minutes minimum if you're inside the city) , It's unreliable too and the low cost means there aren't that many trains running.
If you book 2 weeks in advance, paris guingamp is 20€... So I wouldn't say it's 27 €all the time, it's probably less
I used to live in Rennes and did pay less than 30 euros to get to Paris most of the time as long as I booked ahead. That was on the normal TGV, before Ouigo went to Rennes. Tickets for next tuesday are currently on sale for 36 euros, and that's only booking a week in advance. The lowest price for a Amtrak ticket from DC to NY next tuesday is currently 88 dollars, just for comparison.
"Après tu vas me dire que t'arrive à Marne la Vallée et non Paris même mais le prix du train est bien en dessous des €30"
He did exactly that 😂
Americans: „Our trains are Bad“
Deutsche Bahn: „Let me introduce myself...“
😂
Why does everbody think that the Deutsche Bahn is bad kn comparison to Amtrak its good because 72% of all Amtrak trains are on time the German High speee trains are 76% on time and the regional trains are 90% on time so all trains are like 85% on time
Bahn means car? Because Bahan in Sanskrit means carriage.
@@twindexxx The Deutsche Bahn defines a 15 minute delay in the train as punctual
CFR (Romanian Railroads): Let *me* introduce myself..
Trains don’t go over 80 km/h here lol
Asia: *"Yeah my bullet trains go zoom zoom"*
Usa:
USA: *But my bullets go boom boom boom*
@Ploke Newo78 They only suck bc most Americans can't follow the rules.
USA: We're not paying for that! Go buy a car!
@@juliannehannes11 Europeans: “Reeeee! But the environment!”
USA: *Chug chug chug*
The train from Rennes to Paris in France now takes only 1h26min instead of 2h4min since summer 2017.
The cheapest tickets for this trip starts from 10 to 15€ nowadays
C est vrai ?
@@omineol9897 Oui
Wow
Yes but that 10-15euro ticket is paid for through a roughly 50-75% overall tax rate on its citizens whether they ride it or not.
that is not true. roads are paid by taxpayers not tickets.
Paris to Rennes has now a journey time of 1 hour and 26 minutes. A new high speed line opened.
SpeedBird6780 yes its true
SpeedBird6780 93270 rgt représente
Almost all European countries have more efficient railways than the US - even the Eastern countries have come further ... It also applies to other infrastructure !!!
+SpeedBird6780 Fuck my life. I hate being American sometimes. Sometimes, I really, really do.
I got to ride that route when I was over there. Very nice.
me a dutch person who has multiple train stations in one town
* sips cheese * *interesting*
Also me as a Spanish person
Well here in New York City we have a lot of trains but they suck
@@gomez3357 eh their not thst bad
Go buy a car pleb, we’re not Europe.
@@Labyrinth6000 bruh
Europe and Japan: "We have passenger trains."
United States: " We have freight trains."
Russia: "Why not both?"
@@tescotrain what?
and we have LATETRAK
Russia’s trains were built by slave laborers under communism.
@@Labyrinth6000 Actually, most of the rail line were built before 1917
The US has both....
We had trains going 125 in the 1940s... and they were steam powered.
S T E A M P O W E R E D
@Ibraheem Khan We had more powerful steam locomotives.
Ibraheem Khan our railroads are still incredible freight railways and we have a great steam heritage program in most railroads. You can go and see big boy hauling cargo at over 60 mph
Uhhh no
The world record for a steam locomotive is 126mph that was set in Britain on a slight downgrade. Sorry it wasn't 125mph it was more like 100, which is mostly what Amtrak travels at anyways.
@@theq4602 Yes, I know the speed record was from a steam locomotive going downhill, named after a duck and then broke down. T1's would commonly go over 120 on daily runs.
*ALL WE HAD TO DO WAS FOLLOW THE TRAIN, CJ!*
San Andreas
Damn train
Yes
Me
An italian that takes the train everyday:
italy everyday:
>"the train has been cancelled"
Where's the my American dream?
theblack dogma Ci scusiamo per il disagio 😂😂
Takes the train*. Has been cancelled*. Sei un mago dall’inglese eh
贾卢卡 ok boomer!
Edmond Dantes ma boomer cosa l’inglese non è un opinione se scrivi certi obbrobri mi fai cadere i coglioni dai
Mea culpa, erano le 3 di notte
Watching your old videos. Loved watching them after college classes to wind down and relax
Compares an American city to a European one but shows the one city in USA designed like cities in Europe.
Paistin Lasta lol that is hilarious. They gotta show a city like Atlanta or Houston. From 1950 to 2000, metro areas were spreading out more than infilling and building up. It is only recent that density has become more popular now. But the damage from that 50 year period is done.
Honestly, the biggest problem is that the generally public just doesn't care about trains...
No shit everyone uses freeways
Exactly… a car can take you from exactly where you are, to exactly where you need to go. If it's too far, there's probably a cheap flight.
@macmedic892 Traffic.
+Jamessuperfun How about this scenario: a freight train hits a car at a crossing, killing the driver. Now this crossing will be closed for several hours for crash investigation, debris removal, train and track inspection, etc.
Would you rather be in a passenger train on the same track as the freight train or in a car on the same road as the car?
macmedic892 Why would a car be on a crossing? There's a reason there's a long delay and barriers, it stops it happening. Countries with good rail systems will also have multiple routes - just take the one which takes 15 minutes longer because it goes west first.
As well as that, on a train, I'd get my money back because of the delay (assuming I already had the ticket) and bus services replacing trains run to cover between areas where trains can't pass for a bit.
4:27 Small update: as of 2020, the SNCF doesn't own the railway track anymore, the French state does. The SNCF still has exclusive use of it though.
Here in the Seattle area, "freight interference" completely negates any advantages that Sounder commuter rail may provide for riders. If you're late for work at least once a week, that's no way to get to a job.
The only great train in America is in San Andreas
That was a massive earth quake in California
I think it's a reference to gta
Yeah i agree trains in GTA San Andreas is one of the greatest train in America. However they're fictional trains, aka the Brown Streak
The Brown Streak is the California governor's train.
Brown Streak is also a train company in GTA SA
Dont forget that the car situation between EU and US is different. Not everyone has a car.
Yes off course. In us, cost of ownership a car is much more cheaper than UK and european countries.
Due to things being so spread out, you pretty much have to own a car in the US
And that is precisely because public transport between places and within cities is so much more efficient and cheaper than it is in the US and a car is usually as good as useless withklin a city, walking and bikes are much better.
Yeah, I think in NYC it's better to use the subway/bus than owning a car
the environmental and climate change implications of all the cars on the road is unsustainable and completely stupid in my opinion. The pushing of that lifestyle in America since the 1950s (which includes the systematic idiotic removal of the amazing streetcar system that used to exist all across America) continues to this day stigmatizing people who don't have cars in most communities. Europe and Asia, especially culturally when concerning other forms of transit is the model for the future. When and if the U.S. ever gets that remains to be seen. Every time I am in a U.S. metro area and I see the clogged freeways with car after car with single occupants with a miserable look on their faces it makes me sick. It could all be alievated but our culture, infrastructure, corporations and governments refuse to change. We are set up for failure.
Once again here on the whim of that itching, burning question in the back of my brain- which is casually answered by this video.
I love when video content that easily explains ideas, also solves the problem or answers a burning question directly related to the thesis of the video. Cheers from Boston.
When I was a kid growing up in rural Indiana I loved taking trains. My grandparents would drive us to Marion and catch the AmTrack to Chicago through Indianapolis to see a Cubs game. The station was like a block away from the park and we would just walk. Grab a burger at that place right across the street then the return trip. It ended up being a 20 hour day and I was one tuckered out boy, but damned if it wasn’t fun.
As a Swiss person, my heart stopped when I heard that American trains are only 71% on time. No wonder nobody wants to use them. In Switzerland, people think it's outrageous when a bus or a train is more than 60 seconds late (which almost never happens though).
Switzerland and most of Europe is a totally different place than America.
Switzerland is about 16 thousand square miles and has a population of 8 million people.
Missouri has a land area of 70 thousand square miles and has a population of 6 million people.
Does it now make sense why everyone in America needs to own a car or truck?
It does make sense that people need to own cars but it doesn't make sense that most of them drive cars/trucks that need 4 gallons per 100 miles. For example I don't get why people own pickup trucks if they don't happen to work as ranger or something like that. Nobody needs a pickup truck to drive to work.
At any rate, I think America could do much, much more with its rail system. And by extending it, it might also become more popular. For example I would always choose a train ride from NYC to LA over an airplane for environmental reasons but not if the train ride costs hundreds of dollars as it does now. What the US would have to do is to get rid of the private companies and instead have one non-profit government-run company like the ones in Europe. Then they could build those awesome high speed routes like they do in China or Japan. I've traveled through all of Japan by train and it was very fast and relaxing.
lol
I honestly don't know how a bus can usually be on time, given here in the UK they constantly turn up late because of traffic and road works
Just to nuance, in Europe train companies are private companies. That's required by law. It's the railroads that are often nationalised.
Socialism (as Americans would call it) works ;^) nationalised rail, nationalised health. Good shit.
Sure. For small countries, it just wouldn't work as well in a large country like The US.
Darc Gibson Trains are for losers, just like socialism....
murica!
Does capitalism work for the US?
If only there was some way for the US to split itself into smaller sections like other countries do. What you could do is make it 50 or so separate areas, we could call them "states" then size isn't an issue. But I guess for now they're stuck.
I love that there are multiple comments with thousands of likes making fun of germany's system. Yes, the Deutsche Bahn is bad in many ways, but everything this video criticises about america's railways, germany does better, for reasons also explained in the video. The regional network has trains running once an hour or two, and that's as bad as you get, provided you have a train station. We also have regional express services, which use the same trains but skip some really small stops, then we have the intercity which run much longer distances with dedicated trains and skip some larger stops, as well as the well known intercity express service with high speed trains and stops only on the main stations of big cities. Additionally, we get the S-Bahn in big urban regions, which is kind of like a subway with a tight timetable etc., but doesn't use its own system in terms of signaling and operation. Yes, all of these services have their flaws, but in the end, they connect the country sort of efficiently.
Meanwhile in Australia: trainspotter waits for 7mp5, leaves after 1.5 hours, train goes past 1 minute after he leaves, and 20 minutes behind scedule, while the other train is cancelled due to Corona virus
Honestly we're thinking too big. Utah has a great little train system called Trax (used more as a subway system) and Frontrunner. It goes from a city called Ogden in the north and thru Salt Lake City to a city south called Provo. It does it's job pretty well as at most you just need to take a short bus route to your destination if you aren't downtown. During high traffic times it's just faster to use this system and it's $5 round trip without a pass cause it's government funded. We should focus on building small scale train lines like this and as more are created it'll become easier to connect everything.
Edit(4 years later): Went to Japan recently and this is basically their system and Tokyo has so many stations that buses aren't even needed. Only buses I saw were in Kyoto and even then they had a rail system going through the heart of the city and it's super rural. It's so much better then I even dreamed up with this comment cause it's this comment but better. Oh and it was less then 500 yen to go basically anywhere in Tokyo (the equivalent of $5 in their economy)
Sounds a like the system we have in Karlsruhe, Germany, where Trams serve as a regional train system too.
I just took it with my family. Only $15 for one day ticket with 4 people maximum.
That's awesome.
And in a "red" state too.
Maybe there's hope for the United States yet.
Well in New Jersey we already have lots of trains like the one you described. And tons of buses and bus routes. That doesn't change that going from New York to Salt Lake City is a huge hassle when it shouldn't be. This country need high speed rail cross country.
The problem is more long-distance rail than commuter rail. Given that air flights are such a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, it's sad that the choices are to fly or to take a really slow and expensive train.
I live in Kokomo, Indiana and train tracks got taken Down about when I was 8. I'm now 13 and I miss the trains I use to hear next to my house.
It was a huge and I mean HUGE deal to see a train in Kokomo. I get SOOOOOOOOOO exited when I see a train somewhere else in like, Tennessee or Michigan and Per, Indiana. I love trains because of how rare it is for me to see them.
Oh hey, another Hoosier. I never knew the railroading situation in Kokomo. I live just south of Indianapolis. The small railroad, the Louisville and Indiana, is undergoing a huge upgrade. All the rails are being rebuilt, so that'll allow for faster trains. CSX has permanent trackage rights as well, so that means we'll be seeing about fifteen trains a day.
I recommend coming down to Columbus, Edinburgh, or Franklin to see the trains. I don't, however, recommend looking for trains on a weekend. Only trains on those days run at ten PM.
And for me who lives in Switzerland its normal to got to work with bus, Train. i even work in a Train factory (we make the one thats from 7.03 -7.06. i also know the station were its coming in (near my work area)).
StreuPfeffer I've wondered what it's like for trains to be used to commute. Sadly, Indiana has no such thing.
***** I've had plans to visit Delphi for a while. How many trains do you say go through a day?
This reminds me when I took a train from San Diego up to Anaheim: there wasn't even a display of the delay, they just announced roughly 3/4h. Coming from a country where people go nuts if a train is 3' late (yey, Switzerland), this was unbelievable for me! (Not to mention the Diesel engines..). This video cleared up some of the questions, thanks!
As a Californian yeah that happens. Not often but it does
Now I got the appreciate the dutch train system a lot more. I use it to go to school (It's free for students). There are 4 trains heading from my city to where I'm studying every 15 minutes. I barely have an delay. I can go to everywhere in the country within 2 to 3 hours.
It's a shame our country has so few trains, they are so fun to ride on.
Ragesauce We have tons of trains, it's just that they all pull freight!
Ragesauce some countries don't have any...
+Adam Smith
Red and Green and Brown and Blue!
They're a Really Useful Crew!
All With Different Roles to Play 'Round Tidmouth Sheds or Far Away,
Down the Hills and 'Round the Bends!
Thomas and His Friends!
I've never rode on a train my whole life... 'murica...
I did once. It was fun. I want to know is... Why don't America use Steam engines like Europe? Travel from small towns to towns or city to city. It doesn't have to be far distance.
I Want to state this, another thing that caused passenger trains to flourish in Europe and not in America, was because America was trying to improve train's torque (strength) and track effort to make better freight trains, they did not focus on speed, however. The reason, because it was way more profitable in America to transport goods and material than people, so they did not focus to make trains faster, which is what the Europeans focused on. Due to the close proximity to each other, the European countries found it more profitable and efficient to transport people, since they could transport goods and materials by trucks, which can be cheaper. In America, we cant transport goods and materials with Trucks over very long distances, the farthest is usually going to other states, and yeas, there are very long truck routes, and sometimes they do have cross continental truck routes too. While the close proxy to cities and other countries in Europe allowed for Trucking to be more efficient. The only times they really use freight trains is to transport goods or materials from European countries that are father from them, like say France to Russia. Oh, and I probably have said a few things that may not make sense, and are wrong, well that's human error, I'm not perfect you trolling lifeless trolls, lol. So If I said something that does not sound quite right, than that is most likely because I made a mistake.
uhm actually it's not like as if European countries only focused on faster passenger trains. A big share of freight transport is don't by rail. Often, freight trains follow as close as the block sections of the track make it possible. In Germany approximately 60% of freight traffic is via trucks, 25% via rail and the rest via inland navigation..
In Germany the focus is on transporting both freight and passengers on the same tracks. And no, the greatest share of freight trains are not routes or distances like France to Russia ... there's SO much freight rail traffic within each country, from the large industrial facilities, single companies, mines etc. There are short distance and long distance freight trains within the countries, mixed freight trains etc
The problem with long freight trains in Europe is shipping by sea... Too many seas.... From the Irish Sea and North Sea to the Baltic Sea. The Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea and Black Sea. Shipping is cheaper by sea than by train. Even the UK freight train business is to sea ports more so than north to south from Scotland to London... With America and Canada lots of container freight trains run from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean, from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico... Lots of grain trains running from the Midwest to the Pacific, Atlantic, and Gulf coast ports for exports... Lots of high fructose corn syrup and automobile trains running from the Midwest to the east and west coasts...
Actually shipping on the seas is cheaper than shipping by a train or by a truck/lorry. Slower too. Freight is not dependent upon speed. Freight is dependent upon price.... in America or Europe, or Asia... Look at Japan as well as the United Kingdom... trains are for speed and for passengers much more so than for freight... Both nations would rather ship freight by sea... That is if shipping by sea is to its destination is available by sea... Not so for the vast majority of America in America's heartland...
Santi Formento There was a lot of development in faster trains ("streamliners") in the 1930s, but ultimately it was for nought. Even European streamliners were out of service during the war and similar speeds were only reached after Japan did the same
But others have better freight trains and Korea has CTX, the 300km/h freight train.and also the 8500 locomotive which is the strongest in the world optimized to climb mountains , stronger than 3 diesel locs together and has sand boxes to climb even better,
America: "Why our trains are so bad"
Germany: "Thanks for traveling with Deutsche Baaaahhn"
At least there are trains
I travel Amtrak more for the journey than for the destination. If I really had to get somewhere, I'd fly, but it's nice to kick back on a train and see the country roll by
If you want to see this beautiful country, Amtrak is the way to go. I'm old and in no hurry to get to the destination. It's all about the journey. I am also a pilot, but who can see the beauty from the air? Amtrak is great.
That's also the reason I want to take Amtrak. I want to enjoy the journey and relax and see the wonderful scenery this country has to offer.
@Temujin You're thinking of the cities.
@Temujin Have you ever even seen pictures of things in the U.S.? Niagara Falls, the Grand Canyon, Acadia, Yosimite, Yellowstone, Joshua Tree, Mt. Washington, or any of our other numerous national parks? Because whatever your feelings about America are, you can't deny that we have a whole hell of a lot of very beautiful places over here.
Ray Parker Jr I’ll just let you know.. Amtrak is the Best Modern Railway in my opinion
Doesn't Exist End your shitty Japan Country
european? man you should have compared to japanese train systems, that would really embarrassed you!
european train systems already embarress the us system enough, the point is proven
speed and reliability yes. price no.
easy to compare a country with a fraction of the land mass compared to America.
I'd argue the European ones are more robust given they're linking countries, not just cities.
+Mchurchwell like he said countries such as Uzbekistan and turkey which are clearly less developed per sq/m2 have a better train link than America
*The entire Midwest
"Am I a joke to you?"
Another factor: the US went through its infrastructure boom earlier than most other countries, when we were really dispersed. The result was we locked into old tech and old organizations managing them. We then went into maintenance mode, which due to the law of entropy, degrade over time.
Finally you understand all of this. I've been saying this. Thats why boomers should step down from managing and getting rid of all these beauracricies. They just don't want to give up power. Building stuff in the USA is expensive because of Unions giving people who sometimes don't do anything a 40hr pay. Having construction projects put on hold for 7 years because a karen didn't like the idea that this building project was going to jeopardize a few trees and squirrels. Over managing is what ruins the USA. Its outdated but until now not much can be done.
@@deusexmachina8112 I wouldn't make this an age thing; it is a bureaucracy, economic structure, and timing thing. The fact that boomers fill the bureaucracies is just a function of time; they are currently being replaced with new bureaucrats.
@@Singulitarian you see it was during the boomers age when infrastructure was built as well as the fact that many of the laws such as the NEPA, which limited the US building potential, made infrastructure and building projects take years to build.
@@deusexmachina8112 Most built before boomers actually. Boomers weren't builders, but bureaucrats and once a bureacracy rises it don't go away.
the best use of trains in the US is commuter trains, nobody wants to drive in the morning when you're half asleep and battle city traffic and pay a small fortune for city parking. same for the ride home after work when you're dead tired.for long distances trains make very little sense people enjoy the freedom of driving stopping when and where they want, and as you said in the video if you take a train to get to some city you may have to rent a car anyway.
Yeah I had one of those "stopping where they want" US tourists on a German highway lately, he simply stopped on the shoulder to take some pictures of the landscape -.-
hifijohn also there needs to be an adequate bussing system to bring people to the trains. In long island we have the long island railroad it gets people to the city in a reasonable amount of time. But, the traffic to get to the train station sucks.
hifijohn Those are more akin to subways though as they generally don't go between major cities. The Commuter Rail in Boston is a great example but it doesn't go past Worcester and is pretty slow
in general high speed rail is a waste of money the money should be spent to improve city mas transit systems.
really? Every day I ride the bus, subway, commuter train, regional express trains or the highspeed InterCity or InterCityExpress train I see anyone from schoolkids to bankers ...
And apart from some few cases which needed help due their medical conditions, none of the problems you named happened there
I like trains more than any other form of transportation ..
Planes feel like a cramped bus,and buses,well, they are cramped and give me motion sickness
*I l I K e T r A i N s*
Then its clickety clack, but no motion sickness like a bus on a windy road. Rail is better.
Kakashi Hatake yeah unless you are on the NYC subway wear it is always incredibly packed
Ya
I agree I hate flying nowadays. Airlines (especially US based airlines) have become more cramped as these airlines try to cram more passengers into smaller planes. Hell these even fly crappy 757's ACROSS THE ATLANTIC now which is absolutely ridiculous!!! If I can drive somewhere in 12 hours or less, I just drive and deal with all the idiot drivers on the road along the way because flying today is a total pain and trains are slow af.
As a railroad professional, let me be as succinct and as clear as I can be: You will NEVER get true, High-Speed Rail in the US. Where the hell would you build it? Now, what IS feasible is Higher-Speed Passenger Rail (HrSR) that can use existing infrastructure already available; e.g., the principal mainlines among the current Class Is and Regional railroads. There's absolutely no reason you can't have 110-125 passenger rail in several different corridors. Consider this: Some 60-70 years ago, the railroads ran several passenger trains at 90 mph or above in key segments. It wasn't uncommon at all to see the former Burlington Zephyrs or Milwaukee Road Hiawatha passenger trains doing 90-100 mph in certain spots and the former Illinois Central passenger trains did a lot of 100 mph running in central and southern Illinois on their Chicago - New Orleans mainline. Hell, even I can remember the Illinois Central's meat trains on the Iowa Division mainline doing at least 80 mph in spots in eastern Iowa when I was a young boy. What I'm trying to say here is that it can be done but just as important, there has to be something in it for the Class I railroads as well to make it possible.
What about Texas?
What should be done is to bring back DMU's on smaller lines/corridors, like from Chicago to Omaha or Fargo to the Twin Cities.
America: "Trains here are bad"
Balkan: Cries in 60MP/H "High Speed" Train
America: “Trains here are bad”
New Zealand: “Hold my beer”
Philippines: "Hold my cheaper beer"
Russia: hold my vodka
Australia~ hold me beer mate🍺
India:- hold my sambhar
James Goldsworthy gtfo
Nobody can beat the Sodor Railway in the 40s-60s. You have Spencer, the 126mph Steam engine, Gordon, Spencer's 100mph cousin, you've got 90mph Diesel 10, you've got 20mph Paxton, you've got all the classics from 1915, like Thomas, Edward, things are great there. If we ever got to see Thomas take place in modern day, they'd probably have Bullet Trains, and then the Bullet Works would be built, and then Spencer would get jealous, then Diesel 10 takes his claw named Pinchy to the Bullet Train but can't catch it because it's twice his speed. So then Thomas tells Diesel 10 to grab some sugar and put it in the Bullet Train's tank. Then Diesel 10 grabs sugar with Pinchy and succeeds in doing so and has Vietnam flashbacks along the way. Then something happened.
Edit: 122 likes?! Wow, how did I do it?
Edit: 150? Never expected this.
MicsØ totally
@Novai: Uh... just one thing: ELECTRIC locomotives (and EMU trains)! LOOK at Japan's JR Shinkansen system, LOOK at Germany's ICE, LOOK at France's TGV, LOOK at Spain's AVE, need I say more? Both Steam and diesel (all what most Americans only know of) really do SUCK! Steam is nice for nostalgic museum... railways but not so practical for regular intercity service as they are heavy, inefficient as they have to carry the WEIGHT if both the water PLUS fuel be it diesel, wood, or dirty coal, electric has them all beat!
THINK ELECTRIFIED RAILWAYS NOW! Thank you!
LMAO
nikolaos
High speed doesn't always work look at the dutch Fyra, the trains sucked ass. New trains are expected in 2021 those will drive at lower max speeds than the previous trains 200km/h to 220km/h.
although it seems sodors railway is a sort of big preservation system
Me an intellectual European sippin good beer.
"Die spinnen die amis"
Czech beer > German beer
@@bonda_racing3579 I am Austrian:/
And I don't really like german beer.
@@bonda_racing3579 I do love Czech beer tho. Ngl
American beer beats all. Plus, cars are better
Wendover: Amtrak is unreliable. Only 75% of trains are on time.
British people: wow. That's great. In the UK 75% of trains are cancelled or do not turn up with no explanation so we can't even ask for a refund.
That's not true at all, the rail network would be a shambles if it were
What part of the UK are you from
East. Have taken plenty of trains South-East/to the South of England as well and i'm yet to be let down, bar a cancelled train due to a suicidal person
Cool, don't ride in the Midlands
Which companies/services are bad?
"72% is unreliable"
**polski śmiech**
Polska kurwa
@@bazaslav , wow so original
I love how 125mph is their ambition, and yet the UK has had Intercity 125s since the 1970s, lol
The trains suck in America because nobody takes trains.. I’ve lived in America my entire 30 year life, and only ridden a train one time. Everybody in America drives their own car. Road trips are much more common than rail travel. Also, the country is so huge that flying is the only quick way to get from one coast to another.
@@SoloTravelerOffTheBeatenPath if trains were fast, would you take them?
Germany's High Speeds Train "ICE" between Frankfort and Cologne drives unbelievable 192mph. It is next to the highway, but because the highways around Cologne are so busy it's so much faster. And that's true, I already drove in one,
thats cause its a tiny ass country
@@user-ng4tf2oq7s that's got nothing to do with the speed of the trains lol
When I had to get a train from Penn Station to DC, it cost me $160, for ~230 miles. In my home country, I can go from my hometown to the city I study in for a little less than €10. It’s a 65 mile trip. The same 230 mile trip in my country would cost less than €40. A 700km (434 miles) trip costs around €70.
This video helped me write my essay for college,thank you very much.
What's the topic?
Europe: 125 Mph Just an average speed
America: 125 Mph max speed
India: 125Mph? iMpOsSible. You complaining about how slow is 100Mph, in India we complain 20Mph!
Tarobrob IKR, the fastest Indian Railways train has a top speed of 160kmph(99mph) and the top speeds of our other trains are 110kmph(67mph)
More like..
The rest of the world : what the hell is Mph?
europe : whats mph do you mean 125km?
Tarobrob he straight.
Booo......first world problems.
They should look at the third world too just 2 bring justice.
Because the Netherlands is so small and densely populated we don't have any high speed trains, but we do have a large rail network that is most of the time still more convenient then cars. Our train network is basically like public transit train/metro system in a big city like NYC and we probably couldn't live without it. (The Dutch Rail is infamous for its delays, but actually 95% of the trains arrive on time)
Do you even need trains? LOL, just walk everywhere in your nincompoop little country.
Fuck you alienkishorekumar. I bet you live in a real shithole.
Quite a few people I know study in neighbouring cities, and they take the train everyday from where they live (also partly because you can get free public transport as a student here). It's mostly 20 minute trips, but still, by car around those times, it can take up to twice that time. Why? Traffic congests. Trains do not.
dude, noone walks in the netherlands...
They have more bikes than people over there, and it's flat as fuuuuck xD
Exactly, around 8am, the train from Zwolle to Groningen is packed with students who study in Groningen. I love the train system here, especially because I travel for free on weekdays (gotta love being a student).
The multiple times I've taking amtrak trains, there early and there really nice when I took the empire builder, we arrived 1 hour early.
I have personally ridden the zephyr and it has never been on time for my trips. One time we were over 60hours on a 48 hour trip from chitown to Sactown.
Fastest cleanest cheapest trains in the world are in Japan.
I can agree having stayed for a year, plus they come on time too which is a bonus.
BUT ... trains in Japan are totally privately owned and not run by the government. Japan has an incredible high population density and was laid out in such a way that it makes connecting everything by rail far more efficient. A private train company can actually operate at a profit there.
America does not have the population density in the vast majority of its area to support rail. Also - which people don't think about - rail is fixed. Unlike buses and cars, it can't adapt quickly to the need to change routes.
People who only have trains (which is true for a lot of Japanese - whose homes aren't even built on enough land to store a car) are limited in how they can move around, how much they can carry, and even how much space they can live in.
MrBabylonandon
But... Fastest cleanest cheapest trains in the world are in Japan.
+Mr BablyIonandon
I get your point, but I have no idea where you're trying to get yourself to with this claim.
MrBabylonandon
and what are you trying to say here? Japan's trains are the fastest and cleanest.
I'd rather have freight trains congesting tracks than thousands of trucks congesting highways and roads.
I was surprised to learn that the Europeans don't use rail very much for freight.
That´s because in the short distanced in one country it´s hard to compete with the trucks. And cross border operation is difficult, because there is always a huge pile of different technical standards and rules in every single country.
um, no, the EU has totally open borders
But they haven't always had open borders, like when the rail routes were built.
"the EU has totally open boarders"
Remember World War 1 and World War 2?
Remember the Cold War and the Iron Curtain?
Remember how during WWII the Allies and the Axis powers would constantly bomb eachothers train depots and train tracks to prevent them from sending supplies and troops?
You don't remember that? ok...
7:10 it would be cheaper to have a smaller scope project for the NE corridor, but if you are already going to the trouble of creating a new right of way it would be a much better investment to go big with HSR to make it actually worth all of the hassle.
Petrol/gas prices in the US are also way cheaper and our interstate system is pretty bangin' so I think that this is also a reason trains aren't prevalent
If anyone is really interested in the history of Amtrak and the difficulties it faces, I highly recommend picking up the book "Waiting on a Train: The Embattled Future of Passenger Rail Service" by James McCommons, who actually rode all of Amtrak's routes to research his book. Two things in this that really boiled my blood: A Union Pacific executive was described as saying the railroad "Just doesn't care" about passenger trains; UP is the least cooperative of all the major freight railroads in the US. Another point was that in the 1990s, there was serious proposals for Texas high speed rail connecting Austin, Houston, and DFW. Southwest Airlines singlehanded killed this project by lobbying for new laws to restrict and delay the project.
Also, some last notes: while it may be about as cheap to fly, those who actually give a damn about the environment should know that rail travel is one of the least polluting methods of travel (only topped by barges). And having personally travelled on the Empire Builder, I can say the seats in coach are very comfortable- more leg room than a jet- and can be significantly cheaper than air travel in some areas.
Give trains a chance. They're not as bad as they seem.
Look at it from the railroads' perspective: you have a fast train that doesn't belong to you and you have to stop all of the money-making trains for it. It's perfectly understandable why they dislike Amtrak.
But look at this from another way. Amtrak helped the railroads by getting rid of said money-hemorrhaging passenger trains. In fact, in the original agreement when Amtrak was founded, railroads were supposed to give right of way to passenger trains. But, well, someone didn't keep their promise.
"(..) railroads were supposed to give right of way to passenger trains. But, well, someone didn't keep their promise."
Fucking capitalists ruining our country.
How dare they stimulate our GDP over making our public transportation a tiny bit faster than driving, despite >85% of the country owning a car!
If they had any sense of decency, the other 15% would curl up somewhere and die for not living up to the libertarian dream of free uniformity!
They can build a high speed track on top of Donald Trump's wall.
Finally, someone in these comments who has a good idea.
Yeah! Then Mexicans trying to jump the wall will be crushed a huge steel train running at over a hundred kilometres.
+Big Ray You can go from Florida, to El Paso, to San Diego!
Keep out fertomex
And mexico is gonna pay for it!
I'm still waiting for the sequel Freight: Why Trains Suck In Europe
It’s not gonna happen Europe is actually really good at building Trains🚊 so I don’t see a reason to make a second part about Europe
@@Master-kh6ww let me introduce you to Trenitalia
@@Master-kh6ww Not for freight it isn't
@@Master-kh6ww For passengers? Yes. For freight? Not so much.
I took the Amtrak a couple times. Last time I’d taken it we had a 2 hour halt in the mountains of Colorado because the track was completely submerged in water.
They had to send out the engineers to find out if the track was even there.
It was and we just boated through it lol
We had to stop a total of 3 times. 2 to BNSF and I’d started my Journey in Kansas.
Problem when you try to be socialist but your country is hardcore capitalist. Saved 8 minutes of your time
It's also a problem when you try to decide for others what choices they are allowed to make.
It creates massive inefficiencies and poor service in the attempt to stop them from choosing what you don't want to allow.
no kiding, video was great, then ending two 2ecs and i just face palm.... his solution is to aim guns at people and take their money so better tracks be built.... wtf is wrong with people
"It's also a problem when you try to decide for others what choices they are allowed to make."
Correct. I shouldn't be forced to subsidize others' choices. Everything shouldn't just be up for a majority vote.
Bushrod Rust Johnson
From most people, my first thought would be, "Except your choices."
But you strike me as a true believer who would rather his choice didn't exist if the alternative was a subsidy.
Being bored I visited your channel to find a blank page. What a waste!
You should post some videos of your hobbies, maybe forward some favorites. Have fun with it.
Claude
"who would rather his choice didn't exist if the alternative was a subsidy"
The matter of the subsidy itself is a simplistic surface view that misses everything about the actual conclusion. That's not necessarily apparent, speaking only about what I typed in that particular comment. But you've seen plenty more.
"Being bored I visited your channel to find a blank page. What a waste!
You should post..."
This seems trite. You know why you posted comments on this video.
Fun fact.
In Victoria, Australia:
V/Line operates about 280 services a day.
For a state with 5 million people.
Really? Does the V/Line service all of Vic? Surely not at just 280/day. Transperth (services all of Perth) runs over 1,000 services on an average weekday and we have a population of 2 mil. Like, wtf. I thought our public transport system was bad, but holy shit, 300 a day for 300 million people? Fuck me.
Skulls Ain't Dead V/Line would be equivalent to TransWA, which operates 3 trains a day to Kalgoorlie & a handful to Bunbury, not to Transperth which is metropolitan service. The Victorian equivalent would be Metro Trains
So does it service all of Victoria? No it’s a country service, meanwhile TransWA shouldn’t even bother it’s so poor
@@mattking9524 Ahh gotcha, yeah though that number was way off.
The Gippsland has 42, Ballarat closer to 70, Bendigo 50, Geelong over 100.
That's close to 280 and I haven't even counted the Seymour line. However, those are one way services (ie: Traralgon to Melbourne). Halve the number for return services (approx).
While V/Line is the regional carrier, so is Amtrak. It goes across the country (like V/Line goes across the state) rather than in one city. Metro Trains Melbourne would be compared to NYC subway, rather than Amtrak.
@@skullsaintdead Yes. All of Victoria. It's designed to be a country carrier, rather than a suburban one. Metro Trains (the train operator just for the capital and suburbs) would have hundred more, if not thousands.
Wow. Not expected hearing about Uzbekistan in the video🤣 Yes we have high speed trains and it is called Afrosiyob and it goes from the Capital Tashkent to two ancient cities of the world Samarkand (320km-2.5 hours) and Bukhara (600km-4 hours) from 16 to 30 USD depending on class of services provided
Meanwhile in Australia, our shithead federal government sold the National Rail Service. Now our few long distance interstate trains are billed as luxury services, rather than a convenience. A cross-country trip by train costs over 1000AUD, departs once per week and takes 3 days to arrive at it's destination.
Watching this video while crusing in the ICE 3 at 300 km/h in Germany haha. This truly makes me appreciate the ICE. Good video, as always.
Germans tend to be mad about the Bahn for being "unreliable" - well, after visiting relatives in the US who didn't only discourage me from train traveling but instead drove like 1,000 miles to pick me up from Denver I've sworn myself to keep my mouth shut about it.
Well, I'm usually more the Autobahn Guy anyway
fantastic How are those refugees? Been shot on the train by one yet?
Did you get shot by an other American or your
child ? due too all that liberal gun laws. No seriously if a Whit man
shoots a whit man everything is ok, probably it was his right to do it
but if a very very small percentage of terrorism happens everyone is
creeping out....
We just got a couple of refugees in our little village. Nothing changed.
Adam dude.. For the vast majority of Europeans and Germans, nothing has changed since the refugees.
It's almost exactly like asking an American if he has been shot by a cop lately.. Except that's still way more likely than being killed by a refugee in a terror attack.
(Not to mention terror attacks in general are comitted by people born in the country they attack, not by refugees)
How can you do a video on train without mentioning Japan even once.
Japan is literally an island in the middle of the ocean in comparison to any other continent. They struggle to just to have enough land to live on.
Japan is larger in area then the UK… it is a common misconception that they have a small country.
population is higher in Japan, but its going to be getting much lower. 95 million by 2050.
Or India and China for that matter. 13 million people travel Indian Railways ever day! That corresponds to the population of Guinea moving from one place to another in a day.
Because the commentator is obviously french, I mean based on the way her pronounced SNCF it was obvious he is biased towards his own country.
I think most people don't consider that most metros between the Atlantic and the Mississippi river are within the optimal distance from each other. Too many people forget that there are more cities in the USA than NYC, Boston, Philly, Houston and LA.
in austria and germany we also have wifi in almost every train, I especially love austrian train service since it is so cheap and just so amazing. Some trains run every few minutes here.
IS it really cheap, though? How much are taxpayers subsidizing it?
@@RJT80 Dude places like Germany have similar tax rates to the USA according to the last time I checked. Let that sink in.
Germany has a similar tax rate to the US, and even then they can afford high speed rail, heck even free healthcare!
Even then according to a quick google search the average american earns 31 thousand a year whilst the average german earns 49 thousand a year
Passenger trains in North America are more for... "recreation," rather than business nowadays. But that's my perspective on Passenger Trains.
That depends on what trains. If you are talking about the long distance Amtrak trains, then yes you are correct. The video does not mention the commuter and inter city rails that are very popular with business people and travelers. Those commuter rail trains are run by a local public transportation authority and not Amtrak. Amtrak does provide some regional rail services between large metro cities which are also popular for business travelers.
Damn u really nailed the pronunciation Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer Français
National Corporation of Iron Roads of France.
no way, his pronunciation was way off. Just listen to google translate: translate.google.com/#fr/en/Soci%C3%A9t%C3%A9%20Nationale%20des%20Chemins%20de%20Fer%20Fran%C3%A7ais
@@promaty Nope.. he just misspelled the 'des Chemins' part.. otherwise he was very close to the original one..
Pas de chance mon ami haha he was far. but still, hats off for the courage ^^
Fabrique Nationale is better
In Romania:
Last time I traveled by train, we covered 25 kilometers (~15 miles) in 6 hours. I wanted to die.
There was so much goddamn delay on another train, so we had to wait for that train to pass so we can later use that railway, in turn causing the train we were on to be delayed even more (because it arrived 1h late ofcourse).
8kp/h*6h=48Km. You could have walked for 3,5 hours. This might be faster. XD
8kp/h are the normal speed of walking.
You should have done the traject by feet 😅
@@Gabriel-dh8xl I do not know what one feet is in centimetre because I am using the metric system. XD I only know this and he/she is from Romania they are using the metric system too^~^
Oh god that sounds even worse than Indian railway ffs.
@@Vixen1525 8 kph is fast walk. Average is 3-5 kph.
I took the California zephyr amtrak from Sacramento to Chicago. Trip was 49 hrs long but I still enjoyed the trip very much because I was in no rush. Very scenic and a cool experience. If your all about getting to places fast, amtrak ain't for you.
Traveling by train is awesome.
Forget high-speed trains, they just need to make trains more like cruise-ships w/ on-board activities. I've taken 3 train rides in Amtrak sleepers, and I am convinced it is the best way to travel. I'd take a 5 hour train ride over a 3 hour flight any day.
I agree. People focus too much on bringing high speed rail across America. Long distance trains really haven't been about getting from point A to point B since the 1940's. The majority of people riding long distance trains now do so because it's more comfortable and more interesting than flying. It's a change of pace from the rushing around that life in the US is.
I Hope Amtrak continues on thinking about the Bullet From Dallas to Houston!
I believe that Amtrak isn't involved with that.
=(
let's be honest nobody cares how long it takes to get across America. the longer it takes the better the experience. except for the 1/10th of 1% like casey neistat (who probably make airline companies very little money per year) who fly because driving is too slow.
Moving freight via trains is a good thing. They are usually a lot more efficient and maintenance costs of infrastructure wear (caused by freight) is a lot cheaper for tracks than for roads.
The NS (Dutch Railway Company) is, let’s say, relatively speaking, great. Cause a whole lot happens when you get fined by the government for being late. In general, when a train is 3 minutes late, it will say +5 minutes, and at 6 minutes + 10 minutes etc. So that would mean a train is considered late if it’s delayed by 3 minutes or more. The NS must meet be on time for at least 82% and must also meet other criteria such as passenger satisfaction.
Also, the tracks are not owned by the NS, Arriva or Connexxion. They are owned by ProRail. Though the NS does operate on the majority of the tracks. But they do have to offer a better service compared to the other companies. Otherwise they’ll lose the contract.
But I must admit, the NS has to plan for a departure of a train somewhere in the Netherlands, every 6 seconds.
As another Dutch person, i agree with this. Most of the time on schedule, and when there are problems, replacement route options are often available.
Even I didn't got myself to take train because I live in Bali, Indonesia, an island where virtually no railtracks due to it was a rural places (but now it ia much crowded than before) and the terrains are not plain enough to make the railtracks feasible to build.
I go by train to school and it leaves every 10 minutes,, I can't imagine my life without it I'm so sorry for Americans
They have school buses
I live in NYC and I take a 5 minute subway to school. This video is talking about long distance rail. Not subways.
Avakin Alessia walk is good for you health in return...
@@10418 thanks. I was about typing your same response. I skip the train and walk some good kilometers daily, even though I always have an annual ticket
Tbh, they should replace the Acela Express with the Union Pacific 844...
Unpopular opinion: Amtrak is AWESOME for traveling long distance because sometimes the journey is better than the destination, the California Zephyr and Empire Builder have some of the best views in America
Great Burrito Agreed. I’ve ridden the California Zephyr and although it takes alot of time to get out west its very worth it
Samuel Joseph I’ve only gone as far as Grand Junction, CO from Chicago but the Glenwood Canyon was well worth the whole journey
@@fupperpish109 That's so funny I went the exact opposite way starting in Grand Junction to California and all of the out west mountain scenery is amazing
Samuel Joseph I’m gonna try and take a trip all the way from Syracuse to Emeryville changing trains in Chicago sometime in the near future, I’ve heard that parts of Utah and Nevada are really cool
@@fupperpish109 I'll be honest with you my friend, a lot of it is desolate nothingness, but it's a whole new kind of beauty
1:09 Unfortunately, Turkey did not attach enough importance to high-speed trains. The Turkish state's strategy consists of "More highways and airports".
I think it has a lot to do with the way US cities are built around cars rather than public transportation, and the history of why that happened. While the video mentioned this briefly, I think there's a lot more to say, and to draw the link with the failure of public transportation more generally.
Yep, all because of the automobile, and the fact that the US is a capitalist dictatorship.