What I learned from taking a train across the US

pOOR SErIvICe?

You spoke to no one the whole way? That's the best of Amtrack. Oh, and take a blanket the cars are always FREEZING!!!

US is so far behind on public transportation... High speed railway fixes everything in East Asia

I live in NYC and ny family lives in Florida so whenever i go visit i take Amtrak. The time spent travelling is perfect to decompress from the city and i arrive relaxed.

I remember taking the train from Los Angeles to NYC once. It was kinda brutal but interesting. I shared some stories with some nice people but the sleeping situation was terrible. Even though I stopped in Chicago for a weekend but still, it was rough. I don't think I'd do it again.

As a European I must admit that it seems very strange that there are areas in the US that are bigger then most of the countries in Europe but nonetheless not connected to the railroad system at all nowadays.

4 days and no sleeper. Indian trains are the worst, but at least they have sleeper seats for even a 12+ hour journey.

Imagine if we replaced the old rails and trains so we could get something like the Hayabusa bullet train from Japan; which goes up to 200mph.

We have the greatest stations but the worst service. We need to change that and equalize what we spend on highways and cars. Great video and get the word out on why train travel is the best.

I love taking Amtrak. The short city to city routes are the best. Shoutout to Capitol Corridor

Taking the Amtrak from Washington DC to Miami in December. Looking forward to it! Really appreciate the work you put into this video!

Come to india and review the indian trains

A bit awkward to show the image of a black server in the ancient time and talk about it as if those were some sort of glory days

Amtrak is not necessarily a great way for public transit, but its by FAR the best way to see the beautiful parts of this country.

One of the worst videos about amtrak I've seen.

As a long time user of the north east corridor train between DC and Boston, I would say they do a great job but behind European nations of course

Imagine if the US got those super fast asian trains... That would change things so much, you could do LA-NY in around 12 hours

imagine having cross country 250+mph trains. so many people will switch over to trains and also a blessing for people who scared of flying !

I think the problem with Federal funding for rail services is that they tend to only benefit those within the range that it is designed for. Every mile of roadway benefits everyone who uses the system. A train connecting LA and San Francisco only benefits people in those two cities and the surrounding suburbs.

At some point the rail system could become robust enough to benefit everyone, and thereby be equitable to use Federal funds from everyone to help support it. I think Switzerland has a network that basically supports the entire country for example. But there is a large hurdle in trying to get anything done in the mean time. It just isn't justified for a large number of people to support it currently.

if the funds were even out, probably US could have some hayabusa shinkansen in japan, easily.

U.S. is so much behind China, I can't believe it!

I'm literally 53 seconds into this video and yelled at the screen: "The auto and petroleum industries along with the behemoth of badly maintained road infrastructure!!!" If it doesn't make money for the already established financial behemoths, it won't get funded.

I took my kids to China this summer. We rode the high-speed train multiple times. They were amazed. When they were babies, we took the Amtrak train from Michigan to Chicago. It was a nightmare.

slightly missed opportunity to compare the different states in a nuanced fashion. vox- hire me for the same content but easier on the palate from both the right and the left :)

I had a beautiful experience on the Autotrain from Virginia to Florida in 1997. Unfortunately it lets you off in Sanford Fl which is forty five minutes from the interstate and an hour away from anywhere

I personally love using Amtrak as long as there's a bus that can easily take me where I need to go, or if my car is there waiting to take me home.

And I'm pretty certain if they added 5 billion dollars of yearly budget, they'd save a lot more than 5B in yearly road maintenance in the long run..

I hate airplanes and want to take the Amtrak from San Diego to Charleston SC. Im just not sure if it’s safe as a woman.

If passenger trains were better funded, would the extra funding result in a proportion increase in utilization or would it there be a insignificant increase in usage?

Japan proved the railroad is cheaper and less gas emissive but unfortunately, the powers that be want oil to rule United States transportation.

Boring video😢

WOW DEAN SEEMS SUPER HOT AND COOL

I took Amtrak for the first time recently. I went to the next city and I was 45 minutes late on a 45 minute ride. I was giddy as a schoolgirl the entire time. There is something about train travel that other modes just can't compete with. I honestly think it is the solution to save dying small towns. The trains station builds that small downtown area that the town is built around. I can't overstate how fondly I hold the view of giving train travel the face lift that it needs. Unfortunately it will almost exclusively be on the back of private development because we see how little those in charge care about providing services that people could benefit from.

I love road trips and have traveled tens of thousands of miles by car. I am on an Amtrak train right now and absolutely loving it. If you have the time and the ability, take the train. It’s relaxing and romantic.

If you're going to travel Amtrak for that distance, by all means get a roommette.

Freight has not always been the lifeblood of US railroads. They were not forced to offer passenger service, It was highly profitable for them to do so for more than a century.

it looks like so much fun to me

Also, I am really disappointed by the fact that the US railways haven't been electrified. Environment? Huh?

Did you miss the shower at the Chicago Union Station? If you did, here is how to get it: purchase either Business Class or Roomette because Sleeper is too expensive for having a shower. For Business Class, you get an access to Metropolitan Lounge in major Union Stations with shower accomodation. For Roomette, you have access to sink, toilet, and shower. For Sleeper, you have access to shower inside the train and inside the Union Station. How was the food, by the way?

I’m really appreciating nyc mta subway system and buses now

Bruh, you really hate life huh?

I recently went round trip from Florida to Denver... which meant I had to go from Florida to New York to Chicago to Denver (so three legs each way). I also thought I could handle coach but got suprised by the fact that the train was at capacity and therefore had to share my seat on almost every leg. Not horrible, I met some nice people but if you are traveling by yourself you can get way more comfortable when you have both seats to yourself and you're 4' 10"". LOL I would highly recommend anyone doing long distrance traveling get a roomette which is what I will certainly do if I take another long distrance train trip. My trip home was met with major delays and I actually missed both my connections which meant Amtrak had to put me up in a hotel for the night and rebook me for the next day for each missed connection. It was at the height of the heat wave and they were slowing down freight trains for safety (expanding tracks due to heat) and Amtrak passenger trains rent the rail rights from the freight companies so they are required (as you found out) to often wait for freight (plus they had to slow down as well). The Amtrak crews/staff couldn't have been nicer. You just have to know what you are in for if you want to travel by train. By the way... you went on a cross country trip and didn't realize there wouldn't be WIFI? Rookie move... just sayin'! I was prepared with movies and tv shows downloaded to my ipad but really spent most of time reading, listening to music, or (like you) enjoying the view out the window. Edited to add... I also shared free pizza (Amtrak ordered pizza for everyone at one of the stops due to the delays we had from Denver to Chicago) with an Amish family and a lovely gentleman from Moracco. Seemed slightly surreal at the time but it is one of my favorite memories of the trip.

Whistfully staring out a train window while listening to Phoebe Bridgers is a whole vibe, I agree.

I prefer to travel by train . Flying and driving are horrible.

I took Amtrak from Chicago to New Orleans and from Chicago to West Virginia. It was . . . interesting. Okay— it was awful. I was in steerage, so—no amenities like showers. Not that the trips were very long. They ran out of “food.” The toilets stank. We started referring to it as Damntrak. But you explain why it was so bad. This is a sad story.

I'm pretty sure the Belgian rail infrastructure manager get's more than one billion euro's every year and then another significant part of subisdies goes to the company that runs the passenger trains. So the amount of money the US gives to Amtrak is similar to what is spent in our tiny country :P Even considering our network is a lot more dense, that can hardly be right.

how much was the ticket

If there were more money and will you would have something like Chinas high speed network. While still patchy you can drive from Ürümqi to Harbin in about 44 hours.

He said nice things about Chicago. I like this video