Frustration about the lack of American passenger trains?

Question

I live in southern Indiana and would like to take a train to Indianapolis some days, but alas, there exsists no passenger train route (even though a freight route does exsist). Europe has a much more established train system that seems to allow anyone to get almost anywhere.
Is anyone else frustrated with the poor infrastructure of passenger train route in America? What can I, as a citizen, do about this?

Answer 1

A lot of it has to do with population density, more people = more potential riders. European countries all have their trains more subsidized by the gov't, the benefits are hard to measure in terms of profit and loss so we dont do it much here. Politicians would have to be convinced that the benefits to the country would be worth the expense. Personally I think it would be but our elected politicians never look beyond their term of office and better passenger service is a long term commitment.

Answer 2

The short answer is, indeed, write your local congressman/woman and let them know your feelings. What many people need to understand is that passenger rail service is almost never profitable and must be subsidized (so, for instance, having competition with Amtrak would do absolutely no good) but the benefits it provides far surpasses the fact that it is not profitable (i.e., great for the environment by reducing pollution; per fuel mile nothing is more efficient at moving people and goods than railroads). And this is essentially the problem, Uncle Sam has only shown mediocre interest in quality passenger rail service since Amtrak began in 1971, barely giving the carrier enough money annually to cover its expenses (for comparison, Amtrak receives almost nothing next to what is spent on highways and given to the airlines, annually).

And yes, while outside of the Northeast, Amtrak operates over the private freight carriers the problem with this is merely secondary to first receiving quality funding to improve services and adding trains to new markets (to be honest it would be best if Amtrak had its own long distance routes instead of depending on the private railroads, but that's merely a pipe dream). It's already a proven fact that folks will ride the trains, both long distance and local (including the local, state and city funded commuter railroads), as most are nearly always either full or sold out, so the demand is there if services are improved.

For an idea of what committed, quality, passenger rail service is all about, look at what the State of North Carolina has been doing. Aside from California (which also has a strong commitment to passenger rail), nearly all of the states, including Uncle Sam, need to take a look at North Carolina.

Answer 3

I am frustrated... but only about INTERSTATE and long distance train travel. As a teen, I travelled all over Europe, and as an adult I made use of Japan's fine trains

Emily is alittle "off" in suggesting that AMTRAK has a monopoly. Amtrak is a federally-funded project because commercial passenger rail had died by the 1970's, and the Feds stepped in with AMTRAK to keep at least a FEW of the trains running. Another system "CalTrain" in the San Francisco Area has never been able to turn a profit !!

As a citizen, write your Congressional representatives, both Federal and State. Find local groups interested in transit... see if that group could gain rights to the local rails.

Oh... and give up your CAR !!

Answer 4

Sorry to say you and the rest of us can't do much. It's a matter of economics.
Not enough people will be riding the train:
1: Because the ticket price will be higher than riding the bus/car.
2: The population density is not high enough to have a good passenger pool.

You have to realize that you are comparing apples to oranges.
The population density and cost of owning running a car is much greater in Germany/Europe.
Also, the geography is much different. Did you know that the distance from Moscow, Russia to Brussels, Belgium is the same as going from Philadelphia, PA to Denver, CO?

Answer 5

Write your congressman/woman and get your friends to do the same. A high speed passenger rail system would be wonderful for such an expansive country. Unfortunately, the freight rail system takes priority on all the rail lines in the country - and they move a lot slower!!

Answer 6

Agree but it is very expensive to run a railroad.
Real expensive.
Go to the state of NJ web page and check the passenger defecit for commuter rail, vs the price paid by the customer.

Answer 7

You should have lived in the 1800's. Trains were everywhere all the time. Now with all the roads and cars no one rides them except in the northeast. Maybe if you lack transportation check Greyhound or a bus company that would do the trick.

Answer 8

I completely agree!! The problem as I see it is that Amtrak has created a nice little monopoly for itself and has made it completely impossible for the industry to develop based on the usual market principles of supply and demand. In response to that situation a thriving passenger bus system developed. And I'm sure we can all agree that buses suck. As for what we can do about it? I'm not an urban planner, just another irate citizen. But if you start a revolution, count me in.

Answer 9

Believe me,if there were a demand,there'd be 10 trains a day in each direction.
But since the demand is next to none,there is no service at all.
There is nothing you can do

Answer 10

Passenger service, both commute and interstate travel, is a reality that lies just around the corner, as soon as OJ finds the 'real' killer..................