Greentext

Yeah, I'd much rather take a train than plane. However, where I live, I seriously need my car and I enjoy the freedom of driving. I am not in a huge city with rush hour traffic though.

That doesn't even take into account that a lot of rails in the US are owned by Canadian companies.

Even in the EU there are still some difficulties. Like Finland and Estonia are on broad gauge not standard gauge. So their network isn’t connected to the rest of the EU. Spain and French haven’t connected their high speed rail network because of some dispute. So you have to get off at the border take a slow train across the border than walk to another platform to get on the other train.

Also rules says the crew needs to speak the local language of the country the train drives trough and traffic rules vary by country so if the driver doesn’t speak the language or doesn’t know the rules they need to change drivers when a train crosses a border which adds more delays.

Problem is also that there are still many rail networks in Europe that are privately owned.

In Europe when you book ahead of time and are not too specific about the dates you can fly much cheaper. If I want to go from Amsterdam to Barcelona I can get a much much cheaper flight. Why would I go for the option that is slower and more expensive?

I wish trains where cheaper I'd take them more often.

I once heard someone make the argument flying is cheaper because a plane can fly from one airport to almost any other airport. So when you own a plane you can use it in a much more flexible way. A train can only go over a fixed track, yes you can use switches etc. But when you build an airport basically any plane can go there immediately. For trains it doesn't work like that. Make matters even worse in Europe usually train operators are national and most trains don't cross borders beyond a few stations.

Oh, that is definitely true in the U.S.

Also, I've found that rail travel is inconvenient in the U.S. I can't confirm, but it seems like the Amtrak only comes through my (Midwest) area once a week, on Wednesdays or something like that. So, if I plan a trip, I need to plan around.

Midwest to the East Coast is so much cheaper and faster by air. I want to travel by rail - and you'd think it should be cheaper - but it's totally not.

Part of it, I believe, is that Amtrak leases the usage of the rail lines from the shipping companies, so it must adhere to their schedules of shipping freight. The USA spends so much on upgrading its highway system; if they used a fraction of that money towards rail travel we would be set. But certain companies keep lobbying Congress to keep us locked in a model where we are totally reliant on cars and gasoline.

Can't do public infrastructure, unless it's roads.

I've read articles in the past about high speed trains and/or just new train lines in general would get held up by little towns who didn't want to lose the commuter traffic since it was the only thing keeping them afloat. There are too many towns that exist literally just to serve motorists and now nobody wants to get rid of them.

ah, the free market

Something like 30% of the US lives in the strip between Washington DC and Boston. It's absolutely achievable for the richest country on Earth to provide high speed rail in that section.

As someone from Russia, we have even larger territory, and going by rail is almost twice as cheap as by plane.

High speed rail from Saint Petersburg to Moscow will cost you ~$45, going by plane will set you back ~$75 on the cheapest flight with hand luggage only. Considering the time losses associated with airports, you'll be at your destination almost as fast for way cheaper, so this option is widely preferred.

Same story with long distance trips - I plan on going for a 1000km trip in July, and train ticket costed me the same $45, while cheapest plane tickets go around $100. It's also a night train with beds and all, so I have one night accommodation for free while on my way. Depart - have a nice sleep - be on your destination in the morning and have a full day to yourself, fully rested.

If you're feeling adventurous, you can go all the way from Moscow to Vladivostok by single train for $250. This will take almost a week, but it will get you around half the planet for that money.

Yeah no country has ever built a high speed passenger rail network interconnecting cities spread throughout an area comparable to the usa. And it's absurd to think that it could be done in under 20 years and receive massive popular support and have universally recognised benefits. Guys the cost is too high for the biggest economy on earth and the distance is so far that they could never build a railway across it especially not more than 100 years ago.

(Well to be fair the Chinese did also build the railways across the US so maybe they do have something America doesn't)

soften nimby hearts

They can soften the nimbys' hearts, but ill take them cooked to charcoal if that's what it takes.

Is there any parody porn about [a thing]?

Yes. The answer is always yes.

TSA exists, therefore...