I just want to mention, when I went to Philadelphia last weekend I took the train. Just over an hour. It took me from one city center to the other.
Yup: train or bus, up and down the East Coast, DC to Boston and everywhere in between is the closest we have to European transportation.
Later today my wife is boarding an Amtrak train from Los Angeles to D.C. because she doesnât like to fly. Itâs going to be really brutal. She wonât get there until Thursday afternoon and wasnât able to get a sleeper âroometteâ so sheâs going to spend 3 nights in a regular seat, each direction. Most of the trip will not include WiFi, and meals are also not included. And the roundtrip fare will cost 6X as much as a round trip airplane ticket. If she had been able to get a roomette it would have cost 16X as much.
So yeah, the cross-country rail travel in the U.S. is certainly not up to European standards. Or any other countryâs standards, probably. I just looked up the Trans-Siberian-Railway and you can travel further than that with a first-class sleeper berth for a fraction of that price.
Edit to add:
I just read that back in 1887 there was an express train that could go from New York to San Francisco in 83 hours. Thatâs barely any longer than the cross-country rail trip that my wife is about to take 138 years later.
We value freight over people; people cost money, whereas freight makes money. Yay, capitalism.
Iâm glad to hear it.
They should hire me to do this.
Key Officials
Sean Duffy
U.S. Secretary of Transportation
Office of the Administrator
Chris Rocheleau (Acting)
Administrator
Liam McKenna (Acting)
Deputy Administrator
Peter Hearding (Acting)
Chief of Staff
Lines of Business
Franklin J. McIntosh (Acting)
Chief Operating Officer
Air Traffic Organization
All white guys. I accept check or direct deposit.
