I took Amtrak between Seattle and Vancouver recently. Great trip, stellar views, and overall just a super easy way to cross the border. No crazy invasive checks or waiting in lines, it was just like getting off a plane, but in the middle of downtown.

great, now all we need is more fucking trains

the money is always going to get in the way. its just not profitable.. because thats the end-all be-all of the untie states. profits above anything else whatsoever.

I’d have a train except Scott walker gave our train we already paid for away for free, because trains are a liberal plot to make America weak and communist!

I always feel like instead of interviewing the CEOs of stories of interest, they should instead interview the people involved in the story.

The CEO is just saying "people want to take the train". Oh, really? That's what you think, guy who stands to profit if people take the train?

Instead, interview the passengers. THEY can tell you why they actually took the train. And no one passenger has the full story. So you need to interview hundreds of passengers, and probably get repeating redundant answers. THAT'S when you know you've got to the heart of the matter through good old fashioned investigative reporting.

Ah, but who am I kidding? Real journalism is dead. They'll just interview the CEO, and make it a fluff piece.

Earlier today I wondered if Twit.tv was still in operation. It's a podcast network about technology. I would watch back in 2005. I remember they built a dedicated streaming studio in 2010. Then in 2012 or so, I stopped watching after a controversial series of decisions. Today I googled to see if they still existed. Turns out back in July they closed their studio, and are now streaming remote via zoom. The CEO tried putting a positive spin on it in a letter that began "Beginning July q6th, we're excited to begin a new chapter in remote streaming!". This is what the CEO wrote.

So I'm SURE even if Amtrak business were down instead of up, he'd try to frame it as some kind of noble act of pollution saving, or some corporate speak to say they're consolidating their trips to serve more people (despite serving far less). The CEO is NOT the person to interview in these stories.

I took a train trip from Raleigh to DC earlier this year. It worked okay, but had big delays in both directions, and the seats were only a little bit bigger than economy flight seats, not super comfortable for 6'2" me. The Wifi was also out for most of the trip and that route takes you through a whole lot of cellular dead zones. Still hard to argue with a $105 round trip ticket though.

My understanding of the scheduling issues is that freight rail companies break regulation by overloading their trains and jumping the line over passenger rail.. Amtrak has been lobbying for the government to enforce existing laws to prevent it. I doubt that the incoming administration will do much to alleviate those pains though.

Ha, literally saw this while waiting for my Amtrak.

For medium-short trips, beats air travel hands down, cheaper, loads of space, reliable and limited security theater.

Took a high speed between Philadelphia and Newark, NJ. Got a deal for less than $30. It was a great ride at 120mph. Wish we had more of that.

The article doesn’t specify as to why, and I’m curious.

An absurd amount of New Yorkers, myself included, moved out of the city in the last four years. As a result, Metro North has seen a substantial increase in traffic in and out of the city.

Did this happen in other cities too, or is the increase in Amtrak traffic more organic?

I live in a town with a kickass bus service and extensive pedestrian infrastructure so my car's in a storage lot until the next time I need to go somewhere that far out of the way.

Pretty cool. My local stop in Columbus WI got upgraded with an ADA platform recently. It has the original 100 year old structure, maintained but never expanded/improved (until now)

Going on vacation soon, gonna take a train 😎