Why Trains Suck in America
Why Trains Suck in America on HackerTube: recommended by 6 Hacker News commenters across 6 separate months, 2017–2022.
Wendover Productions explains why US passenger rail lags behind other countries. It covers freight companies owning most of the track, geography and population density, and the economics of competing with flying.
What HN commenters said
8 Hacker News comments link this video. Each one links back to its thread.
Manuel_DJul 2022Recommends
Trains in the US are widely prevalent! It's just that they're used for freight rather than passenger travel. The main driver behind this is the population density of the USA, cities are spaced too far apart to make passenger travel by train viable. Not coincidentally, the only area that does have significant passenger rail networks, the DC - Boston corridor, has population density similar to Western Europe. An interesting video on this topic: ▶ this video
in “How far can you go by train in 5h?” · View on HN
SahAssarAug 2020Recommends
I might be wrong but this seems like a very US-centric idea. For most of the developed world trains fill this need very well, while the US has had problems with their rail network for reasons partially based on geography, partially based on population density, and partially based on their own fault. I think this explains it pretty well: ▶ this video The solution is not aircraft, the solution is more and better trains. Or perhaps autonomous buses/trucks depending on how far out you look.
in “Ask HN: What non-obvious tech/market may take off in the next few years?” · View on HN
NoNameHaveIMar 2019Recommends
This is worth your 8 minutes of time. ▶ this video I love trains, but the economics of rail travel in the USA can't be overcome. Until robot trains.
in “There is no reason to cross the U.S. by train, but I did it anyway” · View on HN
trimboApr 2018Recommends
Wendover Productions has a good video that explains this and many other reasons why trains suck in the US ▶ this video Spoiler: freight companies own most of the track
in “Want airline food? Take Amtrak” · View on HN
sunirJul 2017Recommends
They have trains but all track is owned by freight train providers. Here's a good overview why. ▶ this video
in “What it’s like to ship yourself overnight on Cabin’s sleep pod bus” · View on HN
teejApr 2017Recommends
High speed passenger rail doesn't work in the US because freight is prioritized over moving people. That's the short version at least. I found this video to be a pretty good walkthrough - ▶ this video
in “Leaked email from United Airlines CEO blames passenger for violent removal” · View on HN
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brownindianMar 2019Cites it
Wendover did a video on this a couple years ago. Basically saying why trains suck in America. And the reason is the same: freight gets priority because Amtrak does not own the track, freight companies do. ▶ this video
in “There is no reason to cross the U.S. by train, but I did it anyway” · View on HN
djsumdogMay 2018Cites it
> This alone tells me you've never lived in a rural area in the US or relied on Amtrak. ad hominem You know absolutely nothing about me. I have lived in rural areas. I've never relied on Amtrak, but I've used it quite a bit. Most of what I was saying comes from facts out of people like Wenover Productions: ▶ this video This video doesn't go into the rural -> plane connection; can't find that one at the moment. But he has another video on it. But yes, people do use Amtrak for connecting to major airports from rural areas. > I'm sure it does. Now shift your gaze westwards, to North Dakota, Wyoming, eastern Montana .... I was not addressing any of those areas. At all. You built some argument I wasn't making. I never said trains would be good for those regions. I think if we did build good rails, those areas would get some service eventually. Australia has a similar situation (a region I have lived in btw). They only over 30M ~ 40M people. I have taken trains intercity and they are very touristy and not meant for general transport. But each capital city: Adelaide, Perth, Melbourne, Sydney ... they have train systems that would make any US capital be ashamed of itself. The only capitals without any rail are Hobart, ACT and Darwin. Australia has the infrastructure to accommodate high-speed intercity if they ever got around to implementing it. The United States does not and it has a much higher population density and much larger cities. American cities, CITIES (which I've been saying a l
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