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Well, it's the only national passenger railroad for one. Beyond that, billions of dollars in subsidies from the government.

In many ways, yes. You can take the train, but you'll probably have to book each section separately. Amtrak doesn't show fares across a range of dates on it's website as we've been lamenting as of late. Also, driving will probably be cheaper depending on how fuel efficient your vehicle is...

Groundwater sources get replenished from many different places. They're also harder to cut off entirely, unlike say the Colorado River.

Jim Mathews was talking about Freight Railroads, who have a clear motive to lie and have been proven doing so in a slew of operational contexts. They have actively lobbied against enforcement of the law regarding on-time performance. There's no proof that Amtrak has any clear motive other than...

Arizona is also not entirely dependent on the Colorado River for water *or* power, unlike Las Vegas. Their junior rights to the Colorado are primarily why they've been doing more to prepare than Las Vegas. Phoenix is 70/30 split between river and groundwater, whereas Las Vegas is 90/10 river...

I would. Phoenix is leading the nation in wastewater reclamation projects and making sure new development doesn't outstrip the water supply. As a state, Arizona is far more prepared for the looming water crisis and doing more to replace infrastructure to conserve water than any other state.

First: Specific decisions on consists is subject to all sorts of weird irrational decision-making. That being said, dying of COVID actually isn't terribly off-point. Once you mothball old transportation equipment, putting it back into service is difficult. They had a lot of problems with the...

The primary reason is pet allergies. There's no way they can clean allergens created by pets completely out of a sleeper car as part of the normal cleaning process. Generally, in the coaches, there's enough air circulation to effectively mitigate the allergens given normal cleaning procedures...

Dogs and cats up to 20 pounds (combined weight of pet and carrier) are welcome on trips up to seven hours on most routes Pets should remain entirely inside a closed carrier while in stations and onboard trains and must remain with you at all times; do not leave them alone. Onboard, place your...

The point of running the LD trains is not to make a profit and never has been. Amtrak was brought into existence by the US government to relieve railroads of their obligations to run these money-losing services. To say the LD trains should be profitable is kind of like saying the Interstate...

Can you provide an actual link to a document that provides actual numbers? I don't think you understand how money or profit works. How is Amtrak profitable when it sucks up billions of dollars from Congress, collects millions in fares, doesn't build new facilities and still loses money? Where...

That would work for a subsidized network where you link together the largest cities in the midwest. However, it would not be large enough for a Brightline or private plan to work because there's not enough demand for luxury travel in that corridor. People in Iowa are used to driving. The...

I just went through that section both ways and the mudslides along the steepest parts were amazingly intense. Portions of the I-70 trail are still flooded or washed out and it's amazing the amount of work they're doing to clear it all while trains are passing by. Yes, we made it through single...

YES ALL OF THIS. With the exception of a missed flight, I've never had to call and airline to deal with a ticketing issued. Everything I've needed to take care of (even on a train) has involved calling Amtrak.

Intercity rail conductors almost everywhere else in the world manage to deal with it. I'm just saying it's probably a non-starter with the Amtrak conductors we have now.

If we're talking about Amtrak: There was one time in the Automat Era of the Pere Marquette where the train had a hotbox condition and was stuck in a long and isolated stretch between Holland and St. Joseph for 3-4 hours. It was during the summer, the A/C wasn't working and the conductors went...

If you select "My Dates Are Flexible" on pretty much any airline, you'll get a view like this:

Conductors who like being able to rearrange passengers if they need to. The other thing is that seat reservations are dependent on standard equipment. Airlines generally know what they're going to fly but their computers also know how to reassign seats.

Can you cite at least one reputable outside analysis that backs this up? The only analyses people cite are articles that do a worse job of error-prone cherry-picking to suit their point than what's presented in Amtrak's "materially good enough" Audited Financial Statements. Just because Amtrak...

While I agree that Brightline exists because of billionare largess, it could not be replicated in Iowa for three reasons: 1) There's no way you can get ridership numbers like Brightline had in Iowa. In their peak months, Brightline carried the equivalent of Davenport, IA's population. 2)...