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So by that logic, Congress (via federal subsidies) pays for the travel on most LD lines. How much is debatable depending on the accounting, but they're clearly the single biggest and most important customer. There's a reason that the Auto Train was mostly untouched as a product during COVID and...

Are they each total ridership numbers, or is one counting every passenger between city pairs ignoring any intermediate stops.

I'm not sure the conductors have ever had to ration seating on the TE, whereas it's standard procedure now on the CZ. With a limited number of SSLs, they'll have to be pulled off a route every now and then. There's some routes that can do without them better than others.

Does the Venture platform have dining and sleeper cars? I'd honestly rather see Siemens build new cars for the Western trains. But that not withstanding, is there something bad about the Viewliner IIs for the entire LD network, platforms not being an issue? Costs of interoperability and...

The Superliners are going to have to be replaced sometime in the next decade. They just finished a run of Viewliner IIs whereas nobody could get past the crash test phase of a bi-level car. Why do you think another run of Viewliners is so unlikely?

You're most welcome. Outside of Los Angeles/Las Vegas (i.e. Brightline West), I'm not sure there really is a good city pair for a Brightline that has a relatively clear ROW. Even Texas Central is being held up by one rancher who refused to allow survey crews onto his land. Given that we can't...

This sort of begs the question for other reasons: Would you rather see Viewliner IIs as the standard throughout the country or Siemens Mobility trains?

Was it a pleasant experience you'd like to see replicated throughout the LD network? Should that be the standard for new service? Granted, the Siemens Venture just has a lower staircase in their vestibule...

A new tunnel underneath the Hudson absolutely needs to be built. However, accommodating the Superliners is probably the last reason for such a tunnel.

Given that the next generation of Superliners officially got cancelled, the only thing preventing the use of Viewliner IIs are the lower platforms in the places the Superliners roam.

What's the longest roadtrip you've taken with your children? How did they handle it? How do they do without internet access?

Let's never forget that Amtrak's primary customer on the LD trains is congress. Amtrak has exceptional individuals working for it, but as an organization, the LD passengers are treated somewhere between an inconvenience and and an afterthought.

Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity (or apathy) The core problem with the LD trains is lack of investment. The cars are dated. The operating procedures are archaic. They do keep people employed in maintenance--but there's really very little even an...

Which is easy for an organization that hasn't built a single mile of track. Also nonsense. Computers can coordinate all of those things and they do in China, Japan and Europe. The core issues preventing safe operation are the equipment, reaction times for the trains/crews, lack of automated...

I don't think the lack of progress in HSR has much to do with left or right leaning governments. Texas Central and Brightline Florida are taking advantage of the same mix of conditions in their respective service areas: 1) Dense population centers that are just far away enough to be considered...

They're leasing the parts to Victorville from CalTrans at a bargain $850k/year. How Brightline plans to get to Los Angeles proper is still far from decided, but will probably involve tying into California HSR.

No. The plan talks extensively about freight railroads giving passenger rail priority, along with giving the STB new and faster authority to compel priority and improve OTP.

They're primarily using existing rights of way owned by the Florida East Coast Railway. They successfully got local municipalities to cover just under $1m in grade crossing improvements. Absent an existing and cooperative underutilized ROW, the Brightline plan isn't viable.

Not as of right now, and it's unlikely it will happen prior to your trip. There is the cafe car as normal.

No, I doubt community seating will return anytime soon if at all. Each party is at their own table. However, every table is occupied whereas they used to keep every other table empty. You also have the option to dine in your room.