“Until the Highways and Airlines subsidies are made more clear to the taxpayer, Rail will always look more expensive.” — Exactly.

I heard some horror stories from people (even family members) who love trains but had insane delays riding Amtrak in the SE and CA. When I rode it from NC to DC and later from Seattle to Portland, I had quite a nice time. Clean, TONS of space, comfy, and on time. So,… on the one hand, haven’t had those bad experiences, but on the other, have heard of them. (And it certainly isn’t the same as France, the NL, or Germany’s HSR. :D) — beats the heck out of the Polish rail lines, though! (unfort.)

I know, riding HSR in Europe, it’s absurd to read some of the comments against it coming from Americans (which i am, of course).

the benefits are insane.

I’ll take HSR over flying and driving any day. No showing up two hours early to some airport way out of town and going through the security crap. The warning here is to get to the train two minutes before it is scheduled to depart.

Lots of room to stretch out. Smooth ride, no turbulence. No seat belts/tray tables up/seats in upright position while we bounce down the runway. No waiting to take off.

You can move around when you want. You can look out the windows and see interesting stuff.

For moderate length trips HSR has to be faster than flying. Remember to add in all the extra time it takes to get into the air and from plane back to town.

And it’s electric.

Also there is some big improvement coming in Chigago- at interlocks, and such- to speed basic train track changes/transfer. That area was a real bottleneck, holding up trains of all speeds.

Until the Highways and Airlines subsidies are made more clear to the taxpayer, Rail will always look more expensive.

Sadly, I do have to say, as someone who has given up on Amtrak except for the Northeast Regionals and Acela, (which is pretty pricey) On the long haul routes Amtrak has done a pretty poor job of customer service and reliability, and basic fleet cleanliness and maintenance.