So there is demand for passenger service in the US, but as always we are hurt by our historic under investment in rail. I look forward to seeing the super liner replacements when they are announced.
This is interesting. I last rode the Southwest Chief in 2018, last minute, no problem. It was empty, ish, until somewhere in Missouri. A lot of commuters in Illinois. I had an empty seat next to me until about that time. I guess it is different now. I got on in Albuquerque.
One of the biggest issues is that freight trains break the law by not yielding to passenger trains. The problem is the Department of Transportation can’t enforce the law only the Department of Justice.
I looked into going from FL to NY but no one could tell me what percent of the time trains were on time or how late they usually were when I called Amtrak. I have used it years ago between central and south Florida.
We need to look at Amtrak as a service to provide citizens access to places across the country rather than a business.