Freight rail in the USA is provided by four major private companies and dozens of smaller ones, all operationally profitable (afaik) tho some beg the state for help upgrading their infrastructure. Amtrak typically operates at the discretion of freight railways. https://twitter.com/BitingGadfly/status/964279164449755137 …
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"American Railroads as Investments" (1893) is relentlessly positive but full of tells, and also lays bare the core issue: freight was more profitable with less effort
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The best passenger rail in that era was to be found on interurbans and streetcars rather than on major intercity railways (except where they provided commuter services--and even then...)
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Yeah, peak is really in the streamliner era, where you have Chessie vs the PRR to see who has the Best, smoothest, air conditioned sleepers with Pullman service
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...which is great for overnight trips, but most travel is over shorter distances--and most people trying to get somewhere would rather pay as little as they can and not bother with reservations
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The sort of travel which US railways excelled at providing was that which *most mimicked freight,* ie long distances and low frequencies, with the impetus on travelers to reserve trips in advance rather than on the railway to provide many trips on spec and expect ppl to show up
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This is exactly the sort of mentality that must be avoided for passenger rail to work in USA today, which is why--while I would be happy to see private passenger rail--I absolutely do not want the class ones to operate it!
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One of the crucial parts of breaking up and privatizing Japan National Railways was the divorce of freight operations from passenger, systemwide--even tho they still shared infrastructure and ROW. Different mentalities, do not mix!
End of conversation
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