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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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!
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More accurately, if they're going to bother with reservations, they may as well book a flight (which is generally cheaper too)
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no I'm talking about people making trips before airplanes were invented (people riding overnight trains back then did NOT constitute the totality of people traveling!)
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This is probably why I was confused. Yep, RR pretty much has hated the commuter side of operations. Mucho cost/headache for little return and you have to deal with politicians more than normal.
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National politicians pale in comparison to local ones. Thank god we have the FRA to overrule some very dumb laws/edicts/posturing
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