It used to, was hard to compete with heavily subsidized road and air networks. Once the lines lost the mail contracts, there really was no revenue and since this was all pre-Staggers act, they were losing money on freight as well.
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Replying to @PWilliamKitty @BitingGadfly
Not really...even when they had a captive market, us railways were generally hostile to passenger needs. Absolutely no surprise that people turned to cars asap
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Replying to @380kmh @PWilliamKitty
I'm not arguing this since I don't know, but what would be good reading on the subject/a summary of what this entailed? Movies and books and such from the pre-war era don't seem to cast US rail as particularly bad.
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Replying to @BitingGadfly @380kmh
I will have to search for some of those. For the 70s-90s, “The Men who loved trains” is my goto
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Replying to @PWilliamKitty @BitingGadfly
some passages in Mees's "Transport For Suburbia" cover the problem, but the best evidence is in numerous 19th century books with titles like "The Railroad Problem"
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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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Replying to @380kmh @BitingGadfly
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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Replying to @PWilliamKitty @BitingGadfly
...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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Replying to @380kmh @PWilliamKitty
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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Replying to @380kmh @BitingGadfly
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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