Five Things To Understand About Amtrak 

2021 marks *50 years* since Amtrak has been established back in May 1, 1971. Oh, How the times have changed

Amtrak was perfect for college students. Especially during breaks, I remember the Amtrak being full of students traveling between home and school, and this was only a couple years ago. There absolutely is a sweet spot between distance and time that Amtrak meets, I hope it's here to stay. Excited for the Victorville to LV route!

Took a round trip from Newark NJ to Charlotte NC in an Amtrak roomette (small private room) last February. Had my laptop and my Switch, and the trip took about 12 hours each way. Door closed and locked with little privacy curtains for all the windows, i was in my own little world the whole time and totally isolated at the height of the pandemic. Absolutely destroyed the experience of commercial flight, no contest... and I look to go by train whenever I travel now! Edit: didn't even mention the fact that the seats converted to beds and you also have a toilet and sink IN YOUR ROOM!

Just got hired as a conductor for Amtrak. Was previously with CSX. I’m excited for the transition into passenger service.

Ive never been on an Amtrak train, but I got weirdly emotional watching this.

Sad to see that they won’t be running into Tampa Union Station with brightline, that station has been in operation since 1911 and has always been apart of the city. When they stop running trains into Tampa Union I could guess it’d become a museum, but it’ll never be the same. Atleast I’ve had the pleasure of taking a few trains in and out of Tampa Union and visiting during several events, good memories I won’t forget.

Thank you for this well rounded account. A growth in positive attitudes towards train travel will go a long way to improving our rail service . In the past when I wanted to travel by train ; the trains were sold out for months or they called at the local station at the most inconvenient hours.

Te return of sleeper trains is a big thing. With the internet, travel times don't matter as much as most people can do their work on the move with a laptop, so therefore having sleeper trains where the person gets a little cabin to themselves is a great idea. Even the Shinkansen in Japan has sleeper trains now. I personally am looking forward to sleeper trains from Europe coming back into the UK, especially if they go up to Edinburgh, I live near the East Coast Mainline so it's not far for me to go to my local station on the line and catch a train. If they end up running something like a "Edinburgh to Milan" or "Edinburgh to Stockholm" sleeper train then I'll definitely book myself on it and go explore Europe via train.

AMTRAK does a good job of short line routes especially in California. I live in Stockton, CA and have taken the San Joaquin Line from my town to Oakland and to Los Angeles via the Bakersfield bus connection. On top of that the Capitol Corridor and Pacific Surfliner routes are well managed with a good number of the trains on time.

50 years ago today, Amtrak was created. Happy birthday!

Happy 50th Anniversary, Amtrak!!!!

I'd much rather travel by train, than by car. Far more relaxing than speeding along a highway.

Learned some new stuff I didn’t know about Amtrak

I live near Jeffersonville, and I’m looking forward to Amtrak returning service to arrive.

Happy (early) 50th Birthday Amtrak! Great video as always, love learning about some of the backstories and reasons behind how and why Amtrak became, well, Amtrak!

during the pandemic, the airlines were bailed out with 64$ billion in a combination of grants and loans (the latter which only require 30% repayment) Amtrak only received 2.7$ billion the final (1.7$ billion coming in 2021). Back in 2009 there was a project for an upgraded line between Chicago and Milwaukee using Talgo equipment (built in Milwaukee), that would run at a maximum speed of 125 MPH and averaging around 85 - 90 MPH when adjusting for stops enroute. The average speed for the Empire Builder (the only train currently serving that route) is about 47 - 48 mph, taking just over 9 hours between the two end points. The new line would have cut that time in nearly half. The entire line could be operating today had it not been for the shortsighted former governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin (though which most of the line passed) who in early 2011 cancelled the first leg of the line from the Wisconsin Illinois line through Milwaukee to the capitol of Madison (another city which lost rail service after Amtrak was formed). The service was to have started with two trains daily each way daily in addition to the Empire Builder as well as current Hiawatha service between Milwaukee and Chicago HSR makes good sense is corridors of up to 450 miles between major city pairs as this is seen as the best potential market for sustainable passenger volume. There is a new plan in the works out in the Pacific Northwest for a true HSR that would serve Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver BC. with running time between Portland and Seattle of around an hour. This would be very competitive with if not quicker than air travel between the two cities particularly given the fact that it would be city centre to city centre and not have to deal with the drive to/from the airport, security lines, taxiing holding for takeoff, and weather delays (fog is an issue at SeaTac as it is near wetlands). I watched one video of a flight that departed Chicago O'Hare where just taxiing (after pushback from the gate) took 21 minutes (about the "in air" flight time to Milwaukee). These are points that opponents of HSR don't take into account when touting that air travel is "better".

Great video and I wholeheartedly great there is something about a train that's magic

I like the rail system here in northern VA, and it's nice to be able to get down to Florida without too much hassle

I'm a train and I approve this video!!

I'm in the UK have rode around the US for 6 weeks ny-ny in a ford van and also taken the AMTRAK from NY - LA and I do still prefer the train and am mostly still impressed you have a nationalised rail company.

I've ridden several trains in my life time, including a Amtrack one, and I gotta say.....I wouldn't change it for the world.

Happy 50th Anniversary Of Amtrak!

Fun fact: the Amtrak engine in the photo is the same one I saw an hour ago with 145. What a coincidence!

When a high-speed line can be established between key points. So travel can be faster than driving and cheaper than flying.

I did a few long distance trips on Amtrak trains back in the 90s. The seats were big and comfortable and the dinning car had great food. I recommended the experience to so many people. Though I still struggle to understand why it took so long to repair the track damage done by Hurricane Katrina along the Gulf Coast and why the Amtrak service between New Orleans and Orlando still has not been reinstated.

even though I have not been on a Amtrak train since 1997, I still feel emotional watching this.

Amtrak almost had the Sunset Limited come back to Florida. I remember I watched the inaugural train go by with two heritage units and phase 3 superliners. Then CSX decided to sell the Tallahassee Subdivision to a shortline and the deal was over just as it started.

I love how your map of Amtrack's network includes Harrisburg as a major hub. Because its absolutely true.

Happy 50th Birthday Amtrak keep up the good work.

Excellent explanation! Hope the big trains come back!

Excellent and informative. Well done!

We need to emphasize rail travel in America more.

I recently took the NER NY to PHL and I am now a fan!!

I took a trip on a Amtrak train once and honestly it was really nice

I’ve always had a theory that Amtrak would start with diesel and end with steam. Kind of funny!

Looooove your video, Happy 50 Amtrak & many more to come. 😊👍👍🚅

Coming from Germany, I enjoyed the California Zephyr in 2019 so much that I booked a round trip with Amtrak; four weeks in February 2023: New York, New Haven, Boston, Chicago, Washington, Philadelphia, New York. So relaxed travel and so much to see along the route. But there was a problem with a blocked route from Chicago to Washington, and the other route is only served three times a week! So I had to go one day earlier which was not really a problem but it gives an interesting spot on the rail travel in the US. Here in Germany the major routes are served every hour so if you miss a train, no big deal, there will be another one soon. On that trip I was at the station an hour before take-off because it would be a real problem to miss the train.

"They aren't the greatest heroes... but they're the only ones we've got!"

18:25 - Where did Kaliningrad go? And why is Liechtenstein so big? Other than that, you continue to impress with your high-quality railway history videos. Even if I thought I knew all there was to know about something, I always seem to finish the video having learned something new. Well done!

Great video as always! If I can leave a suggestion for a future one, maybe talk about the SPSF ("Shouldn't Paint So Fast") merger that never happened?

What I don’t understand is why Amtrak needs to be profitable. Amtrak was created so companies could offload their unprofitable routes, as well as keeping that vital infrastructure. If Amtrak removes long distance routes there is no reason for it to exist and the NEC should be sold off to private companies, removing the need for any kind of government affiliation.

Very cool video. It definitely makes sense as to grow rail lines in those too long too drive, too short to drive areas such as Chicago and Mattoon

Extremely well put!!

Enjoyed this informative video, let's hope passenger rail in North America can continue I'ts upward progress

Here in Ohio, rail travel is not a serious consideration. The last payout to improve rail service was turned down by our governor and went to California. Since our roads are not overcrowded compared to other states, Ohio residents have little reason to consider alternative transportation. Having used Amtrak in the form of the AutoTrain, one year the rails were nice and smooth. Since the rails used are used primarily used by freight trains, the next year the rails were like riding on speed bumps. The trips served me no useful function other than my love of riding on a train. Passenger travel is very expensive and service is no where near what it used to be. However, east and west coast states seem to make a go of it. To make it cheaper for us railfans, they might consider tacking passenger cars on a freight train, remembering you have to go where the freight goes. Not only would you see some areas not normally accessable to passenger trains, but you might get stuck in a freight yard too.

just recently made a trip from philadelphia to Jacksonville. I Enjoyed it so much that I want to do a caliphornia Zephyr trip in october

Very good! Excellent in fact! About time there was a good honest story of this subject, that even Public TV avoids. ( They get Alfred Sloan grants the GM guy and Koch brothers, need I say more?)

Very nice presentation! I was at the Ashland, KY depot on 4/30/1971 (my birthday!) to see the last C&O "George Washington" depart for D.C., we are so fortunate to have the Cardinal! We really need a daily Cardinal with 2 sleepers, and full diner for all passengers! *Cheers!*

This is an excellent presentation! Thank you.

Awesome video! Amtrak is our preferred mode of long distance travel but you have to not be in a hurry to get to where you're going.

Thank you for the presentation. Valuable!

Running a risk here, but if I'm not mistaken there are only 5 MAJOR rail lines in the U.S. BNSF, Union Pacific, CSX, Norfolk Southern and KCS. CN, the old IC, (Canadian) and CP (Canadian) are both vying for KCS. That will leave only 4. They have a ton of leverage when it comes to giving up trackage rights for passenger service. Riding a train can be fun, but if a passenger has a limited amount of time, he or she isn't going to want to give up that time in transit. If it's the journey rather than the destination, then riding a train makes sense.

To be fair, there is a city of Louisville that pronounces its name LOU-iss -vill, but it is located in Colorado (Ca-luh-RAH-do). The city where the Kentucky Derby is run is pronounced LOO-a-vul.

15:47 There's Victorville to Las Vegas again. Good luck.

The “Night Owl” has recently been restored but I don’t think it’s called that.

Like - Well told • Cheers from the Detroit & Mackinac Railway 🚂

Muy buen video, una historia muy bien narrada, gracias .

We rode the Amtrak version of the "City of New Orleans" from New Orleans to Memphis, and then Memphis to Houston in 2005. It was slower than flying, but we had a lot more fun. I never rode another train again.

During Shoreline freight service in the 60s this curve was a great place to check your train for sticking brakes or hot boxes.

I have started using AMTRAK for all of my travel due to the train is more comfortable and I do not feel like a sardine in a tin can like I do when I used to fly. I have found that all of the car attendants are very accommodating and helpful when passengers require assistance. Although I wish there was more of a choice as far as dining as when you take the train the menus are usually repeated, causing less choices and forcing repeating selections when traveling.

It still blew me away that Roanoke, VA one of the biggest railroad cities hadn’t had passenger rail since the 70’s either. I moved there for a few in 2007 and was surprised we had to drive an hour to Lynchburg just to grab the Amtrak until a decade later. 🤣

4:49 California, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and North Carolina New York MTA: am I a joke to?

I didn't really understand what we didn't have until visiting Europe. I remembered stories from my parents about taking passenger trains from my home town of Bangor, Maine. But that was in the 50s. Now there's finally a push to bring it back. I'd love to see it, as at least when traveling domestically, it's the way I'd prefer to go. Sadly, as it stands, I only take Amtrak on the occasion I visit NYC from Washington DC. I'd love to go elsewhere, like Chicago or New Orleans, but that's not really a realistic option.

Excellent appraisal. Good informative low-down objectively delivered. Faith in railtravel must not be lost not every car owner sees pleasure in driving more than 150 miles in one go or look forward to making the return journey without seeing other people except in other cars and often getting in each other’s way and what air passenger looks forward to paying a taxi to the town centre or looking dismally out of a bus window to view a road jam-packed with other vehicles? A big advantage of rail over airlines and road traffic is its facility to get passengers right into city centres and that advantage should be maintained, developed and exploited! Keep the faith! Good luck!

18:00 HA! Flight Shaming, that's good. That is the kind of advertising Amtrak should be doing, just go all out and call out the roads and airlines for their BS. Though a little fact-checking here, the Southern would have been more than happy to keep the Crescent, they were still making a profit on it. Unfortunately, that profitability took a hit when one of those trains got involved in an accident and reluctantly the Southern sold the Crescent to Amtrak as a result.

The president of the NYC RR made a video in 1960 informing the public that the government was backing the airlines by building airports with taxpayer money, but the railroads for over 100 years had to buy land for their tracks and build their own stations. Now I know many will say that is not true because Pres. Lincoln signed the National railroad act, but that was only for the Union Pacific and Central Pacific RRs. Other RRs signed on, but most went bankrupt or were bought out. The point is the US Govt. was not willing to pass a bill for US RRs, but they established the FAA with far more taxpayer money than the RRs even figuring in 100 years of inflation.

Good, informative, well done.

Very informative video

Here in Orlando, many companies including the theme parks are worried about track placement for Brightrail interrupting other infrastructure but still want it in some form.

I only ever rode Amtrak once, from Anaheim to San Diego just after a trip to Disneyland

I'm all for rail travel, but what happens once you get to your destination? Cities aren't small enough any more to just walk where you want to go. I would personally rather just drive my car than ride a train and then have to rent one. Now, if I could take my car with me, say in a car hauler, that would be a different matter...

Great video!

Definitely going in my favorites playlist👏👏👏👏👏👌 Mwah!

This video is a perfect representation of why railroads need to be nationalized

The funny part - the Acela Express trains - the power unit is built by Alstom, same company that built the TGV in France. The other funny, even the MBCR in Bostn uses Alstom to maintain its cars.

Pretty well done production! Why doesn't public TV carry programs like this?

Took the Amtrak once about a decade or so ago from Boston to Washington DC. It was definitely an experience but to be honest, it was the same time of travel as driving (roughly 7-8 hours). The reason is actually the entire state of Connecticut where travel speed is about 30mph or so (not entirely sure). If Amtrak can make that section go faster, I am sure it will reduce the travel time by a few hours.

I rode on Amtrak from Charlottesville to Chicago about 3 years ago. It was just about the only time I have _ever_ seen train tickets go for cheaper than airline tickets (and I did fly from Chicago to Denver for that exact reason). I was very lucky, because I had planned to meet up with a friend and spend the day in Chicago, however the train wound up running _8 hours_ late because we wound up sitting on the tracks waiting for some freight trains to do some switching. So, yeah, the freight railroad companies don't give half a shit about whether or not passenger trains are remotely on schedule. If I hadn't have planned to stay in Chicago, I probably would've wound up missing my flight. That probably would have left me stranded there, seeing as how I was absolutely broke at that time, and I doubt the airlines would comp me a ticket because the train was late.

With upgraded trackage and timetable protection, Talgo tilt trains could relieve some of the political hooraw around the cost of true high speed rail. I enjoy Amtrak and understand why I've sometimes spent the whole night on a siding in zero degree weather (I'm looking at you, freight lines), but I'd be even happier doing 120 miles an hour. Walker understood this, which is no doubt why he dismantled the licensed USA factory.

I saw my local station at timestamp 12:03 Nice little cameo

What the US federal government in association with state governments is to acquire all major rail infrastructure, signalling and train control from the freight rail companies and operate the national rail infrastructure as an 'open' not for profit operation for any freight, passenger including Amtrak and heritage rail museum operator/s and treat the network as tax payer owned national strategic 'steel highway' asset.

I'd like to see Amtrak bring back the old E class locomotives. Or at least the looks

In order for Amtrak to prosper & survive they must mimic rail travel in Europe, especially the high-speed aspect of passenger train service. You correctly described all of the roadblocks to achieving this goal, especially the lack of track ownership. The fact that freight service owns the bulk of the nation's tracks puts them in charge of who & when will pass through on their tracks. Couple that with the speed of other forms of travel and it is easy to see why Amtrak has a hard time competing. Unless there is a huge investment in new train cars & separate (from freight) high-speed tracks it is basically a lost cause. The bottom line is freight is more lucrative than passenger train service. The Northeast Corridor's Acela line is a money maker because of the relative speed of the service. It is comparable or sometimes even faster than driving a car to the same destination. It is sad to see the richest country in the world with a second-class national train system. It doesn't have to be that way. If you get some of those well off investors to get onboard with the federal government to fund & structure it right, then we could just as easily rival Europe's world-class train service.

Oh how I wish Amtrak or some form of Rail Passenger Service could come to South Dakota.

LET'S GO!! A new video!!! :)

Amtrak Fans, there is a special deal, 50% off on almost ALL trains, max $50 fares. If you want to go on a cross country rail trip this summer, like I am, check Amtrak's website to see the deal. Its fabulous valie

Nice video.

Amtrack proudly runs through my city

the day the goverment starts subsidizing rail travel the way they do with road travel the US whould have a wold class network...

The pandemic has been a real shame. I had plans for a month long excursion with a rail pass with amtrak for last may, 15 stops from Orlando to Boston to California and back, with all sorts of stops in between, but of course the Rina ruined that... Nevertheless, im hoping to reconstruct the trip piecemeal over the next few years, and living in Lancaster PA, im hoping to take advantage of the rail along the northeast corridor fairly often!

16:31 Amtrak 69 nice. Nice catch

Hey mr. High iron, I love your knowledge of trains and it got me wondering. Could you do a video on if you ran a railroad what would be the history and what locomotives would you use, especially on the passenger trains? I would definitely send $50 for such an unique video, if nobody else asked before.

Something I find a little bit ironic is that the Americans are thinking about sleeper cars, in Australia we’ve had them since the 1980s and absolutely everybody loves them

There is one major cost factor that rarely gets mentioned: the greater cost of labor per passenger served for rail travel compared to air travel. The plain fact is that there is a minimum amount of attendants required per passenger hour in the vehicle. Also, the longer a passenger is in the vehicle, more services and cleaning are required, food service, sleeping accommodations, etc. Since Jet Blue can fly you from San Francisco to New York in about 5 hours, while it take Amtrak DAYS to get you there, the clear economic advantage belongs to the flying option. This is why Jet Blue can get you from San Francisco, and back back again, for $325. The cost advantage for freight clearly goes to the rail option. No attendants & services required, and you can stuff the train car full of freight. Think of it this way: Amtrak fare is about equal to an airline ticket, plus a hotel, and a restaurant for the length of the trip.

It's staggering how much rail is neglected in the USA.

This video should have mentioned Amtrak's chronic equipment shortage. Every daily long distance train west of Chicago requires at least SEVEN sets of equipment -- one for each day until the first train returns to Chicago, plus one "protection" set in case of emergency.

At 9:51 - Here is some further info about Michigan Intercity passenger rail service that is also provided by Amtrak on a 135-mile state-owned line between Kalamazoo and Dearborn. Michigan DOT provides capital and operating assistance, technical support and safety oversight of Michigan’s passenger rail system. The department also sponsors three separate intercity passenger rail routes that are operated by Amtrak and serves 22 station communities. All routes are expected to have new equipment by 2022. In addition, MDOT owns a segment of the accelerated rail corridor that connects Chicago and Detroit/Pontiac and the communities in between. It funds all capital and maintenance work on the segment of the corridor between Kalamazoo and Dearborn. Currently, efforts are focused on increasing passenger speeds up to 110 mph in this area. Passenger trains have traveled up to 110 mph since 2012 on the Amtrak-owned portion of the accelerated rail corridor between Kalamazoo, Michigan and Porter, Indiana. www.michigan.gov/mdot/0,4616,7-151-22444_56481---,00.html www.michigan.gov/documents/mdot/MDOTStateOwnedRail_330121_7.pdf

Amtrak is a pretty cool passenger train company in the USA.

Amtrak has too many accidents. you are right, though; it was amazing to ride the C&O and B&O and Pennsylvania Pullman cars with all the amenities, fine dining and porters . . . so sad.

Great Job Travel Amtrak