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Why Trains Suck in America

Wendover Productions · explainer · Watch on YouTube

Transit, cities & urban planningBusiness & economics (other)

What it is

Wendover Productions explains why US passenger rail lags behind other countries. It covers freight companies owning most of the track, geography and population density, and the economics of competing with flying.

Why Hacker News recommends it

HN recommends it as a short, solid walkthrough of why American trains are slow and limited, most notably because freight gets priority.

  • 6 people recommended it
  • 6 different months
  • 0 strong recommendations
  • first 2017, last 2022

What HN commenters said

  1. “I found this video to be a pretty good walkthrough”

    Walkthrough of why US passenger rail struggles due to freight priority.

    teej, 2017-04 · Recommendation · in “Leaked email from United Airlines CEO blames passenger for violent removal”

  2. “Here's a good overview why.”

    Overview of freight companies owning the track.

    sunir, 2017-07 · Recommendation · in “What it’s like to ship yourself overnight on Cabin’s sleep pod bus”

  3. “Wendover Productions has a good video that explains this and many other reasons why trains suck in the US”

    Explains why US trains suck; freight owns most track.

    trimbo, 2018-04 · Recommendation · in “Want airline food? Take Amtrak”

  4. “This is worth your 8 minutes of time.”

    Short video on economics of US rail travel.

    NoNameHaveI, 2019-03 · Recommendation · in “There is no reason to cross the U.S. by train, but I did it anyway”

  5. “I think this explains it pretty well”

    Explains US rail problems from geography and density.

    SahAssar, 2020-08 · Recommendation · in “Ask HN: What non-obvious tech/market may take off in the next few years?”

  6. “An interesting video on this topic”

    Interesting take on why US passenger rail is limited.

    Manuel_D, 2022-07 · Recommendation · in “How far can you go by train in 5h?”

Excerpts from Hacker News comments, linked to the originals. Summaries and labels were written by a language model from those comments.

Topics: amtrak, freight rail, transportation economics, high-speed rail, wendover

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