Amtrak’s MOST POPULAR TRAIN - Why so busy?

today we're starting in the heart of boston because we are taking amtrak's most popular train so we're starting here at south station we're gonna ride through how many states eight states and one district that's a lot it's a long day i'm mike welcome to downey live now let's go ride amtrak's most popular train our train today leaves at 6 10 a.m so if you're wondering how i know this is amtrak's most popular train it's because i got the 2019 ridership numbers in the northeast regional got 8.9 million riders in 2019 second place only got 3.5 more than doubled the second place train so today we're gonna see what that looks like because it's long i got us business class compared to other amtrak stations boston cell station here isn't very grand feeling and it doesn't have much of a waiting room either that's about it not a lot of seating in here but now's a really good time to tell you that today's video is sponsored by the high-speed rail alliance it's a growing organization connecting governments with businesses with citizens and rail fans like ourselves to bring high-speed rail to america high-speed rail has been proven to be an effective and efficient way of moving people and connecting communities around the world and the high-speed rail alliance has a multi-track plan to integrate it and implement it here in america you see this station boston south station connects riders to new york and washington dc by high-speed train already the amtrak asella but we want more of it in fact they're america's largest high-speed rail advocacy group and they're member supported so you can learn more about them at their website which is highspeedrail.us which is an awesome url but more importantly you can help them by going to the website and signing the petition because they need your help to tell governments that we want more high-speed ramps so thank you high-speed rail alliance for sponsoring today's video but also working hard for us to bring us better and faster trains don't forget go sign the petition at highspeedrail.us all right that was our call for our train let's go catch him now when i was talking about ridership numbers second place is the acela but we're not taking that today we're taking most popular route which is the northeastern regional yes that's all the canadians say 11. now last week we took amtrak's least popular train and had the same type of seats don't quite have a window seat today i'd like to point out that the amount of leg room you get in these things is incredible oh now we have more window and we are leaving right on time now looking at a map it's obvious why this train is so popular it connects four of the biggest cities in america and on board we can see why so many people would choose to travel this way it's comfortable spacious and allows you to get work done while you travel although i'm really wishing i had chosen a seat with a proper window not just a post we'll make 30 stops across 450 miles or so and it will take us less than eight hours to do it we've only been riding for five minutes we've already reached our first stop i think we're gonna make a lot today now looking around i'm a little confused i thought this was the most popular train but at the moment the car is pretty empty and boston is not a small town so where is everybody so far the train is pretty quiet it's always a good sign when you're faster than the cars on the highway considering this is not a high-speed train we're flying 110 miles per hour remember this isn't even amtrak's highest speed train the acela so i'm actually pretty impressed by this old train i mean we will take an hour longer than if we'd taken the acela but most of that is due to the fact that we stop at twice as many stations but we're not here to see the fastest train we're here to see the busiest train and here comes our next station in just 35 minutes we've not only arrived in our first major city but our second state we're now in providence rhode island it's my first time ever here and i don't think we're gonna stop here for long so hop back on this train really is a lot more of a commuter train taking people from the suburbs to big cities but not most people ride from tip to tip like we are today so now we go rhode island's a pretty small state so i think we're going to hit our third state pretty quickly [Music] i think that's about all of rhode island we'll get to now see go see what the cafe car has for us snack car is three cars out [Music] it's the same type of snack cars we had in last week's video but let's see what we can wrangle up for some breakfast here if you ride business class you get free drinks with your tickets so orange juice is free but i managed to find a fruit cup and a vanilla yogurt with blueberries and granola vanilla yogurt parfait i'd admit that's a pretty good looking parfait what are you doing a youtube video while i eat my 9.50 breakfast let me show you why this route is unique to the amtrak network if we look up we can see the overhead electric wires above the tracks that's because the route we're taking today is one of the few stretches of track actually owned by amtrak while amtrak normally runs on freight tracks across america here in the northeast corridor they own 730 miles of track including 17 tunnels and over a thousand bridges and so we're riding on amtrak's own tracks here which means fewer delays well at least until we get to washington dc why is it that the healthy options are always the most expensive what a moment man that was the fastest opening we've ever seen and now we've just entered connecticut and doesn't this just look like the most connecticut day you've ever seen i've never been to connecticut before but apparently it has the highest earning per capita and the highest median household income in the united states and it kind of looks like it the reason i really want to do this trip is because i don't know any other way that you could see this many states as quickly or as comfortably as this i mean this is already our third state of the day and i haven't even finished my coffee yet now i'm looking around and this train still isn't very busy i mean this is a thursday morning commute i expected more people on board in fact if we do the math um eight million nine hundred and forty thousand seven hundred and forty five passengers in a day divided by 365 days a year divide by eight trains a day going in both directions so actually 16 trains a day means you have an average of 1 530 passengers per train and right now i look around i think there are maybe eight of us in here so am i expecting another 1 422 passengers to join us on this route today maybe more will board at the next station so i was just told if you use the amtrak app you can actually change your seats so i'm just checking to see if there's a window seat available still in business class here there aren't any available but i can see there's no one seated next to me for the rest of the trip so that's a plus new haven connecticut a foggy new england day i've never been to connecticut before i don't know if i expected this it's starting to get busier though i'm starting to see why this is the most popular route because there's a lot of stops at big towns like this a lot of people getting on and off i'm not gonna lie i'm starting to really like this fog i mean look at the bridge in the distance this just feels like it's welcoming us to new york and there it is ladies and gentlemen new york city [Music] so if you haven't figured out already this isn't like amtrak's long-haul cross-country trains where you board once at the beginning and ride the train all the way to the end it's a commuter train with people getting on and off all along the route meaning amtrak can sell that single seat ticket multiple times throughout the journey i'm the oddity riding it from end to end i mean this seat next to me could have three different passengers in it by the time i get off and i think that's what helps make this amtrak's most ridden train of course the asela which is just passing us here even though it's faster it only makes half as many stops which which is maybe why it gets half as many passengers wait a minute this tunnel is awfully familiar from last week in case you missed it i did ride amtrak's least popular train so if you enjoy these train adventure videos make sure to subscribe so you don't miss next week's new york city penn station we were here just last week because this was the starting point of amtrak's least used train and now the most popular train stops here too so we're here for a couple of minutes of penn station we just got an announcement to clear stuff off the seat next to you because they have a huge crowd coming on board because not only is new york city a big station but we're headed to a couple more big cities philadelphia washington dc baltimore before that so uh it's all aboard at this point but we're really not here that long and that's it in and out of penn station in just a couple of minutes with a now full train and if you think about it we just stopped at the busiest station in north america and so it really is starting to make sense that this train is the most popular especially because new york city is the halfway point of this trip meaning it gets passengers both arriving and leaving from new york city i mean that's got to be the reason the ridership is so high and we're now in new jersey speaking of being halfway i'm getting hungry and i just read online that amtrak has new menu options okay i will try the new grilled chicken bacon ranch wrap please so amtrak is trying to make their meals healthier and i decided to try it this new wrap isn't mind-blowing by any chance but it's a wrap and it tastes exactly as it should and it's definitely a lot better than the microwaved hamburgers and hot dogs they used to serve and it's probably a lot healthier too i'd get it again still no passenger next to me excellent but our window scenario hasn't changed now we're picking up a bit of speed here so let's speed up the video too not much happened as we pass through new jersey except a woman had a dog in her purse and then we arrived in our fifth state of the day in philadelphia pennsylvania it's a station where everything's wet but you're covered and you wonder why and the ceiling is dripping a little bit in here we're just flying through these states we continued through pennsylvania and raced a cargo ship for a little bit smoked them and arrived in our sixth day we're now in delaware i enjoyed the smooth and fast tracks all the way into our seventh state and now we've just entered maryland i'm losing track of the number of states we're going through now we're coming into the city of baltimore and i have to say that i do enjoy these little adventures but i just traveled across seven states and i didn't get out and experience any of them so this is my announcement that i'm starting a bigger and more exciting train adventure i'm traveling from america's most southern train station to america's most northern train station while riding along 10 of america's most unique interesting and incredible trains along the way i mean what better way is there to see this country than by train it's a 10 episode series so if you're new here and you've made it this far in the video this is your cue to subscribe so you don't miss season 2 of downey live travels by train america oh it's warm now we're in baltimore maryland that's about it i think we're just letting some people off i don't see many getting on all right we're getting off at the next stop okay back to this train it's not the fastest or the most scenic or even the cheapest but it does connect a lot of people in a fast and comfortable way between large cities so i should probably correct myself and not say it's the most popular but simply the train with the highest ridership in the country so if you're looking for a fun train adventure well this probably isn't the one for you except maybe in new jersey but if you live along the northeast corridor this is probably the train for you and that's it we've arrived in washington dc bit of weather here oh my goodness this might be the most impressive train station i've ever seen they don't make them like they used to thanks for joining me on this trip i'm mike the channel is downey live and i make these videos every single saturday so you can go watch last saturday's video when i traveled on amtrak's least favorite train see you next week i don't know where i'm going next but i know why they're with me see ya

Channel: DownieLive

Views: 407,401

Keywords: downielive, downie live, DownieLive Amtrak, Downie live Amtrak, Amtrak, Amtrak best train, Amtrak train, America train, American train, America trains, trains USA, train Amtrak, New York, northeast regional, busiest train, most popular train

Id: ccM6xJcRrok

Length: 12min 25sec (745 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 18 2022