Maybe this was a mistake. The United States has always had
a love hate relationship when it comes to train travel. The country was literally built
on the backs of the railroads and the US used to have the biggest and the most well-funded
rail network in the world. But if you ask anybody
that's taken the Amtrak... they'll tell you that that's not exactly
the case anymore. The US has fallen woefully behind
the rest of the world when it comes to train travel. So what the heck happened? How did the United States
get so far behind? And does it have any chance
of catching up? To find out the answer to that,
I'm going to take the Amtrak from here in Los Angeles all the way
to New York City. And I'm going to have plenty
of time to think about it since it's a... 70-hour journey. I guess I better get started. The entire length of my journey from Los Angeles to New York
is about four days long... and for the first leg of my journey there weren't any sleeper cars available. So, this is what my living space looks like for the next two days which as somebody that's
[BEEP] years old should be really good for my back. The journey I'm taking
is pretty different than it would have been about
a hundred years ago. To see the differences,
let's take a look at this US map. The year is 1916 and there's about
254,000 miles of railroads the highest number there's ever been
in this country. The Pennsylvania railroad, or the Pennsy,
as it was referred to... I feel like that nickname could have probably used
a little more work. Nevertheless, it was the largest corporation in the world at the time. It's difficult to illustrate how influential
these companies were... and how much railroads were into woven into the fabric
of American life. They were responsible for
the temples of their time... like Penn and Grand Central stations. Also, you would not believe how amazing train travel could be back then. Sure, they had basic boring train cars
like the one I’m riding. But the upscale trains featured chandeliers, barber shops... pianos and food service that would make the Four Seasons
look like Boston Market. One menu featured oysters,
consommé... and celery fed duck. The bad news is my train didn't have ducks that were
fed anything. I ate the Thai Red Curry Street noodles which, although I'm pretty sure they were
just a microwave frozen package were actually pretty good. And although the accommodations
were a far cry from crystal chandeliers they were comfortable enough. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. This is the conductor speaking. It has now been 5 hours and 15 minutes which is the time it takes to fly from LAX
to Newark Airport. And we are still in California. It's only 9:00 but it already got dark outside so there's nothing to look at
through the window... and there's no Wi-Fi, apparently. So, I guess I'm just going to
go to sleep. They leave the overhead lights
on all night but luckily I brought
my trusty eye mask. I also brought some earplugs,
which should come in handy because I'm sitting right in front
of some iPad kids who are watching movies at
full volume with no headphones. So, that's fun. All right. I'll see you in the morning. Did I sleep well last night? Hmm? I'm going to say no. I'll spare you the details but imagine getting literally
kicked in the head by the woman in the seat next to you. I wound up retreating to the
observation car to sleep... which was less than ideal. Like an astronaut in space. I'm trying to move around
as much as I can so that my muscles don't deteriorate
during my journey. So let's talk about how American trains went from gilded pleasure palaces to... This. Part of the reason why railroads became so wildly successful
in the first place... is because they were run by what were affectionately termed
“robber barons”. Men like Cornelius Vanderbilt... Jay Gould, James Fisk,
and J.P. Morgan. These guys were ruthless, anti-labor,
and really corrupt... which was great when it came to building an expansive kingdom of highly profitable
rail companies... but bad when it came to...
just about everything else. As a result, the train companies became
pretty universally hated by the general public. As seen in what passed for
scathing satire at the time. “Now then, Jim.” “No jockeying, you know.” “Let em rip, Commodore.” “Don't stop to water or you'll be beat.” The federal government saw the kind of crap these guys
were pulling and was like “Whoa, whoa, whoa,
you can't do that.” So they instituted a bunch of regulations... which, among other things... set fixed rates for the railroad companies. And also prevented them from raising their fares or
changing their service without the government's permission. This didn't seem like that big
of a deal at the time... because as historian Robert Selph Henry said... “The problem , to some minds at least was how to keep railroads from
making too much money.” After all, railroads were still by far the most efficient and the best way
for most people to travel. This all obviously changed when
affordable automobiles and later air travel came into the picture. So much so that by 1956 only 4% of passenger travel
was on trains. When you take into account
that 40 years earlier that number was 98% you can see how much
the US’s priorities had shifted when it came to travel. The train companies were far from
a monopoly anymore... but they were still being regulated
as if they were... which was killing them. Okay, so, right now we are being
held on the tracks to let a freight train pass. And this is actually the perfect time
to talk about something. Private commercial passenger trains have never been very profitable. The lifeblood of the industry has always been these:
Freight trains. But rail companies were always
forced to provide passengers service as a benefit
to the public. So when the rail companies began to suffer and then eventually fold, the government
had the idea to take the responsibility for passenger service off the plates of the rail companies who could then focus on the profitable
freight side of the business. They took all the passenger service and combined it into one company. Which is how in 1971 we got Amtrak. Which stands for the American Train Track. Again, what is up with these nicknames? “Amtrak makes it easy come, easy go to more than 450 cities in the USA.” But here is the thing. Amtrak was designed to fail
from the beginning. That may sound ridiculous,
but let me explain. First of all the government created Amtrak
as a for profit corporation despite the fact that virtually
no passenger service anywhere has been profitable. After all, the government broke off
all the passenger trains from the rail companies because
they weren't making money. When the government formed Amtrak they tasked it with employing innovative
operating and marketing concepts to develop the potential of
modern rail service. And how much did Congress give them
to do that in their first year of operation? Just $40 million. Their budget has gone up
a lot since then. Their budget for the year 2022
was $2.3 billion... which sounds like a lot, doesn't it? But when you take into account that
the federal highway budget for the same year was $64.3 billion you begin to see the inequity. To put it even more
into perspective... the sum total of all the subsidies
that the US has allocated to Amtrak
in its entire history... is less than one year's funding for
the interstate highway system. This right here shows where America's priorities lie when it comes to travel... and why Amtrak has failed
to majorly expand or innovate. Okay, so we just got to Chicago. I got off the Amtrak about 45 hours
after I left Los Angeles. And needless to say... I do not smell very good. I have about a 7 hour layover
here in Chicago. And right now I'm in Union Station... which is actually kind of amazing. As you see I got a chance to put on
some clean clothes which feels amazing. And now I'm just here
in Millennium Park... rolling around with my suitcase
like a dang tourist. And I'm just trying to enjoy... not being on a train
as much as possible before I get on the second leg. The second and final leg
of my journey. I've achieved the Holy Grail... of my own private room. I want to show you my favorite feature
of the entire room. You're going to like this. Hidden sink. This train is a little bit more... dynamic, shall we say,
than the last one. But I'm hoping that all
the movements... will just help rock me to sleep. When I woke up, we had
reached Ohio... about 2600 miles through
my journey and 50 something hours. There are a lot of reasons why people still want to
take the train. A big one is the environment. According to a study by
the University of Pennsylvania... a long distance train trip produces 37% less emissions
than taking a flight. Trains are also much safer than cars. You're 17 times more likely to die while driving than
taking a train. Flying and driving can be faster and sometimes even cheaper
than taking the Amtrak. But they're both often
miserable experiences. Going through TSA dealing with flight delays or
being stuck in traffic and not being able to do anything because you need to be
driving the car. While I've been on Amtrak I've been able to just
stare out the window and see the country go by... or read a book or take a nap
or whatever. I've been able to wander
around the train whenever I want and stretch my legs. And I've had the enjoyment
of having my own private little room. And this is with Amtrak being perpetually and profoundly underfunded. Imagine what it would be like if this were evened out. So, I made it. All total, took me about 72 hours
and 17 minutes... which granted it would have
taken me between 5 and 6 hours to fly that distance. I don't actually know the distance
off the top of my head but I'm going to add it in post right here. But here's the thing. I had a good time. It was actually really fun. Aside from a couple of hiccups
at the very beginning. It was a really pleasant,
memorable experience. I got to see parts of the country
that I had never seen before. And overall, dare I say, it was
a pleasant experience. Right now, Amtrak covers roughly 21,000 miles of passenger rail
in the US. But when you look at the map,
you can see it's sparse coverage routes that don't connect... And sorry, Wyoming and South Dakota you don't get any trains. If the United States took Amtrak
off life support... it would revolutionize the way
people travel around the US. When he was retiring former Amtrak President Graham Claytor said... “When I came to Amtrak
I was convinced I could save it...” But finally came to the conclusion that only the American public
can save it... “...when they say they want it.” Now, if you'll excuse me I'm going to go take a much needed shower and go to sleep
in a real bed. I got to rest up for my flight back
to California tomorrow. For me, one of the best parts of riding the Amtrak is just throwing on
some Phoebe Bridgers and wistfully staring out the window
for hours on end.
