this post was submitted on 06 Oct 2023
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I've always wanted to take a train across the U.S. with a sleeper car, but I couldn't handle sitting up for that long.
Also it's insultingly expensive. I had an opportunity to do it for a work trip but couldn't justify the thousands of dollars vs the way cheaper and quicker flight.
Honestly, taking a transcontinental train is less a form of transit and more kind of land cruise.
The slower speed is why it’s so expensive. Instead of employing a pilot, co-pilot, and flight attendants for a few hours, you have to employ engineers, conductors, and car attendants for days. Labor is one of any business’s highest expenses, and when you require 10x as much for the same result…
I think you forgot to factor airports, ground crew, atc, and federal flight infrastructure in
It’s roughly equivalent to maintaining train stations (some of which see less than one train, per direction, per day), FRA oversight, rental fees to the host railroad outside of the limited tracks Amtrak owns, locomotive and car maintenance, etc.
Wendover broke down the numbers a few years ago, I don't think they've changed significantly since then.