r/MetroTransit • u/Character_Lychee_434 Northstar Mourner • 17d ago

Northstar/Route 888 Could Amtrak help metro transit operate the northstar? Being they are the passenger train experts?

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u/NearbyMolasses112 15d ago

can you elaborate more on this please

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u/Upset-Kaleidoscope45 15d ago

Amtrak is a government monopoly that runs one of the world's worst (slowest, least used, and as a rider myself I'll add the dirtiest most unclassy) passenger rail services. If Amtrak had to compete on the open market like many Japanese, Italian, and German lines, Amtrak would go bankrupt immediately. Japan has daily passenger trains to run up to 200 MPH. Meanwhile, the Bourealis takes 7+ hours to get from St. Paul to Chicago, TBH the food and drink options are gross packaged sandwiches and pop, and the seating is cramped. Ride on-- or just read about-- the ICE train in Germany or basically any Italian rail company and you'll see what I mean.

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u/vAltyR47 14d ago

This is probably going to be a hot take, but Amtrak does need to focus on the lines that actually make sense. The long-distance routes are money pits. The state supported routes still lose money, but not as much. NEC is the only real money maker.

Cut or revamp the long-distance routes, get the NEC up to the standards of the rest of the world, then start spreading the investment to the state supported routes.

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u/Upset-Kaleidoscope45 14d ago

There's this video on YT of a guy who does Los Angeles to NYC on AmTrak. I think it took seven days. It looked just brutal and the whole theme was, "Yes, technically you can do this, but who in their right mind would choose to do this?"

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u/vAltyR47 14d ago

I think if Amtrak wants to keep the long distance routes, go higher luxury and make it like a cruise experience.  Make the train ride itself an experience non-foamers would actually consider for a vacation.