It’s sad the state Amtrak is in. Still love it but it’s literally hanging by a thread.
Took me fucking 10 hours to go from Dallas to San Antonio. It usually takes 3 by car…
Although It might vary by geography. My experience riding Amtrak in the northeast during the winter time was incredible. Texas brainrot probably had that shit stripped bare
Good thing the USA has one of the best rail systems in the world. Instead of passengers, it hauls all the crap you order off of Amazon
That seems like a rather arbitrary measure. I could just as easily state “The state of the cereal aisle is the most reliable measure…”
The state of the rail system is a good proxy because it's a huge infrastructure project that doesn't generate any immediate profit. These types of projects are done primarily to provide social value, thus it's an indication of a society that is willing to invest into improving the quality of life for the majority.
That must be why mobile and discriminating populations choose to move to China.
People aren't moving to a country that's difficult to move to. Amazing argument you've mustered there.
The state of the rail system is a relatively reliable measure of how densely populated a country is.
This just seems like hand-wringing for the pitiful state of the rail system in the USA. A country can have many dense population centres separated by large distances, making HSR viable and worthwhile, but still have low population density overall - just like the USA. The only real obstacle is political will/public support.
Western China has around half the population density of the USA but is already served by a 1,900km HSR line.