Passenger Trains > Some perspective on US Intercity Rail - 1970 and now

There is a thread on the Nostalgia Board observing the 44th anniversary of Amtrak eve, before many intercity passenger trains were discontinued.  Many great trains (along with lesser known, but would be nice to have now trains) were lost.  Here's the thread:

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,3730113

Some of you may be interested to know that even though passenger route-miles is currently considerably less than was present in April 1970, intercity rail passenger-miles as of 2012 is greater than then according to the following:

US Bureau of Transportation Statistics Data

Yeah but look at the trains Amtrak was forced to eleminate since 1979!

Terrible  budget passed in House yesterday.  Death by 1000 cuts!!

RuleG Wrote:
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> Some of you may be interested to know that even
> though passenger route-miles is currently
> considerably less than was present in April 1970,
> intercity rail passenger-miles as of 2012 is
> greater than then according to the following:
>
> US Bureau of Transportation Statistics Data

What is more astounding to me is that Intercity + Commuter Rail passenger-miles is higher today than in 1965!

cutboy2 Wrote:
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> Terrible  budget passed in House yesterday.
>  Death by 1000 cuts!!

I thought that was the recommendation of the House Appropriations Committee, not the entire House of Representatives.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/01/15 16:05 by RuleG.

>>>What is more astounding to me is that Intercity + Commuter Rail passenger-miles is higher today than in 1965!

U.S. population in 1965 was 194 mil, vs. 320 mil today.

With that many people, imagine how gridlocked the transportation system would've gotten if Washington had their way and Amtrak only lasted 3 years!

ProAmtrak Wrote:
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> With that many people, imagine how gridlocked the
> transportation system would've gotten if
> Washington had their way and Amtrak only lasted 3
> years!

I could NOT imagine train service being discontinued between Washington and Boston. The region would be at a stand-still - as it often is when trains get stuck in the Hudson or East River tunnels....

SpeederDriver Wrote:
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> >>>What is more astounding to me is that Intercity
> + Commuter Rail passenger-miles is higher today
> than in 1965!
>
> U.S. population in 1965 was 194 mil, vs. 320 mil
> today.

True. However, it looks like net net non-commuter has almost halved their passrnger miles over this period while commuter has almost tripled.. Since in general population has been shifting from rural to urban, I guess that stands to reason.

Think how many more people there will be in the next 40 years.. We better start building a good passenger rail system soon.


Steve