Had a few comments that the Pacific Surfliner is normally 10 trains per direction on weekdays (not 5). In fairness to...me, I'm just going off what's in the schedule today, since lots of transit and intercity services have been pared back due to pandemic, etc. and I didn't wanna be digging into schedules from three years ago. Temporary trackwork (although maybe recurring as climate change turbocharges erosion) is a different deal, though. I coulda shoulda mentioned that the 5 trains per day (SD Santa Fe Depot to LA Union Station) is a temporary condition, likely reverting to 10 per day in the next couple months.

@pureessenceofgaming1745

Жыл бұрын

Mr Nerd the surfliner tracks are falling into the ocean

@jerredhamann5646

Жыл бұрын

Forget mastidon u need an only trains account

@gnnascarfan2410

Жыл бұрын

I will say as someone who lives in SoCal a big issue and debate right now is that the Surfliner tracks in Del Mar (San Diego) and San Clemente (Orange County) are at risk of falling into the sea within a few decades, if not a few years. Lots of proposals to move both sections of tracks inward (would allow trains to reach their top speed grade separated!) but stupid politics as you can guess..

@alecvinson6054

Жыл бұрын

Also, I know we're not doing comparisons in the before times, but fwiw it was 13 trains per day in the before times, with plans for more, as the routes popularity had been growing. Service had already been growing leading up to Covid. Unfortunately I'm not sure what will happen to that growth in popularity if coastal erosion continues to become a bigger issue for the tracks.

@JeffHykin

Жыл бұрын

Just wanted to say, I'm one the ones waiting for the Mastodon link!

Train good.

@ianperry9598

Жыл бұрын

Car bad.

@calvinlawn3457

Жыл бұрын

Yes.

@wilma7038

Жыл бұрын

🚉

@ChristianRRL

Жыл бұрын

Plane ok.

@ArcherHarmony

Жыл бұрын

👏👏👏

Hello Mr. Nerd. I was reading this article about Yellowstone National Park and how much money they spend on road maintenance and how car dependency subtracts from the whole experience, as well as how one Senator even tried to get a monorail built but was deemed too expensive. I was hoping maybe you could do a video on how natural parks could be less car-centric and more sustainable.

@clayton97330

Жыл бұрын

Just a most transit accessible national park list would be interesting

@del_rio

Жыл бұрын

​@@clayton97330 Rock Creek Park in DC would be fun to cover as it's the only one I know of with subway access. It's technically a National Capital Park nowadays but between 1890-1933 it was a full-fledged National Park!

@granthancock3622

Жыл бұрын

Excellent topic!

@gumbyshrimp2606

Жыл бұрын

Yes, there should be high speed passenger rail in all national parks.

@WillmobilePlus

Жыл бұрын

@@gumbyshrimp2606 Sure, we can also put money in the toilet for entertainment. Or do we all think there are only as many national parks as the 5 you can name without Google?

I don't drive. I live in NYC. I think you just TOTALLY sold me on a visit to Albuquerque and Santa Fe. I've always wanted to go down there! :D

@dianethulin1700

Жыл бұрын

The tap water in Santa Fe is incredible!

@GregoryMurphyIsNotYou

Жыл бұрын

Me too! Already planning my trip to Albuquerque and Santa Fe.

@enjoyslearningandtravel7957

Жыл бұрын

Me also definitely going to fly to Albuquerque on the train to Santa Fe. I don’t enjoy driving so now this is an alternative to go to city I are on our way just wanted to see.

Forgot where I heard this but Santa Fe has really strict growth limits and a demanding architectural code so it's expensive to live there, which isn't great for a state capital. Lots of government workers and contractors have to live in Albuquerque and commute to Santa Fe, which might explain why the rail runner exists and is as frequent as it is.

@greenblattsamuel

Жыл бұрын

Tons of people use the railrunner religiously who do the commute everyday from Albuquerque. The schedule has gotten a lot more frequent and useful in the past 4-6 months. It's a great way to get up to Santa Fe.

@jjjjjjj6137

Жыл бұрын

Any chance you heard it on 99% invisible?

@sufpnancy

Жыл бұрын

Its called the Santa Fe Tax. EVERYTHING in FantaSe is at least 15% more expensive than in Albuquerque. Many state workers commute, its harder for othres, as the SFe bus service wasn't reliable when I was there.

@CityNerd

Жыл бұрын

Yeah, at $2.50 for a day pass commuting definitely makes sense!

@nickwoods7746

Жыл бұрын

@@jjjjjjj6137 could be! I remember they had a cool episode about agtech in the NM chili pepper industry

Having lived in Japan, I met several Americans behave like taking the train was beneath them until they lived in the country for a while, then they snap out of their car fetish, because the network of trains in Japan, is awesome. If you build it, they will come.

@viceroybolt3518

Жыл бұрын

Trying to explain the appeal of transit to Americans is like "Imagine a self driving car that everyone could use that drove by your neighborhood every couple minutes"

@eldermoose7938

Жыл бұрын

In American history Railroad specifically expanded west because it was profitable for the business owners to do so at the time, These private owners were the ones who expended the capital to build them and were allowed to do mostly what benefited them profit wise. The most profitable thing to do at the time was be the transport middle man of large bulk goods for the economy of scale, because the only alternative was sailing around South America and later all the way down to Panama. So to put it simply American rail was built for goods not people and that has never changed. It's built into our system our rail lines are built for long heavy freight trains, whereas passenger trains require a different system to make them fast and reliable so that would require a second system of rails which can't happen so long as moving freight is profitable and cars are cheap.

@enjoyslearningandtravel7957

Жыл бұрын

I traveled to Japan twice when I used to work for the airlines and I really enjoyed my trip. Although I had to take a car in the United States at that time, I really enjoyed being in Japan and taking trains instead of having the stress of driving a car and then finding a parking place.

@viceroybolt3518

Жыл бұрын

@@eldermoose7938 but even our freight lines are in trouble. A lot of our main lines used to be quad track corridors and now we're single tracking everything while running trains that can't fit into sidings. The railroads have done what US corporations are required to do, provide the maximum quarterly profit to shareholders, and they've literally sold the steel from the quad track lines for scrap to achieve that. If they could sell the last train and just call the last train delayed I believe they would.

@banksrail

Жыл бұрын

@@eldermoose7938 “cars are cheap” Gas, insurance, maintenance, space, initial cost. Passenger travel rarely ever makes a direct profit whether it’s plane, train, automobile, boats, Tesla tunnel, you name it. All they’re doing is pushing the expensive price to travel on the public.

Just want to add from the Netherlands: there's 109 trains per day between Amsterdam and Utrecht, over a distance of about 40km. Distances and city sizes are a bit smaller in the Netherlands than in some other countries, but i think it's really amazing that the Dutch train network is able to interconnect basically the entire country with frequent, reliable and comfortable train service.

@IAMNOTGOODWITHCOMPUT

Жыл бұрын

"Basically the entire country" in this case is one twentieth the population of the USA in one two-hundredth the land area. Rail in the USA makes perfect sense for its situation (just like rail in the Netherlands makes perfect sense for your own situation)

@hendman4083

Жыл бұрын

@@IAMNOTGOODWITHCOMPUT So even more potential customers in the USA!

@Fragenzeichenplatte

Жыл бұрын

@@IAMNOTGOODWITHCOMPUT Why does the WHOLE population of the US matter? Always the same bad argument I am so tired of. No one is asking for a direct train connection between LA and NY! Watch the video and you'll see that all connections are 100 miles or less! So the same as the Netherlands. I do not understand how people like you just don't get it.

@IAMNOTGOODWITHCOMPUT

Жыл бұрын

@@Fragenzeichenplatte the Netherlands has population density higher than the most densely populated US state (New Jersey). It's you who don't get how much larger the distances involved in the USA are. Passenger rail is just not worth the investment here.

@IAMNOTGOODWITHCOMPUT

Жыл бұрын

@@hendman4083 if you need to pay ten times as much per customer here, that isn't a good thing.

As an Albuquerque resident, thank you for making this video and showing the NMRX-love! I moved to ABQ in 2003 right when it all started and witnessed it being built. Once it was in place I would use any excuse to ride it, even joy-riding down to Belen and back. The schedule has been expanded significantly this year, prices cut, and it's great. You forgot to mention that the historic Santa Fe plaza is only a 10-minute walk from the terminus, and there is a free shuttle if needed. I would love to see the ART video someday. As some others have mentioned here, it has a very negative perception here in town, as it was rammed down the community's throat when the previous mayor was departing. I also question some of its design, like in the Nob Hill section of Central (between Girard and Carlisle) is arguably the best business district and most walkable part of the city, but the new (and old) street design still prioritizes cars over everything else, tons of parking, no bike lanes, and you can't cross the street except at a few extremely long signals and even a couple HAWK signals. Also, recently a drive-thru Domino's pizza joint opened right in the middle of this section of Central, which has to be one of the worst land-use decisions in ABQ recent history. But overall I think ART is great and would love to see more frequency, although 15 minutes is pretty decent.

People think trains losing money is different than roads because they feel they pay for the roads with gas taxes (a use fee). They have no idea how much of their other taxes are also used to pay for roads.

@ronclark9724

4 ай бұрын

The federal highway trust fund IS funded by federal gasoline taxes, while state highway trust funds ARE funded by state gasoline taxes. If that isn't enough, states also charge tolls to pay off the bonds sold to build the highways and bridges...

@soccerdad93446

4 ай бұрын

@@ronclark9724 most city street maintenance is paid for by property and sales tax. Yes those other funding sources are used. Roads are very expensive.

I lived in Albuquerque for a few months, and the city really does not deserve its bad rep. Wonderful cuisine, ahead of the curve in transit, great university. Thanks for shining a bright light!

@wren7300

Жыл бұрын

I agree with you, and I'm glad to hear someone sharing this viewpoint for sure. Still, crime issues ring clearer in most people's minds than the positives, so what you said is becoming rarer by the day.

@cryme5

Жыл бұрын

I visited recently, outside the campus there was not a single pedestrian besides homeless people, nor any cyclist. Pretty grim.

@emh.1178

Жыл бұрын

I love all the bike trails here:D

@CityNerd

Жыл бұрын

The food is crazy

@dianethulin1700

Жыл бұрын

@@cryme5 Sad! I used to walk all over Albuquerque and in the heat too

It's wild as a fan of the channel to see the downtown Santa Fe area in this vid! Haha, you even drove past my old workplace. If you ever find yourself able, you've GOTTA go to Zozobra next year! It's like our one big thing lol. HOWEVER; I WILL argue with your point re: the biking in Santa Fe. I don't drive, so I've relied on my bike and the bus system to get around town for the past three years-and biking always feels like a real risk. I rarely ever see other bikers around. Any shops that aren't on the plaza are almost certainly located along Cerrillos, which I'd call the central artery of the city (and also the stroad to hell). There's like one asphalt bike path along this thing, and only at the very edge of the city, right along where you'd turn off onto the highway to Albuquerque. The rest of the time bikers are banished to the stroad gutter, since you can't trust the cars to afford you even a meter of paint-designated "bike lane" space. Even off Cerrillos, if you don't wanna be brushing elbows with 3-ton metal rocket ships, you gotta ride on the sidewalk (where drivers are even less likely to see you as they turn out onto the main road, since not a lot of people dare to walk along Cerrillos). I don't even trust the streets along the plaza that much, since outside the main square you're expected to merge with traffic. And for the love of god-whatever you do, do NOT attempt to bike down North Guadalupe. There's this segment right next to Il Vicino Wood Pizza (a couple blocks from the plaza) where the sidewalk becomes maybe two feet wide (with giant poles scattered throughout because Santa Fe wants to frame my bike for murder). In general, I've never felt safe on a bike here, and I've often retreated to the validation and comfort of channels like this one in the aftermath of my latest (lost) battle with the Cerrillos traffic lights. I got the chance to bike around Missoula this past summer, and the roads felt SO much safer there by comparison, even though there weren't that many more (real) bike lanes! It's kind of a mess out here. And HOLY COW, pardon this enormous wall of text! Guess I needed to vent lol! (***AND THANK YOU FOR THE WONDERFUL VIDEO! WHOOPS!)

The thing that makes me even angrier is the fact that Amtrak legally has the right of way of all freight railroad lines yet Congress won’t give them the ability to enforce it through the DOJ. I’ve been 1.5 hours late on a 6 hour train ride (the san joaquins) PURELY because of freight traffic before, and that was with BNSF, which is one of the more cooperative companies.

@rorypaul153

Жыл бұрын

Awww…gunna cry?

@motorizedvehiclehegemony4107

Жыл бұрын

There have been proposals that the US just buy the freight lines or even IMO, just eminent domain them already. The freight companies lost the shipping battle years ago and sustain themselves barely with transport of dangerous products and abuse of their workforce

@jre617

Жыл бұрын

@@motorizedvehiclehegemony4107 Well, you know little about the US rail industry. One container train keeps about 120 trucks off the interstate, and rail is about four times less polluting than trucks per ton-mile. And most US railroads are profitable, something that can't be said in other countries. You'd like to dump all that to run a handful of passenger trains?

@motorizedvehiclehegemony4107

Жыл бұрын

@@jre617 I want the US to exchange the rail lines for the interstates. I'd love to see freeways pay for themselves by charging car-ists the proper user fee for their maintenance and have rail used for strictly passenger service. Let's keep toxic spills where hazmat crews can access them easily!

@josephfisher426

Жыл бұрын

@@motorizedvehiclehegemony4107 And expect 4 to 40x the spills? How many more people do we want employed at truck driving?

Fun fact, the Roadrunner is used in Better Call Saul! But is used for Mike arriving to Albuquerque from Chicago, presumably an Amtrak substitute for filming

@desertrose0027

Жыл бұрын

Yeah the Rail Runner didn't exist in the time BCS was set, so it'd have to be Amtrak.

@darthmaul216

Жыл бұрын

Why wouldn’t Amtrak allow for Netflix to use their name?

@contrapunctusmammalia3993

Жыл бұрын

In that episode, you see mike in Philadelphia telling a bartender that he's going to alberquerque the next day and when he gets off the train he still has the fresh bullet wound from the night before. It always seemed like he had made that whole journey in one night but i didn't think that was possible. But then why would he fly to Santa Fe when he could just fly the whole trip

@CityNerd

Жыл бұрын

I know, that was the only reference I could find!

@CityNerd

Жыл бұрын

@@desertrose0027 Good point

Thank you for highlighting the Rail Runner! I lived in NM when the first phase was being built. If I recall correctly, a significant reason for NM choosing rail was resistance from some of the Native American Pueblos regarding expanding the main highway, Interstate 25, between ABQ and Santa Fe. The Rail Runner has stops at some of these communities along the route providing employment opportunities in the bigger cities. Also, the route that runs in the median of I-25 into Santa Fe was all newly constructed as part of the project and featured trackage suitable for high speed rail. The glaring misstep, I would argue, is not electrifying the line.

@CityNerd

Жыл бұрын

Yeah, I obeyed the conductor and did not photograph as we went through the pueblos. Good background!

@compdude100

Жыл бұрын

Yeah, they pretty much had to construct a new track on the I-25 median to connect to Santa Fe since the existing rail spur into Santa Fe was way too slow.

Thank you for mentioning Columbus in the Dishonorable Mention. It is so maddening that there is NO passenger rail of any kind (intercity or light rail) in the 14th largest city in the country. Not to mention that it is the State Capital and the largest city in the state.

@whoisthatkidd2212

Жыл бұрын

Ditto for Phoenix. We used to have rail service but that got cancelled in 1995. The only way to restore good passenger service is nationalization of the tracks.

@MohondasK

Жыл бұрын

I really hope we get the Cincinnati - Dayton -Columbus - Cleveland line in the near-ish future. It makes too much sense.

@CityNerd

Жыл бұрын

Yeah, it goes the exact opposite to the point I was making about how much frequency runs to state capitals!

@jensumayer

Жыл бұрын

@@MohondasK It makes no sense with a thrice-daily schedule as proposed. Unless the train runs every other hour (at least 6 or 8 pairs per day), the risk of being stuck in case of missing a connection makes the whole thing too unreliable, greatly reducing demand and thus destroying the economics justifying more frequent service. We'd have to subsidize frequent service like the Railrunner to stimulate demand. I don't see political will for that.

@benstefanko2549

Жыл бұрын

Columbus resident here. I came to the comment section and found my point already made. Thank you Ray for calling out Columbus. I am sick and tired of needing to take I-71 in both directions constantly. The rust belt overall needs regional rail if it's going to reckon with inevitable population rise in the future as its relative resilience to impacts from increasingly severe drought, hurricanes, etc. from climate change drive businesses and jobs back here.

I paid €20 for a train between The Hague and Schipol, meanwhile Albuquerque to Santa Fe is $2.25?! Damn, New Mexico I’m impressed

@nicoshedden9477

Жыл бұрын

Its our oil money

@OBSMProductions

Жыл бұрын

@@nicoshedden9477 No it's Gov. Lujan setting aside federal funding to reduce ticket costs and increase frequency. He partly explained it in the video.

Sonoma county native, here! Smart is definitely geared towards commuters, both within the area it operated, and to SF. It does get a large share of its ridership over the weekends from tourism, though. I have personally used it a bunch of times to visit SF, and it is a great experience.

@LexYeen

Жыл бұрын

By contrast, I've had nothing but frustration from SMART. The schedule is worse than the county busses while costing more to ride, and stations are rarely near destinations.

@riddiffy

Жыл бұрын

No. SMART does not get a large volume of weekend nor weekday users. SMART has an average 1,600 weekday daily riders. Divide that by Marin and Sonoma County's combined population of 753,000, that's 0.21% of the population who use it regularly. One fifth of one percent! Even now, with free parking and reduced fares, ridership remains extremely low. Commuting to the city is not ideal. Nobody likes the 8 minute 0.6 mile walk from the end of the line in Larkspur to the Ferry Terminal, where you will no doubt wait longer to catch the Ferry since times are not synchronized. Commuters from Santa Rosa know the GGT 101 is always faster (even with traffic) than doing the smart/ferry. This "train to nowhere" as its called has been an economic disaster from the start. Look at the farebox - it only accounts for about 4% of annual revenue. FOUR PERCENT! By comparison, about 60% of revenue comes from a quarter-cent sales tax in Marin and Sonoma counties. Those who live here pay for it even if whether they ride it or not. In the 2020-2021 fiscal year, the sales tax subsidy was about $196 per one-way boarding, according to Heather McKillop, SMART’s Chief Financial Officer. I am curious to see if that improves when SMART releases the 2021-2022 subsidy figure later this year. Money Pit to no end.

@haakenhaakensen1569

Жыл бұрын

You are the first person I have ever heard of who has used SMART. At the rail crossing in San Rafael I often see SMART trains go by with ZERO passengers. It was a ton of money down the drain.

@Panetierre_

Жыл бұрын

Agreed. It does feel more like a regional rail line, but I love SMART. I only wish its weekend service was more frequent and that it ran later into the day. And just imagine if we built a line from Novato to Fairfield! To the naysayers talking about finances, what's the long-term plan without this? More freeway and buses and cars? I know what future I want to live in.

@jre617

Жыл бұрын

@@Panetierre_ Novato to Fairfield? Who exactly would ride that with any frequency?

As a Burqueño, I've been really looking forward to a video from your channel with more coverage on us since you gave the quick ART shoutout on your BRT video. I'm happy to see we haven't fallen off your radar! If you end up making that future video with an ART focus it would be awesome because there's a broadly negative perception here about the project. NIMBY-types are upset that space was taken from cars and transit advocates are disappointed it wasn't light rail. It doesn't help there were construction delays, initial issues with the rollout, and our lovely local media trashing the project all along the way; it makes it hard to talk with people about the benefits of ART because it's seen as a joke and a blunder. Our previous mayor, who touted the project as his legacy, was practically run out of town :/ But despite the reputation I see ART changing Albuquerque. Along with the infrastructure, the project also changed zoning codes along Central to allow mixed-use and reduced parking minimums. There have been hundreds of units of multi-family housing built along the ART corridor since it started operation just 5 years ago and there are thousands more units in the pipeline. P.S. Apologies for the long comment, I know you receive so many of them!

I live in Santa Fe and am so thrilled to see some coverage of the lovely Rail Runner. I'm on a mission to get all of my friends to ride it more often. New Mexico also has a pretty good network of low cost Park & Ride buses and regional transit buses to more rural areas and indigenous communities.

The Bus system in New Mexico is amazing (for tourists at least). I traveled there with the intention of hitchhiking, but the number of buses between different cities and towns, often free or like a dollar made hitchhiking a silly choice.

@PandorasFolly

Жыл бұрын

It really is surprising. Also a lot shuttle buses in the outlying cities for people with disabilities or elderly that can take them to MD appointments

SMART makes a lot of sense as there are a mass of super-commuters (of both high and low income) that go between Marin and Sonoma county and San Francisco. There are something like 100+ (yes, more than 100) bus frequencies (4-12x a day across 7 lines) between San Francisco and Sonoma/Marin via Golden Gate Transit. The Ferry system helps offload some of that bulk. Both Sonoma and Marin have almost 0 commercial or industrial output that doesn't relate to tourism or mining, so most workers are commuting from here. SMART is also pretty popular, they're getting an extension to winsdor and proposal to go all the way to wilits. (I wish they went south to SF directly, but that segment south of Larkspur would be extremely expensive and challenging).

@doubleatheman

Жыл бұрын

We need a bridge or tube for SMART, but that will take 40 years to fund lol, and 40 more to build haha.

@shubdotclub

Жыл бұрын

@@doubleatheman I think the "cheapest" approach would be going across to richmond and using the amtrak ROW for the east bay. Then wait for Link21 (if that ever happens)

@doubleatheman

Жыл бұрын

@@shubdotclub Ohh I forgot they were considering that, It would work, and heck east bay locations would be accessable too.

@nategelman7195

Жыл бұрын

The lowest hanging fruit is building more dense TOD Housing around SMART Stations. Would boost ridership a great deal.

@doubleatheman

Жыл бұрын

@@nategelman7195 Sac Rt in Sacramento is doing just this now out here. Smart could, but the people that live in Sonoma/Marin don't want loads of affordable housing/TOD typically.

Hey Ray, the LA-SD corridor actually normally has more frequencies but is currently reduced due to track work. There are 10 daily round trips on the full schedule.

@trashrabbit69

Жыл бұрын

Which ironically, although depressing as well; is due to climate change and the increased sea erosion of the coast hugging track of the Surfliner route. I won't be surprised when similar lines like the old Cascades route start to see similar effects soon, if not already. Got the bypass reopened again, so that's at least a relief?

@amvin234

Жыл бұрын

@@trashrabbit69 hard to quantify the contribution of climate change, as cliff erosion is a normal part of the geology in these regions. that being said, climate change is probably likely to be speeding it up. regardless, perhaps building train tracks on top of cliffs that were known to erode on fairly rapid timescales was a bad idea... views are great though lol

@steemlenn8797

Жыл бұрын

10 per day is also what my birth city of 30K connects to the 200K state capital. DIREKT (and slow) connection, you can also do the main line for quite a bit more money and distance. In 2 directions btw, but let's ignored that, it's once per hour service (except deep night). So a 30K+200K city with 30 miles between them is connected by 30 trains daily (though effectivly it's own to the 20 since they meet in this city). And Great #Merica does not get this frequency between cities of millions?

@trashrabbit69

Жыл бұрын

@@amvin234 True... but the rate has been accelerated in recent years, another major factor has been stronger ENSO cycles which mean more potent currents that eventually lead up to erosion from waves and such. Not the most prudent decision, but hey; the line is over 80 years old after all lol.

@amvin234

Жыл бұрын

@@steemlenn8797 cool. look, I'm not gonna sit here and argue that American transit is better (it's definitely not), but what train system is connecting cities of 200K and 30K with 10 round-trip trains? unless train capacity is smaller than usual or at least one of those cities happens to be en route between larger cities in a transit corridor. if that's the case you can pick out smaller cities between San Diego and LA that also technically have lots of trains per day given their size in a vacuum. btw, the way trains were counted here were also 2 directions; so normal service between San Diego and LA is 13 round-trips; i.e. 26 total trips. Also, the whole "Great #Merica" is a bit of unnecessary condescension that rubs the wrong way. The US, for better or worse (worse), doubled down on the car starting in the 50s back when Europe didn't even have the luxury of that choice. We're still dealing with the consequences, but there are a lot of good people working and making progress to reverse the damage.

I lived in Santa Fe for a few months close to the rail district, and it was gorgeous. A magical, underappreciated destination for anyone who loves art galleries, dreamlike adobe buildings, or George RR Martin. I did not have the chance to ride the train to Albuquerque, as this was during peak covid times, but I got to see the train, and it looks so stylish, with that colorful, curving roadrunner insignia. More trains should include stylish, playful designs.

Santa Fe is one of all-time favorite cities!!! SMART is a commuter line. Lots of North Bay people work in San Francisco. The only way in from Marin is across the Golden Gate Bridge which can be slow. The Larkspur Ferry uses a high-speed catamaran which is pretty cool. I've used the San Joaquin lines several times from Oakland to Fresno and have always been surprised at how good it is. It takes about 4 hours to get to Fresno but that's is only slightly longer than driving. There is also a good transfer with BART at Richmond. The trains are nice with tables and get pretty full along the way. The scenery is also pretty as it hugs the Bayshore (it's just feet from the shore). There is quite a bit of traffic from the interim cities to Fresno. It's $26 and that's quite a deal. Flying would take almost as long considering getting to SFO, going through security and checking in, flying and is $150 more expensive.

Atlanta-Athens rail would be cool but it's crazy that New Mexico, a state with a DoT budget that is less than 1/7th Georgia's budget can have pretty frequent and absurdly low cost rail between it's two most important metro areas and the only connections between any major Georgia metro areas is by highway, bus, or airplane. The two largest metro areas, Atlanta and Columbus, have a bus that google says takes an hour more than driving to get between the two cities (~110 miles apart) because Greyhound doesn't even stop in Columbus' city center but on the outskirts and then you have to take a local bus to get to downtown. In almost all of Europe it would be pretty crazy to have zero downtown-to-downtown transit links between two cities in the same jurisdiction that close where one metro is over 6 million and the other is over 300k. Augusta, a metro over 600k and ~150 miles away, is a bit better, at least the bus drops you closer to downtown than Columbus, but still is only connected by bus. If New Mexico can have that much service at a 10 million dollar hit to the state budget, but still have roads for cars everywhere then it's absurd that we can't do that with FAR more attractive city pairs and a much bigger transportation budget. Not even talking about HSR, just regular rail service. Of course what really sucks is how right wing people all over, whether in Canada or the US, have decided that rail transport is just for woke, crime-loving liberals (even though with few exceptions like NM most democrats haven't been much better for rail). I'm pretty hard left myself but there's nothing inherently left wing about steel-on-steel transportation!

I'm never sure why rail is the one public service or utility that's expected to "pay for itself".

Some additional notes in regards to Hiawatha (Chicago - Milwaukee) - It will be expanded from 7 round trips daily to 10 (8 > 11 if you count Empire builder) - Tracks will be improved which will provide 90 mph trains - An expansion to Milwaukee's western suburbs and Madison is likely and will be a game changer - Hiawatha originally was going to expanded to Madison with HSR back in 2010, but Walker killed this and sold the Spanish built HSR trains to Africa. - One of the best on-time performance records for the Amtrak system - Highest ridership for Amtrak outside of the west/east coasts - One of the few Amtrak routes that is profitable and it actually remits money back to Wisconsin - Third highest ridership per mile for Amtrak trailing only the Capitol Corridor and NE Corridor - This route had the world's fastest trains in the 30's and 40's which exceeded 100 mph - The Chicago anchor (Chicago Union Station) is excellent and is located near the heart of its metro network - The Milwaukee anchor (Milwaukee Intermodal Station) is also a good hub with many bus connections. A street car connects this station to the downtown. - There is a station on Wisconsin's busiest airport which is handy and somewhat unique for Amtrak. You can take the streetcar from downtown Milwaukee > Hiwatha > MKE without getting into a car - People already super-commute on this line...super commuting should take off in popularity when the new service improvements come online. - Hiawatha goes over a unique swing bridge in downtown Milwaukee that is typically left open to let tall boats through.

@wheeliebeast7679

Жыл бұрын

Union Station's connectivity to the 'L' (i.e., the metro) leaves a lot to be desired though. Just like there's a station at the MKE airport, there also needs to me a stop at the Mayfair Metra station, which is almost next to the Blue Line stop at Montrose, for easy connectivity to O'Hare - not to mention make the Hiawatha useful for trips into Chicago that don't go at least as far as downtown and points beyond.

@rachel_sj

Жыл бұрын

My spouse and I took the Empire Builder out of Milwaukee out to Seattle, but my spouse lived in Chicago, for a few years, awhile ago and frequently took the Hiawatha to and from home in Wisconsin. He said it was really convenient not to drive and he also really misses the actual Chicago metro transit too. Thought it was kind of weird that the “Madison stop” on the Empire Builder was Columbus, a smaller town a little bit outside Madison. I’d bet that having an actual connect from Madison to Milwaukee would be very nice for the people of Wisconsin (and of course everything Walker touched back during his tenure died as a result and the effects can be felt today)

@CityNerd

Жыл бұрын

Good stuff! You know, I should've included Empire Builder in my number. Oh well. There was a good podcast about Wisconsin HSR a couple years ago...Derailed? From WI Public Radio I think.

@dustinshahan9131

Жыл бұрын

Just to make sure I have this right... this route had 100 mph trains in the 1930s, but is now improving the tracks to make 90 mph?!? Just goes to show how far backwards trains went in this country.

@ptgnyc9310

Жыл бұрын

Years ago I (lived in Madison at the time) asked a friend about all the condo towers being built along the lake in Milwaukee. He said a lot of the buyers were from Chicago but realized they could buy cheaper in MKE and commute on the train.

Two things - 1. I was just in Albuquerque last weekend and loved the free buses. We took them all over town and had an absolute blast. You’ve inspired me to check out the train between Santa Fe and Albuquerque now! Can’t wait. 2. The lack of transit between Tucson and Phoenix is dreary. That’s all. Thanks for the great vid like always!

As an abq native I would love to see a video on the A.R.T. bus system, especially since you say it's one of the best brt systems in the nation but in town is has an EXTREMELY negative perception by most people for ALOT of reasons and taking the bus east of nob hill on central is basically seen as a deathwish as the homeless population basically hoards onto the bus and at the bus stops in that area

I love the NM RailRunner. I throw on my ear buds for music and watch the beautiful scenery and relax. Get into Santa Fe hang out around old town meet friends for dinner and drinks then hop back on and back to Abq.

I want to ride the Road Runner rail service more than any railway service in the U.S. Ever since i heard of it I've felt like it is the best looking train service in the nation. Its sad they say the service isn't doing so well because if it covered the same range as the bird (roadrunners) it would be a South West service that goes no farther east than Dallas and no further North than Denver/Salt Lake City/San Francisco, but that in itself would be an amazing service to cover the SW corner of the nation. If the U.S. and Mexico could ever get its relationship together it could even cover Northern Mexico.

Oddball trivia for you:.The schedule for the legislative meetings of the New York State Senate and Assembly in Albany are tied to the Amtrak schedule from NYC. They never schedule meeting starts before the ETA of the morning train from Penn/Moynihan on Tuesday mornings, when the legislators start work each week.

From ABQ. The Rail Runner is a point of pride among Burqueños. Glad to see it featured so prominently!

Used to live in a city of 200k inhabitants in southern Germany, not located in any greater city's metro area. With 5 lines (4 double tracked main lines and 1 single track main line) its Central Station is served by 222 passenger trains per day. No commuter rail service in or around that city, it's just plain normal trains. 205 of those are regional and regional express trains (also an international one), 17 are long distance and high speed trains

Nice video! I noticed you didn’t mention the South Shore Line, which is partly a commuter train and partly a interurban(often called the last interurban) It runs from South Bend, IN to Millennium station in downtown Chicago, and runs quite frequently, though not all trains, or even most go all the way to South Bend. This is probably partially due to the ongoing track construction. South Bend is a completely separate metro area, in another time zone. There are express trains that go end to end in about 2 hours, but normal ones take around 3 hours. It has 21 trains per day in one direction.

@deathtosquids

Жыл бұрын

the south shore line is great! I've used it end to end many times - super convenient, especially because a lot of times your only other non-car option is the greyhound bus.

@duneboi09

Жыл бұрын

I was also surprised that the Chicago South Shore & South Bend RR wasn’t mentioned. Currently weekdays there are 10 trains/day, and should increase once the double-tracking construction is completed in Spring 2024.

The worst part about the lack of the 3C+D line is that The Ohio State University football games exists and you could make the same argument that you did for the south and football. Also would be nice if Amtrak did move their Cleveland station into Terminal tower as it was built to be Cleveland's rail hub.

Hello from Tijeras, New Mexico! So proud as a New Mexican to watch this. I lived car-free in Albuquerque near UNM and I’ve always hoped we would get a mention in your videos! I used to ride the RR up to Santa Fe to see my aunt. Despite our rankings in certain lists, NM is a great place to live ♥️💛 Question, I’ve been told by out-of-staters that Santa Fe was the most ‘exotic’ U.S city they have visited, do you agree?

@CityNerd

Жыл бұрын

I could definitely imagine living car-free near UNM! Santa Fe...I'd have to think about it. It is the city different, right

I have taken this train from Albuquerque to Santa Fe, and it's the best train ride I ever had in the US.

Fun fact -- the number of trains between Los Angeles and San Diego per day is currently zero, because of a landslide which has shut down the lines around San Clemete!

Ah Wednesday, the day that I can always look forward to CityNerd exasperatedly pleading with me to 'make it make sense'

Having horrible transit is still better than none, which is the case in the majority of the US

Better Caul Saul took place between 2002 and 2008, so a majority of the series occurred before the RailRunner's opening in 2006.

Really looking forward to your New Mexico walk, bike, and bus videos!

Was sitting with my mom this morning, telling her about how I was researching trains and their availability here in SoCal, moaning about how bad it is when this popped up! Thanks for contributing to my research and offering a visual aid!

@gdrriley420

Жыл бұрын

If you want to lose the rest of a week go read LOSSAN plans and SLCOG coast rail studies which date back to the 90s.

@CityNerd

Жыл бұрын

Haha, glad I could be of use!

Regarding the Santa Rosa line; first of all traffic is a nightmare there in Santa Rosa and Petaluma. Many people who live North of the Golden Gate Bridge rely on public transit to travel to San Francisco or Marin. For example patients in need of specialized medical care. Another factor is the politics. Marin has been criticized as being elitists who don’t provide enough for transit. They voted down a train for years. It was finally approved and implemented. You can also take Golden Gate transit into SF or even bike in. It provides greater value than can be seen by numbers alone

Aw Albuquerque. They can't steal your car if you take the bus

@jacobrael9872

Жыл бұрын

Surprised nobody has stolen a bus yet

I grew up in Albuquerque and my family moved away 20 years ago, before the Rail Runner was put in place. My dad commuted to Santa Fe every day, by car. I think if the train had been available back then he would have taken that instead. It's a long commute through some pretty desolate country. If your car breaks down, or you get in an accident, it can be hard to get help (especially in a time before widespread cell phones). As for why the train is important, it's the same logic as the Empire line. You're connecting New Mexico's most populous city with the state capitol. There has always been a lot of communiting traffic between the two cities as a result. So a train makes sense. I'm glad to hear that public transit has improved in general since we lived there, as back then it was a very car centric city.

I'm always challenging folks to find two cities anywhere in the world, less than 150 miles from each other, each more than 1M pop, that are worse connected by intercity public transportation than Austin and San Antonio.

@soundsokf

Жыл бұрын

ok now I learned about Phoenix and Tucson, yikes

@BenriBea

Жыл бұрын

fr Txdot is so incompetent it makes me mad like instead of widening the already worlds widest freeway again and displacing thousands, maybe do something useful with our tax dollars for a change.

@paulizi6113

Жыл бұрын

León/Guadalajara/Aguascalientes, Mexicali/Tijuana and Saltillo/Monterrey just have private buses operating between them, while being the industrial leaders of the country, but the federal government decided that the sparsely populated Yucatan peninsula was a better place to invest in rail.

@bennyg2688

Жыл бұрын

Even my hometown of york, PA (population < 45,000) runs 6 daily express buses between baltimore and harrisburg, with a connection in the middle in york. One of the smallest cities provides better transit that giant metro areas

@kurtisokc

Жыл бұрын

I give you Oklahoma City and Tulsa

The Hiawatha line is seriously awesome, as the travel time rivals the NO TRAFFIC driving time, which is rarely ever the case for Chicago. It's definitely ripe for running more trains, and they're in the process of trying to make improvements to run 10 trains a day instead of 7. NIMBYs are holding up some projects though so I'll be curious to see if they're able to do the increased frequency or not.

@TheJohnnySlick

Жыл бұрын

Also it’s basically 8 trains a day because the Empire Builder runs through Milwaukee on its way to Seattle once a day.

@michalandrejmolnar3715

Жыл бұрын

How can Nimbys hold up more trains per day??

@reinatakagawa

Жыл бұрын

@@michalandrejmolnar3715 Presumably opposing infrastructure improvements and changes?

@saxmanb777

Жыл бұрын

@@michalandrejmolnar3715 they need to install a passing siding in Glenview, IL and the residents are balking at that.

@jacobkorducki6940

Жыл бұрын

@@TheJohnnySlick not really though because Amtrak won't let you book Empire Builder tickets between Chicago and Milwaukee

The pacific surfliner typically has more trains. There's currently major service disruptions due to cliff erosion. It's typically around 10 trains per day in each direction. The coaster Metrolink transfer actually doesn't add a ton of time if you take a good pair of trains, and it's a lot cheaper than the surfliner on weekends. Great for a weekend day trip.

@nathanielmackler7225

Жыл бұрын

And SMART is basically just shitty north bay bart.

Personally, I've only ever used SMART as an intercity line to get me most of the way to Healdsburg. It's being expanded up North despite no connectivity to many North Bay bedroom communities, so I'd imagine it's more for people like me rather than commuters.

@TohaBgood2

Жыл бұрын

There are a ton of commuters too. They're coming back slowly because SF is still pushing in the work from home an hybrid direction. But that's just because techies are less replaceable and have more leeway from their employers. Little by little the managers are herding them back to the office so SMART is becoming a commuter line again.

SMART is built on the former Northwest Pacific line which also terminated at a ferry depot, though back in time it was in Sausalito. SMART came about due to demand from locals asking for some other way of traversing area that wasn't the notoriously congested 101 freeway. the Northwest Pacific ROW was slated to have BART constructed in the initial design doc for the system but was nixed when the entire north bay opted out of the charter by way of popular vote. For the 1500 daily riders that use the system it does offer an alternative to driving. They do plan on expanding east by rehabing other disused rail ROW that exist in napa and solano counties but the already dismal ridership it does have means that if any of that is going to happen within any of our lifetimes it needs the funding.

@johndavis4233

Жыл бұрын

I've ridden the smart a few times, mostly as a commuter to and from Petaluma. Its almost always empty, but is a great alternative for driving.

@mitchbart4225

Жыл бұрын

SMART only opened in 2017. It was designed to serve Marin/Sonoma commuters to SF. All commuter-based transit services serving SF are having a tough time recovering from the pandemic due to the high level of continuing "work from home" in the Bay Area!

@THE_BATLORD

Жыл бұрын

@@mitchbart4225 True, but SMART's peak daily ridership was in 2018 when they did free fares and that netted a whopping... 4,735 people riding the train. For reference the ACE train gets this ridership on 4 trains ppd in 2021 and SMART runs 4x as many trains.

@nategelman7195

Жыл бұрын

Feel like the key for SMART Ridership is building more Transient Oriented Development. There's not enough dense housing development near the stations.

@haakenhaakensen1569

Жыл бұрын

@@johndavis4233 I agree that it is nice to have a train to yourself when someone else is paying.

Back when I was living in central New Mexico, I rode the Rail Runner often to get Albuquerque for school, and was disappointed by how sparse the schedule was, but it was a schedule more geared toward commuters who had 9 to 5 or 8 to 4 or 7 to 3 jobs, not students that desperately wanted to sleep in like me. Ugh, morning people. But it was a good train service, I just didn't appreciate how good the schedule was (for the US), I wanted it to be even better, though. The buses in Albuquerque also had great schedules on some core avenues, like Central and Lomas but outside of that it was more sparse. Looking at the bus schedules today, it looks like the less busy routes I remember have been classed commuter routes but even the busy routes have been reduced to 30 minutes between buses due to COVID, which is a horrible wait time if you miss a bus. At least the ART routes are 15 minutes between buses. Maybe some day the scheduling will return to something more frequent again. I think I remember the Rail Runner runs on rails shared by BNSF in the southern half of the route from Belen to Albuquerque and part of the route from Albuquerque to Santa Fe, but there isn't much freight that moves north/south. Most runs east/west, and most of it runs on rails south of Belen. So there wasn't much freight that the Rail Runner had to schedule around, but Amtrak does share part of the track twice daily. I think I do remember freight cars stuffed with automobiles on the north/south rail headed to the car dealerships in Albuquerque, maybe also tanker cars full of asphalt or something. I also remember how much of a stink Republicans raised when brand new track was built just for the Rail Runner to get into Santa Fe via a more direct and safer route. Otherwise, the train would have to use track that it would have needed to slowed down on to 15 mph over 35 miles of really curvy track. Thank God that New Mexico has been governed by sane Democrats willing to spend on infrastructure for the past few decades, despite being sandwiched between Republican controlled Texas and Arizona. Republicans do manage to complain about corruption loud enough to sneak in a Republican or Libertarian Governor once in a while, but they end up pulling the same corrupt BS they complained about, if they do anything at all. Republicans just never seem to learn that businesses just won't step up to build infrastructure that they won't profit from immediately from either user fees or advertising money. Government is mostly a big collection of services and infrastructure that needs to stay unprofitable so that for profit businesses can actually make a profit instead of paying fees and bribes for every single thing they do and paying "protection fees" to criminals. Austerity and low taxes don't solve any anything and certainly won't drag a state out of poverty. They just need to look at Mississippi, where I currently live, to figure that out. Politicians are still corrupt here, the roads are full of potholes, and everyone except Brett Farve is poor.

Excellent video as always, many trains but not many good trains😥

I did a car-free trip to Santa Fe and Albuquerque and also recommend it as a car-free destination. I loved the New Mexico Railrunner, goes right into the heart of Santa Fe which yes is a small city but has an outsized influence and is probably the most significant (historically, culturally, socially) small city in the US. There should be a lot more city pair services like the NMRR elsewhere. ART is pretty good BRT although question whether its really the best BRT line (I think Van Ness BRT is in SF). Also recommend Amtrak to Las Vegas, NM and Winslow, AZ with their functioning historic railroad hotels that are also active Amtrak stations (great one-night stopovers as part of longer Amtrak trips).

@frontiergame

Жыл бұрын

I really wish they would connect Albuquerque with Denver (or at least Colorado Springs) considering how Amtrak goes almost all the way to Pueblo CO. That whole corridor has really good potential

@patarite

Жыл бұрын

@@frontiergame YAASSSSS! Imagine El Paso to Denver or even Billings HIGH SPEED! That's the world I want to live in!

@koolmckool7039

Жыл бұрын

@@patarite I hope that if the Rail Runner is built all the way down to El Paso, or even just Las Cruces, it's built using high speed electric trains.

Hey Ray, European here, living around Larkspur (close to the #2 of the list SMART service. And btw, there was no#1 on your list, you just ended with #2 😢). It’s absolutely amazing, new funding got thrown their way a few years ago; we’re fighting lots of nimbys complaining about the “noise pollution of trains”, while they all live next to the highway… Anyway, one BIG fuck off with the smart train is that the starting station (LARKSPUR) has no direct bus connection (there is a bike path tho). Meaning, if you want to leave your car behind, you need to walk around 3/4 mile to/from the nearest transit stop. Awful

There's a track closure on a section between LA and San Diego right now, so capacity is limited by the number of buses Amtrak can operate through the closed section, reducing it to 5 per day. Pre-COVID it was 13 per day, and they're planning to operate 11 per day after the track is reopened.

@kevinconrad6156

Жыл бұрын

Any idea on when it will be fixed?

@JuanWayTrips

Жыл бұрын

@@kevinconrad6156 The latest news this week is not until February 😔 My hope is that they're building it to last longer so this doesn't become a yearly issue.

@danielcarroll3358

Жыл бұрын

@@JuanWayTrips Given rising sea level, it may become so. Hope the inland route with tunnel gets built in one decade instead of five.

@RichardGreen422

Жыл бұрын

I was going to mention this,. I love this train--and if they could get the travel time down from 3 hours to 2 (which is not even Acela speed), I am pretty sure there would be sufficient demand to have service every 1/2 hour.

@expiredmilk....8917

Жыл бұрын

@@RichardGreen422 they’re working on other improvements to the corridor by moving the tracks more inland to give a straighter alignment (and plus less erosion) and I think once they finish all of that work it’ll drop to 2 hours 20-30 from the current 3, but the proposed HSR link will be 90 minutes when it finishes in like 2045 or something

I grew up in ABQ and now live in Boston. I can confidently say that the Rail Runner is better than almost any rail service in the Northeast. Unfortunately, it’s the butt of jokes in NM and the vast majority of people still drive. 😢

One cool thing Livermore and the Central Valley are doing in California are building a spur from the ACE train to link up the Dublin/Pleasanton BART station allowing people in the central valley to be able to commute to the Bay Area w/o driving. The project is called Valley Link

Man this really just makes me appreciate my own home country of Denmark, even if people here constantly give the railways a ton of flag. Heck especially because we have a city pair very similar to that served by the RailRunner. That being Copenhagen to Odense. Copenhagen has around 800k living in its municipality (not counting the suburban municipality) and Odense has 205k in its municipality which covers the whole city. And the 2 cities are 87 miles apart as the crow flies. But the city pair has over 50 trains a day, and has at least 2 trains per hour between the 2 at most times of the day. Its not high speed either but the fastest Lightning train services take just 1 hour and 10 minutes to make the trip at a max speed of 112mph (compared to around 1 hour 40 minutes on the slower Intercity service), with plans underway to updrade the line to 125mph and shorten the journey time down to an hour flat. And the train is also very busy too. Heck due to the price of housing in Odense being half that of Copenhagen, its not uncommon to find long distance commuters who live in Odense and take the express train all the way to Copenhagen for work and back out again the other way. Then again the route also crosses a toll bridge which makes the train trip much more economically viable which is a big deal for trains. Its one of the few routes here where trains are the dominant mode of travel. Also goddamn New Mexico is an absolute chad on transit politics. Low fares during covid AND extensions of it into the fuel crisis! Heck the opposite is happening here. The only measure to increase ridership on transit here during covid was a one week nationwide transit pass that one could get for around 50 bucks. But because signing up for one required a danish specific 2fa system the whole thing was only available to Danish citizenships. And now with the rising fuel prices, the politicians haven't given transit agencies the relief funding for covid and fuel prices they asked for, now forcing them to increase prices by 5%. And the prices were already absurdly high, to the point where it in most cases is still far more economic to drive than to take transit. But the good thing I guess is that inflation is up 13+% so a 5% increase in ticket prices is technically a reduction compared to the prices of everything else. Even if no one's wages have gone up. Would love a video on the ART BRT. And man those train hating criticisms really annoy me, its what I hear so often from the right wing here, who will literally only approve transport infrastructure (that isn't highways) if its "Socio economically profitable" or "it pays itself back costing the tax payer nothing". They've already caused massive reductions in our transit services over the last 20 years, with people all over the country losing faith in public transit as a whole, while the primary left wing party is doing close to nothing! All while all the other left wing parties supporting their majority are screaming at them to get moving and do some transit positive policies.

Air travel also requires lots of public subsidies...If fliers had to pay for all that infrastructure themselves.🙄

Another dishonorable mention since you brought up the Keystone: The Pennsylvanian runs only runs one train per direction per day despite connecting the state’s two largest cities. It takes 7.5 hours to travel from Pittsburgh to Philly which is two and half hours slower than driving and a half hour slower than taking a Grayhound bus. Though half the time the train is delayed as it shares the track with Norfolk-Southern who seem to purposefully screw over Amtrak whenever they can. The good news is that PA has funded a plan to increase service frequency on the line and is planning to upgrade the infrastructure to increase the speed on the line. The bad news is that the state is letting NS do all of the upgrades, so who knows when this will actually happen

Santa Fe is very expensive to live in but it's the state capital and many people who work for the state live in ABQ. The Railrunner is caters to these workers. I used to live in Santa Fe and always wished the schedule worked better for going to Albuquerque and it's airport/sunport.

The frontrunner system in Utah deserves a shoutout imo - covers the entire wasatch front with trains running at least hourly, twice hourly during peak hours

@gabimismash

Жыл бұрын

Yeah I was surprised not to see it, it's a pretty decent service.

@davidferris8782

Жыл бұрын

I commented about this too

You're so right about the costs of college football stadiums. In the series "Stephen Fry in America" the British host travels to all 50 states and while at the Alabama/Auburn game is amazed by not only the size of the stadium (beating Wembley in capacity), but also the spectacle of an amateur sporting event that isn't even a championship game.

I am dying to hear more of your thoughts on NM and the urbanism that goes with Albuquerque/Santa Fe.

Not only do you speak nothing but facts but your voice is oddly relaxing as well. Viva la train revolution!

Houston should have so much more rail than it currently does. The departure board at our amshack has one row for a ride to LA. What about Austin, San Antonio, Galveston, Corpus Christi, Dallas? Texas needs more amtrak service yesterday.

I just got back from Denmark last week, and the trains there, from an American perspective, were remarkable. In Copenhagen S-trains, which is their commuter rail, ran every 10-16 minutes off peak. It made it incredibly convenient to get to places outside of Copenhagen proper. Completely unheard-of in North America, even in out largest cities like LA, NYC, and Toronto.

Just wanted to add some comparison for the 6th place candidates: Rail Runner service is 97 miles long and takes 2 hours 26 min to complete. Empire Service is 141 miles long and takes only 2 hours and 23 min. That being said I really want to visit Sante Fe now! Also Empire Service along the Hudson River Valley is pretty scenic, especially in the fall.

New Mexico is absolutely a top-5 destination in the United States. It’s especially great if you take your bike along. I haven’t done the Rail Runner (because I always visit by car), but will have to try it some weekend soon. Colorado needs a Fort Collins-Pueblo line and Denver-Aspen. I do at least see the Zephyr pretty often, as it follows I-70 and runs very near my house. It just happens to miss most of the ski resorts. But Boulder is going to wait 50 years for a train thanks to the freight operators owning the line they need.

The NMRX is a personal favorite of mine. I rode it as a kid when it opened. If they ever expand their fleet they should buy DMU trains. The roadrunner livery on a stadler flirt would look cool as hell.

Grew up in Albuquerque and I used to hate the transit there, then I moved to Portland, Maine and now I am soooo happy I got to experience good transit. Also would love to see a vid on ABQ!

The Larkspur, CA is a lot of SF/Silicon Valley commuters who live in Marin and have to get to work at least one day a week without having to get into a car. There's no chance of a rail link over the Golden Gate or a tunnel due to the depth of the strait. Maybe if they run trains over the Richmond bridge perhaps since the bay is shallow there to facilitate an additional rail bridge. Driving down 101 over the GG getting through the city and/or 19ave to hit 280 to points south like Palo Alto or Cupertino means a LONG time in a car not being able to work via a hotspot or onboard wifi.

@mitchbart4225

Жыл бұрын

Thats why Marin County opted out of BART participation during planning in 1962.

@lohphat

Жыл бұрын

@@mitchbart4225 There was the option of running BART train on a lower deck of the GG or on the Richmond bridge extending the Richmond (red) line but back in the 1950s when the BART taxes were levied in the east bay (Concord, Antioch, etc.) the population in Marin was much smaller and it wasn't the overflow population center it is now. Those who can't afford to live in SF, the peninsula, or the east bay, have to go north or northwest towards Vacaville (which is also overflow housing for SF as is Dublin/Pleasanton and points east like Livermore and Tracy).

I’m glad you enjoyed Albuquerque. I actually grew up in the area back in the 90s! I have an older bro that still lives there, so I’m always visiting. I really need to check out the Roadrunner Line next time I’m there, you sold me on the Santa Fe rail depot’s adjacent craft beer. Anyway, great video!! I also enjoyed that you gave a shoutout to Phoenix and Tucson desperately needing an intercity rail service.

Topic suggestion...All the hurdles associated with rail. I was on the train once (Seattle to Portland) and the director of Amtrak (or something like that, it was a while ago but he was a high ranking suit I know that.). He was talking about all the issues with getting train service through all the local municipalities and fighting with freight. Why does Amtrak not enforce its right of way? Why doesn't Amtrak work with municipalities to let them go faster. At the time he said most the trains can do 100 miles per hour but most municipalities will only let them go 50 and some will only let them go 30. He said each city can dictate speed. For example just in the seattle area alone they have to deal with Seattle, Tukwilla, Kent, Aubern, Tacoma, Algona and more. Thats all within 40 miles of Seattle. It doesn’t make any since. The point I am trying to make is that the real issue for fast reliable train service is not just nicer trains!

@AaronSmith-sx4ez

Жыл бұрын

I would be curious to know more about this too. I think there are a lot of hidden bottlenecks that rail faces that the public doesn't know about. The speed limits in cities I think are often set too low. If the train doesn't run at night, then noise IMO shouldn't be a factor in throttling speed. If there are at-grade crossings, then that should an excuse to cap those roads or construct highway overpasses over the rail lines.

I've taken the Hiawatha, and it's definitely popular. It's so popular, that I think it makes Milwaukee the second most popular train station in the Midwest. Lack of frequency probably has something to do with the Wisconsin DOT being pretty anti-train historically with absolutely toxic state politics. The fact that Wisconsin abandoned the Chicago and Northwestern mainline from Milwaukee to Madison is awful - and will make updating the Chicago - Twin City corridor even more difficult. And don't get me started about Scott Walker giving the federal money back for expanding Amtrak service to Madison back in 2009ish

@AaronSmith-sx4ez

Жыл бұрын

Hiawatha traffic doubled when they went to 7 round trips a day. The planned 10 round trips and increase in the travel speed should make super commuting viable on this line. Hopefully the talked about expansions to Madison go through...this has so much potential!

@andrewlindstrom9599

Жыл бұрын

@@AaronSmith-sx4ez Yeah, the Hiawatha is a good service - but need to convince the Wisconsin DOT to actually care about intercity rail for once. If service to Madison actually gets going, it should be relatively easy from Milwaukee - since the state owns the tracks that Wisconsin & Southern runs on from Milwaukee to Madison, it's just not as direct a route as the old C&NW line was.

Whatever happened to the intercity traffic between Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe?

The weird speed zones I think are the main reason the road runner goes much slower than car, it goes as fast as 90mph, but then goes like 30mph miles away from some of its city stops on straight good quality track. Also the wifi being broken for years is pretty annoying 😒

@charlessandoval3382

Жыл бұрын

Well you gotta give the bad drivers and drunks time to get clear of the tracks.

I really think that a good intercity rail line between Denver and Colorado Springs would be really beneficial for both cities and place in between, taking traffic off of 25 would be extremely nice, but who knows if that will ever happen

@wheeliebeast7679

Жыл бұрын

I've never even lived in Colorado but even to me that's made too much sense. Although I'd suggest a full-blown Pueblo to Cheyenne route.

@itsurboizman9230

Жыл бұрын

@@wheeliebeast7679 that would be good too, hitting fort collins or greeley would be great

@alechagen6291

Жыл бұрын

The fact that intercity commuter rail services commenced in both Utah and New Mexico in 2008 while Colorado STILL doesn't have an equivalent service (and might not until the 2040s) is majorly depressing. There are a number of factors that have come together to put Colorado in this sorry state of affairs, including poor FastTracks planning in the 2000s, TABOR, and an "all-or-nothing" mentality that doesn't accommodate the possibility of starting small with a 5-6x daily service on the freight corridor. And in my experience, CO very much attracts a certain limousine liberal demographic that claims to care about sustainability, but is way too individualistic and impatient to even consider taking mass transit.

I used to live in both Santa Fe & Albuquerque without a car. I would have died to be able to use the Railrunner! It is so much easier to fly into Albuquerque and I can see taking the train into Santa Fe. Same with Amtrak Southwest Chief. There’s also reservations and casinos along the way. I’m sure this train is good for tourists. Also many people go back and forth between those two cities They also blew it in Breaking Bad to not feature Frontier Coffee Shop. Check out Gruet Winery on the outskirts of ABQ

The saddest Amtrak situation, in my opinion, is Cleveland OH. Right in the middle of DC-CHI, or NY-CHI. A metro area of 3.5M, if you include Akron. And you can catch a train at 2am and 5am. That's it.

As a New Mexican train lover I ❤ the rail runner. In the summer time it’s also great for going to tastings at wineries in Santa Fe or Belen w/o having to make someone be a DD for that long of a drive

@Yarf.McBarf

Жыл бұрын

I absolutely adore the Rail Runner--once I manage to arrive at the station. That's the catch--my corner of Santa Fe is not well-served by buses, and bicycling to the nearest station is a harrowing experience.

@truthislife9

Жыл бұрын

@@Yarf.McBarf Same here. I'm in Albuquerque, but just about as far away from central Albuquerque as you can get while still being in the city. So it is a pain to get to any of the train stations without using a car. Possible...but a pain.

9:55 the fact that this hasn’t been done for the sounder south/cascades line from Seattle to Tacoma and on to Lakewood is a damn shame. The railroad has so much potential for all day service

I just learned about the SMART line recently from a local friend of mine while passed it! It’s meant to be a commuter line. The ferry port in Larkspur is actually a speed ferry and it goes to the Ferry Terminal in SF quite fast compared to the other lines in Marin. However, the SMART line only recently dropped it’s fares to something reasonable though still a bit expensive (1.50-7.50 per ride or 4.30 per day with a 31 day pass +the ferry, +transit in SF) so it doesn’t compete with driving to the ferry terminal as well as one would hope. There’s even a pedestrian walkway over the large boulevard that divides the two terminals which is nice because I wouldn’t want to try and cross the street. I’m hoping I get a chance to ride it when I visit the area again.

@TohaBgood2

Жыл бұрын

There's a pedestrian bridge right next to the station. I hope they just build another one running directly from the SMART station to the Ferry terminal! That would also work as a perfect extension of the rail trail!

@QuixoteCoyote

10 ай бұрын

@@TohaBgood2 Yeah it's so funny how there are TWO pedestrian bridges over that very busy boulevard, but both are just located wrong enough that it still makes more sense for most people to use the crosswalk.

@TohaBgood2

10 ай бұрын

@@QuixoteCoyote I mean, the fact that those exist is great if you're going from the ferry to the mall, I guess. But they really need to add a new one for the SMART train now that that is fully built and operational.

Just in case you didn't know, the Empire Service will increase its service between New York and Albany to 12 trains per day per direction starting December 5th. Great video!

@tylerthelen485

Жыл бұрын

How so? It'll be 7 Empire Services, then 1 each of the Maple Leaf, Lake Shore Limited, Ethan Allen Express, & Adirondack. That's 11

@thelorax4236

Жыл бұрын

@@tylerthelen485 There should be 8 Empire Services. I checked on Amtrak's website.

Haven't ridden the Brightline, but the TriRail in South Florida is pretty good. I'm 3 miles from a TriRail station near West Palm and I can easily take a train to either the Ft Lauderdale or Miami airports if I have to fly anywhere. I can also catch the MetroRail at the Miami airport if I want to go downtown. The service is pretty good, but nothing about it would be as bad as having to drive on I-95 through Broward or Dade counties.

2:06 According to a recent CNBC video, the law giving Amtrak trains priority over freight doesn't do anything because it's practically unenforceable. It seems certain provisions have been deemed unconstitutional, and only the Attorney General, not Amtrak itself, can bring the officially-termed "host railroads" to court over it. It's pretty amazing how many poison pills get written into seemingly pro-transit public policy.

@starventure

Жыл бұрын

If FRA was held to same standards as FAA, the freight railroads would think twice about screwing Amtrak over.

@kb_100

Жыл бұрын

All railroads should be nationalized. Privatize the rolling stock and services and charge a fee to use the tracks. The present situation with private railroads is so dumb.

@rorypaul153

Жыл бұрын

@@kb_100you mean….nationalize railroads that the private companies built? They’d gladly accept that as long as the government upkeeps them and pays the demanded price.

@kb_100

Жыл бұрын

@@rorypaul153 yes. Nationalizing the lines will allow new private operators to develop new services. Those companies would only need to buy their own trains. The barrier to entry will be infinitely lower than having to build their own tracks. There are many new private rail operators in Europe now because the tracks are nationalized and available to all.

@rorypaul153

Жыл бұрын

@@kb_100 MY POINT IS THAT THE GOVERNMENT WOULD HAVE TO BUY THE TRACKS. And this particular government is already in $31 trillion of debt…..

Visited Albuquerque last year. The woman I was visiting with told EVERYONE how I had taken the city bus to Wal-Mart. She acted like I had put my life on the line. Yeah, there were homeless folks on the bus. Yeah, I walked through what looked like an area where folks were living in their cars. No one said, "Boo" to me, and I didn't have any problems.

@pfmrodino

7 ай бұрын

People who don't take transit enthusiastically talk about it.

@flanadu

6 ай бұрын

There's a definite stigma around buses that somehow most train lines seem to miss. Though if you talk to RTD W Line riders here in Denver they have horror stories about people smoking meth/fentanyl/whatever on the trains.

Digging your content once again City Nerd. Great qualitative research and feedback.

New Mexico isn’t the greatest at much but this is where they lead by example! 👏 👏 You should definitely do a video on their bus system.

The idea for the Sonoma Marin Area Rail Transit aka SMART train was to relieve some congestion off of the CA-101 corridor. The train terminates at the Larkspur Ferry Terminal where you catch a high speed ferry to downtown San Francisco. The Smart runs all the way to the Santa Rosa Airport which lots of people are using as a regional alternative to driving to San Francisco Airport or Oakland. I am a member of the union who represents the ferry boat workers, and have worked on the Larkspur Ferry. During the evening commute, passengers literally run off the boats to get in their cars to hurry and get on CA-101 to because there will be gridlock getting back up to Santa Rosa. SMART works somewhat to help alleviate the congestion.

Hiya! Bay Area native here. I have lived a majority of my life here and didn't even know the SMART existed until about a year ago and it didn't make much sense so I asked a good friend that grew up in San Rafael and this is what she told me at the time. It picked up and used some of the building and station infrastructure from the 40s and 50s. There are some super commuters but it's primarily there to connect the North Bay to itself. There is this idea that Marin wanted rail but didn't want to deal with the BART system. (It was originally supposed to be connected to BART but isn't. That whole drama is enough for a whole video!) TLDR: it's a system that is useful but only in specific circumstances and not for a majority of the population.

@haakenhaakensen1569

Жыл бұрын

Actually, the reason we didn't want BART here might be interesting enough to warrant a video. There is a video on the topic we show at the Sausalito library every other year.

To my surprise you were on Seattle AM1000 radio today. The segment was about how you picked Lumen Field as the 10th best soccer stadium in the U.S. The broadcaster spoke about your credentials, this channel, and of course Lumen Field as well as other stadiums on your list. He played edits of the KZread video. Quite a surprise to be driving along listening to AM news when all of a sudden I'm hearing CityNerd.

@CityNerd

Жыл бұрын

Amazing! I grew up with Seattle AM radio, KOMO has been around forever! Very cool.

Iowa might be the weirdest state in terms of what Amtrak service it offers. The eighteen largest cities have no Amtrak station. The nine “metropolitan areas” (defined as having one urbanized area of 50,000 people or more) have no service. The closest train to Des Moines (the largest city and political and cultural capitol) is in a small town 45 minutes away, and there is nothing near any of the three large public universities. But you can take a train from Burlington (pop. ~24,000) to Mt Pleasant (pop. ~ 9,000, about a 30 minute drive from Burlington) to Ottumwa (pop. ~ 25,000, about an hour drive from Mount Pleasant.) To steal a page from Ray’s book, make it make sense Iowa.

Glad you enjoyed your trip to NM. I loved using the rail runner when I lived there, and I hope they expand it one day.

Thank you for your delicacy, kindness, and tact in not discussing the passenger rail situation in Canada. Normally, of course, robust criticism is a first step for improvement, but Via Rail's so feeble the discouragement might kill it.

@hgman3920

Жыл бұрын

But at least it’s very apologetic despite its failings

@ozgirl45

Жыл бұрын

It is indeed sad. The route from Quebec City through Montreal to Toronto (and to Ottawa) presents no geographic difficulties- it’s flat land! - so it’s amazing that a decent fast rail system hasn’t been developed. I remember one attempt at “high speed rail” in the 1970s on existing track: the trains were cute but I don’t remember that they were actually “fast” and sadly the equipment failed to cope with Canadian winter conditions so it was discontinued. I think the testing had been done in somewhere like Texas.

@kb_100

Жыл бұрын

The Quebec-Windsor corridor is getting a big upgrade with the "high-frequency rail" project and brand-new trains on dedicated passenger tracks. So now at least we'll be 50 years behind other countries rather than 80 years behind them. Progress?

@flargus7919

Жыл бұрын

@@kb_100 I was pretty excited for the high frequency rail project until the feds announced earlier this year that they want to partner with a private company who will operate and maintain the HFR corridor instead of Via Rail. Via would then lose its one and only viable/profitable route and is left with serving the rest of the country, which is a massive money-loser. Sigh...

@robertcartwright4374

Жыл бұрын

@@ozgirl45 I believe that was the Turbo Train.

As mentioned the Surfliner has reduced service because of the cliffs near San Clemente which may not get repaired until February. The cliffs at Del Mar also cause similar cancellations. And generally there are a a bunch of track oddities which makes the service slow but p

About SMART operation, some of the factors driving this operation: 1.It happens to connect the centers of a number of relatively closely spaced pleasant smaller cities. The stations are right near restaurants, shops etc. 2. There is only one freeway ( US 101) connecting these cities. It becomes extremely congested at times. 3. Some of the intermediate stops are at modern and desireable residential subdivisions. 4. Good interconnections with the regional bus operator ( Golden Gate Transit) in San Rafael, Petaluma Santa rosa etc. 5. Clean, attractive rolling stock with a conductor on board keeping an eye on things. 6. Ridership: In addition to the normal commuters, shoppers and visitors, I have seen a surprising number of high school students and bicyclists on board. Overall, this operation strikes me to be more like a classic interurban ( minus the street running), rather than an intercity train connecting larger metropolitan area's.

I'm from Sonoma County (although I live in LA now). People live in Sonoma County and work in Marin, so I believe it's mostly a commuter rail. I tell my family and friends who live there to use it but they always find excuses to get stuck in terrible traffic instead. Some people do take it to the Larkspur ferry (my friends biked to the train to do this, and then went to Hardly Strictly in Golden Gate Park). I think the train is under used, but that's mostly because most of Marin and Sonoma are absurdly car-dependent. Sebastopol is one of the only walkable places, but it doesn't have a train station (even though there used to be a Santa Rosa - Sebastopol line like 40 years ago) and the town still has a lot of old-rail-town aesthetic (like a train station cafe and a themed bar and a restaurant inside an old train car). And the main reason they didn't build the train all the way to SF is that Marin-ites are filthy NIMBYs who were convinced a train to SF (the richest city in the country) would bring too many poors into their enclave. I personally have never used the train because I fly directly from Burbank to Santa Rosa and mostly just walk around Sebastopol where my family lives.

@haakenhaakensen1569

Жыл бұрын

Almost everything here is inaccurate except that that we are car dependent. Sausalito, Tiburon and Mill Valley all have easy and quick bus access to the City within moments. There were good reasons we didn't bring BART over here and not because of "too many poors." That is pretty insulting.