Why is rail travel in the US so rediculously cheap?

Question

To go from New York to Los Angeles by train return it costs $368, I was amazed. To be charging so little for such a huge journey (roughly 70 hours of journey time) Amtrak must be operating at a loss. In the UK and many other European countries, $368 would be the cost of a 5 hour journey, let along 70 hour.

How can Amtrak manage this?

Answer 1

You need to look at your schedule a bit closer...  That $368 gets you a coach class seat on the train.  Nothing else. No food, no entertainment, no place to sleep.  Just the seat, and believe me, sitting up and trying to sleep in one of Amtrak's hard, lumpy seats for 70 hours is no picnic!  If you wanted a bedroom on the train, (which does include meals) it would cost you another $1315.00, for a total of $1683.00 for the one-way trip from NY to LA.  For that kind of money you could book a first class ticket on one of the national air lines, and get there in 5-6 hours instead of rattling along on a train for three days.

Answer 2

it takes along time to get to the place you are going, alot of people will just go into the airports and get raped by them. but get to there destination faster then rail.

Answer 3

The key words in your question are "Amtrak operating at a loss."  Has always been in constant need of infusions of cash "donated" by the populace through the miracle of Income Tax, just to operate at that loss.

But, for a cross country journey, your gonna spend a chunk o' change to make the trip in comfort.  Which makes sense, in a way.  If you can afford the luxury of the time to make the trip, it is presupposed that you have the cash to do so as well.  Time and money kind of go hand in hand, but to make such a trip in comfort you need plenty of both.

The ridiculous example above (Texas to New Mexico via Illinois) is indicative of the problems (You sure about that, Terrell?  Not that I'd be surprised...) that constantly contribute to the loss.

Answer 4

They have to be to draw riders.    

Consider this.   Dallas TX  to Albuquerque NM,   44 hours on train,   5 hours in stations switching trains,   3 different trains,    $256 cheapest fare via Amtrak.

The above example requires two transfers in Illinios!

Dallas to Albuquerque,     barely over an hour,   one airplane,  $180 or so,  full fare.    Southwest Airlines.

Our passenger rail service in the states needs serious improvement.    However,   the current  freight rail companies are hesitant to get into this business without protection from lawyers and liability,   and don't want to spend the money to upgrade tracks for this purpose  without assurance of a good return on investment.     Some have suggested high speed rail,  but for most distances this is cost prohibitive.

Answer 5

Like all rail passenger service, Amtrak is partially subsidized by the gov't.

Rail passenger service rally cant operate on a profitable basis, it would be too expensive so the fares are set by men in wizards costumes on the dark of the moon.

Trying to make sense of it is beyond human comprehension,

Answer 6

I'll use a NON-Amtrak rail-travel example:  The Altamont Commuter Express - there are ten stops along its 86 mile (138 km) route, resulting in a total travel time of approximately 2 hours and 10 minutes end-to-end. Despite the fact that the tracks ACE runs on are owned by Union Pacific, ACE rarely experiences long delays as a result.

ACE uses VERY new equipment, is comfortable, and is always FULL.

Now, I ride it once a month to travel out to my brother's ranch (rather than spending 3 hours in the rush-hour traffic and using a full tank of gas)... so I buy ONE round-trip ticket at the station for $19.75.  I know that commuters who take it daily pay less than 75% of that.

WHY ?? It's a government subsidized program... though it's running CLOSE to the black !

I've priced out Amtrak CROSS-COUNTRY, and it's very expensive unless you live in the ONE or TWO "hubs" like NY or LA... Example, to get from San Jose to LA, I have to take a BUS half way, and it's three times the cost of a Southwest Air ticket.

Southwest flies that route 8 times a DAY... Amtrak does it ONCE a day

Answer 7

I looked at this some while ago and was amazed as well. The answer about coach class isn't comparing like with like. A return fare of $368 equates to under £200 which is hardly enough to buy you a second (or coach) return from London to Manchester (ignoring special offers).  A return ticket on Monday's sleeper to Fort William will cost £118 - or about $200 - this for a journey of 450 odd miles and lasting 12 hours as compared with one of 3000 miles lasting nearly 6 times as long. A first open return would cost £257, or about $500.