this post was submitted on 03 Oct 2025
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Why not just take the High Speed Rail and get there in 45 minutes instead?
US High Speed Rail:
When this baby hits 88Mph, you’re gonna see some serious shit
Hey now, don't knock the Big Boy. He could reach 80mph, that's much faster than most of our rail in the US.
Oh, I'm just kidding. I've only gotten to see 4014 up close once but man is it impressive.
back when America knew how to dominate the rail scene
idk if I want to ride a train that goes at Mach 2.3 personally.
I'll wait until it's proven, then I'll go find a g suit.
That's gonna be a while. Current speed record from what I see for passenger trains is around 350 miles per hour. The quick math I did for getting from NYC to Miami in 45 minutes needed like 1,700mph. From what I'm seeing even the experimental stuff right now doesn't get above 400mph.
Just railgun the Europeans across the country
SR-71 has entered the chat.
Fuckin wheee.
All things serve the beam.
Blaine is a pain, and that is the truth
Their low-soeed can't even stay on the rails. I think it may be some time before the once masters of rail enter the current century.
I looked at taking a train from Albuquerque to Denver for a concert, the trip takes 2-3 days and goes from Albuquerque toto Chicago to Denver and one way cost more than a round trip flight. For reference, it is a 7ish hour drive.
I live near SLC and go get to San Francisco is about 18 hours, and that's a straight shot. Coach costs about $120, each way, which is about the same price as a non-budget airline. There's only one train each day and it runs from midnight to about 6PM the next day.
By car it's about 11 hours and about 2 hours by airplane.
So it's:
There are tons of places I just can't get to, like Las Vegas.
If I was retired or something when spending more time was totally fine, I'd consider taking the train. But as it stands, it's just not a practical option unless the train is the destination.
Their long hauls are definitely more vacation based, where the ride is part of the journey - and if you're not into that then I get how you feel. Amtrak has been doing a great job at refocusing on corridors. The east coast obviously, then they're working hard on a few key ones like:
Those are all shorter trips that don't make much sense to fly with how short it is, and with a few daily trips makes traveling between those cities much easier. Personally those are much better usages of Amtrak's time. I've taken the Portland-Seattle-Vancouver one multiple times and it's so much nicer than driving - but it's max 4 hours.
I wish they'd upgrade their long haul routes to go faster. There's one from SLC to SF I'm interested in, but it takes 18 hours, vs 11 by car or 2 by plane. If it was faster than driving, I'd consider it to avoid the airport.
I don't blame them for focusing on the easier trips though.
Same, but with the limited funding I get why. Shorter trips like that make money, long hauls don't - and since they don't own the tracks they can't even upgrade them or begin to do anything. I will say 18 is a lot (especially in a coach seat), but there is a positive of not having to drive. I usually take my steam deck and just zone out. Overnights though are tough in coach, for that you really have to want to be there.
Yeah, if I want to go anywhere interesting, it would be an overnight trip, with kids. A sleeping room is way too expensive, so it's a nonstarter. If it was 3x the speed, it would probably be fine, especially if they left in the morning instead of the evening.
So yeah, the only train I take is the commuter, and only to go to the airport because there's no connection from the train to my work (there's a way to get there, but the trip would take 2 hours each way). The commuter can't go very fast because it has to stop every 5-10 miles, but it's fine since it goes about as fast as a car.
So yeah, here's hoping Amtrak can make enough on the east coast to be able to upgrade the west coast.
I get that, but I was looking for an alternative to driving 14 hours round trip. Even if the trip took 7 hours each way, I am not driving it. But to go from 7 hours to 45 hours is insane. For a show on the 5th of November in Denver I have to leave Albuquerque on the 3rd, then leave Denver on the 6th to get back home on the 8th. $171 for the cheap seats each way.
are you in the same school as this picard maneuver guy?