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Why Amtrak Is Undermined by America's Geography
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Mar 31, 2025
Amtrak is the United States' only cross-country passenger trail service. And this means that its been tasked with moving people around a country that is otherwise really large. Unfortunately, due to the prominence of cars and planes, ridership of passenger rail in the United States dipped considerably in the 1900s and never really recovered, even as other countries, such as China, rapidly build out a national high speed rail system that far and away surpasses Amtrak's meager routes. So what's going on? Well, the geography of it all certainly doesn't help!
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Europe's crisscrossing passenger rail system sees millions of travelers pass through it every day
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China built a national high-speed rail network in 15 years, connecting all of its major cities
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And India is rolling out a national high-speed rail network as you watch this video
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But the United States? Almost nothing. So why hasn't Amtrak been able to grow and expand its footprint when far less wealthy countries have
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Well, it all starts with the country's unique geography and a rail history like no other
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Oh, real quick, if you want, you can watch me experience 46 hours on an Amtrak train
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Just stick around until the end. In the early years of the United States, passenger rail was the backbone of transportation
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and a key driver of the country's growth. From about 1850 to 1920, the country raced to connect cities, towns, and rural areas by rail
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in the hopes of pushing people west. At the time, railroads offered an unprecedented level of mobility
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making cross-country travel not only possible, but relatively efficient compared to earlier methods like stagecoaches
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It's hard to imagine now, but a trip across the country dropped dramatically
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from a six-month, hard journey to a single week riding on a train
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Of course, a critical milestone in this expansion was the completion of the first transcontinental railroad in 1869
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which linked the Eastern Rail Network with the Pacific Coast for the first time
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This monumental achievement solidified rail as a cornerstone of national cohesion and economic integration
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The Northern Pacific Railway, completed in 1883, further expanded these connections by linking the Midwest
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to the Pacific Northwest, opening up vast new territories for settlement and commerce
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Prior to this, the West Coast cities of San Francisco, Portland, and Seattle may as well have been
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in a different country. By the 1900s, the United States boasted one of the world's most comprehensive rail systems
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in the world, with nearly every corner of the country accessible by train
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At this point, it was the envy of the modern world. However, as the automobile industry expanded
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and air travel became more accessible, passenger rail began a steep decline in the United States
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The rise of the interstate highway system in the 1950s, along with increasing car ownership
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diverted travelers away from trains. And airlines, subsidized through government investment in airports and air traffic control
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offered faster alternatives for long-distance travel. By the 1960s, passenger railroads were losing money
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And private companies, originally responsible for passenger service, began cutting routes and focusing on freight, which was far more profitable
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Because of this, the federal government stepped in during the early 1970s to prevent the complete collapse of passenger rail
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In 1971, Amtrak was created as a semi-public corporation to take over passenger services from struggling private railroads
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Amtrak inherited a patchwork of aging equipment and routes, and it lacked the ownership of most of the physical rail lines
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Instead, these tracks remained in the hands of freight rail companies, which prioritized their own cargo operations over passenger trains
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This meant Amtrak had to negotiate access to rail, often relegating its trains to secondary priority
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resulting in delays and limited expansion opportunities. While some routes like the Northeast Corridor between Boston and Washington D remain competitive with high ridership much of its network serves less populated areas with infrequent service The dwindling level of connectivity and the lack of investment in passenger rail have left large swaths of the country without viable train options
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reflecting a stark contrast to the golden age of rail travel. But this doesn't mean passenger
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Just go to hellofresh.com slash geography10fm. America's number one meal kit. Amtrak today operates as the almost sole provider of passenger rail in the United States
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managing a network that spans over 21,000 miles and connects more than 500 destinations across
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46 states. But despite this extensive reach, the reality is far less comprehensive than it appears
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In reality, Amtrak isn't all that accessible for much of the country
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and traveling by rail remains an afterthought in the vast majority of Americans' travel plans
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overshadowed by air and road options. Compare Amtrak to China, which has 28,000 miles of high-speed rail
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or Europe with over 125,000 miles of passenger rail, and you can begin to see where Amtrak doesn't hold up
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But also, not all of Amtrak is created equally. Amtrak's flagship services reflects its uneven distribution of success
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The Acela Express, serving the densely populated Northeast, is its most profitable route
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attracting business travelers and commuters with higher speed service between Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, New York City, and Boston
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In 2024, nearly 3.3 million people rode the Acela, which is an extremely impressive number
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To put this in perspective, the air route with the most annual ridership in the United
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States is between Atlanta and Orlando, with about 3.5 million. But remember, Acela is the exception
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in this case, not the rule. The vast majority of its regional routes get fewer than 500,000
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annual riders, with some getting fewer than 100,000. That's pretty bad. Meanwhile, iconic
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long-distance trains like the California Zephyr and the Southwest Chief offer scenic journeys
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but struggle with delays due to their long routes and even more limited ridership
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The highest performing long distance route is the Silver Star between New York City and Miami
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and had only 388,000 riders in 2024. Because of this, Amtrak has begun charting a new course for its future
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Its ambitious Amtrak Connects Us plan aims to expand service to 160 new communities by 2035
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adding over 30 new routes and improving service on existing ones. Proposed expansions include new corridors connecting cities like Atlanta and Nashville Phoenix and Tucson and Cleveland and Columbus addressing gaps in the current network Additionally projects like the Gateway Program which focuses on modernizing the critical rail infrastructure between New Jersey and New York promise to improve reliability on one of its busiest corridors
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Now, all that said, Amtrak doesn't really operate any high-speed rail like Europe
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China, or Japan. The Acela is as close as it gets, but that line tops out at 150 miles per hour
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and only for a short 50-mile stretch. Compared to Europe, which tops out at 186 miles per hour
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China, which goes up to 217 miles per hour, and Japan's Shinkansen at 200 miles per hour
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and you can see where Amtrak is lagging behind. High-speed rail remains a long-term goal for Amtrak
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but its progress is slow at best. In the meantime, Amtrak is focusing on replacing its aging fleet
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with more efficient and environmentally friendly trains aiming to attract a new generation of travelers
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For all its aspirations, Amtrak remains a system defined by compromise. And this is largely due to a combination of problems
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But primarily, it's the vast geography of the United States that presents the biggest obstacle
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A common refrain among critics of Amtrak is that the United States
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should be able to replicate China's success in building a high-speed rail network
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In 2008, China had just four short high-speed rail lines, none of which were connected to each other
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But by 2017, almost every major city in China was directly connected to each other by high-speed rail
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This dramatic transformation seemed impossible when China laid out its plans, but they proved that it was, in fact, very doable
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Compared to Amtrak, which hasn't introduced any new routes on the tracks it fully owns
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you can clearly see the big difference between the two countries. Now, on the surface, the comparison seems reasonable
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Both nations are basically the same physical size, with sprawling populations and growing transportation needs
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However, the similarities end there in my opinion, mostly because the population density of the two countries is very different
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At present, the population density of the United States is just 91 people per square mile
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whereas China boasts a population density of 390 people per square mile
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In essence, China is about four times as dense as the United States
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Moreover, while China's high-speed rail network is indeed a remarkable feat of engineering
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it's primarily concentrated in the eastern half of the country, where the vast majority of its population resides
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Western China, with its deserts, mountains, and very sparsely populated areas, has far fewer lines
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reflecting the economic and logistical realities of building rail infrastructure in less dense
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regions. In contrast, the United States population is more evenly distributed, with nearly a fifth of
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its population residing west of the Rockies. This means that China's already far denser population
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is, in actuality, far more dense when you just look at where its population lies
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If we remove Xinjiang, Tibet, and Qinghai from China based on their very low populations
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China's population density rises to over 600 people per square mile. Which means it's far easier to connect the overwhelming majority of China's population
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than it is the United States. But the United States has another problem
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The physical geography of the country presents a major challenge in building high-speed rail
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The western half of the country is dominated by the Rocky Mountains, vast deserts with their own mountain ranges
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and then, of course, the coastal mountain ranges. These features make constructing and maintaining rail infrastructure both costly and complex While historic railroads managed to carve routes through these formidable landscapes those lines were designed primarily for freight and slower scenic passenger travel
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not the high speed and efficiency required by modern rail. But even in the eastern half of the
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United States, where population density is higher, the challenges of creating a cohesive
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rail network persist. You see, unlike in China or even Europe, property rights in the United States
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are incredibly strong. For a new track to be laid, Amtrak would need to buy the land from a vast
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swath of different people with different interests. And this often balloons costs in the best scenarios
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and outright stalls development in the worst, such as when one property owner simply doesn't want to
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sell their land for a train. Now imagine Amtrak building a line from the east coast to the west
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coast. Simply navigating property rights makes the problem exponentially more challenging. Of course
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Amtrak does operate several routes that connects the coasts, such as the California Zephyr and the
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Southwest Chief. But these long-distance lines are poorly integrated with each other. For example
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as of today, a traveler heading to Denver, Colorado from Albuquerque, New Mexico
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which is physically only about 350 miles apart, would have to connect through either Los Angeles
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in the west or Chicago in the east before heading to their final destination. This lack of
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interconnectedness limits the utility of these routes for anything beyond traveling cross-country
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for pure leisure. Furthermore, Amtrak's reliance on freight-owned rail lines makes these issues
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even worse. Freight companies prioritize their own operations, causing frequent delays and
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constraining Amtrak's ability to expand or modernize its network. This fragmented and
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outdated infrastructure has left Amtrak with little hope of achieving the comprehensive
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high-speed network that critics often demand and that other countries, such as China and India
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have been able to implement. Because of all this, the future of rail in America likely doesn't lie
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with a single national carrier like Amtrak, but with smaller, regionally focused high-speed rail
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projects. Initiatives such as California High-Speed Rail aim to connect the state's major cities with
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fast, efficient service, while Brightline Rail in Florida and its planned extension between Los
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Angeles and Las Vegas showcase the potential of privately funded rail systems in areas with high
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demand. Projects like the Central Texas Railway, which aims to link Dallas and Houston, and the
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proposed Pacific Northwest high-speed rail corridor between Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver highlight the importance of tailoring rail solutions to regional needs. Even Amtrak's own
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Acela service in the Northeast Corridor exemplifies how concentrated high-speed rail can succeed in
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densely populated regions with strong economic ties between its cities. These regional projects
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reflect the realities of America's geography and demographics, offering a pragmatic alternative to
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an unwieldy nationwide high-speed rail network that will likely never exist in the United States
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By focusing on specific corridors where rail can compete with cars and airplanes
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these initiatives have the potential to reshape travel for millions of Americans
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And while the dream of a coast-to-coast high-speed rail system remains enticing
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these regional projects will hopefully demonstrate that rail can play a vital role in America's
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transportation future. Passenger rail isn't dead in the United States. In fact, it's very much alive and growing
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And I can prove it, because I just spent 46 hours on an Amtrak heading from Chicago all
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the way to Portland, and you can watch that video right here. I hope you enjoyed learning all about Amtrak's unique geographic problems
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If you did, why not check out this video on Astoria, the West Coast's failed major city
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Thanks for watching. See you next week
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