/biz/ - Business & Finance

>>53666571
compare this map of germany to the above map of california. notice how germany has LOTS of high-pop and medium-pop cities that are worth it for a train to stop at?

if you'd like to see the problem america has, consider the Amtrak line "The Pennsylvanian."

At one end, it stops in Philadelphia, Newark, and NYC in rapid successoin - these are all very populous of course, but they're very close together, and there's plenty of other ways to get between them.

At the other end, it stops in Pittsburgh, a pretty good sized city by American standards.

What's in between? Fucking nothing. But the train stops at 20 different little bumfuck towns. Altoona. Paoli. Elizabethtown. Almost every passenger is going from NYC or Philly to Pittsburgh or vice versa - almost nobody boards or detrains in the stops in the middle, but they have to keep servicing them for political reasons.

As a result, The Pennsylvanian takes 8 hours to go a distance that takes 6 and a half to drive. At least it's cheap because it's usually half empty.