[HN Gopher] Amtrak Explorer
___________________________________________________________________
Amtrak Explorer
Author : admp
Score : 107 points
Date : 2023-09-28 19:17 UTC (3 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (amtrakexplorer.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (amtrakexplorer.com)
| mayormcmatt wrote:
| This is really beautiful and I love it on multiple levels. It's
| been a garbage day and this lifted my spirits. Thank you so much.
| broabprobe wrote:
| dang, too bad it's out of date. The Ethan Allen Express has
| extended up to Burlington for over a year now...
| PaulDavisThe1st wrote:
| There's a new kid on the block (as of last week), not Amtrak, not
| on the map, in Florida (oh dear), not really high speed, but
| fingers crossed!
|
| Brightline Orlando<->Miami (occasionally at 125mph)
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yu18ZqWgQM4
| reilly3000 wrote:
| That is so heartening to hear there is new rail service opening
| in our time. It's seemed impossibly difficult to even get
| another train on the schedule with Amtrak. The only train that
| I can take departs at 2:45am and I'm been told by anyone who
| will hear me that it hasn't changed in 80+ years and never
| will. I kinda love that it's in Florida; if it went forward
| there then anything is possible.
| xyzelement wrote:
| I don't understand the need to make embarrassed noises around
| "Florida". I am a New Yorker who gets to visit Miami with
| regularity including during COVID and from my obviously limited
| perspective, it's a well run place, much more so than NY to use
| an obvious example.
|
| To make this more objective - you meet tons of folks in Florida
| who moved from another state recently and never the other way.
| [deleted]
| crazygringo wrote:
| That's cool. Definitely never occurred to me that there are whole
| states in the contiguous-48 without Amtrak at all (South Dakota,
| Wyoming). And then more that are "just barely" (Idaho, Tennessee,
| Kentucky).
| jcranmer wrote:
| To be frank, a large portion of the US West is utterly devoid
| of population. The largest city in SD is ~300k in MSA, and the
| largest city in WY is ~100k. Trying to make a route to Sioux
| Falls, SD pretty much means skipping both Minneapolis (3.7M)
| and Des Moines (700k), while going to Cheyenne, WY means
| skipping Denver (~3M).
|
| The largest cities not served by Amtrak are Phoenix (although
| it is indirectly served via Maricopa), San Francisco (though
| indirectly served via Oakland), Las Vegas, Columbus, Tulsa,
| Honolulu, and oh look we're out of 1M+ MSAs.
| buildsjets wrote:
| Looking forward to the opening of Amtrak service to Honolulu.
| AlotOfReading wrote:
| It's _very_ charitable to describe Phoenix as served by
| Maricopa station, even indirectly. It 's 45min/30mi away on
| the other side of a mountain range in the middle of the
| desert. It's not even in the same county.
| bombcar wrote:
| That's closer than much of LA is to the train stations.
| uneekname wrote:
| I love Amtrak, and it seems to be getting more popular lately. I
| hope to see more funding and support for passenger rail in the
| U.S.'s future.
|
| I've started commuting by Amtrak, as I'm lucky enough to have the
| flexibility to work around its limited schedule. My quality of
| life is so much higher now that I don't drive. Also every single
| Amtrak employee I've met so far has been super nice.
|
| The website and app are trash. I was not able to buy a ticket on
| my desktop, I had to use the app. The app decides to reload all
| the time, sometimes losing my ticket if I don't have cell
| service. I have no idea what kind of APIs are available, but if
| anyone has an idea for fixing this please let me know.
| privacythrow23 wrote:
| Do you love trains or Amtrak?
|
| Because Amtrak isn't all that great from what I remember, there
| are far better carriers but maybe not in the US.
| eskibars wrote:
| Personal pet project for my son who loves seeing trains: I'm
| trying to get a system set up to auto-rotate through live webcams
| when the trains are most likely to show up through their live
| location status. https://train.api.connelly.casa/
| pluto_modadic wrote:
| The one the conductor I met used is https://asm.transitdocs.com/,
| it shows where the train should be (if it updated its position),
| and delays and such. Where the Amtrak data is always a point in
| time.
| capableweb wrote:
| Are these all the railway tracks in the US or just the ones
| Amtrak operate with?
|
| For comparison, I found this map of European rails:
| https://www.eurorailcampaignuk.org/railway-map-of-europe/eur...
|
| Seems the least dense (in terms of railway) European countries
| still have better coverage than the most dense US state.
| jcranmer wrote:
| > Are these all the railway tracks in the US or just the ones
| Amtrak operate with?
|
| The latter.
|
| Openrailwaymap.org has a better picture of all the track in the
| US, although it seems that the US has a very different ratio of
| main/branch track (which you can't see until you zoom in) than
| Europe does.
| 1-more wrote:
| Amtrak is the big interstate rail company. There are many small
| railroad that art more densely packed around a metro area or
| within one small state. For instance, you can get from Newark,
| DE to Springfield, MA entirely on regional trains: SEPTA from
| Newark, DE through Philadelphia, PA to Trenton, NJ; NJ Transit
| from Trenton to Penn Station in New York City; NYC subway from
| Penn Station to Grand Central Terminal (if you have a heavy
| luggage, otherwise just walk), Metro North from GCT to New
| Haven, CT; Hartford Line CT Rail from New Haven, CT to
| Springfield, MA.
|
| Each leg of that trip on a commuter train probably had 5 to 25
| stops in between stations I mentioned, and each of those rail
| systems branches out in various directions to serve the
| commuters of that area getting into the cities I mention.
| Amtrak also runs about the same route with way fewer stops.
|
| The US used to be more rail dense. It still has the longest
| total railroad of any country in the world at 220k KM, but
| that's down from a peak of 408k KM
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_rail_tran...
| (a fair bit over one light-second, kinda cool).
| jcranmer wrote:
| > Amtrak is the big interstate rail company.
|
| This is true only if you consider passenger rail. In terms of
| freight rail, the US has 6: Canadian Pacific (which recently
| acquired the 7th), Canadian National, Union Pacific, BNSF,
| CSX, and Norfolk Southern. Note that the smallest of these
| has more track than all but ~13 other countries, and the
| largest would be #4.
| 1-more wrote:
| yeah sorry I really should have said "big interstate
| passenger rail company."
| bombcar wrote:
| Too many Canadians in the US imo.
| pkaye wrote:
| Most of the lines are used for freight.
|
| https://www.aar.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/US-Freight-Ra...
| ceejayoz wrote:
| These are a minute fraction of the railroad tracks in the US.
|
| https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8b/Class1rr...
| shows the "Class I" railroads; just the big eight. There's a
| whole expansive set of Class II/III tracks. 160,000 miles
| total.
| capableweb wrote:
| Thanks! I thought something looked amiss and seems a lot was.
| bombcar wrote:
| That is just Amtrak and apparently just long distance Amtrak.
|
| Some commuter rail is operated by Amtrak but won't appear I
| think.
|
| If you have money you can get a private passenger train almost
| anywhere there are tracks.
| pantalaimon wrote:
| > For comparison, I found this map of European rails
|
| It also doesn't show all the rail connections, e.g. between
| Leizig and Chemnitz there is a direct hourly connection, albeit
| a notoriously poor one (only single track, non-electrified)
| that's not on the map.
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leipzig%E2%80%93Geithain_railw...
| PopAlongKid wrote:
| Unfortunately except for the NEC (northeast corridor), Amtrak
| operates on rail lines owned by freight train operators.
| Technically the Amtrak passenger train has priority over
| freight, but one problem is that when one train needs to bypass
| another, the freight trains are often too long to fit on the
| siding, so the Amtrak train must wait instead.
| organsnyder wrote:
| There's a segment in Michigan that was purchased by MDOT for
| passenger rail (Amtrak) use. There have been some
| improvements made for "high-speed" service. Not sure how
| common this is elsewhere.
| bombcar wrote:
| It's moderately common. The Pacific Surfliner runs on
| transit track in the LOSSAN corridor and it's being
| improved.
| mmcconnell1618 wrote:
| Virginia bought a segment of track from CSX back in 2021 to
| update and improve availability of passenger service up
| towards DC: https://www.npr.org/local/305/2021/03/31/983044
| 429/virginia-...
| xenadu02 wrote:
| > the freight trains are often too long to fit on the siding
|
| This is a deliberate part of "precision scheduled
| railroading" which is neither precision nor scheduled.
|
| Management and investors believe railroads are in long-term
| decline so capital investments to improve capacity and/or
| speed are not done. The most important metric is the
| "operating ratio". If serving a new customer that adds $200m
| to profit would decrease the ratio by 2% the railroad will
| not serve the customer.
|
| So as part of this the railroad wants to minimize crew time.
| On a given section of track with passing sidings the railroad
| _could_ move more cars by having three train crews going back
| and forth, creating conists just long enough to fit in the
| sidings. They could also extend the sidings to allow longer
| trains.
|
| Instead they reduce to two or even one crew and make longer
| consists. This often means one crew parks their train and
| leaves it for an entire day because they won't be able to
| pass the other train in the opposite direction. The crew has
| to take a taxi back home and leaves the train idle. Once the
| other train passes they or another crew comes back and
| resumes. It now takes 3 days to move the same number of cars
| it would have taken two before but over those three days the
| railroad only paid for 1.5 crew days instead of paying 3
| crews over two days. Labor costs are reduced, operating ratio
| looks better, job done.
|
| I'll also point out that US railroad companies _hate_
| carrying passengers. They spent decades begging permission to
| discontinue passenger service, cooking books, refusing to
| sell tickets, etc so they could discontinue their passenger
| services. For example what is Caltrain used to run down to LA
| and was very profitable right up until the day they
| terminated service.
|
| edit: When management and investors punish railroads for
| trying to be a better railroad I don't know how you fix that
| brain damage. We seem stuck in an extremely sub-optimal local
| maxima.
| GenerWork wrote:
| Looking at that ridership chart, I'm amazed that they even run
| lines like the Empire Builder, California Zephyr, Southwest
| Chief, and Texas Eagle. They must be losing tens of millions of
| dollars a year on those lines, money which could be spent on
| upgrading lines like the Northeast Regional and the Pacific
| Surfliner.
|
| Edit: the Vermonter and Ethan Allen express have even less
| ridership but are shorter, I wonder how much money those lose.
| ARandumGuy wrote:
| Ridership numbers isn't the whole story. For example, the
| Empire Builder only runs one train per day each direction,
| which puts a serious limit on the total ridership that's even
| possible.
|
| Anecdotally, I've used the Empire Builder for two trips this
| year, and both times every train was completely booked (on a
| weekday, no less). There is demand for these trains, which I
| suspect would be even higher if Amtrak ran faster, more
| frequent, and more consistently.
| runarberg wrote:
| The Empire Builder is actually kind of a weird one. It is
| both an important interurban between Chicago and Minneapolis
| (and possible as far as Fargo) as well as between Seattle and
| Spokane (and Portland and Spokane), but also a very popular
| tourist route.
|
| The fact that it is serving both these purposes is kind of a
| determent to both. It runs to infrequently (and at weird
| hours) to serve as a nice interurban, and it gets too
| overbooked to serve a tourist route. To fix this the state of
| Washington (and Minnesota) need to operate more frequent
| interurbans that only services the end portions of the route
| (like 4 trains a day at least), and then Amtrak could operate
| the whole Empire builder in a more sane manner.
| mikeocool wrote:
| It's a kind of interesting chicken and egg situation.
|
| The Northeast Corridor has at least hourly service through out
| the day, 'high-speed' (for america) trains, and lots of newish
| comfortable equipment, it's arguably the most civil way to get
| between NYC/DC/Boston.
|
| A lot of the rest of the lines have once-per-day service, that
| runs on old equipment along freight lines. If you want to ride
| the Empire Builder from Fargo to Minneapolis, your only option
| is to get up at 2 o'clock in the morning to catch the one train
| of the day, and if that train had to wait for a freight train
| (which has priority) along it's previous 2 day journey from
| Seattle, it wouldn't be unusual for it be delayed until 3 or
| 5am.
|
| Since the US doesn't invest in passenger rail outside the NEC,
| it becomes less and less viable for anyone to actually use it.
| gradys wrote:
| The key feature of the NEC is that the cities are large and
| close together. This is true almost nowhere else in the
| country.
| mikeocool wrote:
| Fair, though if we invested in high speed rail a lot more
| cities would be within 4-5 hours of each other (and have
| the added advantage that the train would be consistently be
| faster than driving).
| JTbane wrote:
| Amtrak would be great if they could minimize delays and keep an
| average speed at or above 55MPH throughout the ride.
| francis_t_catte wrote:
| That would, unfortunately, require actual infrastructure
| investment into trackage and electrification, and the
| nationalization of all the Class I freight companies. I'm not
| going to hold my breath.
| benatkin wrote:
| 11 hour drive from Chicago to Washington, DC.
|
| 17 hour train ride.
| llbeansandrice wrote:
| I guess this comment is supposed to be something snide about
| the deplorable state of rail in comparison to "just driving".
| But that 11hr drive is easily longer due to pit stops and
| potentially traffic depending on when you hit metro areas.
|
| While on the train you can travel in basically first class
| comfort. Read a book. Get WiFi via a hotspot or just pre-
| download content. Bring cards or something to play games with a
| travel companion or a portable gaming device like a Switch. The
| train sounds p great honestly.
| jcranmer wrote:
| > 11 hour drive from Chicago to Washington, DC.
|
| Having done that drive a few times, it's closer to 14 hours in
| practice, taking into account pit stops.
| benatkin wrote:
| I left that out because the train is also subject to delays,
| and if you are quick with the pit stops it's no more than the
| time spent getting in and out of the station (you don't want
| to arrive at the station the moment it's leaving)
| codingdave wrote:
| 11 hours of active driving and dealing with traffic, then gotta
| catch up on energy after the drive, which means crashing out
| for the night, so you are really down for 24 hours.
|
| 17 hours of napping and relaxing, don't have to deal with
| parking at your destination, and can hit the ground running.
|
| It is all a question of perspective.
| thriftwy wrote:
| You can sleep and read a book during these 17 hours, though.
| benatkin wrote:
| Main problem being it's an overnight trip, and you can't pick
| and choose your schedule. The comparison I really wanted to
| make was Chicago to NYC but I wanted to provide the best one
| for the train. Chicago to NYC is even less palatable. Want to
| split Chicago to NYC into two segments and stay the night in
| Buffalo? Too bad, only one train per day, you have to spend
| the night on the train, plus there's no view around what I
| think would be a scenic route from Chicago to Buffalo.
|
| https://neo-trans.blog/2022/08/05/campaign-arrives-to-
| expand...
| thriftwy wrote:
| Chicago to NYC is actually a bit out of reach for night
| trains (which you should absolutely take and absolutely
| sleep as a baby on your berth) being 1150 km as crow flies.
|
| There was a comfortably scheduled night Helsinki to Moscow
| train which covered 950km, made possible by the fact that
| Moscow-SPb rail line was built almost a straight line and
| also quite quick. The terrain between NYC and Chicago is
| rugged so no such path to be expected. Maybe the Chinese
| would be able to build a 1000 km elevated track between
| those two cities and make it all work, though they will
| prefer to make it an 5h daytime ride and not a
| nighttrain...
| burcs wrote:
| This is a beautiful visualization, I still wish we invested more
| into this infrastructure.
|
| Taking the train seems to double the duration of my trip over
| driving. Not having to drive is not a bad trade off though, if I
| have the time to relax.
| crooked-v wrote:
| > Taking the train seems to double the duration of my trip over
| driving.
|
| Part of this is that there's zero enforcement of the
| theoretical legal authority that Amtrak trains have over
| freight transit. Everything ends up slow and delayed almost
| everywhere because of incredibly predictable issues with
| passenger trains stuck behind much slower freight trains.
| jdwithit wrote:
| I used to take the Amtrak Acela from Boston to NYC a few times
| a year for business travel and it was very enjoyable. I always
| looked forward to the ride, which is absolutely not something I
| would ever say about driving or flying these days. Comfortable,
| scenic, quiet, possible to work (or just relax and watch a
| movie) in your seat, reasonable food and drink available in the
| dining car. Step off the train and you're in the heart of the
| city.
|
| That said it would be much tougher to justify if work wasn't
| footing the bill. A single round trip is up around $500 per
| person unless you are willing to leave at the crack of dawn.
| Doing this regularly, or with a family, would get prohibitively
| expensive for most people. I definitely wish rail travel was
| more viable and accessible in the US, it's got so much going
| for it.
| wahnfrieden wrote:
| 500 insane when bus is 30
| woodruffw wrote:
| I agree with most of your post, but just out of curiosity:
| how far in advance were you making your NYC<->BOS bookings?
| I've done the NYC<->WAS Acela dozens of times in the last
| decade and NYC<->BOS maybe a dozen times, and my roundtrips
| are typically $250 if I book around a month out.
| tempusr wrote:
| I take the Capitol Limited(Chicago <-> DC) most of the time
| when I go back to home.
|
| Pros:
|
| + Comfort. You basically get a first class seat with cafeteria
| access. You can also purchase a whole room, but is less
| affordable than a plane ticket if you're traveling alone.
|
| + Regularity. The train leaves at the same time everyday both
| from DC and Chicago.
|
| + It reaches parts of the country not easily accessed by an
| Airport. If you need to visit someone in middle of nowhere USA,
| Amtrak might just be a better option.
|
| + Price. Book it in advance and you'll be saving ~$200 in
| airfare.
|
| + No TSA to check your luggage, some trains allow you to bring
| your bike, and there's always plenty overhead space.
|
| + Easy access to outlets for charging devices.
|
| Cons:
|
| + Long! Chicago to DC takes 17 hours. Chicago to San Francisco
| can take two days. SW Pennsylvania is snaking route that feels
| like forever. It's really a question of how much you value your
| time.
|
| + No WIFI on most trains, so bring a book if you cannot scrum
| up a hotspot.
| monksy wrote:
| The time it takes isn't that bad. It's a relaxed and more
| comfortable experience. You are experiencing parts of the us
| you normally wouldn't see.
|
| 17 hours is fairly quick. But the timing is fantastic. Amtrak
| leaves after work in Chicago and arrives at hotel check-in
| time in DC the next day
| wahnfrieden wrote:
| Sleeper cars are nice
| [deleted]
| izzydata wrote:
| If it were just a matter of time being longer I would do it
| more often. However, it is also way more expensive when
| traveling with two or more people.
| banannaise wrote:
| It is worth remembering that traveling by train has essentially
| zero overhead aside from the trip time. You arrive anytime
| before the train leaves, you get on the train, you get off the
| train, you don't have to think about considerations such as
| parking.
| fellowniusmonk wrote:
| The problem in the US though is that once you get to your
| destination you are probably in a city dependent on cars
| because of such poor walkability and public transport, so now
| you have to rent a car as well.
|
| Looking at travel from Austin to SF, taking a train is a
| longer duration trip and costs more.
|
| One way on Oct 20th, Kayak has a flight for $119 and Wanderu
| has a train trip for $662 that is 3 days and 8 hours in
| duration.
|
| If I could take my car on this train it might be worth it,
| from a cost and logistics standpoint train pretty much always
| loses.
|
| I say this as someone who grew up enjoying the metro in dc
| and ny and use rail and ferry's when overseas.
|
| Until infrastructure, subsidies and other externalities are
| addressed train travel will not be competitive, I have far
| more hope for level 3 self driving cars than I do for
| walkable cities and train travel parity.
| jcranmer wrote:
| Amtrak has an auto train route from ~DC to ~Orlando.
| bombcar wrote:
| It was (and may still be) Amtraks only profitable long
| distance line.
| PaulDavisThe1st wrote:
| > ... you are probably in a city dependent on cars because
| of such poor walkability and public transport [ .... ] If I
| could take my car on this train it might be worth it ...
|
| Take your bike!
| aidenn0 wrote:
| But (outside of the NEC) you do have to worry about 10+ hour
| delays (the most extreme delay I had an interaction with was
| being delayed by 2 hours because _yesterday 's_ train was in
| front of us and delayed by about 24 hours.
| bombcar wrote:
| If you've ridden any long distance trains you'll die on the
| rails eventually where they just give up, put everyone in a
| bus, and you go to the other direction train which they
| just turn around.
| pimlottc wrote:
| I can't help it but I keep trying to drag the map around. I get
| that's not how this map is implemented but I've been trained by
| years of tiled map apps now...
| asda_ wrote:
| Soo good looking! Thanks for making this.
| [deleted]
| PopAlongKid wrote:
| Unfortunately, Amtrak management has only expressed at best
| lukewarm support for long distance trains[0]. The California
| Zephyr in particular (Chicago <-> San Francisco) often runs with
| delays of 10 or more hours (two years ago, I was on a train
| scheduled to arrive in downtown Chicago at 2 PM and didn't get me
| there until after midnight -- Union Station is not exactly a
| bustling part of town at that hour.
|
| [0]https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/01/us/amtrak-coronavirus-
| pro...
| bombcar wrote:
| The long distance trains (even things like the Late For Sure
| Limited) are an anachronism that really doesn't have support
| from anyone but railfans and the small numbers who use it.
|
| But they're incredibly fun to ride but you need to not have to
| be anywhere anytime.
| thriftwy wrote:
| Why is a competitive carbon-neutral system of moving people
| between cities up to 1000 km apart an anachronism?
| bombcar wrote:
| I'm not even entire sure that all cost included that long
| distance _Amtrak_ trains are lower carbon than other
| options.
| bobthepanda wrote:
| The long distance west coast trains are a lot longer than
| 1000km, though. The Empire Builder from Chicago to Seattle
| is 3600km.
| thriftwy wrote:
| Not the best option for those, then. Amtrak seems to be
| in "excursion mode" where they would promote routes that
| are way too long but scenic, instead of aiming to join
| many mid-population proximate cities and make sure
| passengers regularly get there on schedule.
|
| Long routes have their uses, but the bread and butter of
| any popular system should be the trains which leave in
| the evening and arrive the next morning. You do not lose
| a day and you do not have to pay for a hotel.
| toast0 wrote:
| Because service hasn't been competitive for decades, for
| various reasons, mostly because a single set of tracks
| doesn't work well for freight _and_ passengers. Afaik,
| there 's no place with large rail coverage where there's
| one rail network for freight and one rail network for
| passengers; a lot of the world has rail for passengers and
| lacks significant rail for freight, the US has rail for
| freight and lacks significant rail for passengers. The two
| use cases don't mix well.
|
| If you want to get somewhere in the US in a reasonable
| amount of time at a reasonable cost, your options are
| usually roads (bus or personal vehicle) and commercial air
| travel. There's a couple corridors where boat or train
| actually work, but not many.
| bobthepanda wrote:
| China has both.
|
| Transcon rail will never be a thing but most people live
| in areas close by. The Midwest is roughly the size of
| France with similar population levels; and the upper
| limit of high speed rail travel is thought to be about
| five hours on the train, which is compatible with NYC to
| Chicago, or Chicago to Atlanta, or NYC to Atlanta, not to
| mention all the shorter trips in between.
| bombcar wrote:
| Those "shorter routes" are where things could shine, even
| if you don't go high-speed a train from MSP to CHI
| through Milwaukee would see some use.
| thriftwy wrote:
| Russia (and some other ex-USSR states) has a large amount
| of passenger rail (long distance, commuter and the _new
| thing_ that is daytime quick inter-regional trains) and
| also a large amount of freight as well.
|
| It helps that most of main lines are electrified twin
| tracks.
|
| With regards for competitiveness, once it's in it becomes
| vital infrastructure that nobody asks questions about.
| Like nobody asks "are the USA interstates competitive".
| They're there so that country as a whole remains
| competitive.
| bobthepanda wrote:
| The delays aren't really Amtrak's _fault._
|
| Freight companies manage the tracks and pay lip service to
| Amtrak's regulated priority. Until 2019 that enforcement was up
| to the DOJ, who didn't really do anything, but Amtrak was
| granted the ability to sue that year.
| https://enotrans.org/article/durbin-introduces-bill-to-allow...
|
| Amtrak is currently trying to sue their host railroads but
| these suits take time.
| https://seekingalpha.com/article/4598703-for-all-rail-freigh...
| ChrisArchitect wrote:
| (2022)
| divbzero wrote:
| For comparison, here is Europe's rail network with high speed
| rail (>=200kph) in color and other rail (<200kph) in gray:
|
| https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:High_Speed_Railroad_...
| TedDoesntTalk wrote:
| Comparing this to the Amtrak map side-by-side, Amtrak looks
| like some kids project started last year.
| pkaye wrote:
| Most of the railways lines are used for freight.
|
| https://www.aar.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/US-Freight-
| Ra...
| Muromec wrote:
| European one barely scratches the surface, as it shows three
| lines in the whole Netherlands, which is not exactly true.
| And then China probably builds as much in a year and it's all
| high-speed.
| hk__2 wrote:
| > European one barely scratches the surface, as it shows
| three lines in the whole Netherlands, which is not exactly
| true.
|
| Check https://www.openrailwaymap.org/ for a complete
| overview.
| tda wrote:
| This is only a map of the primary connecting railways, find all
| other rail here: https://www.openrailwaymap.org/
| [deleted]
| erulabs wrote:
| Awesome visualization! Coincidentally, I just found the Amtrak
| "Train Watcher" https://www.amtrak.com/track-your-train.html a
| week ago.
|
| My wife an I met in the Pacific Surfliner's dining car, and our 2
| year old is obsessed with trains of any type, so you could say
| we're becoming a train family.
|
| I'm currently building a raspberry-pi based "train coming!" /
| "ding-a-ling!" machine for my son which scrapes the real-time
| location of trains from the above site. The response to this
| thread is inspiring me to write about it!
|
| Getting the actual data from Amtrak's api isn't super straight
| forward, but a nice hacker beat me to it and published some
| hints:
| https://gist.github.com/chriswhong/aa4a2911883904310b3c342e7...
| PaulDavisThe1st wrote:
| > I'm currently building a raspberry-pi based "train coming!" /
| "ding-a-ling!" machine for my son which scrapes the real-time
| location of trains from the above site.
|
| "Galisteo" by Burl Ives
|
| ...
|
| Looking out my door, about a quarter to four / I wave when the
| Chief goes by / and though it's just a train, I never could
| explain / why a tear comes to my eye.
|
| ...
|
| No need for an RPi scraper for me. I live in that village, and
| hear the (Southwest) Chief's whistle/horn in both directions.
| Long live the analog!
|
| Glad to hear about your train-loving family. We need more!
| sergiotapia wrote:
| Would you recommend a family trip on a train from Miami to
| California to see the country? Or is this something only fun for
| adults?
|
| Curious to hear about thoughts from other young families. I feel
| like it would be such a nice adventure to have together.
| linuxlizard wrote:
| My wife & I (no kids) rode the Empire Builder over Thanksgiving
| last year. We rode Chicago to Seattle over the course of 3-4
| days. We had a roomette (private room with two beds and a
| shower). There is so much space on board in the viewing car and
| the dining car, I would think kids would have enough space to
| burn off their energy. We had an amazing time and want to do
| another multi-day trip like that.
| skadamat wrote:
| Super neat! I wished this had time slots too
| ceejayoz wrote:
| Amtrak time slots are often... aspirational.
|
| My last one from Rochester to NYC (on the Chicago-NYC Lake
| Shore Limited) was 19 hours late. They're often delayed by
| freight trains they share the rails with.
| theyknowitsxmas wrote:
| Nice work on this one, and I enjoyed Beluga back in the day.
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