Quote:
Originally Posted by jtk1519
No flame intended, but is that supposed to be an impressive figure? 28.7 million riders on 21,000 miles worth of routes = just 1,367 annual riders per mile. That's 78,630 riders per day for the entire system.
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In fairness, Amtrak really should be considered as 2 (or possibly even 3) distinct rail networks:
1. The long-distance routes
2. The regional routes (generally <500mi)
2a. The Northeast corridor
Any remotely plausible HSR investment program would only be targeting #2, which is a heck of a lot less than 21,000 route miles.