Amtrak ridership has increased 50% in the last decade - but track congestion is an obstacle to further increase

Tehachapi in California - one route too congested with freight traffic to have passenger trains (George Georgiou)

You would expect that with clogged freeways, poor bus services and very obtrusive airport security checks, ever more travelers would want to travel by train in the US - and they do.  Ridership (all routes) has risen from around 20 million a year 10 years ago to 30 million in the last financial year. 

But a problem is that the freight railroads, over whose tracks most of Amtrak's services run, have also significantly increased the volume of freight they move in the same period (see earlier posts).  This is one reason why President Obama has proposed dedicated high speed rail lines for passenger trains as in Europe as a solution to the problem.  But the difficulty he has is with Congressional Republican ideologues who don't like the Federal Government spending money on anything (except on Defense) and they have become very entrenched and myopic recently.

In this Radio NZ interview broadcast last night with Trains magazine (USA) columnist Bob Johnston, the national passenger rail system of America and the possible impacts of proposed underfunding as the US House and Senate battle over Amtrak funding is discussed.