1/5
As a strong supporter of trains over planes it pains me to say it but the so-called first class in the Amtrack train was so crappy that it made flying in Economy a joy and a pleasure.
TSA included.
#train #amtrack #airplane #airlines #environment #capitalism
2/5
There are 2 issues with Amtrack.
First they're clearly not willing to put any money in their "first class".
Microwaved frozen food on plastic plates, no wifi, restrooms worst than the public restrooms in Chicago Union Station (I kid you not)...
It's clearly a rip-off.
3/5
The second and more important issue is that the American rail network and trains are in pitiful condition.
It's obvious that the vast network of rail tracks is barely maintained and definitely not upgraded.
No surprise freight trains regularly derail.
Same with trains themselves. They're ancient.
To Europeans it's like going back in the 50s and I can't imagine what a Japanese tourist would think.
4/5
But traveling across the US by train is a great way to better understand what's going on in the country.
The lack of proper rail network means you have communities completely cut off not just from the world but from their own country, like tribes in the jungle who never had contact with modernity.
5/5
When you can't afford to fly, are days of driving to the closest airport or "big" city, trains means communication, exchange of people, therefore of ideas, of technology.
No surprise these people, lost in the middle of nowhere, ignorant of the lives of other Americans except for what Fox News tell them, would vote Trump out of fear of all the "horrors" they imagine are happening elsewhere.
To them, NY and LA are no closer than Bogota or Kiev.
And that's unlikely to change anytime soon.
@aSweetGentleman some exciting news on one front: we’re getting new train cars starting this year!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHzEXAmyd84
Solving the network problem is… its own issue entirely but progress!
The Human Capybara
Assal Horizontology