After my recent rail trip to Michigan, I’ve been more aware of stories about Amtrak.
I ran across an interactive map from the Brookings Institute showing Amtrak routes, ridership, and profitability. The takeaways: short routes == full trains, long routes == (nearly) empty trains, full trains make money, and empty trains lose money for Amtrak.
I found the above ridership map from a Slate magazine story on the Northeast Regional train crash earlier this week. That’s not the only good Slate story about Amtrak, either.
One of the Slate stories (on Amtrak boarding) referenced a story on another site regarding Amtrak’s locomotives. They’re built heavier than locomotives in other countries (perhaps because American railroads have been dragging their feet on implementing Positive Train Control).