THE VIDEO SHELF · passenger rail economics
Why Trains are so Expensive
A Wendover Productions explainer on why train tickets, especially Amtrak in the US, cost so much compared with flying. It breaks down staffing, speed and the cost components behind a ticket.
Why HN readers recommended it
HN links it in rail-versus-air threads as a clear cost breakdown of American passenger rail.
This is a summary from the source dataset, not an endorsement by Hacker News or the video creator.
Video & recommendation details
- Creator / channel
- Wendover Productions
- Topic
- passenger rail economics
- Format
- explainer
- Level
- general
- HN recommenders in dataset
- 5
- HN mentions in dataset
- 7
- Recommendation years in dataset
- 2017–2022
These counts and years describe the included Hacker News records; they are not YouTube views or the video’s publication date.
From the original HN conversations
Excerpts from the recorded comments. Follow each source for the full comment and surrounding discussion.
There's a good Wendover video on airline classes: [LINK] And another great one about AmTrak in relation to flight: [VIDEO]
djsumdog on Hacker News · 2017-04
In How the Airlines Became CartelsThere's a lot of reasons as to why this is the case, but the bulk of it is labor. * Trains ultimately require close to 1 staff member per 4 passengers, much more than a budget airline. * Unions and legacy salaries further add to …
MrFoof on Hacker News · 2018-01
In California bullet train cost surges by $2.8BI understand the root issues is Amtrack unions. Amtrack staffing is one employee to four passengers. I dont know what the ratio is for airlines but it must be lower. This video does a pretty good explonation i think: [VIDEO]
pocketstar on Hacker News · 2018-04
In Want airline food? Take Amtrak
Summaries, classifications and recommendation records are from the HackerTube source dataset. Read about this library and its limitations.