Quote:
Originally Posted by Jibartik
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I think overall I am just shocked that trains in general are more expensive than planes.
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Varies region by region, ultimately a complex issue with a lot of causes. Here, stateside, a lot Amtrak routes are priced high simply because they know they can and it won't hurt what business they have all that much because most of their customers are picking it for reasons other than cost. Japanese railways, even back to the JNR days, have a history of striving less for cost-efficiency and more for optimal service and punctuality, and they do a good job of it.
A long-gone U.S. railroad, the Virginian, had a slogan that I've long appreciated: "Pay up front for the best." Quality isn't cheap. Constantly doing everything the cheapest you can gets you a race to the bottom and the flying cattle cars we all loathe.
Your railroad route map looks like a mess because so many lines have been torn out over the past seventy years. The class 1's have been abandoning all the branchline and short mileage they can since before any of us were born. They don't want passengers, they don't want LCL business, they don't even want a few loads here and there, they only want the major shippers and long hauls. At one time basically every little town in the nation was connected, and then you had another network of electric interurbans besides. It's gone.
Speed is expensive. A lot of modern turbofan-powered airliners, today, are slower at cruise than some of the turbojet-powered jets from 50 years ago. The modern jets are dramatically cleaner and more cost-effective though. Commuters and regionals have been going back to turboprops and that's slower (and cheaper) still.
Danth