The first carriages and locomotives in America. First passenger train in the USA
Whether you're planning a trip around the world or want to take a short cross-country excursion, we invite you to take a look at American trains and check out these ten unforgettable train routes in America.
And so, let's go!
Photo: pinterest.com The 12-hour, 564-kilometre Denali Star route, from Anchorage to Fairbanks, Alaska, covers many top attractions, including the isolated Talkeetna area and the highlight of the route - National Park Denali (English: Denali National Park). Travelers along this route will pass through the Hurricane Gulch, the gorge of the Nenana River, and see with their own eyes double-headed mountain Denali and other interesting places that dot the stunning Alaskan landscape.
Please note that due to long travel times, many passengers do not complete the entire route in one trip. So you can take the popular Anchorage to Denali route, and/or break up the trip into several stages with an overnight stop in Denali or Talkeetna.
(Mount Hood Railroad)
Photo: Nikolas/realfoodtraveler.com The Mount Hood Railroad in Oregon is located 10 km east of Portland and extends 35.5 km from Hood River to Parkdale. It offers its tourists round-trip trips via Odell, the company's most popular route, as well as special “lunch trips.” During holiday season you can book a trip on the Polar Express, which takes you to North Pole you will visit Santa Claus. During the trip, tourists are pampered with various delicacies and offered luxurious pajamas.
Among other things, the Mount Hood Railroad hosts various theatrical performances such as the European favorite.
(Grand Canyon Railway)
Photo: travelzoo.com One of the most impressive landmarks in the United States is also home to one of the most famous trains. It starts in Williams, Arizona, and ends in Grand Canyon National Park. You will cover the 105 km route in approximately 2 hours and 15 minutes. The historic train made its first trip in 1901 and has since carried thousands of tourists across northern Arizona's famed Colorado Plateau.
During high season, the train departs twice a day - at 9:30 and 10:30. For the rest of the year, 9:30 am is your only chance to travel this route.
(Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railway)
Photo: FloridaStock/Shutterstock.com Since its opening in 1882, the Durango and Silverton Railroad continues to dazzle and delight travelers from around the world to this day. The historic train travels 72.5 km between Silverton and Durango, Colorado, along the Animas River, and the curved rails lull travelers into limbo. This is a one-of-a-kind way to experience Colorado's unspoiled landscapes.
Tourists can choose the Skyway Tour, which ends on a charter bus, or the Silverton Train Tour, a nine-hour round trip excursion.
Photo: adirondackrr.com Driving through scenic route Between Utica and Lake Placid, New York, the train makes additional stops at Tendara and Saranac Lake. Tourists are offered a variety of specialized tours, including a Beer & Wine Train, Rail & Cruise package and even holiday attractions. And don't forget about Fall Foliage tours, which offer travelers breathtaking views of the Adirondack Mountain Range.
(Great Smoky Mountains Railroad)
Photo: Nick Breedlove Running through the western North Carolina, this 50-mile scenic and historic railroad originates in Bryson and boasts two tunnels and 25 bridges. Tourists are offered a choice of two excursions - one through the wooded Nantahala Gorge, and the other along the Tuckasegee River, as well as special themed excursions. Each of the trips will feature a number of spectacular views, including mountains, wildlife, wildflowers and various scenic views.
For adventurous tourists, the company offers a special Zip & Rail package, which includes a round-trip train ride, lunch and a 13-hour excursion cable cars, as well as 8 “sky bridges” with views of the Great Smoky Mountains and Fontana Lake.
Photo: telegraph.co.uk If you think Highway 101 on the West Coast is extraordinarily scenic, you should take the Amtrak Coast Starlight route. The Coastal Route extends from Seattle to Los Angeles, passing through Santa Barbara, the San Francisco Bay Area, Sacramento and Portland. Tourists embarking on the 35-hour trip are given front row seats overlooking sparkling waters, cliffs, cliffs, the ocean and various cities West Coast.
In partnership with the National Park Service Coast, Starlight offers two Trails & Rails programs, each offering the opportunity to travel by train while exploring national historic parks and trails.
Photo: Pi.1415926535/Wikimedia Commons Covering everything from city to country, Amtrak's Ethan Allen Express, traveling between New York and Rutland, Vermont, offers a chance local residents avoid traffic jams, city bustle and enjoy relaxing holiday. With a five-and-a-half-hour express ride that takes visitors daily through the scenic Hudson River Valley, passengers have the opportunity to witness magical scenes of foliage and beautiful mountains all year round.
(Cape Cod Central Railroad)
Photo: John Kittredge/capetrain.com This railroad is open to tourists from May to October and extends from the village of Hyannis, Massachusetts, to the Cape Cod Canal. Travel on this route will remain indelible impressions, with Theme Trains, Luxury Dinner Trains, Coastal Sightseeing Trains, Rails & Ales Oktoberfest Beer Trains, Vines & Views Wine Tasting Train and Colonial Lunch Train. . Most trips will take about two to three hours, allowing you to see everything from forested areas to beaches.
To provide an authentic, traditional atmosphere, some trains, including the Cape Cod Dinner Train, require passengers to adhere to a special dress code.
Empire Builder Train
(Empire Builder)
Photo: amtrakvacations.com This train can easily be called the "Great American Train" as it covers most countries following several states, attractions and cities. The route extends from Chicago to Seattle and passes through the plains of North Dakota, the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, and natural landscapes National Park Glacier National Park. The trip takes 46 hours and follows many of the routes first explored by early American pioneers.
Amtrak offers rides on the Superliner sleeper train, which will make this long route unusually convenient.
The use of electricity as an energy source for traction of trains was first demonstrated at an industrial exhibition in Berlin in 1879, where a model of an electric railway was presented. A train consisting of a 2.2 kW locomotive and three carriages, each of which could accommodate up to 6 passengers, moved along a section less than 300 m long at a speed of 7 km/h. The creators of the new type of traction were the famous German scientist, inventor and industrialist Ernst Werner von Siemens (Werner von Siemens, 1816-1892) and engineer Halske.
The electric line and train demonstrated at the exhibition instantly became a sensation. Over the course of 4 months, the train transported about 90,000 exhibition visitors. DC electricity with a voltage of 150 V was supplied to the electric locomotive via a contact rail located between the rails; the return wire was the rails along which the train moved. The draft was controlled using a water rheostat.
A copy of the first electric locomotive from Siemens and Halske (1879) in the German Railways Museum. in Nuremberg.
Photo: Oleg Nazarov, 2010.
Swiss engineer Rene Thury (1860-1938) built an experimental mountain rack and pinion road in the suburbs of Montreux in 1884. Movement along the site to the mountain hotel with a slope of 30‰ and a length of 300 m was carried out by a two-axle locomotive, which could also carry 4 passengers.
The first trams
The expansion of the use of electric traction at the first stage encountered serious resistance from officials due to misunderstanding or often unwillingness to change anything.
Because of this mistrust, Ernst Werner von Siemens had to build a demonstration model of an electric tram at his own expense. The world's first permanently operating electric tram line opened in Berlin in the spring of 1881.
In the USA, the appearance of electric traction is associated with the name of the inventor Franklin J. Sparga (1857-1934), who is called in America the “father of electric traction.” In 1880, F. Sparg received a patent for a system for collecting current from a contact wire with a contact wheel on a pantograph, using which in 1887 the first electric tram system in the United States, the Richmond Union Passenger Railway, was built in Richmond (Virginia). Here, on February 2, 1888, the ability to smoothly operate tram lines with slopes of up to 10‰ was demonstrated for the first time, which was previously impossible with horse traction.
Electric tram in Richmond (USA) using the Franklin Sparga system. Postcard from 1923.
Source: Wikipedia.
The Russian engineer-inventor Fyodor Apollonovich Pirotsky (1845-1898) began to conduct experiments using electricity in 1874. In 1875, in St. Petersburg, on a section of the Sestroretsk railway, he conducted experiments with electric cars, for which about one mile of the track was electrified. In his design, the rails were connected to a Graham generator. Both rails were isolated from the ground, one of them was a direct conductor, and the other was a return conductor.
Based on the experiments carried out in 1880, at his own expense he upgraded one city horse-drawn double-decker tram in St. Petersburg to electric traction, and on September 3 an unusual public transport begins to transport residents of St. Petersburg, despite open protests from the owners of horse-drawn trams. A carriage weighing 7 tons could carry up to 40 passengers at a speed of 12-14 km/h. Pirotsky's experiments continued for several days until the end of September 1880, after which he proposed replacing all horse-drawn trams in St. Petersburg with electric trams. Unfortunately, like everything new, the idea of the Russian engineer was treated with distrust; the papers wandered around the offices of officials for a long time , there were no funds available for its implementation for a long time. And only in 1892, when electric trams had already successfully conquered European cities, they appeared on the streets of St. Petersburg.
Engineer F.B. Bespalov, in the brochure “Electric Economic Railway” published in 1894, substantiated the principle of controlling several cars in a coupling from one post - perhaps for the first time in the world. This is a key principle for managing multi-section rolling stock.
The first electric locomotives
For the first time in industrial use, a section of electric railway approximately 2 km long was launched in 1879 at a textile factory in the French city of Breuil.
In the UK, the first line to be electrified at 500 V DC using a contact rail was the 5.6 km underground City & South London Railway, opened in 1890. The company Messrs Mather & Platt and Siemens Bros supplied 16 electric locomotives for it, each equipped with 2 gearless traction motors with a power of 36.7 kW. In fact, it was the world's first subway.
The first section of the main electric railway, 11.2 km long, was opened in 1895 in the USA between Baltimore and Ohio (Baltimore Belt Line) with a catenary voltage of 675 V DC. The line consisted of an open section 6.4 km long and an underground section within the city. Electric locomotives for it were supplied by General Electric.
Europe's first experimental electric locomotive for main lines was created by the Hungarian engineer Kalman Kando in 1894. The electric locomotive was powered by a three-phase high voltage network of 3300 V with a frequency of 15 Hz and was equipped with an asynchronous traction motor. A new electrical machine invented by Kando, a phase shifter, was used as a converter. K. Kando has the same meaning for European engineers as F. Sparg for Americans, therefore in European countries K. Kando (1869-1931) is considered the “father of electric traction”.
Electric locomotives designed by K. Cando were used in Italy to organize traffic on a full-fledged railway route (before that they were used only on certain sections of roads). Energy was supplied to the electric locomotive through two contact wires; rails were used as the third phase.
Electric locomotive Kalman Kando (Hungary) for Italy.
Railways of the United States of America- an extensive network of railways, which includes about seven transcontinental highways crossing the country from east to west and connecting the largest urban agglomerations of the Atlantic (New York, Philadelphia, Boston) and Pacific (Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles) coasts; approximately ten meridional highways connecting areas of the South and Southwest of the United States with areas adjacent to the Canadian border; about ten highways crossing the territory of the country in its eastern part diagonally from northeast to southwest.
The operational length of the network (2002) is slightly more than 230 thousand km (including about 160 thousand km owned by Class I railways) and has a steady downward trend. The network density is 22.6 km/1000 km2, the track width is 1435 mm. The number of personnel of all railways is approx. 185 thousand people, including on class I railways - a little more than 157 thousand people.
Railway construction in the country began in 1827. From the very beginning of the railway. transport was formed in the private sector of the economy. By 1917, the length of the network exceeded 400 thousand km; number of private companies - approx. 1500, total number of industry personnel - approx. 1.8 million people In 1930, the share of railways in the freight turnover of all types of transport in the country reached 70%. There is practically no new railway construction being carried out. The US railway system is one of the most efficient and technologically advanced in the world. The redundancy of the network made it possible to optimize its configuration over time and decommission unprofitable lines. The share of double-track and multi-track lines is approx. 10%. The network is dominated by diesel traction. Length of electrified railways d. slightly more than 0.5% of the operational length, ch. arr. in suburban areas major cities and in the Northeast Corridor (Washington-New York-Boston). The industry is developing as a whole as a single complex, taking into account the needs of the economy and the transport strategy of the country. The activities of railways are regulated by numerous laws, in particular, labor legislation and legislation on safety on railways are worked out in detail. In the 80-90s. 20th century thanks to the adoption of the Staggers Railway Law. companies were able to independently set negotiated tariffs depending on the demand for transportation and the level of competition from other modes of transport, as well as close and sell unprofitable, inactive lines. Behind the federal body - the Council on ground transport(until 1996, the Interstate Transport Commission) in the field of pricing, only antimonopoly functions were retained. Taking into account inflation, tariffs have decreased by 57% since 1980, labor productivity has increased by 2.7 times. Safety conditions on the railways have improved significantly: the number of transport accidents per year has decreased by 67%, and occupational injuries have decreased by 71%. A large number of new regional and local railways have appeared. companies, often operating on infrastructure “rejected” by Class I railways. In 2001, the total length of the railway. lines on which regional and local companies carried out transportation amounted to 72.4 thousand km.
Development of transport policy, including railway policy. transport, in the USA the Department of Transport is responsible, within the framework of which railway issues are dealt with. Transport is carried out by the following main structural divisions:
Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) of the USA, which is developing the industry regulatory and legal framework for the railway. transport based on federal transport legislation, responsible for ensuring safe work on the railway. transport, managing n.-i. and design programs and projects, as well as overseeing the work of one of the world's largest Transportation Equipment Testing Center in Pueblo, PC. Colorado;
Federal Administration of Suburban and Urban Transportation, which oversees at the federal level all types of public urban and suburban passenger transportation;
The Surface Transportation Council (SNT), which acts as federal agency, which, among other things, carries out economic regulation in relation to railways, and also resolves issues of unification and economic relations between railways among themselves and with other modes of transport, reduction of railways. network and new construction, regulations for inter-road exchange of wagons;
The Office of the General Safety Inspector, which is an independent body, including monitoring the activities of the FRA to ensure the safe operation of the railway. transport.
Almost all railways US companies (and North America as a whole) are members of the Association of American Railroads (AARA), which, together with the FRA, represents the general interests of railroads in government bodies (for example, in the US Congress). The Association acts as a coordinator of research and development. and design programs and oversees the Pueblo Vehicle Test Center.
In the USA (2001), there are actually two classifications of railways: the traditionally used - SNT, and the relatively recently introduced - AAR. According to the SNT classification, all railways, shunting and station companies are divided into 3 classes depending on annual transportation income, adjusted for inflation. Yield standards change periodically. In 2001, they corresponded to the following amounts: Class I - from 266.7 million US dollars (before 1992 - 92 million dollars); Class II - from 21.3 million to 266.7 million dollars; Class III - less than $21.3 million. Regardless of income, the Passenger Transportation Corporation (AMTRAK) is classified in Class I.
The specificity of the AAR classification is that all railways. companies that do not belong to class I are classified according to two criteria: profitability and network length. Income ranging from 40 million to 256.4 million dollars and a network length of at least 563 km allow us to classify the railway as regional. All other railroads, as well as shunting and station companies, are classified as local. AMTRAK Corporation is conditionally classified in the lowest category in this classification.
Of the total number of 573 railways. Only 8 companies are classified as class I, but they dominate the market for railway transportation services. transport. This concerns their share in the total length of railways and in the total number of personnel in the industry, participation in the total freight turnover and total income from freight transportation.
Railway share transport in total freight turnover transport system USA amounted to 41.7% in 2001. Its participation in the volume of transportation (from domestic producers) of coal is 67%, grain - 26.4%. In 2001, the railway US transport carried a freight turnover of 2274 billion tons km, of which 2193 billion tons km accounted for Class I railways. Over the past 20 years (1981-2001), freight turnover has increased throughout the country by more than 68%, and in the eastern regions it grew by only 20%, and in the western regions by more than 90%. With an average network freight density in terms of gross freight turnover of 23 million t-km/km, the length of sections with a freight intensity of up to 5 million t-km/km is 30%, from 5 to 20 million t-km/km - 25%. Along with this, there are lines on which the freight load is 120-130 million tkm/km.
On the network approximately 63% of its length is covered with rails weighing 64.5-68.9 kg per linear meter. Approx. 95% of the sleepers laid on the track are creosote-impregnated hardwood sleepers.
The locomotive fleet of Class I railways, amounting to 19,745 diesel locomotives, in the 1990s. updated by 33%; more than 40% of the fleet consists of diesel locomotives built before 1980. A restrained policy is being pursued to replenish the fleets with locomotives of higher power, aimed at increasing operational efficiency and improving diagnostic systems for the technical condition of locomotives. Railways are actively purchasing powerful diesel locomotives with AC electric transmission, amounting to approx. 14% of the park. As a result, the average power of one section over the past 20 years has increased by 41% from 2326 to 3271 hp. With.
US railroads operate approximately 1,315,000 freight cars, of which more than half are owned by railroads and the rest by shippers and railcar companies. The average age of a freight car is 20.9 years. In the 1990s. the carriage fleet has been updated by 25%. It was assumed that in the next 10-12 years the park will be completely renovated. However, in 2001, demand for freight cars fell to 34,260 units. compared to 70,000 units. in the end 90s The decrease in demand for new cars is a consequence of the slow development of the US economy, the increased use of heavy-duty cars and the increase in the efficiency of their operation in the transportation process. Major US railroads are also focusing on reducing their car fleets. The average carrying capacity of a freight car is 84.5 tons, the average static load is 58.1 tons. The largest share in the railcar fleet is occupied by hoppers (41%) and tanks (18%).
A distinctive feature of US railways is the record average train weight, ensured by the high carrying capacity of the cars, powerful traction and good track condition. In 2000, the average train weight (net) was 2726 tons, the average train weight (gross) was 5553 tons, the average train composition was 68.5 cars.
The largest railway systems in the USA are (2001) the combined railways Union Pacific/Southern Pacific (operational length 54.2 thousand km) and Burlington Northern/Santa Fe (53.2 thousand km). The process of merging railways is driven by the desire to improve their economic position (by reducing the management staff, closing parallel and unprofitable lines) and competitiveness in relation to other modes of transport.
US rail transport is rather one-sidedly focused on freight transportation. Unprofitable but socially necessary long-distance passenger transportation is carried out by the specialized corporation AMTRAK, created in 1971 on the basis of the Law on Railway Passenger Transportation and supported by government funding (subsidies). The corporation is the only one in the country that operates long-distance railways. passenger transportation, operating 265 trains per day on a range of 36.5 thousand km (approximately 20% of the total length of the class I railway network), connecting more than 500 stations. At the same time, AMTRAK directly owns only the specialized high-speed highway of the Northeast Corridor (Washington-New York-Boston) with a length of 1195 km, and otherwise uses the technical infrastructure of freight railways on a contractual basis. companies. The volume of long-distance transportation performed by the corporation per year is approx. 23.4 million passengers, passenger turnover - approx. 9.0 billion passenger-km In addition, AMTRAK carries approximately 51 million commuter passengers.
Suburban railways Passenger transportation in the United States is carried out by 19 companies. Total length of lines on which they operate commuter trains, is 14 thousand km, including the own lines of these companies, as well as lines leased from AMTRAK and freight companies. Volume of local and suburban railways transportation in the country as a whole is 3150 million passengers, passenger turnover is 13.3 billion passenger-km.
From the end 1990s In the USA, interest in railways, supported by government and public organizations, is being revived. passenger transportation, which is associated with congestion highways and worsening environmental problems. Several states are planning to organize high-speed rail systems. transportation Since 2001, AMTRAK Corporation has introduced regular operation of the new Aisla high-speed train with a design speed of 240 km/h in the Northeast Corridor. The corporation proposes to the states the creation of a new high-speed regional transportation system, Aisla Regional, in their sponsored railways. corridors.
On US railways, special attention is paid to the introduction of modern information technologies. Under the auspices of the AARR, an improved automatic train traffic control system is being gradually introduced, providing, with varying degrees of automation, optimal control of train flows on the railways it controls. training grounds. Train traffic control is carried out from enlarged road control centers. Based on the use of high-performance computing (in particular, microcomputers) devices and data transmission facilities, it has become possible, for example, to control railway traffic from a single center in Omaha, Nebraska. networks with a length of about 60 thousand km. A network-wide implementation of a high-precision radio engineering system for automatically reading information from rolling stock, developed by the American corporation Amtech, is underway. US freight railroads have at their disposal automated road centers for interaction with clientele, promptly servicing customer requests regarding the status and progress of shipments, cargo redirection, etc.
I have long wanted to tell you about an interesting expedition undertaken by Sergei Bolashenko, a well-known fan of railway transport in narrow circles, on the railways of the USA. My long-time readers remember that I was going to the States a couple of times, but (unfortunately) I haven’t gotten around to it yet - but instead, two Chinese expeditions took place, where I traveled across the Celestial Empire on 17 different trains, 27 thousand kilometers from tropical Hainan to northern Manchuria. Only there was a bummer with the Tibetan highway.
But Sergei found enough perseverance in himself, got a visa and flew to the States for a month, where he traveled railroads from ocean to ocean using the Amtrak Rail Pass, then leaving voluminous notes about the expedition in as many as 10 parts.
New York Long Range Train at Miami Central Station
Inside the post, I made excerpts from his large notes - on some aspects of the railway and life in general in the States, as they are seen from the outside by a traveler from Russia. Plus some cards from there. There are about one and a half thousand photographs in his notes, and it will take several days to read them, so what I have here is just a short and very incomplete digest.
But first - very important preamble, since unbiased consideration current state railways in the USA causes the strongest seething of shit among a certain category of commentators.
The fact is that the history of the railroads of the North American United States is very dramatic and over 180 years has experienced extreme points of state - from the largest and most advanced transport system in the world to a marginal set of passenger lines expelled from the centers of most large cities and experiencing the so-called . The Great Rail Pogrom, which lasted for fifteen years (1956-1970). So, when it comes to talking about this and the modernity of American railways, one category of commentators, when mentioning the problems of railway transport, falls into natural hysterics and begins to react extremely inadequately.
I don’t even mean our Americanophiles, but Russian and late Soviet neophyte migrants, Russian-speaking emigrants from the USSR and post-Soviet countries who moved to the States since the 70s. XX century and up to now. This is a separate and special category of people, which is sharply divided into two categories, approximately in a ratio of 40/60.
The first part of this category is people who have integrated normally into the American economy and do not experience psychological problems when remembering Russia or the USSR. This, for example, includes my old friend jurassicparkcam , with whom we made an epic expedition in 2008 " " in the subarctic and northern regions of Norway.
The second part is emigrants who tried to perceive the new American mentality as “their new home,” but were unable to say goodbye to old habits in their minds. They feel a poorly concealed hostility towards their former compatriots, who for some reason quietly got out of the terrible ass of the Nineties and now live not at all as bad as the “new emigrants” would like (and even vice versa). Such neophytes are pressured by a language environment that is foreign to them, and therefore they live mainly in the Russian-language blogosphere, leaving bile comments there and demonstrating hysterical reactions to almost everything Russian - from “the daughters of officers in the Crimea are starving” to “your KGB officers are lynching hipsters.”
US transport is no exception. Any mention of problems in it and the state of the railway knocks out some phase unknown to me in their heads and they immediately break into a hysterical scream in the style of " Is everything okay with you yourself??? Everything is bad with you, everything is dying!!! But everything is great here, we only fly here, we only drive on highways in cars and we don’t need any railways! Nobody rides them here, except for outright assholes and the strangest types!"Moreover, when you communicate with real American railway workers, there is no trace of this, the discussion is calm and without tension. But with neophytes - just turn out the lights!
This is an objective phenomenon, druzia. I’ve already had enough of it in earlier posts, with four such neophytes over the period 2010-2013. I even had to say goodbye, and therefore - small disclaimer.
1. For adequate readers.
Everything that is quoted here is the private and subjective opinion of one of the travelers, which does not claim to be the ultimate truth. It focuses only on one part of the American transportation system, namely the railroads.
2. For concerned idiots and politicized murzilok
.
Everything that is quoted here is not intended to specifically cause hysterics in you and to insult your best New Motherland in the world. These are just the observations of a simple traveler and should be taken calmly. If, after reading this, your birthmark started to hit you and you hit the ceiling painfully, take a sedative. We sincerely sympathize with you in advance and will certainly calm you down if you start to rage.
And also, a second important note.
Sergey is a fan of railway transport with a large dose of maximalism and a lover of extreme judgments. His favorite feature is " extreme trip with maximum economy in conditions half-starved existence"We, his colleagues in ferroequinism, have known this for a long time and make allowances for it (however, not all of us - he has many harsh critics, he is a quarrelsome and sometimes very conflicting comrade). So, when you read his notes, accept this take into account. There is no need to get excited about this, react calmly. But in his notes there are many valuable and apt observations, he systematically and purposefully climbed into those numerous places in the States where lovers of glamor and standard points do not go. This is why his notes are valuable.
Third note, technical.
Comments on the author's photo italics- my.
* * *
Well, now - a selection of quotes from Sergei’s notes :)
At first - summary map its routes across the States, railway lines traveled:
1. First impression: simplicity and provinciality!
I expected to see here a “showcase of an advanced country” - a grandiose terminal that would amaze the imagination. I was sure that there would be crowds of people in a huge futuristic space, flooded with multi-colored lights, sparkling with fountains. That there will be endless rows of retail outlets, the most modern technical advances. This is exactly what Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv looks like, for example. [...]
In fact, apart from the huge queue at border control, everything here resembles a Russian provincial airport - for example, Kazan, or even Tyumen-Roshchino. Of course, in appearance and “spirit,” but not in passenger traffic.
2. Everything is different in America. There will be a lot missing here.
There will be no kilometers, kilograms, meters or liters. The USA is almost the only country in the world that maintains its own units of measurement. There will be no global temperature measurement here - the Fahrenheit scale is used. For me, perhaps the most difficult thing is the lack of kilometers. An American mile is 1609 meters, which is inconvenient to calculate in your head. All road signs and so on are in miles only.
3. First impression of the city of NY:
The temperature is easily sub-zero. There is snow in some places, but there is less snow than in Moscow. Dirty and neglected. Can't compare with European civilization. At first impression, America looks like some third world country! Although for now I only see one of the New York districts. The most surprising thing is that the atmosphere seems provincial. Meanwhile, New York, although not the capital of the United States, is sometimes called the capital of the world. It is the center of business and financial activity.
When I left the private development area, groups of black youth began to pass by, often talking loudly. Their appearance did not inspire anything good. There is a lot of garbage on the streets. Pedestrians do not follow traffic rules and cross regardless of traffic lights.
4. Impression of the NY subway:
They often write about this. that the New York subway is dirty and neglected. In many ways this is true. In a good way, a lot of work would need to be done here: remove garbage from the tracks, wash and paint the stations, improve their appearance. Reconstruction work has been carried out at some stations, but there are few such stations. At the same time, most metro stations are about a hundred years old. This fact is impressive and they are perceived as a historical landmark. The metro is very extensive, especially within Manhattan (the central part of the city). It works well.
There is grafitti in the tunnels. But there are no extraneous drawings at the stations or on the cars. There was a time when carriages were also painted. Now they are fighting this hard. It is not customary to enter the subway without a ticket. There were beggars walking around the carriages, but much less frequently than on Moscow trains.
The composition of metro passengers is very contrasting. There is a contingent of the “homeless” type. But there are civilized people in ties. In Moscow, there is a large percentage of those who believe that riding the metro is “not according to their status” and are poisoning the city with cars. In New York, motorization is being fought more actively. There are no noticeable traffic jams here, and about a third of the available cars are yellow taxis.
In my estimation, people of European appearance are rather a minority in the metro. The majority are blacks and Asians. The same is true for the entire city. English language, however, prevails everywhere. In the machines for buying metro tickets you can choose, among others, Russian. Some announcements in the metro are duplicated in Russian, among many others. Their presence here is encouraging.
2. One of the largest railway stations in the world, Penn Station (in terms of train departures), is located in the basement of this stadium, on the right along the street.
3. But this is how it was from 1910 until October 1963. The demolition of the legendary Penn Station then caused a huge wave of indignation, however, predatory American developers destroyed it, building ordinary buildings on this site. It was with this epic demolition that the regular city-protection movement in the States began, and after this Grand Central was still saved.
5. Trade:
One of the many strange features of the United States that distinguishes this country from the “normal” world: almost throughout the country, stores do not display the true price. It is customary to indicate it without “sale tax”. At the checkout you have to pay more than what is written on the price tags. How much more depends on the state. According to sources known to me - from 7 to 13 percent. The tax amount may vary for different products. Only five states have no tax: Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire and Oregon. The true price is written there.
6. First boarding the train:
Until recently I didn’t understand whether the carriage number was indicated on the ticket. In the end it turned out that no. On cars in America there is only a serial number, but not the number of the car in a given train. Unlike Russia and Western Europe, there are no route boards or route signs here.
It turned out that the standard procedure for boarding a carriage is as follows: open door there is a conductor who makes a decision about which car and which seat to send the passenger to. This train has one conductor for two cars. Passengers are either given a tag with a seat number, or the seat number is written on the ticket. A tag with the three-letter code of his destination station is then attached above the seat occupied by the passenger. It is not possible to change seats in the future unless the carriage becomes almost empty.
4. Trains at Penn Station are located on the underground level. American railway fans call this place the “rat catacombs” after the demolition of the old Penn Station.
7. brief information about what the American railway network is like
It is the largest in the world. The length of railways is approximately three times greater than in Russia. About 80 percent of American railroads have no passenger traffic. There is no commuter traffic for about 99 percent. About half a percent of the network length has been electrified.
[...] The most massive destruction of passenger traffic occurred in the 1960s. At that time, the ideology of car worship dominated. US leaders have announced that every family now owns a car, so public transport is no longer needed. This thesis is erroneous, wild and criminal, leading to a decrease in the quality of life and the decline of the country. But they realized it too late.
Over the past few years, passenger traffic has declined dramatically. The reason is the widespread cancellation of trains. Since the 1970s, the network of passenger routes, reduced to a minimum, has remained almost at the same level. There are local cancellations, but also local openings of new routes. Unfortunately, there are more closed routes than restored ones.
8. Attitude of the authorities towards the railway:
Not always and not everywhere in local authorities there are progressive leaders who understand the importance of passenger transport. railway transport and seeking to restore passenger traffic. There is also a backward leadership, “stuck” in the 1960s, when passenger transport was destroyed.
Even the initiative of the federal authorities to restore passenger trains does not always find support at the local level. According to information from Yu. Popov, for last years There are at least three known cases when the federal government was ready to provide funds for the launch of passenger routes: Milwaukee - Madison in Wisconsin, Cleveland - Columbus - Cincinnati in Ohio, Tampa - Orlando Airport in Florida. But the governors of the respective states refused to accept this funding, since in the future it would be their states, and not the federal government, who would have to subsidize transportation.
9. The first long-distance train in the program:
At Washington Station, all through trains exchange electric locomotives for diesel locomotives. The parking here is long - about 20 minutes. For the period when the locomotive is uncoupled, the main lighting and power supply to the outlets are turned off. [...] I am glad that every passenger is provided with electrical outlet.
The train was already full upon departure from New York, and in Washington it was packed to 100 percent capacity. At least sedentary ones. It is difficult to say what the occupancy of the “sleeping” (compartment) cars was. Passengers with seated carriage tickets are prohibited from entering sleeping carriages. [...] However, in general, American seated carriages comfortable, much more convenient than our “interregional” ones. In addition, Americans are very quiet and calm people, so there are no extraneous noises that interfere with sleep. Later I became convinced of the correctness of the proverb “The first pancake is lumpy”: all other American trains left a pleasant impression and seemed so comfortable that I didn’t want to get out. On this train, for the first and last time during the entire journey, I was not at the window.
5. Arrival of the New York train at the station. Miami Central.
6. Suburban 2-story building in Miami under a diesel locomotive.
10. Occupancy of the New York - Miami train.
I hoped that after Orlando, the last large city before Miami, the carriage will become freer. But it was not there! An even denser crowd took the place of those who went out in Orlando. The boarding process is strict, with people queuing in a long line. No one walks freely on the platform.
“Mercantile capitalists” not only canceled more than 90 percent of the previous number of trains that ran across America in its best years. But they don’t want to add cars to the few that still exist. Meanwhile, the population of the city of Jacksonville with its suburbs is about one and a half million residents, Orlando is about the same, Miami is five million! Normally, trains would run on this section twenty times a day, not twice.
7. Railroad crossing in the Orlando area.
11. The mentality of blacks on the train.
[...] After Jacksonville, I was placed at the window in seat No. 19 - although, in theory, I had no right to do so. Seat No. 20, which was assigned to me in New York, was taken by a shabby-looking black man in Orlando. He began to force communication on me: he asked who I was and where I was from, where I was going and why, and so on. This is not typical for a white American, but blacks have a slightly different mentality.
12. Languages in Miami.
The percentage of blacks in Miami seemed to me to be lower than in New York. There is a significant Hispanic population here that is neither white nor black. Almost the majority of Miami residents speak Spanish among themselves.
In Miami, it is quite common to see various official inscriptions and advertising signs on Spanish, and sometimes only in it, without dubbing into English. However, inscriptions in Spanish are also found in New York. Some inscriptions are also duplicated in Haitian Creole. It is a dialect of the black population of Haiti, which is based on French. This is due to the fact that part of the population is of Haitian origin. English predominates in public life. In stores and cash registers, unfamiliar customers are addressed in English.
13. Turning loops and triangles.
Immediately after departure from Miami, from the windows you can view the carriage depot, where double-decker carriages commuter line Tri-Rail, and Amtrak cars. Despite the weak traffic volumes compared to Russia, the carriage depot is impressive in its size. Still, the passenger rail infrastructure in the United States is quite developed and could support a much larger volume of traffic.
There is a turnaround loop near the train station in Miami, with the train station located in the center of the loop. Most likely, not only locomotives, but also carriages are turned around on the loop. Both when moving from Miami and when traveling in the opposite direction, all seats in the cars were located in the direction of travel. For America, this is standard: seats in passenger cars are usually oriented so that the passenger sits facing the direction of travel. None of the 11 trains long distance, in which I drove, there were no seats located not in the direction of travel. All locomotives have cabins facing one direction.
How this is possible is amazing to us. The reversal loop and the reversal triangle are large-scale objects that require a large area. Plus a lot of time and fuel consumption to move around the loop. A loop or triangle can be found near any major Amtrak train terminus.
8. On the platform of Washington United Station.
9. Inside the Everett train station.
14. Features of US railways: there are a lot of single-level crossings of railway lines, and very few multi-level crossings.
Almost every Russian or European railway junction of four or more directions has an overpass where the lines intersect. How many nodes do we have in four or more directions without multi-level intersections? I remember Sonkovo, Gotnya, Roslavl (not sure - if there is no overpass there now, there was one), Fayansovaya, Balashov, Kulunda, Egorshino. Also Mikun - but still, two lines from this station are not fully functional, but dead ends. Most likely, this is a complete list for the Russian Federation.
I have not seen multi-level line crossings at most hubs in the eastern US. Even in such large hubs as, for example, Jacksonville, Orlando. I saw one of the few multi-level intersections on the New York - Miami route north of Rocky Mount. It is combined with a bridge over the river. Other multi-level intersections are often also combined with bridges over rivers.
10. Single-level (!) intersection of the railway with the city tram network. Tampa, Florida.
15. Passage of a carriage through blind intersections, especially those made at right angles, passengers clearly feel. Such a shake-up cannot be confused with anything. At the same time, ordinary rail joints are almost invisible. The design of American cars is at a high level; there is almost no wheel knocking characteristic of our trains.
11. "Blind" (unconnected) intersection of railway tracks. It is used mainly because the paths belong to different private companies, the networks are not uniform.
16. Marginal savings on the edge.
America's railroads are very understaffed. There are crossings everywhere where there are no buildings. They work automatically. Many access roads adjacent to the stages.
At the stations there is extremely little track development. Only the essentials are left. Machinists often work as one person. At marshalling yards, shunting diesel locomotives often do not have a driver. They are controlled remotely.
The US railway network, as is known, does not have a single owner and a single governing body. There is a Federal Railroad Administration within the Department of Transportation. But its ability to manage railways is limited.
12. Pacific passenger line Los Angeles - Seattle. Left - Pacific Ocean, near the shore - campers of vacationers.
17. Types of stations.
There are two main types of train stations in the United States: huge, beautiful and monumental - if they were built during the best times of passenger traffic (before the 1940s). And small primitive “boxes” that do not correspond at all to the scale of the city in which the station is located. The second type are stations built at a time when passenger traffic became minimal. Unfortunately, this type of stations predominates.
Ancient, architecturally luxurious train stations have been demolished in some places, converted for other uses in others, and are in an abandoned state in others (Detroit, Buffalo). The existing station in Jacksonville, a population of millions, is a building comparable, for example, to the station at Shatura station in the Moscow region.
The third type is modern, but large and beautiful station- is rare. An example is Everett Station near Seattle.
13. Los Angeles United Station.
14. Washington Union Station managed to survive in its old version, survived the Great Pogrom of 1956-70 and now pleases everyone with its architecture and power
15. Station of a small station in San Obispo, California.
18. General impression of the railroad in the USA: everything is bad.
It is sad to see the extent to which rail passenger traffic can be destroyed. Unfortunately, looking at the United States, one can assume that commuter trains in Russia outside the suburbs of large cities have no chance of being preserved. If already here, in rich country, there are none (except for the suburbs of the largest cities), then where is Russia, where there is less money...
Russian railways still “have some way to go.” To bring Russian railways to the level of American ones, you need:
cancel 90 percent of the long-distance trains currently running. IN Krasnodar region(Adler, Anapa and Novorossiysk) approximately 30 trains arrive from other regions of the country daily - let there remain two trains Moscow - Adler and one Samara - Adler. Anapa and Novorossiysk will “get by.” By Trans-Siberian Railway There are an average of 10 pairs of trains per day. Let there remain one pair every day Moscow - Novosibirsk, and one pair every other day Novosibirsk - Vladivostok. Of the five trains, we will leave one to Vorkuta. And on all possible less significant lines Passenger trains of any kind are an unaffordable luxury.
We “optimize” not only passenger traffic. Why do we need so many staff? The position of duty officer at a siding or small station will become history. We automate all small stations, and put station buildings up for sale or demolition as they are no longer needed. We drive trains as one person, and during maneuvers we control diesel locomotives remotely. We dismantle the second tracks everywhere, except for the most intense sections, and sell the rails for scrap metal. We ruthlessly disassemble all lines with a small volume of movement! [...]
19. Washington and blacks.
The number of black people in America is surprising. In Washington, according to official statistics, there are more than half of them. Apparently in some areas - the overwhelming majority. I'm not racist, but it's still stressful. Their appearance is usually unkind, and sometimes downright aggressive. The fact that the capital of the United States is already a majority black population made me feel anxious and gloomy. I have nothing against blacks in Africa. But this part of the world is traditionally perceived as a “Caucasoid” territory.
20. White and black.
The white population here is very quiet, “correct” and law-abiding. They are completely devoid of any emotions and do not deviate from standard programmed behavior. The black population is sometimes “ugly” in appearance. However, there are no visible signs of vandalism here, with the exception of rare “grafitti”. Crime in America is low, you can walk around the cities at any time of the day.
16. The station of Santa Barbara, California, glorified in the cult TV series.
21. Police and their presence.
Difference from Russia in better side- there are no idiotic “frameworks” when entering the subway, train stations and even airports. There is no dominance of idle security guards. There is not an abundance of police on the streets - at least when compared with the south of Russia, or with places like Uzbekistan. However, the USA is a police country.
If you don't break anything, the police won't touch you. Stopping people for no reason and asking for documents is not accepted here. But if something is violated, their actions will be extremely harsh, much worse than ours. American police have remote stun guns. This is a very painful special tool that we do not have.
In Russia, a policeman will not use weapons until the last minute, even in the most extreme situations. Here they shoot without thinking too much. I remembered the incident shown on our television in Washington. Police shot and killed a black woman who refused to obey orders to stop.
17. Prison in San Obispo.
22. Replacing trains with buses.
The Empire Builder train from Seattle to Chicago is now on track one. A survey of conductors confirmed that this was exactly the train. But boarding does not begin, although there is critically little time before departure!
Passengers in the waiting room are perplexed. The station workers say something to them. It was difficult to understand the full meaning, but the hated word “bass” (bus) slips through. Something I had long feared happened. Instead of a train, passengers will be put on a bus. But why if the train is standing at the platform?! Passengers began to be herded onto the bus. It was promised that the bus ride would not be long. Hard thoughts: to what place will they take the bus? Fortunately, not very far. At 17:30 we turn sideways from the multi-lane road and soon arrive at a large modern station building.
18. San Obispo Station on the Pacific Passenger Line. It was here that N.S. Khrushchev communicated with ordinary Americans in 1959.
23. Landing procedure.
Boarding the two-group train to New York-Boston began not the usual twenty minutes, but ten minutes before the scheduled departure. The passengers moved slowly. First, passengers with children were ordered to go, then everyone else. Ticket control in Chicago is threefold: when entering the waiting area in front of the boarding gate, when leaving it on the platform, before entering the carriage. Most passengers, instead of tickets, have printouts with a barcode, which is read by a scanner.
Everything here is almost as strict as on the railways of China! I have not been to China, but I know about the Chinese landing control procedure: it is almost the same as at airports. In China, the population is large, not disciplined, and the passenger flow is huge. Therefore, strict order on the railway is necessary there. Why is this here, where there is little passenger traffic and civilized people? Why not free access on platforms and trains, like in Russia?
19. Boarding a long-distance train at Los Angeles United station.
20. This is how Americans travel for one and a half to two days to long-distance trains- those who did not pay very dearly for a compartment ticket. There is no reserved seat there
24. Manual turnout archaic on main (!) lines.
14:24 we stopped at a double-track siding - as always in America, without personnel. The junction is at mile 277. Counting from the north side. The name of the crossing is not posted anywhere. After stopping on a side track, a woman from the train crew, wearing an Amtrak uniform, got out of the car. She moved the manual switch so that passage along the main path was ensured. Then she returned to the carriage. Railway workers can be heard talking on the radio with the dispatcher or driver.
At 14:37 at south direction oncoming traffic followed at considerable speed passenger train message San Luis Obispo - Los Angeles. There is no way to turn the locomotive around. Therefore, diesel locomotives are located at the head and tail of the train. We move forward for a short time and stop again - just beyond the northern neck of the siding. Another train crew member got out of the train - this time a man. He moved the switch to the main track and returned to the carriage. Let's move on.
21. Manual switching of switches on the main Pacific line for the long-distance passenger train LA - Seattle.
23. Remains of the old America that was before the Great Rail Pogrom. Pictured is the world's second largest abandoned railway station, Buffalo.
Of course, what I told you is no more than 1/30 of what the author of these notes wrote about American railroads.
American railroads have a rich history and played a very important role in the development of the state. Currently, this transport is not as popular in the country as aviation and automobile types. Many of the trains are more of showpieces. Only romantics and people who are afraid of flying on an airplane travel on them. And the ticket price here is usually not much different from the cost of the flight.
Brief comparison with Russian railways
Railway of Russia and USA is different. If the total length of the domestic highway is 87 thousand kilometers, then for the Americans this figure is 220 thousand kilometers. The track width in Russia is 1520 mm, and in the USA it is 1435 mm, as in Europe. In our country, the industry employs 1.2 million workers, while American highways serve only 180 thousand people. Only the share of the industry’s cargo turnover is approximately the same, which is 40% in both countries.
Origin
History of US railroads began in 1815. Their development looked very promising due to the fact that at that time the country did not have developed cheap and fast land transport. The New Jersey Railroad Company was then founded by Colonel John Stevens. Initially, industrial branches began to be created for transporting goods over short distances, for example, for removing minerals from mines. The Pennsylvania Railroad, which began operations in 1846, was the first company in the industry. Eight years later, its first route was officially launched, connecting Philadelphia and Harrisburg.
First locomotives
If there were no big problems with the construction of the canvas, then the main problem we encountered was first US railroads, began to provide traction. In 1826, the aforementioned John Stevenson designed and built his own steam locomotive. To test his brainchild, the engineer built his own circular track in New Jersey. The testing of the machine was successful. Three years later, Gortario Allen, being the chief engineer of a large shipping company, proposed using a simple English steam locomotive. After successful testing, it began to be used on the line between Carbonvale and Honesdale in Pennsylvania. In 1830, according to the design of the American Peter Cooper, the first locomotive intended for passenger transportation was built in New York. Over time, it has established itself as a very reliable car.
In the fifties of the nineteenth century, the so-called underground or underground railroad. IN THE USA This is what representatives of a secret society called themselves. It was engaged in facilitating runaway slaves of African descent from the southern states to the north. At the same time, the organization’s activities were in no way connected with transport and transportation. Members of the organization simply used railroad terminology, which had become popular throughout American society.
The beginning of rapid development
It was after the appearance of the first diesel locomotives that they began to actively develop railroads in the USA. In the 19th century the new one was already serious competition for shipping companies. A special impetus to its development was given by several experiments that proved that a steam locomotive is capable of covering a distance approximately three to four times faster than a steamboat.
In 1830, a landmark event took place for American railway transport. Then the first passenger train was launched and began running on a regular basis between the cities of Ohio and Baltimore in Maryland. Initially, the public had an extremely negative attitude towards steam locomotives, calling them devilish machines, but over time, it became increasingly clear to most citizens that the future lay behind this transport.
If as of 1840 length of US railroads was 2755 miles, then twenty years later this figure crossed the 30 thousand mile mark. The construction of new routes was greatly facilitated by the development Agriculture. Since farmers worked for the market, they needed transport capable of transporting crops quickly and in large quantities.
Construction of the transcontinental railroad
In 1861 it broke out Civil War between North and South. Despite this, a year after its start, President Abraham Lincoln made a decision according to which it was to be built. It was assumed that the length of the highway would be almost three thousand kilometers. Two companies became contractors: Central Pacific (laid the track from west to east) and Union Pacific Railroad (conducted construction from east to west). The so-called meeting point was supposed to be in the center of the route. Each of the companies sought to be the first to finish their section and win this kind of competition, so the work was not always carried out according to plan. Many officials embezzled funds allocated for construction. If there were settlements, their residents were offered meager sums for land. Moreover, in exchange for bribes from the mayors of some cities (they benefited from the presence of the highway), the companies repeatedly changed routes.
About 10 thousand workers from China and another 4 thousand from Ireland were involved in the construction. This was done in order to reduce the cost of work, because the Americans did not agree to work for the amount offered (in best case scenario 1.5 dollars per day). Due to difficult working conditions, many builders died.
As a result, the Union Pacific Railroad company managed to lay 1,749 kilometers of track, while their opponents managed to lay 1,100 kilometers. This subsequently had a beneficial effect on further development"winners", which today have become one of the most powerful railway enterprises in the country. When workers from two contractors met in 1869, a golden nail was driven into the tie, symbolizing the connection between the two oceans.
The effect of the construction of the transcontinental railroad
Many skeptics argue that it then became a useless and senseless undertaking of the president. However, later it played a very significant role for the state, creating a real revolution in the country’s economy and the migration of its residents. In a short period of time, fertile western lands A huge number of Americans moved in wanting to develop agriculture.
At the end of the nineteenth century, several more branches appeared, directly connecting the two oceans. They were better thought out, and fewer violations were made during construction. The first railroad in the USA, laid from the east to is considered a dark spot in American history. This is not surprising, because the feat of the two companies cannot overshadow the number of workers killed and families left homeless.
Railroad development after the Civil War
The Civil War showed how important and efficient rail transport was in transporting people, food and weapons. It is not surprising that it became a priority in the future. Companies operating in the industry were provided with subsidies even before the start of construction work. In particular, the government allocated from 16 to 48 thousand dollars for each mile of roadway. In addition, the territory for 10 miles on both sides of the route became the property of the companies. It is eloquent that, starting in 1870, over 10 years, 242 thousand square miles of land were distributed to corporations.
From 1865 to 1916 it was produced on a grand scale. The total length of tracks during this time increased from 35 to 254 thousand miles. Moreover, at the beginning of the twentieth century, both passenger and freight transportation in the country was almost entirely carried out by rail.
Reduced role of railways
During the First World War, the railway sector came under the control of the American government. Since that time, the industry gradually began to lose its leading position. In 1920, the railways were returned to private ownership. However, by this time their condition had deteriorated significantly. In combination with the development of technological progress and other types of transport, this began to lead to a gradual decrease in the role of the industry for the state economy.
But there is no need to downplay the importance that the industry played. Firstly, a transport network was created that connected the entire domestic market of the state into a single whole. Secondly, the construction of the railway line contributed to a strong rise in industries such as transport engineering and metallurgy, due to the high demand for rails, cars and locomotives. Be that as it may, if before 1920 the development of railways was called the “golden era”, then we can say with confidence that since that time it has at least ended.
Current state
Few people in the United States travel by rail these days. This is primarily due to the good development of air communications. And the cost of train and plane tickets is often approximately the same. Because of this, it is not surprising that a large share of this industry's revenue comes from freight transportation. US railroad network has a length of more than 220 thousand kilometers. They serve all sectors of the country's economy. Rail transport accounts for about 40% of the national freight turnover.
Companies
All American railroad companies are privately owned. There are almost 600 of them in total. At the same time, the 7 largest of them account for more than half of the cargo turnover in the industry. The state guarantees companies the right to make independent decisions regarding transportation tariffs. At the same time, this process is controlled by a federal body called the Surface Transportation Council. Privatization of American railroads is irrelevant. Companies are interested in the efficient functioning and coordination of absolutely all systems. This is due to high competition with road transport. Fundamental decisions regarding the activities of railway companies are made by their shareholders. Recently, the total revenue of these companies averages about $54 billion per year.
Freight transportation
US railroads boast a fairly developed and efficient freight transportation system. Experts believe that the key to its successful operation is primarily related to their relative freedom from government regulation.
As noted above, about 40% of freight traffic in the country is provided by railway workers. This value has been growing over the past fifteen years. At the same time, in this indicator they are inferior to their main competitor - road transport. In the context of the struggle for clients, companies do their best to focus the attention of potential customers on their economic and environmental advantages. According to their leaders, in the near future this will still improve the current performance.
Classification of freight companies
Carriers that serve, according to the current classification system in the country, are divided into the following classes: first class companies, regional companies, local line operators and S&T carriers.
There are only seven operators classified as first class railway companies. They account for about 67% of cargo turnover, and the average annual income of each exceeds $350 million. Transportation is usually carried out over long distances. Statistics show that 9 out of 10 American railroad workers work for these companies.
Regional companies have average annual revenues of at least $40 million. They typically transport between 350 and 650 miles (within several states). According to the latest data, there are 33 such enterprises operating in the country, and the number of employees of each of them varies within 500 workers.
Local operators operate up to 350 miles and generate revenues of up to $40 million annually. There are 323 firms in this class in the state, which usually transport goods across the territory of one state.
S&T companies do not so much transport cargo as they deal with their transshipment and sorting. In addition, they specialize in delivery within a certain area upon the order of a particular carrier. According to the latest data, there are 196 such companies operating in the country, earning several tens of millions of dollars every year.
Passenger Transportation
Rail passenger transport is not very popular in the United States. The fact is that the distances between cities are usually very long, and not every person is able to sit in a chair for a day, despite its comfort. It is much faster to travel by plane, the price of a ticket for which is not so much higher than the cost of a train trip.
In the USA, there are two types: short-haul and long-haul (night). The first of them uses seated carriages. They operate exclusively during the day. The second type has both sleeping and sitting rooms. In this case, passengers are located on the upper tier, and the lower one is intended for transporting luggage. Night trains operate predominantly western part countries.
In addition, for passenger service there are also suburban transportation. The trains that provide them belong to local operators, who independently form the tariff system.
Completion
US railroads at one time played a revolutionary role in the country's economy. Their appearance contributed to a number of positive changes, as well as the development of many industries and agriculture. The evolution of American railroad transportation before the outbreak of World War I has even gone down in history as the “Golden Age” of railroads. Be that as it may, the development of technological progress combined with the availability of alternative modes of transport has led to a gradual decrease in the role of the industry.
