I took cross country train trips in both the United States and Italy this year, and the difference was striking. Going over 200MPH from Naples to Florence with my pick of several high speed departures per hour compared to riding the Lake Shore Limited and spending over an hour in Buffalo as it couples the Boston and New York legs together because running 2 trains a day is a bit too much for Amtrak.

I will say that the old Amfleets had far comfier seats though!

Take some Baltic countries or some far east Europe countries and your commute from city A to city B in a train would be a mild annoyance at best and a nightmare at worst. You’d also be lucky if train goes more than 3 times a day or if trains go more than just capital to 2nd biggest city

Am also from Eastern Europe (Lithuania). It's not that bad, however, they're slow. I don't remember it going over 130km/h (i might be mistaken) and it does quite a lot of stops.

A train journey from Vilnius to Klaipeda (310km) takes 4 hours 40 mins - 5 hours 10 mins (depending on the train). Same journey by car takes 3 hours 10 mins. Now account for what it also takes to get to the train station and from it to your destination (made worse because cities themselves have pretty meh public transport also) and you see why everyone chooses cars.

The cities that you're traveling from and to have to have good public transport / bike infrastructure / walk-ability for them to make sense.

Riding into Frankfurt for example can be quite nice tho. You see the skyscrapers in the distance while riding at 250-300 km/h through gently rolling hills dotted with small villages while drinking your free bahnbonus beer...

True: riding trains is not all alpine landscapes dreamrides, but it's often through a nice landscape nonetheless, just not as spectacular. Being in a 1h delayed train still beats being in a 1h car traffic jam imo

I've taken a train through ~~Baltic~~ Balkan countries. Granted it was Croatia to Slovenia, but holy shit the ride toward Ljubljana along the Sava felt idyllic. However even a more mundane urban train commute in Europe would be eye-opening to most Americans. The tweet is being intentionally hyperbolic.

far east Europe countries

Does Slovakia count?
The shorter routes can be fairly slow. "Finally, we are going fast! The train has reached the top speed of 40km/h!"
Also, some older units can be awful. No air-conditioning is one thing. But I also encountered a different issue. I don't have a noise level meter, but if you're taking something like the old railbus between Zvolen and Horná Štubňa, bring hearing protection. I at least had earphones, but god damn, that shit is loud.
Congrats, you took a train ride through a rural area. Side effects may include: heatstroke, muffled hearing, tinnitus.

estonian here, it's lowk chill here.

OK so imagine this: a place where public transport is effective, highly valued and prioritised, and runs 24/7, and where people in need (poor, sick, unemployed, elderly, etc) get a free transit card so they can go to healthcare visits, look for jobs further away from where they live if there aren't any nearby, visit friends and family etc without worrying about the transit costs.

Is that not worth aiming for? Worth building? Compared to cars, there's all of the benefits and none of the drawbacks.

Now imagine you live in a place like that and someone replies to you online, saying basically "you're romanticising, I don't have good public transport so I don't care for it, and I'd rather be stuck in a traffic jam than in a train delay anyway". Really?

You're right, I've never had to deal with any of those while driving. Can you imagine construction workers closing a road? Crazy, just never happens.

Homeless people aren't a public transport problem even if homelessness can become visible in public transport systems. Delays, crowded and constructions are common in other forms of transport as well.

In your shitty 'Murican cities, sure

Plenty of places in the civilised world have great train networks that move millions of people every day

I take trains often. Sure sometimes there are delays, often <5min and you still make your connection. Homeless people? Not that I've noticed. Crowded, maybe. Constructions, yes but I'm usually not impacted by it. When I use the car, all of them are much worse, so yeah...

Setting aside that train delays are usually no worse than usual auto traffic jams (and even when delayed are still less delaying than a car jam), and that being slightly crowded on a train is still far more pleasant due to being able to relax and read a book or nap, and the fact that I (in the Netherlands) never really see homeless people on the train...

... do you think homeless people don't deserve to travel anywhere? They have no right to see their friends or family in other towns, or to visit a medical specialist that isn't where they are? How else would you suggest the poor travel (other than obvious answer that you wish they didn't exist in the first place)?

The United States is not the centre of the world. If you can't travel check out YouTube videos of Japan, China, or Europe transit for example. You'll see 'Merica is still stuck in the 20th century while the world has moved on to the 21st century.

Shitty take.

"Most people"

Your personal experience and opinions are not the bar to measure anything of value. Open your mind and get to know the world outside your shit filled bubble.

Complete devoid of reality take. America is stuck in the past while the rest of the world has moved on.

I posted to reddit

I'm sore disappointed

Well you did this to yourself

I love Acela but damn if I don't buy tickets a month in advance it so expensive. We need more light rail infrastructure to drive their price down.

based