Threads debate US passenger rail decline
Social commentary on passenger‑rail feeds revisited the long decline of U.S. passenger service, arguing highways and airlines hollowed out once‑busy lines after the 1950s and 1960s. Observers posted examples of empty rights‑of‑way and questioned whether reviving some routes is realistic (x.com) (x.com).
A new round of posts about empty rail corridors has revived an old argument: the United States cut back passenger trains for decades, then rebuilt only part of the network. (archivesfoundation.org) The long slide started well before Amtrak. In 1916, rail carried 98% of long-distance trips in the United States and more than 40 million passengers; by 1940, rail’s share had fallen to 67%, and passenger-miles had dropped from 42 billion to 25 billion. (archivesfoundation.org) Federal policy accelerated the shift after World War II. Congress established the Interstate Highway System in the Federal-Aid Highway Act signed on June 29, 1956, and the National Archives says it became the biggest public works project in the nation’s history. (archives.gov) Air travel got another push in 1978. Congress passed the Airline Deregulation Act on October 24, 1978, ordering the Civil Aeronautics Board to place “maximum reliance on competition” in air service, a change that helped expand route and fare competition. (congress.gov) Railroads were also losing side revenues that had helped keep passenger trains alive. The National Archives Foundation says the Postal Service shifted mail away from trains in 1967, stripping many routes of crucial income. (archivesfoundation.org) By the time Amtrak began service on May 1, 1971, it was stepping into a system private railroads had been shrinking for years. The National Archives Foundation calls Amtrak’s creation a turning point for intercity passenger service in the United States. (archivesfoundation.org) The online debate is happening as Amtrak is growing again, but from a much smaller base than the prewar rail era. Amtrak said it carried a record 32.8 million customers in fiscal 2024, up 15% from fiscal 2023, with ticket revenue reaching $2.5 billion. (amtrak.com) Restoring old routes is not just a matter of laying passenger schedules over unused maps. The Federal Railroad Administration says the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act ordered a study of restoring daily service and adding new long-distance routes, and the Association of American Railroads says more than 70% of Amtrak travel runs on tracks owned by freight railroads. (railroads.dot.gov) (aar.org) That is why some advocates point to rights-of-way and see missed opportunity, while rail operators point to capacity, ownership, and cost. The Federal Railroad Administration says the 2021 law included $66 billion for rail, the largest federal rail investment since Amtrak was created, but rebuilding service still depends on host-railroad agreements, infrastructure work, and state or federal funding. (transportation.gov) (amtrak.com) The empty corridors in those posts are real places, but they are also evidence of a national choice made over decades. The current fight is over whether that choice left a gap that highways and airlines still do not fill on every route. (archives.gov) (congress.gov)
