Ark of the Lost Angels

Washington Union Station _{(Credit: Author)}

One entered the city like a god; one scuttles in now like a rat.

Vincent Scully on the replacement of Penn Station in New York City

The modern American rail system is perhaps the clearest example of a forced fumble in transportation history.

Leading into the 20^th century, the railway was vital to American life. It served as the primary mode of long-distance transportation, with railway networks spanning the nation. The American passenger rail lines in 1890 were a massive, sprawling network around the nation. Freight trains were also a vitally important part of American industrialization. With a history spanning the majority of the country’s existence, the cargo trains have gone hand in hand with passenger rail. The American railways saw their peak in 1945, at the end of World War II, with hundreds of thousands of passengers transiting across the nation in service of the war effort. In the wake of the war, the construction of the Interstate system and the dawning of the jet age sent the railways into dramatic decline.

In the decades since, many of the venerable passenger rail companies merged to stay afloat, or folded and were purchased outright before being nationalized and turned into the quasi-public corporation known as Amtrak. The modern Amtrak long-distance routes are a pale shadow from what they used to be. Both passenger and cargo rail lines in the 1950s compared to today show a dramatic decrease in their use thanks to the advancement of air travel and the highway system. As railway ridership and the use of freight trains decreased, the underlying infrastructure was torn up. By the 1970s, most of the passenger railways were failing and the freight railways were in the same situation. The government formed Amtrak and Conrail to rectify these situations. However, the federal government’s hand in all of it only stretched so far, and as railways were seen as increasingly outdated, the preservation of its infrastructure was not a high priority. Now, decades afterwards, the nation is clamoring for more railways, trains, and personnel to alleviate the stresses on a strained freight industry. President Biden had to stop a strike because the railway freight industry is too valuable to the nation despite the difficult conditions its engineers are forced to work under.

Railroads are primarily used for freight today. Despite the advancements in trucking and air cargo transport, railways provide a lower cost avenue to move large quantities of heavy cargo, or specific pieces which may be more difficult to move by trucks and impossible to move by all but the largest military cargo transports. For the same reasons that commercial shipping is the backbone of international trade, the railways remain the foundation for domestic cargo transportation.

There are still some conflicts which make rail travel for passengers difficult. Across the majority of the nation, the same tracks are used for both passenger and freight trains. The laws in America give passenger rail track priority, but the freight companies routinely break this law with little-to-no ramifications, resulting in unfair delays for passenger trains. Additionally, the nature of the rails themselves favors slower-moving trains. Much of the remaining American railways are curved and winding, rather than the long stretches of straight tracks which make high-speed rail live up to its name found in Europe. Basic physics dictates that a train needs to slow down on tight curves in order to stay on the tracks, and much of America’s reliance on these routes is that they have been around for very long.

Europe is roughly the same size as the continental United States, yet the entire continent is blanketed by high-speed rail networks. Travel within the European Union is extremely easy thanks to the Schengen Area making crossing national borders much easier. With the United States being one nation, thus no internal borders that require border checkpoints, having a similar setup would be easy and allow people to move around the nation quickly. For example, the California Zephyr is Amtrak’s longest route at 2,438 miles and runs between Chicago and the San Francisco Bay area. According to Amtrak’s website, it takes 51 hours and 20 minutes to travel.

The only stretch of high-speed railway in the nation is the Northeast Corridor which runs between Washington DC and Boston. It’s 457 miles long in total. The Acela train boasts the top speed on the line, at 150 miles per hour. Most of the other trains which run the route do so at around 125 miles per hour, with some commuter rail trains which use the same line running at slower speeds. In a country of 330,000,000 people and a land area of 3.5 million square miles, to have such little high speed rail is an abject failure of the American transit system.

Trains can be an experience. To travel the countryside slowly, stopping frequently, allowing one to truly take in the sights is a magical experience. However, more frequent and affordable trains should run between major cities. The Amtrak Capitol Limited route between Washington DC and Chicago runs once a day either direction, at a distance of 764 miles (1,230 kilometers), and takes around seventeen hours. Meanwhile, Paris to Budapest is almost exactly the same distance, and takes as little as thirteen hours with dozens of trains running the route every day. This also counts time for multiple changes of trains, while the Capitol Limited is one single train, albeit with stops along the way.

Robust rail networks are vital for the free movement of people. There are only a handful of cities which have rapid transit systems in America. They are New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington DC, Chicago, Atlanta, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami, Cleveland, Honolulu, and San Juan. Adding in commuter rail systems only adds a few more cities to this list, and all of these are more focused on moving people around in a single metropolitan area rather than moving people between different metropolitan areas. Ridership in the Washington Metro or the New York City subway may be massive every year, but these are only part of the equation.

A society works better when its population can move around easier. With road traffic increasing each year as more cars fill the roads, America’s highways are straining to accommodate. Interstate travel could be made much easier with a better rail network. Local municipalities are not straining to accommodate more vehicles from out of town, and trains are a much more relaxing experience. Their scheduled nature sees fewer delays than traffic caused by a myriad of reasons, they have a lower impact on the environment than cars would to move the same amount of people, and they are a much more pleasant passenger experience. Frankly, looking out the window of a moving train to scenery is more pleasant than the billboards often beside the highway, and passengers arrive at their destinations less stressed and exhausted when they arrive after driving themselves. Trains provide the opportunity

In America, flying between major cities is almost the preferred way of travel. However, when the trip can be made in a little more time but for much cheaper with a more relaxed experience if America is willing to invest in the infrastructure again, travel can become more affordable and accessible.

Beyond the logical reasons, the railroads are a vital part of American history, from building the first trans-continental railroads only a handful of decades after the nation was founded to their use in ferrying passengers from east coast civilization to the Wild West, to providing the backbone for a nation at war to move people and resources around the country. The railways are a vital part of American history that are disappearing as the tracks are no longer used. Without the passengers, what use are the stations?

The best example of the lack of respect paid to our railway systems can be seen in Pennsylvania Station in the heart of Manhattan. From its construction in 1910 to its demolition in 1963, New York City’s main railway station was a veritable palace with massive skylights, grand statues, stores and ample space to wait for the arrival of loved ones or for the trains taking you out of town. Built by the Pennsylvania Rail Road (PRR), and eventually becoming a destination for trains from several different companies, the original Penn Station was the first thing in New York City seen by millions of travelers across its sixty years of use. It made a monumental first impression on travelers from the moment they stepped into the city. As time wore on, however, the train station’s usefulness declined thanks to the aforementioned road and air travel becoming more viable. Eventually, to stay afloat, PRR sold the air rights to the building for the construction of Madison Square Garden and would receive a new train station belowground at zero cost to the company.

In 1963, demolition began. The new Penn Station still stands today, though it has expanded since it was completed in 1966. Madison Square Garden was completed in 1968 and is one of the most famous sporting and music venues in the world. The modern Penn Station made use of existing infrastructure below street level from the old station, and there are a couple stairways to the tracks which are now over a century old. The destruction of a New York City landmark spurred the creation of the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. This Commission was created to make determinations on culturally significant buildings in the city and if they should be preserved or if redevelopment would be permitted. One of their earliest decisions was on the preservation of Grand Central Terminal, which was championed by Jackie Kennedy.

Other famous train stations would be spared from the wrecking ball, despite their massive upkeep costs. Washington Union Station in the nation’s capital is a Beaux Arts masterpiece designed by Daniel Burnham in the early 1900s but fell into severe disrepair by the middle of the 20^th century. The federal government took over administrating it and put forth massive amounts of money to restore and repair such a resplendent structure. While there have been numerous railway stations which were preserved, many if not more stations of lesser importance were razed in the last several decades. Railway stations were common sights across the nation, and while some have persisted, even continuing to work for their intended purpose, many less impressive or relatively insignificant structures have been torn down or left to rot.

Buffalo Central Terminal in Buffalo, New York, was left abandoned for decades. In recent years, a massive effort has been undertaken to redevelop the historic site. While it may not be used as a train station again, at least this historic landmark may see a new lease on life, much like the Michigan Central Station in Detroit. Ford spent a massive amount of money to restore the former train station into a mixed use development for retail and office space, and a once-abandoned transit hub now stands as a gleaming landmark in Motor City.

The desire to save old train stations, or even to rebuild them (despite being completely unfeasible) speaks to cultural desires. America wants to have the same robust rail system enjoyed in other areas of the world for practical and emotional reasons. There is a sense of pride in the history of the railroads that built America and connected a massive nation. Hand in hand with the pragmatic reasons for improving the American railways are the sentimental ones. That seeing the country from 35,000 feat while traveling is an incredible sight, but experiencing its majesty on more level ground when moving from place to place is just as important.

Trains will never return to the same level of importance they held at the heyday of rail travel in the United States. However, with traffic congestion rising rapidly every year, and the increased price and hassle of flying, improving the railways across the nation to relieve straining systems would go a long way to improve travel in America. Roads and railways can go hand in hand with the skies to give people options and opportunities to move around the country as best they can.

Amtrak’s new Acela trains are beginning operation on August 28^th, 2025. While it is important to see high speed rail getting desperately needed equipment in America, the nation needs to do more. Dramatic expansion and making it easier to move around the country can only benefit the nation and its people. With the current administration’s stance on Amtrak standing in stark contrast to that of Joe Biden’s, Amtrak’s future hangs in the balance. The nation needs more reliance on its railways, not less.

Too quick are we to forget that simply because something is old that it is also obsolete.