theweirdalienoftheweb asked:

Hi, so I'm french, and I was trying to explain AMTRAK to my grandmother. She was shocked when I showed her the national map. She couldn't comprehend how this counted as a national system: "There are entire states without trains !"

France's train lines for contrast

(I get that we are smaller, but there was also a real choice by Napoleon the third to link the whole country)

I guess what I'm trying to say is : trains are cool, they get you places !

(Also, is it true you guys don't have high-speed rail ?)

I agree trains are cool, Amtrak is so small because it hasn’t been well funded historically, but we are expected to expand significantly over the next decade, and the whole the US doesn’t have High-speed rail thing is a myth, there is 1 High-speed rail line which reaches 155 mph or 250 kmph