What we could have and what we might have

Over the past couple of weeks, Rose and I have been watching a Russian TV show that I found on YouTube called Trans Siberian Odyssey. Before anyone gets too excited, I should explain that it's mostly a documentary of the on-board lives of the crew of the Trans Siberian Express, all of whom must work 14-day turns from Moscow to Vladivostok and back. It is heavily dubbed in British-accented English and photographed in a handheld camera style. There are a few nice train shots, but mostly we see the interior and close exterior of the train. It's hilarious, sad and heartwarming all at once. As far as I have been able to determine, the recording took place around January 1, of one of the years 2011 through 14.

It got me thinking: There but for the grace of God (and no thanks to Congress) goes Amtrak. While the Russian train looks modern (as does most of Amtrak long distance), the interiors are beat up, cluttered, badly organized, and drab. The on-board crew are not only required to perform routine maintenance duties and food sales during the trip, but must be re-trained and re-qualify before each and every trip. The cars have modern holding systems for toilets which don't function in extreme cold. The brake lines freeze up. It's an all-electric (overhead catenary) system, so if the power goes out, the trains have stoves that burn coal (that "nasty" carbon-based stuff hated by Democrats.) The coal stoves are also used when parked in a station and disconnected from the engine. I'm sure they were designed during the Soviet Era (not hated but loved by Democrats these days.)

Based on my personal experiences on Amtrak over the years, is it really too hard to imagine Amtrak slipping away into the Russian alternate reality?

The lack of a comprehensive, multi-mode transportation policy in the US has for decades given Amtrak the short end of the long and dirty stick. Slip up the other way and we could have had long-distance routes (not just the Northeast) run on renewable electric power. The Superliners (One and Twos) are probably just as old as the Siberian train and suffer from the same wear and tear. We could instead have dedicated train sets that run in multiples with convertible compartmentalization allowing for demand in both number and type of cars available. We could have computerized, online ticketing with upgrade-downgrade just a smart phone away even after departure. (The Russians can't upgrade or move seating or change ticketing after departure.) We could have food service that matches the best of our young, gourmet, trendy, mobile food culture by using food-truck-like kitchen modules that slip in and out of diners cleaned and fully stocked for every trip with just the right food for the number of seats sold and the meal orders placed on those smart phones.

Instead we have aging cars, bad heat and air conditioning, brown-bag style food, over-worked and or disincentivized personnel, and timetables that are mere guidelines when they are not outright jokes. The Russians have all of these. But I would wager the Russian passengers take it better than American ones do. The Russian trains have lots and lots of Vodka.