It’s fair to say the direct comparison between UK and US doesn’t add up. But, Europe as a whole is roughly as big-ish as the United States. They have a really well-developed rail system and they are better because of it.
According to Google (so maybe it’s wrong), the European Union has a total of 124,864 miles as of 2023.
It says the US has a total of 136,729 miles.
So if we’re going purely by length, which admittedly is not the only factor, then the US still edges them out.
I do imagine that many of those miles are in disrepair, but I still think it’s important to remember just how large and spread out the US actually is. Laying down that much track is an enormous undertaking
I do imagine that many of those miles are in disrepair
Actually most of it is in good working order! The FRA regulations require a certain standard of maintaince for trains to be allowed to roll down the track so railroads will either abandon trackage or keep it maintained. Yes some sidings and branch lines will see lighter maintenance but they will still be maintained to a relatively safe standard until they are abandoned and no longer used by the railroad
Public transit in the US is trash, but the country is so much larger than the UK, that we still have like 15x that here.
It’s fair to say the direct comparison between UK and US doesn’t add up. But, Europe as a whole is roughly as big-ish as the United States. They have a really well-developed rail system and they are better because of it.
According to Google (so maybe it’s wrong), the European Union has a total of 124,864 miles as of 2023.
It says the US has a total of 136,729 miles.
So if we’re going purely by length, which admittedly is not the only factor, then the US still edges them out.
I do imagine that many of those miles are in disrepair, but I still think it’s important to remember just how large and spread out the US actually is. Laying down that much track is an enormous undertaking
Actually most of it is in good working order! The FRA regulations require a certain standard of maintaince for trains to be allowed to roll down the track so railroads will either abandon trackage or keep it maintained. Yes some sidings and branch lines will see lighter maintenance but they will still be maintained to a relatively safe standard until they are abandoned and no longer used by the railroad