@elbanditoroso It’s a great point of course, the cost has to be considered. I don’t know if the auto train runs at a profit or not. I’m assuming it very full during certain times of the year. I used it to move to Florida when I graduated college. On the train with me were quite a bit of people moving to Florida looking for construction type work. My grandma used to use it when she would come down to Florida with her SO for a month in the winter.
I don’t know how many automobiles are on a typical auto train, but it doesn’t have to be 100 I would think. You can use the train for both passengers with cars and passengers without cars. I wonder how many autos in a train car? I don’t remember.
Even if it runs at a loss, I wondered on the other Q if it’s more cost effective for the country than building some of the newer mass transportation ideas.
I think probably starting south of some major cities is best, so you capture both cities and outlying areas. Like the current line is in VA south of DC and NY, and obviously south of New England and Canada. It ends north of Orlando, so people traveling to and from South Florida, Tampa and Orlando might consider using it. It still is not in an ideal spot in my opinion, but it’s pretty good.
Maybe south of St. Louis area-ish to Alberquerque for cross country and Midwest snowbirds who go to Arizona? It would be great if there were tracks that were convenient from Ohio to Florida for MI, and OH, but I don’t think there are. Unless, there are tracks for moving goods that could be utilized. I don’t know what the tracks are like for that. I guess I could look up a map. It’s a non-stop venture, so you don’t need stations on the route.