Is this joke?
this post was submitted on 20 Oct 2025
811 points (98.2% liked)
Map Enthusiasts
5212 readers
182 users here now
For the map enthused!
Rules:
-
post relevant content: interesting, informative, and/or pretty maps
-
be nice
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
No :(
In Europe there is definitely a difference between TGV quality lines and the regional ones which are rarely better than taking the car, sadly (speaking from my years of experience).
I wonder what the map would look like if you at least greyed out the slow lines.
The US absolutely needs more and better trains. But also, the US has large areas with no population. That's why when you look at electoral maps you need to control population density.
Even with a high quality rail system with support for populated areas of the US the map would still have large gaps and wouldn't be nearly as full as the EU map.
Simply putting two maps side by side and saying "this one bad" isn't great. Yes, it's absolutely bad, but for the exact reasons this map shows.
US also has the advantage of being one big federation with established standards bodies and a federal budget. A train that goes Between Belgium, Netherlands, Germany has to pass through 3 different electrical standards (yes, they are very different), 2 traffic regulations (left or right side), and 3 signalization standards. And they make it work.
Yeah, but excluding entire states is ridiculous.
Exactly. Every state has a major population hub. Excluding major cities is pretty bad. Except Wyoming. No one fucking lives in Wyoming. Why are they even a state...
In the vague defense of Wyoming and the other great planes states, quite a lot of their population growth was hindered or outright shrank due to the dust bowl which they haven't recovered from. It's kinda like how Russia goes through a population dip every 20 years or so due to the sheer number of people who died during WW2.
Is it? There are entire states with populations less than that of major cities.
load more comments
(11 replies)
My baby doesn't take the morning train?
All roads lead to… Chicago?
Chicago has been a major transportation hub for nearly 200 years, it is the furthest inland you can reach from the sea by ship. cattle arrived from Texas ranches to Slaughterhouses on their way to the east coast. Wells Fargo was founded because American Express didn't want to operate further than Chicago, but they saw there was the opportunity of linking NY to San Francisco by Chicago
load more comments
(12 replies)
load more comments
(8 replies)
Germany used to have more 30 years ago. Scheiß Kohl und Schröder
France too :'( Putain de Chirac et Sarkozy.
For the unaware:
In the small town where I grew up, the train station got turned into a supermarket + gas station + mcdonalds (yes, really 🤮 ). To take a train to anywhere else in France, you first have to drive 25 minutes (not the longest, but really defeats the point of taking local / regional trains).
c/fuckcars
load more comments
(1 replies)
I once decided to take the train from Denver to Chicago rather than flying. Just to see the country.
One train per day.
Just fucking one train per day.
load more comments
(6 replies)
Why is no one concerned that europe has taken the place of mexico??? Where is mexico now??? How is this not international news?
load more comments
(3 replies)
Goes to show how successful the oil and automobile lobbyists. The US passenger railway network is a fucking flop. When will they finally use electric locomotive instead of the pollution belching diesel electrics.
And Europe is zoomed in too
And, living in enclaves as I have, I always think we don't have much. But it's kinda terrifying how bad the US have it.
Well, they make up for it with planes. They can move around. It's just awfully polluting
bUt tHe US Is a yOunGEr coUnTrY! wE haVeN't HaD mUCh TiMe tO caTcHuP.
load more comments
(13 replies)
It also doesn't acknowledge that a lot of that is just empty space. The US is ranked 180 of 242 nations in population density.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_and_dependencies_by_population_density
The US rail system has been bastardized since its inception, but this map is basically useless. The UK has 7x the population density as the US.
That's a problem that is easily solved by building less trains in places with no people and more trains in places with lots of people.
To be clear, the U.S has plenty of places that could easily support rail transit, and High-speed rail. That they are not getting built is just good old political failure.
load more comments
(14 replies)
load more comments
(9 replies)
It gets cut off here, but Estonia only has like 4 lines or something, all from the capital in the north. No interconnection between the other cities except through the capital, and for two of the lines about 30 km away from the capital. It really sucks, I wish there was more and I'm also hoping for Rail Baltica to be ready sooner rather than later. And I REALLY wish there was a way to connect Tartu, Viljandi and Pärnu to each other directly - right now you have to make a near 200 km detour to get between the first two, and Pärnu is disconnected altogether until Rail Baltica is finished, the Tallinn-Pärnu line is dead. Sadly though, that dream route of mine (which would connect two culturally significant cities (Tartu and Viljandi) to each other and to the future Rail Baltica line in a slightly less detour-y fashion) will likely never exist because of all the wetlands in between those cities. I am glad they're being preserved, but... trains would be nice.
Yeah but what about the size difference between the two countries?
... Oh wait...
load more comments
(7 replies)
view more: next ›