Yet another idiotic take on this. <facepalm>

It’s only slightly easier than getting hit by a building really.

trains on the line have hit a car transporter and SUV

Um, the train is not at fault here. Anyone (or anything) standing on train tracks should expect to get hit.

Why would the traffic in the cities affect them if they took a train?

No way. The best trains are far better than planes. With planes there’s the 2 hour wait time in the airport + boarding and deplaning time, the 20-45 minute drive to the airport, and figuring out logistics of tickets and who is gonna give you a ride on either end. There’s also the hassle of “did I do everything…

Because planes are inherently less efficient than trains, train travel is more comfortable, and the time penalty for trains VS planes is very small on sub-1000km routes. Ever done Amsterdam-Berlin? You hop in literally in the middle of the city, no security, you chill out for 6 hours 20 minutes and you get out again…

The massive inflation and property value bubble may have something to do with it. Pretty much everything is more expensive, including labor and materials. I’m sure there were unforeseen issues in geology and such. There’s a section of rural highway were I live that took a decade or so longer to build than planned for.…

Japan also had some growing pains to make the Shinkansen happen it went double over budget, as it happens everywhere, and like that once it’s operation people rarely remember the initial budget, it just need to be delivered first. I really do hope I can visit the US and the West Coast and not deal with the nightmare…

No, you totally can! I make no promises about how they’ll react to you being high at the time, though. :)

I had assumed I could walk freely about the train and in their viewing cars.  I also assume I’m incorrect.  In my head it sounds like a lot of fun!

Presumably said private roomette (which has a locking door and curtains over the window in said door) allows for such a thing, regardless of whether Amtrak wants you to or not.

A looong trip on a train sounds like a lot of fun to me assuming I can get hammered/take edibles whilst taking in the views.

So how’s that smug entitlement working out for you? Thanks for ruining the country. 

I read a lot of the comments here and figured I’d chime in, too.

“The system fucked me, so I’m gonna make sure the system fucks all of you pussies too!”

I’m a Gen Xer and what I’m tired of is sad, baseless generational sniping, especially at Millennials and Gen Zers who, after all, haven’t been in charge for any of this.

“and actually had to pay for its own music” 
Bullshit.
Gen X was recording everything to cassettes and bootlegging each other cassettes like that shit was going out of style. And if you didn’t have a friend that had the cassette, you were stealing the tracks from live radio.
And as you got older, you were burning CDs.…

One. If you aren’t poor, shut the fuck up. Two, you do not speak for “the internet” or the rest of us. This sounds like some whiny Megan McCain bullshit some shrill pouty conservative came up with. Stick your false optimism up your ass. People are dying out here.

Hi there. Allow me to introduce myself. I'm a 21 year old college student with one parent from the Baby Boomer age, and one from Generation X.