This Is Why Train Tickets Are so Expensive in the U.S.

Photo: OLIVIER DOULIERY / Contributor (Getty Images)

If you’ve ever considered taking Amtrak, you probably found out pretty quickly that taking the train isn’t cheap. In fact, it’s probably less expensive to fly. But why is that?

As shown in the video below, when a CNBC reporter recently tried to book a next-day ticket from New York City to Washington D.C., he found a business-class seat would be $674 round-trip, with first class being even pricier. A first-class seat on a Delta flight, however, was only $548. When he tried to book a trip that was further out, Amtrak was $457. First class on Delta, meanwhile, was $343.

Unsurprisingly, the reasons behind these price differences are relatively complex, and there’s no single obvious solution to the problem of expensive train travel in the U.S. One of the big ones is simple government investment in infrastructure. Getting government funding for railways that is comparable to air travel and roads is difficult. Amtrak trains are also slower and more expensive to operate than they are in other countries, but without a big investment to fund major upgrades, it’s going to be hard to fix that.

But airlines are also able to run a lot of flights on any given day, while Amtrak has fewer trains. They can also be unreliable, meaning when something breaks, that train is probably going to be out of commission for a while.

Along the eastern corridor, there’s a good bit of demand for Amtrak tickets, which pushes those prices up. And that’s partly because Amtrak knows being able to travel between cities such as New York and D.C. without the hassle of driving to the airport, going through security, getting on a plane, etc. means it can charge a premium for those tickets.

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And that’s not even half of it. For the rest of the story, check out this great CNBC video on the subject:

Why Train Tickets Cost So Much In America