In this blog post, I will be comparing two government subsidized passenger rail services from America and Germany. Amtrak and Deutsche Bahn, respectively, are the two largest forms of passenger rail found in each country. Despite both performing the same basic function of transporting people from place to place, their roles in each country lack similarities. From the number of ridership to the infrastructure that supports them, these two railroads perform far differently from each other. My goal in this blog post is to offer a condensed comparison of the two services and highlight key problems with each and how they can use each other to improve.

In 1970, Amtrak was created by U.S congress to be the first government subsidized intercity passenger rail network in America. Deutsche Bahn began operating in 1994, combining western Germany’s Deutsche Bundesbahn and its eastern counterpart Deutsche Reichsbahn after the German reunification, or Wiedervereinigung. Deutsche Bahn is unique in the fact that it is a joint-stock company, meaning that it’s owned by its investors, however its sole investor is the German government. Both railroads offer high speed intercity travel. Amtrak’s singular high speed train is the Acela, which can reach a maximum speed of 150 mph. However, it rarely reaches this speed and only operates on the Northeast corridor. This is due to the Northeast corridor being the only long distance electrified passenger rail corridor in America, reaching from Boston to Washington D.C, stopping in New York City, Philadelphia, and Baltimore. The Deutsche Bahn boasts the ICE express, with a top speed of 200 mph. It can travel consistently at higher speeds then the Acela because there are only stops at major cities. The largest difference between Amtrak and Deutsche Bahn is annual ridership. In fiscal year 2022, Amtrak reported 22.9 million riders (Washington Post). In the same year, Deutsche Bahn reported 1.98 billion (Statista). This disparity is in part due to Germany being a much smaller country then America, however it is clearcut evidence that America is severely lacking in the quality and extensiveness of its government funded passenger rail service.

A large reason for Germany’s success with passenger rail is that the country is much smaller then America, thus making it easier to connect large cities through rail. While we see the Northeast Corridor in the U.S as a prime example of passenger rail done right, this kind of infrastructure is present across the entirety of Germany rather then a small part. Furthermore, America’s freight rail system is privatized. Freight rail companies like CSX, Norfolk Southern and BNSF are privately owned, publicly traded companies that act for profit. Because of this, these companies own a vast majority of tracks in America, giving them priority and right-of-way over Amtrak. This causes delays for Amtrak as passenger trains often get backed up behind the slower freight traffic. Privately owned track also makes it harder for Amtrak to continue its electrification and increase of efficient passenger corridors in other parts of America outside the northeast. In comparison, Germany’s freight traffic is a subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn, meaning that is state-run like the passenger service and can be managed so that passenger rail maintains priority and operates more efficiently.

While private versus state owned freight rail is a major reason as to why Germany’s passenger rail is more effective then America’s, it is simply a product of two different government structures. One solution for American passenger rail is for more private passenger rail companies to be created and buy rights to trackage, which we are already seeing in Florida with Brightline and the proposed high speed rail corridor in California. Both of these developments are examples of private companies identifying the need for passenger rail in condensed metropolitan zones or areas where there is a clear need for a linkage outside of highways. America may not be able to fully adapt Germany’s passenger network in to their own system, but they can learn from its quality and efficiency when building their own.

Sources:

Koptyug, Evgenia. “Topic: Deutsche Bahn in Germany.” Statista, https://www.statista.com/topics/6959/deutsche-bahn-in-germany/#topicOverview.