National Geographic: "All aboard the slow train to Patagonia, a relic of a bygone era"

[TinCan782]

"Long-distance rail travel is dying out, but this journey through Argentina promises extraordinary views of remote landscapes."
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/tren-patagnicothe-last-train-to-patagonia

 

[AmtrakMaineiac]

Long-distance rail travel is dying out,

I guess this person has never been to Europe, Russia, or China

 

[jis]

I guess this person has never been to Europe, Russia, or China

The context of that statement may be Argentina or even the Western Hemisphere.

Don't forget South and Southeast Asia. There is more than China and Russia in Asia, that have pretty dense overnight service, many with Sleepers and many with just unreserved second class too.

Argentina could have had a much better passenger rail network (and many other things) if their national government had been less dysfunctional than it has been

Fortunately it looks like things are slowly starting to improve of late, after they re-nationalized most of the system after a disastrous experiment with privatization failed miserably.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

I guess this person has never been to Europe, Russia, or China

The world is a lot bigger than Russia and China and outside of wars/pandemics their aviation markets still dwarf their passenger rail. When I visited Europe most long distance trains had been retired. While there have been some moves to bring long distance trains back we're still in the early days and cannot say if the trend will survive long term. Here in the Western Hemisphere the long distance train is dying out. Most of what remains is regional, metro, or tourist focused with a handful of long distance trains with the fewest-ever cars traveling the fewest-ever routes. It wasn't that long ago that Amtrak's own board-approved airline CEO was trying to turn the Southwest Chief into series of useless bus bridges.