I sent this one to Cecil but I’m throwing it out here also.
Trying to figure out how best to get across these Untied States recently it occurred to me that freight trains do so constantly. It would seem that it would be really cheap to couple a passenger car or two on the back of those huge trains and have a nice little passenger service going for virtually nothing. The extra transportation cost for 1 extra, essentially empty, car would be next to nothing. So, how come they don’t?
Anybody have any idea as to why there are two entirely seperate rail systems?
Would it be possible to move people along with freight? Or is that something that has been legislated for some reason?
If I recall correctly, such mixed freight/passenger trains do exist in parts of the continent. As far as I know, they tend to go where rail service is possible, but so remote that a sole passenger train wouldn’t be economically viable. For example, I think certain routes that run into northern Manitoba and Ontario are mixed.
My WAG as to why mixing trains is not done more frequently is because people are more demanding than freight is. Freight doesn’t need meals or beverages, sheets or blankets, clean (and emptied) restrooms, dining cars, or sleepers. Freight can be left in freight yards without moving for an hour or a week; it makes no difference to the freight, nor does the freight need electricity or heat during that time. But passengers demand somewhat more service than freight gets.
Freight trains do not necessarily travel across the entire country, so you’ld have your passenger cars being dropped off at various marshalling yards around the country waiting for another train going in the proper direction. (While the cars are waiting around, you need to provide some sort of power source for the heat and air conditioning and lights, so you need to set up a special siding with those provisions at every location where a freight might want to set them aside. And this would apply even if the train was eventually going coast to coast, because it will probably have to drop cars and pick up others during the trip, so the passenger cars must either be detached and reattached at the end of the train (meaning they need the special siding) or they need to be left hooked to the engines (meaning that the passengers get to be bumped around as the extra cars are shunted around).
Freight trains tend to stay away from urban centers, so you’ld need to arrange for your passengers to get out where the freights stop. (This could be done by rail, of course, but it adds a level of complexity to the scheme.)
Even if everything else comes together, a freight train will take several days to cross the country–most people would prefer to fly. The cross-country rail passengers are usually on a train for the scenery and the service (the number simply refusing to fly is not that great). Passenger trains make the best money in heavily travelled corridors where the trains can get the largest number of paying passengers together. Tacking on a car to a freight keeps all the costs (for that car) of materials plus attendants and service personnel while doing nothing to encourage greater ridership to defray those costs.
I’m also not sure that freight trains run on regular schedules, as opposed to being made up when the railroad has the cars and the contracts for cargo. They may have such schedules, I don’t know, but if they do not have them, you have one more issue regarding finding a ridership.
One the one hand “tramp rail” (imitating tramp steamers) sounds like it might be fun, but finding a way to make it profitable does not.
Among the reasons given by Spoon time is the one thing that trains can’t go anything about. All the creature comforts can be supplied but if it takes longer to get there, it ain’t going to sail,except in rare cases.
Even with the shortcomings listed so far it doesn’t sound any worse than Greyhound.
I see this as being more like the ocean going cargo ships that have a few cabins that they book cause it costs them nothing and earns them a bit. This just sounds like the kind of thing college students would eat up as a way to go to LA on summer break or something.
As far as amenities, yea you would need a working john, but other than that I don’t see you needing much to reach the same level of service as Greyhound.
I was more wondering if there was a technical or legal reason why they don’t do it. Would a passenger train need to meet different requirements than a freight train, etc.?