Elon Musk, the head of the US Department of Government Efficiency, recently said in a speech that countries like China have "much better" passenger rail than the US, and even said bluntly that "if you go to China, you'll experience an epic high-speed rail trip. They're fantastic!" He criticized the backwardness of US passenger rail as "kind of embarrassing" to Americans and a "sadness" for them.
According to Fortune magazine's website, CNN, and the New York Times, Musk recently shared his experience of riding passenger railroads abroad in an online speech at the Morgan Stanley technology conference, praising China's high-speed railroads as "fantastic" and saying, "It's like, if you're coming from another country, please don't use our national rail. It can leave you with a very bad impression of America".
"Amtrak is a sad situation," Musk said. Privatizing Amtrak would make for a better experience, he added, but it would likely require congressional action.
Relevant information points out that the operating speed of China's high-speed railways reaches at least 300 kilometers per hour, while the top speed of the Acela express, the fastest passenger train in the United States, is about 241 kilometers per hour.
The latest statistics show that by the end of 2024, the total mileage of China's railroad operation reached 162,000 kilometers, of which the mileage of high-speed railway is 48,000 kilometers, ranking first in the world. In contrast, although the total railroad mileage of the United States is close to 300,000 kilometers, the mileage of high-speed rail is less than 3,000 kilometers. In addition, due to the early construction of the US railroad system, there are long-term problems such as aging infrastructure and poor service quality, which seriously affect the efficiency of passenger rail transportation and passenger experience.
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