HOW DO EUROPEAN AND NORTH AMERICAN TRAINS DIFFER?

When it comes to American trains vs. European trains, there are six main factors that help make each one stand apart: their freight-to-passenger ratio, funding, rail infrastructure, train designs, operating procedures, and government regulations. Let's explore each of these in-depth.
1. Freight-to-Passenger Ratio.......What really sets these two rail networks apart are the shares of their respective freight and passenger transportation markets. North American railways handle about 84% freight cargo and only 16% passengers, while the European Union's railways are almost exactly the inverse at 80% passengers and 20% freight. This difference in focus is primarily due to their opposing historical priorities: American railways were built to move goods across a vast country with a sparse population, whereas European railways were mostly created to move large amounts of people between densely populated cities. To learn more, check out our recent article on the history of short line railroads in America.

2. Train Design.......Due to their opposing priorities, American and European trains are designed quite differently. American trains are typically longer and wider to accommodate more freight, while European trains are shorter and narrower to allow for more nimble movements and quicker acceleration. American freight cars also tend to be lower to the ground to make it easier to load and unload heavy cargo, whereas European passenger cars are typically higher off the ground to offer a better view of the passing scenery.                         

3. Operating Procedures........As a result of their different train designs, American and European operating procedures are also quite dissimilar........read on     https://www.floridarail.com/news/6-key-differences-between-american-and-european-rail-systems/#:~:text=Train%20Design&text=American%20trains%20are%20typically%20longer,nimble%20movements%20and%20quicker%20acceleration.   

And another big Difference is Europe has the most Beautiful Stations......11 of Europe’s Most Beautiful Train Stations AFAR Chris Ciolli November 29, 20241 One of Europe’s Most Beautiful Train Stations. As a Midwesterner accustomed to functional but far-from-glamorous Amtrak hubs, I didn’t know I could be wowed by a train station until I visited the Estación de Atocha in Madrid. Struck by the sun streaking in through the curved glass roof and the tropical plants taller than the house I grew up in, I resolved that every time I visited Europe, I’d take time to visit these impressive terminals.European train stations—such as the classic red-brick St. Pancras in London or the old-meets-ultra-modern Strasbourg-Ville in France—are more than transit stops. They’re treasures of the golden era of train travel, architectural wonders, and community hubs where locals and visitors alike shop, eat, and take in live music and art exhibitions.With their historical significance and elaborate architecture and design, these buildings are destinations in themselves.......check them out    https://www.afar.com/magazine/europes-most-magnificent-train-stations-and-the-rails-to-ride-to-visit-them

The newly resuscitated plan comes at a 40 percent lower price tag for drivers than the original proposal, charging passenger cars $9 once a day to enter Midtown and Lower Manhattan during peak hours. Environmentalists still mark the decision as a tentative win that could help reduce New York’s air pollution and carbon footprint by supporting public transit. Meanwhile, a coalition of Republicans has pledged to do whatever it takes to block congestion pricing if President-elect Donald Trump can’t nix it himself after his January inauguration. Though New York’s approach is the first of its kind in the nation, it’s not the first in the world. Across the Atlantic, London has been running a congestion pricing program for more than two decades, which experts say can help other cities like New York understand what these fees can achieve—and what they cannot. 

Across the Pond........In 2003, London’s then-mayor, Ken Livingstone, launched England’s first congestion pricing structure. It charged drivers a daily fee of £5 to enter a zone in the city’s center during working hours.  A year later, the program was hailed as a smashing success. Traffic congestion within the central zone dropped by a staggering 30 percent, and the government added 300 vehicles to London’s bus fleet, according to Transport for London, the city’s transportation department. “This is the only thing that I have done or been associated with in 33 years of public life that has turned out better than I thought it would,” Livingstone said at the time. However, as the toll expanded to include more zones and higher tolls over the next two decades, an interesting pattern emerged: Congestion returned to roughly the same level it was before the toll was implemented. City leaders said this was because they had converted several car lanes into walkways, bus lanes and biking areas, which squeezed traffic. 

But David Metz, an honorary professor in the Center for Transport Studies at University College London, offered a different explanation. Congestion pricing worked so well when it was first implemented that the de-clogged toll roads became more appealing for drivers—at least for those who could afford it, he said.  “The net effect is a kind of a redistribution of road space towards those who are willing to pay and away from those who are less willing or unable to pay,” Metz told me. In the 1990s, Metz spent five years as the chief scientist at the United Kingdom’s Department for Transport, and more recently authored the book “Good To Go? Decarbonising Travel After the Pandemic.”“When you introduce any new innovation, you have an immediate impact, and then the system settles down and equilibrates,” he said......read on   https://insideclimatenews.org/news/15112024/todays-climate-congestion-pricing-revived-new-york-london/