Unpopular Opinion: Despite its popularity and economic success, I think the Auto Train is the antithesis of everything Amtrak should stand for as a mode of transportation. It should not be celebrated, but condemned as another example of car dependency being propagated.

Despite its popularity and economic success, I think the Auto Train is the antithesis of everything Amtrak should stand for as a mode of transportation. It should not be celebrated, but condemned as as another example of car dependency being propagated; another way our country's obsession with the automobile leeches into every aspect of our lives.

Amtrak's Auto Train service is something we should be frustrated with at the very least, and disgusted with at the very most. Yes, it is a means to an end by getting cars off the road for it's 800+ mile trip, but that is negated by the "last-mile" trips being taken by private automobile. You see, the very inclusion of catering to the customer's automobile via this service offering continues the cyclical nature of car dependency in this country. It forces a de facto land use around stations that makes Amtrak less convenient and cars necessary, as well as the negative environmental factors of pollution and congestion that undoubtedly occur. Train service should be quick, convenient, less encumbering, and take you to dense urban centers. Cars do not do this without destroying their immediate environment due to their inherent spatial inefficiency.

The one thing we have in this country that is inter-city train service via Amtrak was almost lost decades ago. I am not going to go through the history of why this occurred, because I am sure many of you know it already, but thinking back to those reasons we should preserve and help train travel flourish, not let it be diminished by catering to the convenience and self-interested nature that is travelling by automobile.