stephen gardner? guest: thanks tim. jim -- germany is a great example of what could happen in the united states with this sustained investment. they are investing $14 billion a year in their network, for germany which is a nation of 80 million and obviously a huge piece of the eu, but relatively small compared to the geography and population of the united states. typically amtrak would be invested about 2 billion dollars versus that $14 billion. i lived in germany myself and i can attest to the ease and convenience of that network and the services that make it really easy to get around from small cities to little towns to big cities. we have a lot of places in the united states that have the density and population to do that. not everywhere, but we have hundred 20 million people. we have not grown our network to meet the new population and the new demands. that is what animates us at amtrak is we want to serve more people, we want to serve more places with more trains and we think doing so can help the economy, create j

coming up this morning, amtrak president stephen gardner talks infrastructure in the future of rail service.

stephen gardner? guest: thanks tim.- germany is a great example of what could happen in the united states with this sustained investment. they are investing $14 billion a year in their network, for germany which is a nation of 80 million and obviously a huge piece of the eu, but relatively small compared to the geography and population of the united states. typically amtrak would be invested about 2 billion dollars versus that $14 billion. i lived in germany myself and i can attest to the ease and convenience of that network and the services that make it really easy to get around from small cities to little towns to big cities. we have a lot of places in the united states that have the density and population to do that. not everywhere, but we have hundred 20 million people. we have not grown our network to meet the new population and the new demands. that is what animates us at amtrak is we want to serve more people, we want to serve more places with more trains and we think doing so can help the economy, create jobs, e

for the first leg ofr trains, planes and automobiles discussion, we are joined by stephen gardner, appointedresident of amtrak just about a year ago and first stepped aboard the railroad passenger corporation back in 2009. what does rail ridership look like in thanksgiving 2021? what are you expecting this holiday compared to last? guest: good morning. we are at about 80% of our pre-pandemic volume for this thanksgiving week. it is obviously the busiest week of the year.