Posted on 04/14/2010 7:43:34 AM PDT by Willie Green
COLUMBUS, Ohio — In many states, travelers who take Amtrak's long-distance trains for vacations or out-of-state business trips board in the middle of the night and return home from such cities as Chicago or New York City at times that are just as inconvenient.
But some improvements are on the way. Amtrak, the country's only major passenger train system, is re-examining timetables and finding other ways to improve its 15 national routes to bring in more riders and revenue. Among those under review are two routes that dip into Ohio and are practically hidden at night, their trains passing through when most people are sleeping.
Businessman Dave Shreiner, 63, typically boards around 1:30 a.m. at a tiny Amtrak stop in Alliance, Ohio. He travels exclusively by rail half of the year, visiting clients around the U.S.
"It makes planning a trip a challenge," Shreiner said.
The push for upgrades comes as Amtrak is on pace for record ridership this year, carrying a best-ever 13.6 million passengers in the first half of fiscal year 2010. That's a 4.3-percent increase over the same period last year, and 100,000 more than 13.5 million posted in the first half of 2008, Amtrak's previous highest ridership of 28.7 million passengers.
Amtrak cites an improving economy and high fuel prices as factors in ridership growth.
President Barack Obama is also giving $8 billion in stimulus money to 13 high-speed rail projects and 31 states, though Amtrak's role in those projects is murky, since states will control the funds. Some of the projects are years away from completion.
In the meantime, Amtrak is putting all of its long-distance routes under review through 2012, including five this year.
(Excerpt) Read more at google.com ...
A big improvement would be to sell off lines to local interests and run them as lines for profit. Kick the gov’t guidance out and let the market decide which lines will work and which won’t.
A big improvement would be to sell off lines to local interests and run them as lines for profit.
IMHO, the Government should own and maintain the actual right-of-way and rails. Private interests would then compete against each other for the opportunity to operate their rolling stock on those lines.
It is the same model upon which our roads, highways and airlines are built.
The railroads should be no different.
We don't permit airlines to "own" the air corridors,
and we don't permit trucking companies to "own" our highways.
It is an abomination to grant freight railroads monopoly control of our rail system.
The freight railroads are perfectly happy with roadbeds and rights of way which are suitable for 40-60 mph operation.
To get the trackage needed for passenger speeds (not even bullet train speeds, just the timetables that were maintained in the 40's) you'd need a massive investment by the government "owners" of the track (read: taxpayers), or by the passenger railroad itself, which could never afford it.
The only way we'll ever get better train service in America is if the airlines and the TSA finally manage to make air travel so unutterably hellish that Americans demand better trains. Those two entities are certainly on the right track (no pun intended) to achieving that result.
Since states will control the funds.Get back it ain’t going to happen now.
The only way we'll ever get better train service in America is if the airlines and the TSA finally manage to make air travel so unutterably hellish that Americans demand better trains.
The rising cost of jet fuel is making short-hop air travel less economically attractive than passenger rail. Already the airlines are infuriating the customers with surcharges for "fat" passengers and carry-on luggage.
Since there is no available substitute for petroleum based jet fuel, this trend will only get worse in the future, and passenger rail will prevail on short, regional trips of 150~600 miles.
Then we'll get TSA at the train stations. To harass people there too.
A one way trip from Minneapolis to Boston costs approx. 380$... Unless I want a small sleeping cabin about the size of my linen closet. That’s an additional 650$ for only one short leg of the trip. The trip, of course, is a mere *28* hours long with hours-long stopovers in Chicago and New York. How far would 1000$ get me on an airplane? A hell of a lot farther than Boston, that’s for sure.
Why on Earth would anyone use Amtrak for anything other than a creative way to blow time and money?
APf
Warren Buffet is working on that.
Right. Though I am not sure about the gov’t owning all rails.
By line, I didn’t mean the physical lines themselves. Just the routes, trains, etc.
“Businessman Dave Shreiner, 63, typically boards around 1:30 a.m. at a tiny Amtrak stop in Alliance, Ohio. He travels exclusively by rail half of the year, visiting clients around the U.S.”
...wow...calling on accounts using the train...that’s really old school...like guys used to do back in the 40s and 50s before the interstate hiway system...and btw, in some cities there are still hotels next to the old train stations...back in the day, they did a lot of business with commercial travelers.
Just out of curiosity, I looked at an AMTRAK vacation. I could buy airfare and hotel for a week in Europe or a 5 day cruise for what the AMTRAK fare alone would cost to go most anywhere. The prospect of having to leave or return at 3 am made the deal even less attractive. It’s too bad as when I was a kid my family took several train vacations when there was still top notch rail service and the experience was memorable.
???
He travels all across the US, for six months of the year -- and he "typically" boards at 1:30 AM in Alliance, Ohio? That makes no sense.
What could possibly go wrong?
You and I think alike, my friend. Providing infrastructure is a legitimate activity of a government. Providing services is not.
Unfortunately rail service is still inconvenient, slow, and costs as much as a plane ticket.
The grey dog isn’t any better but you get the joy of nasty, scary passengers and stations.
Unfortunately rail service is still inconvenient, slow, and costs as much as a plane ticket.
That's precisely why we need to invest the funds to upgrade and improve performance to modern, 21st Century standars.
and yet you call your self a conservative..
Paris and Madrid and New York and Chicago are almost exactly the same distance apart (about 780 miles). A nice little research project would be to compare train trips for these two locations comparing
- cost
- time
- frequency
- reliability (on time arrivals)
Then factor in a fudge factor for how nice the trip would be - how good is the food, how clean are the trains, how safe you would feel making the trip etc. etc.
My guess is that the results would be quite dramatic i.e. dramatically different.
Euro Railways Paris to Madrid is faster (about 13½ hrs) but also more expensive (cheapest fare I spotted was $130 for a Tourist Passholder fare, but can quickly escalate to $300, $500 or even $850 for the more plush amenities. Click on the link if you want more information. I'm unfamiliar with scheduling European rail travel and am uncertain about how to interpret this info.
But you're right, it is a bit of a surprise!
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