Posted on 05/07/2011 5:15:29 PM PDT by george76
This week kicks off the 40th Anniversary of the money-sucking, inefficient, outmoded national rail system we call Amtrak.
Let’s start with money. Amtrak loses bucketloads of money every day. The national rail system operates in the red, generating huge losses and has done so each and every year of its existence. And they are not shy about it.
That’s over $1.2 billion in losses for the most recent year, putting the overall tab for this antiquated, bloated and inefficient system around $50 billion dollars of taxpayer money.
The embarrassment of Amtrak has even struck a chord with someone who rallied for its creation. Anthony Haswell, founder of the National Association of Railroad Passengers and a person widely recognized as the inspiration for Amtrak, is not happy with the current state of the railroad’s affairs.
When the Founding Father of Amtrak calls it a ‘massive failure’ and states that the politicians involved are getting more benefits from it than the passengers and taxpayers, you would hope that someone in the Federal government would respond.
Washington did respond. Their answer to Amtrak’s problems? Spend more money.
(Excerpt) Read more at theblaze.com ...
I took the train in middle 1960’s from Northeast Mississippi to NYC, cured me of train travel.
I have thought about taking the train from Pa. to Ca. to visit family, as flying is cramped and bothersome, but my two week vacation would be used up just in travel time.
“Wouldn’t be a mess if Dagny ran it.
“Get the Comet in...on time...”
“Yes, Miss Taggart.””
You might be surprised to learn that the top operating official of Metro-North Railroad (running into Grand Central Terminal in NYC) is a woman.
She started out back around 1979 as a locomotive fireman just a little ahead of me. Worked her way up as an engineer, then trainmaster, then superintendant, and is now at the vice-presidential level. A _real life_ version of Dagny Taggart.
That’s the truth — and, as someone in this forum who _works for_ Amtrak, I prefer to run on Metro-North, because it’s a well-run operation.
The problem is, those cramming AMTRAC down our throats are pushing for high speed rail at the expense of our heavy freight rail.
They seem addicted to unintended consequences as a result of poorly planned and executed actions.
Where's Willie?
I rode the Strasse from Kafertal to down town Mannheim in the mid 90s. Some of the drunken locals (German, not GIs) would puke on the floor. One young man puked a bright orange substance with the viscosity of paint.
Next, let's discuss the romanticism and superiority of the European fests. They were fun, but let's stay honest about it.
The singer, Phoebe Snow, died recently, and the obituary said she took her name from “an advertisement she saw on a train”. Well, could be, but if so it was probably an ad for “The Phoebe Snow”, a train that ran from NYC ( I guess ) up through the Delaware Water Gap. I sixth grade our teacher took us on a field trip to ride it. She also took us to the old Met where we saw Rigoletto. I have to say I appreciate her efforts to show us the icons of a vanishing age, more so than I did at the time, of course.
Every one of you attempting to ‘derail’ the economic viability of a national rail network on the grounds of our population density vs geographic area is ignoring one crucial fact: The majority of the US population occupies the West/East coasts, the East coast being the most densely populated. Therefore the economic viability of a coastal rail network on each coast, with cross-country interlinks is quite high.
About a year ago I traveled to NYC from BWI via the Acela train - about 30 times over a 16 month period. Only once the train was delayed. Overall a good experience. Certainly better than flying between BWI/DC and NYC with no idiotic TSA security to deal with.
Willie rode the lightning?? I thought he just gave up.
Cheers, Willie! (you must be pretty pissed these days.)
Ah, thanks for the info...btw I’ll remind people for what it’s worth that ex MA gov Mike Dukakis has been an Amtrak exec...his 88 effort vs Bush 41 won him, what, 10 states?...
If they could succeed in getting us all to move back to cities and ride the gubmint trains their collectivist dream would be achievable. Taxing us by the mile would make that dream a reality.
CAFE works against that dream, and they don't even know it. CAFE has driven down the cost per mile driven, thereby requiring more and more subsidies to keep AMTRAK afloat.
Do you realize your travel was heavily subsidized by federal money? That means my tax dollars paid for a big chunk of your wonderful experience.
The trains need to run on their own dime or not at all.
“Next, let’s discuss the romanticism and superiority of the European fests. They were fun, but let’s stay honest about it.”
The fests were awesome! Why? Gluehwein!
The trains need to run on their own dime or not at all.
Yes, I do realize that. After all, it's the whole point of the thread. Did you happen to notice that I made a comment against the federal subsidy of Amtrak?
The key is to try to make a connection. When American Service members respectfully attempt to speak the local lingo and tries to understand local customs, the locals are often quite kind.
Many years ago, before I met the Mrs, I spent a lot of time wandering outside the comfort zone of most GIs. While enjoying the fests, I would meet groups of locals and I tried to speak as much of the lingo as I could, to the best of my ability. Often, they wanted to try their English and they would provide most of, if not all of, my drinks. Due to these interactions, I did not lack friendly female companionship; although I was very careful concerning the age of the young ladies; I turned down a lot of underaged girls.
All in all, I enjoyed myself. Now, looking back...I'm would not want to turn loose a teen-aged daughter at any of those events. It was fun for a young GI, but not a good place to send your kids.
We have taken several train trips in Europe expecting to see the countryside. Guess again, the train quickly dropped into a ditch and we saw NOTHING until we arrived at our destination.
Don’t even think about crossing the English Channel in that boat that really isn’t a boat (can’t think of what it is right now).
I have been all over Europe on trains and you must have found different ones than I ever traveled on. The ones I used were clean, on time and offer spectacular views of the passing countryside...
The last train trip in France was about 15 years ago, maybe they have improved since then. Car trips in England have been sort of disappointing because the roads had hedgerows on each side and you could not seen anything there either.
Funny, because Amtrak ain't cheap. Just rode from New York on Amtrak Friday and paid way too much. Metro North is much cheaper. Mostly business people on Amtrak.
The name changes by country, but the super high speed trains tend to make it harder to see the countryside. Though the ICE from Mannheim to Munich was very nice.
Other trains are much more scenic as they travel on different tracks.
I lived in Germany for 9.5 years, anytime the drive time was more than two hours I considered the train. Driving was just too stressful for me. Some people drove just way too slow and I wanted to go FAST! Slamming on my brakes every few minutes and Mrs. Gamecock screaming look out was too much.
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