Posted on 05/03/2010 6:06:28 AM PDT by Willie Green
You have to go to Kuwait to find people who think America needs long haul passenger rail clogging up the freightlines.
Main complaint was even two trains per day made it less convenient and almost as expensive as driving.
Excellent. I was just thinking this morning that government spending is dipping to dangerously low levels. It's good to see something is being done about the problem.
(I don't need to put a /sarc tag here, do I?)
Another apologia for socialist control. Sorry Willie, NO SALE!
In order to do better and become more competition and show a profit, AMTRAK needs to do the following:
1. Open up more routes and go to more places. Reopen the Las Vegas run from Las Vegas to Los Angeles and Orange County.
2. Raise ticket prices to actually reflect operating costs just as colleges and universities are doing.
3. Streamline operations and cut and eliminate all the bloat and waste.
I would love to see a revival in passenger service but am not optimistic about its reality given everyone’s impatience to get to their destination as quickly as possible.
...one thing the article doesn’t mention is the RR advantage in a blizzard....it doesn’t take but a few flakes of snow to screw up the D.C.Beltway or the New Jersey Turnpike...however, the Amtrack Metroliner will get you to New York when the roads are at a standstill.
Yeah the romance of taking your kids on a 3 day train trip that would take 8 hrs by flight.
Prayf or America
If the roads are at a standstill, how would you get to the station to board a train and once at the of your trip how would you get from the train to your final destination? Thanks, but no thanks. I’d rather be stuck at home than at a train station.
(I don't need to put a /sarc tag here, do I?)
Well there are always a few disruptive flying monkeys and trolls who will deliberately take your comments out of context, but I think most reasonable people will understand that your comment was intellectually superficial and a lame attempt at humor.
4. Be self sustaining in 5 years or bust.
...you take the subway to Penn Station...then the Metroliner to BWI-Airport Amtrack station...then put your truck in 4x4 and drive a back road 10 minutes home...that’s how I made it home when the Airports and I-95 were closed by a blizzard.
I live in the California Central Valley. There are trains that go from Sacramento to San Diego. We often visit San Diego and it would consider taking a train and then renting a car. However, the train does not go all the way to San Diego (the last time I checked) it stops on this side of the Grape Vine and they put the passengers on buses to go over the Grape Vine and then put them back on trains for the remainder of the trip. That is a sort of deal killer for me.
Add to that their schedules are not very good and then the expense, it is just so much easier for me to drive my family to San Diego then take a train.
When they get serious about passenger service I will consider taking the train again.
Because driving a car at my own liesure, and stopping where I want to, when I want to is just too convenient?
They are already a great deal more expensive than air or bus travel. Time to shoot the iron horse, its got a broken leg.
I recently needed to travel from the OKC metro to Western Colorado on less than a week's notice. Greyhound was $137, and about 48 hours travel time. Delta was $238, and four hours, and Amtrack was $394, and 56 hours. I drove back for about $138 in gas, and 16 hours.
“Open up more routes and go to more places. Reopen the Las Vegas run from Las Vegas to Los Angeles and Orange County.”
Also, cross-country, between L.A. and Florida. After Katrina, a large portion of tracks was closed. Freight trains have been running for a couple years, but not Amtrak (unless within the last few months). LA to New Orleans is as far as it goes I called to find out when there would be full service and was told Amtrak/U.S. is waiting for local town to chip in some bucks. I admit, I don’t get the relationship among Amtrak, the Feds, local government.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.