Posted on 08/06/2010 6:55:45 AM PDT by Willie Green
In June 1998, Andy Rooney wrote a column lamenting the drawbacks of rail travel.
Rooney began by noting 50 years earlier, a train ride from New York to Albany took three hours.
"Yesterday," he wrote 12 years ago, "with the miracles of computerized signal systems, a combination diesel-electric locomotive and millions of dollars worth of track improvements, it took me three hours and 28 minutes on an Amtrak train."
A dozen years later, we are happy to report, Amtrak's Empire Service covers that distance in an advertised 2 hours, 30 minutes - the same time it would take to drive from Penn Station to Rensselaer, across the Hudson River from downtown Albany.
For someone who already owns a car, driving from West 31st Street in New York to Broadway Street in Rensselaer would cost less than the $37 it would cost to make the trip by train. (Plus, it costs nothing to take along a carload of passengers.) And the train departs 10 times today; a driver can leave anytime.
The train can even beat the price of air travel. A trip from Cleveland to Las Vegas would cost $199 - one way - and take nearly 30 hours. A round-trip flight an cost as little as $300.
The point is, rail service faces significant obstacles in trying to displace automobiles and airplanes. To compete, trains would have to go a lot faster and be more convenient.
We mention this because the federal government is poised to spend $400 million it doesn't have on a passenger rail project connecting Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton and Cincinnati.
(Excerpt) Read more at advertiser-tribune.com ...
Editorial: Being run out of town on a rail
Friday, August 6, 2010
Greensboro News & Record
Call it a landslide vote for passenger rail service.
Given more chances to ride the train, Piedmont residents are taking them. In droves.
Passenger ridership on the route from Charlotte to Raleigh (with stops in Burlington, Greensboro and High Point) has surged 26 percent over last year, when figures are compared, year to year, in the period from October to June.
What’s more, June 2010 ridership on the route, called the Piedmont, has increased a whopping 200 percent over June of last year. In raw numbers, that’s 5,258 passengers in 2009 versus 15,426 in 2010.
Those gaudy totals coincide with the addition of a midday train on June 5. And they bode well for the future of high-speed rail service in North Carolina. Given more choices and greater convenience, more traditionally car-obsessed Tar Heels are commuting by rail for work, school or pleasure. The state Department of Transportation expects the Piedmont to attract 43,000 new passengers by the end of the year.
The additional service is paid for by $520 million in federal stimulus funds awarded to the state to create faster and more convenient passenger service. That will mean adding track, upgrading track, straightening curves, adding bridges, buying new locomotives and closing some crossings.
The funds also will pay for upgraded parking at the High Point passenger station and other improvements at the Burlington station and the Galyon Depot in Greensboro.
Within five years, the average speed of the Raleigh-to-Charlotte train will leap from 50 mph to 90.
The increase in passenger rail also could help relieve crowded interstates and reduce pollution.
There is, however, a price tag for all this progress, beyond the federal millions. Some smaller towns likely will lose their status as stops along the route.
But speedier commutes will require it.
Not every community may emerge an individual winner. But collectively, this is a victory for the entire Triad.
Amtrak Vermonter ridership up 29 percent in June
Wednesday August 4, 2010
The Brattleboro Reformer
BURLINGTON (AP) -- New statistics show that ridership on the Amtrak Vermonter train that travels between St. Albans and Washington was up 29 percent in June.
And Amtrak spokesman Cliff Cole says the Amtrak Ethan Allen Express that runs between Rutland and New York City was up 10.5 percent.
~~~snip~~~
He says a variety of factors are contributing to the increase, including high gasoline prices and the security and other hassles of flying.
Vermont Agency of Transportation Rail Director Joe Flynn said railroad companies have improved tracks, which in turn improves Amtrak's on-time rates.
Oh good grief... Andy Rooney???
That cynical old coot belongs in a senile citizens home...
NOT telling us what kind of transportation infrastructure we need in the 21st Century.
The naysayers just don't get it...
Investing in passenger rail upgrades also provides the improved performance that increases ridership and profitability.
What works in North Carolina and Vermont will also work in Ohio.
Passenger rail in the US = FAIL
Nice quotes. Shame none of them mention if the lines actually make a profit.
Oh, and BTW, the article wasn’t by Andy Rooney, he was merely quoted. You might want to read a piece before you flip out.
Willie has never let facts get in the way of his obsession.
Well, maybe some of us don’t need to be in a rush. 2.5 or 3 hours soaking in the beautiful scenery up the Hudson River by train is priceless and can never be replicated by car as beautiful as driving the Taconic can be.
In February next year, I’m taking Amtrak to Disney. Yes, I could fly, but I see the train ride itself as being part of the vacation. Some of us just want to appreciate the finer things in life and don’t appreciate the rat-race culture.
I appreciate your posts about rail transportation and stand with you, Willie. I grew up in NY, so I have an inherent bias towards trains because they are, hands down, the most efficient transportation in the Tri-State area. Did I mention the aestetic value?
my father told tales from his youth of train rides of up to four hours to go from Wheeling, West Virginia to Pittsburgh (a distance of about 60 miles!)
But speedier commutes will require it.
Well, I guess it's a good thing if you're one of the "individual winners". But, hey, for that matter, why not just close down all of the stops altogether between Charlotte and Raleigh (and to hell with Burlington, Greensboro, and High Point, and all of the other little towns in between) ... then it will be a really fast commute.
And it ONLY cost $520+ million in government funds to do so! For a whole 15,426 passengers (at $33,700 per passenger).
It is a shame that our rail system sucks so bad. On a whim, I took my family to New York via Amtrak for my sons baseball tournament in Cooperstown. It took about the same amount of time that it would have taken to drive, but I did not have to drive! I had two sleeper rooms, each with a bathroom and shower. We had three meals which were not bad at all. The tracks were very bad in some areas, to the point I was expecting to derail! My kids loved the experience, I liked it, it was better than driving. It is too bad that we don’t have a rail system like Europe’s. It would be great if we could have high speed non-stop service to major cities.
Well, I just took the train to/from Pittsburgh and Washington DC. All in all, a pleasant experience, even though coming back to Pittsburgh, we were delayed quite some time while authorities removed a dead guy from the tracks.
I’ve had a lot worse with flying. And contrary to the figures quoted, the trip was cheap — certainly less than what it would have cost me to fly. Just not having the hassles of going through security was worth it for me.
So why should I have to pay for your indulgence, with my tax money?
Oh, and BTW, the article wasn’t by Andy Rooney, he was merely quoted. You might want to read a piece before you flip out.
Considering that I entered "editorial" as the author of this article when I posted it instead of "Andy Rooney", your response and personal attack is pretty lame and baseless...
But what the heck... why don't you tell us what kind of editorial writer would quote a cynical old crotch like Andy Rooney to set the tone of his essay???
Good grief, Willie. At the depth of the Depression, in 1938, the New York Central ran from New York to Albany in 2hrs. 39min. using steam engines. Today Amtrak, having sucked up how many Billions in subsidy, makes the run (on those rare days it's on time) in 2hrs. 30min.
>But what the heck... why don’t you tell us what kind of editorial writer would quote a cynical old crotch like Andy Rooney to set the tone of his essay???
Because the author is dead on correct about how bad the rail system is in this country after years of federal mismanagement and Rooney had an amusing quip which summed it up.
Then again you seem to have an agenda, so you see what you want to see.
I am surprised that with the fantastic increase in passengers the article failed to mention how much profit was taken in.
And it ONLY cost $520+ million in government funds to do so! For a whole 15,426 passengers (at $33,700 per passenger).
The $520+ million dollar investment in upgraded infrastructure will benefit riders for many decades to come.
If you wish to express that on a per passenger basis, you should forecast the total ridership for the next 20 years, not just 1 month.
Don't forget to project increasing ridership each month due to rising gasoline prices.
Then again you seem to have an agenda, so you see what you want to see.
Yes you are right.
I see what the highway/airline lobbyists don't want me to see:
that investing in our passenger rail infrastructure will provide fast, efficient and competitive service in the 21st Century.
>Yes you are right.
I see what the highway/airline lobbyists don’t want me to see:
that investing in our passenger rail infrastructure will provide fast, efficient and competitive service in the 21st Century.
I assume you also see Leprechauns, Santa Claus, and the Tooth Fairy because those are equally believable.
I am serious, Willie...we need unbridled, ruthless capitalism once again to find and exploit the market that is out there in this country to get the railroads back as a paying business. And only men on the ground trying everything - failing often and trying again - can do it.
It worked before!
Nobody cares what “drbuzzard” assumes.
Ironically, trains are not require to stop for a dead guy. Nor a living one, for that matter.
And the crew is priveleged from arrest, by any but Federal authorities.
Really old laws still on the books - but why not? The really old trains are still in use.
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