Posted on 01/23/2025 5:03:27 AM PST by hardspunned
PM
Overshadowed by Monday’s presidential inauguration was the release of the final report of the Federal Railroad Administration‘s Amtrak Daily Long-Distance Service Study.
The FRA is evaluating the potential restoration of daily long-distance intercity passenger rail service and the potential for new Amtrak long-distance routes as part of the study.
Amtrak’s existing long-distance network is comprised of 15 routes, including the California Zephyr, which crosses Utah on its 2,438-mile journey between Chicago and San Francisco.
(Excerpt) Read more at buildingsaltlake.com ...
If you’ve never taken a long distance rail journey, consider it. It’s the only way to really see the country other than no freeway driving. Warning! If you travel Amtrak never book a coach ride more than six hours. Get a sleeper.
To see the American heartland, take the California Zephyr and relax. My wife and I are taking two grandsons from Chicago to San Francisco in April. This will be the seventh California Zephyr trip with grandchildren we’ve taken.
Budget travel tip:
Get an Amtrak credit card, pay your $99 fee, received your points. You’ll get the points necessary to book a cross country trip (at least Cincinnati to the west coast). Have your spouse do the same and you’ll have two 65 hour sleeper car (all meals included, shower and facilities) trips for a total of $198. Take your trip, cancel your card, rinse and repeat. One or two Southwest card points will get you home for the same or less.
Except for the near race riot in Chicago over some guy smoking during a delay that went on and on while changing trains two of the best trips my son and I took were on Amtrack. Once we circled the west from Houston to LA then up the coast and across the northern route to Chicago, NO and back to Houston. The other trip was East Coast first along the Gulf corridor, up the coast back to Chicago then back to Houston. All of this except or a few legs was sleeper accommodation. For 10 years of his young life we made a near two week trip at Spring Break even if we had to miss a little school to see the country including Alaska in the cold. We saw lots of things from Space Shuttle launch, to two weeks in DC, NY, Maine, Oregon coast, fishing and so forth. All that ended 27 years ago.
I generally liked the New Haven to DC trips. My one trip from Wallingford to Chicago took an extra four hours, due to some slow movement in Indiana.
What is this, 1850????
Amtrak serves no useful purpose to taxpayers. Let them die quietly.
Except for the Northeast corridor, most of Amtrk’s passengers are retirees because they don’t care when they arrive. This map is a dream that’ll cost billions and take decades to accomplish. Key question: when was the last time that Amtrak made a profit?
Long distance rail travel was great when Santa Fe had it took many Los Angeles to Chicago trips once Amtrak took over it was all down hill from there.
Wisdom!
Amtrak has always been a collection of parts rather than a whole, and not all routes are equal.
As time has passed, the clientele itself has not trended well, and some trains can be experiences not much different than taking a Greyhound bus. In the old days, there were a lot more people who were into the nostalgia of rail travel and the benefits of rail journeys (in terms of potential enjoyability, riverboat>rail>today's airlines). Today, you get the American human circus as fellow passengers and all that entails; a good conductor and staff can be worth their weight in gold.
Amtrak’s problem is leadership. Those currently in charge get their bonus payments by keeping costs low. That sounds good but leads to no ability to keep reliable service as there are no staff on the extra board to replace those who might run over hours of service due to Amtrak or freight railroad delays.
Further, Amtrak mechanical in Chicago (a union shop) is unreliable; cars don’t get serviced until the last minute and when they are, frequently there are problems that can’t be immediately solved and trains are delayed or cars pulled from service. Also, the so-called new Siemens Charger engines frequently break down en route leading to replacement engines from the freight railroads added to clear the service disruption.
Finally, there is a demand for service, but repairs in the Beech Grove repair shops are delayed due to a lack of capable mechanics, electricians, etc. If you try to reserve a sleeping car, costs are completely unreasonable due to the lack of cars to respond to the demand. This results in $$ much more than airline costs.
Under the new administration, there are hopes that this group of vipers at the top will be cleaned out and knowledgeable transportation leaders added.
One more note, Amtrak long distance routes are controlled by the freight railroads and freight congestion and breakdowns lead to delays that are not Amtrak’s responsibility.
All that being said, the long distant routes going through the mountain west are spectacular and well worth viewing without traveling the rush of interstate highways. A long distance train trip should be on ones bucket list at least once, even though schedules may be delayed. The journey is often better than the destination.
This map is a dream that’ll cost billions and take decades to accomplish. Key question: when was the last time that Amtrak made a profit?
That is a common question but look at the taxpayer subsidies for long distance highways (gas/diesel costs don't pay for it all). And airline service to mid-sized cities is also heavy subsidized.
Finally, any additions to long distance service should be prioritized. In past years, Amtrak served Las Vegas NV and Boise, ID with trains from Salt Lake City using trains splitting from today's California Zephyr. Other priorities should be Chicago-Florida, and connecting New Orleans to Florida (truncated after Hurricane Katrina). Many other routes on the map are nothing more than dreamland. One further item -- train frequency should be increased over existing routes. For example, many routes arrive at Midwest locations (Kansas, Nebraska) in the middle of the night. Also the Sunset limited from New Orleans to LA is tri-weekly not daily.
BTW, the new Congress has already recognized this:
H.R. 192 - (sponsored by David Rouzer, R-North Carolina}. Requires Amtrak to post base pay and Bonus information on their website -- including the "criteria and metrics used to determine any such Bonus compensation..."
THE BILL PASSED THE HOUSE ON JANUARY 13, 2025 ON UNANIMOUS VOTE AND PASSED TO THE SENATE.
Why?
“ If you’ve never taken a long distance rail journey, consider it.”
A long time ago, I took the train from Wisconsin to Seattle. The train broke down in the middle of Montana. It took over 5 hours to get moving again. We went through the most scenic part of the trip at night, and arrived 8 hours late.
Never again.
I don’t get the allure of a long 24 hr choo choo train ride to anywhere in the U.S.
I took a New Year’s Eve party train from Anchorage to Valdez once, that was a hoot. Could stick your head out the window and howl at the moon.
I’m sorry it ended. I’m trying to enjoy it and treat my grandkids to it as long as I can.
Goodness sakes, if you were riding on the Tardinal (Amtrak’s Cardinal) from DC to Chicago, of course it was late.
I think I took the Lake Shore Limited. II might have taken the Wolverine, but some crazy chick was kissing her college bound beau 30 or 35 times. She looks like trouble.
How about HVAC, too?
Oh, I forgot. Thank you for your tax dollars used to supplement my rail riding enjoyment. For once, I’m on the gubmint teat!
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