Lots of Seats, but Sorry, This Car's Taken

The New York Times ^ | May 22, 2002 | Randy Kennedy

[ELS]

But in a commuting world around the New York region that has come to resemble the cattle industry

This is true not only for Amtrak trains in the PA/NJ/NY area, but for NJ Transit trains as well. Whatever benefits there are to commuting into the city by train are countered by the increasingly uncomfortable riding conditions (not to mention the "cattle calls" at NY Penn Station, often only minutes before the trains are scheduled to depart).

In its earlier years, the club was much more exclusive and clubby, like something out of a Chesterton novel. "There were porters who would serve coffee and drinks and guys would play cards," Mr. Fraser said. But after the formation of Amtrak, the federal government imposed regulations forbidding the railroad to provide amenities in private cars that were not available to regular passengers willing to pay for them, so the club lost its porter, Mr. Fraser said.

Typical government "management" - stifle free market forces. If the club [private] car owners and the porter agree on the arrangement, there should be no problem.

Now, he said, offering a glimpse into the greatly circumscribed vision of modern rail travel, "the purpose of the club is to simply have a seat."

What a loss.

"When the Clocker trains leave here in the morning, we don't have a coach left in Philadelphia," Mr. Bonner said. "There's nothing I can do. I don't have any more equipment, and they just keep building like crazy out in Jersey."

Perhaps Amtrak should be looking at trends and trying to be more proactive instead of whining that they have too much demand for their services. And then working with the states to increase train trips, cars, and possibly lines/tracks.

[Clemenza]

I'll take the 7 Train from Queens over sitting on my a-s in traffic on the LIE. Without public transport, New York would be the automobile centered hell that LA or South Florida is. I have been living in Miami for the past three years, where it takes 40 minutes to get 8 miles on many days.

[Alberta's Child]

Those people riding that club car are either foolish, or they have no political influence at all.

The DL&W Railroad used to run a train in New Jersey that they called the "Millionaires' Express" -- it was paid for under similar circumstances, and made just a few stops in the wealthy enclaves of Morris and Somerset Counties before running directly to the rail terminal in Hoboken.

When NJ TRANSIT took over the rail service in 1983, passengers were no longer permitted to pay the agency for a special train like that. However, the agency went out of its way to keep that train in service anyway -- though for the sake of apprearances they started calling it the "Millington Express" (Millington being the last stop before it ran straight to Hoboken).

A few years ago, NJ TRANSIT ran into scheduling problems when they started running the Midtown Direct service to Penn Station, New York. They ended up changing the Millington Express to a local train. Someone I know who works for NJ TRANSIT got a call on the day they changed the schedule -- it was an angry (but calm) guy who was complaining about the schedule change.

"I'm sorry, sir," my friend said, "but there's just no way we could fit that express train into our schedule -- we've got a bunch of additional trains that we're now running to New York."

"I want to make sure that you understand something -- you will put that express train back in service, young man."

"Yeah, sure," my friend said, and hung up after saying goodbye.

The following Monday, he received a call from the governor's office in Trenton -- come hell or high water, they said, put that Millington Express back in service!

[ELS]

Calling former and/or current commuters...

[JAWs]

        The second worst experience I ever had on Amtrack was abouht ten years ago. I had to go to Boston from New York right before Thanksgiving and the train was so crowded I had to stand the whole way.
        The worst Amtrack experience was the time I was suffering from food poisioning (gotten before I hopped n the train) and a little twerp kept bugging me. And two old drunks kept egging him on!
        Overall, I do like Amtrack, though.

[Prince Caspian]

Do these folks have a problem with the way some people (business owners, lawyers, etc.) choose to spend their money? What if the NYT wrote an article second-guessing the purchase decisions they made at the neighborhood Kroger's?

[ELS]

You won't get any argument from me. I currently commute on NJ Transit into Manhattan and as bad as the commute may be, it is still orders of magnitude better than driving into Manhattan.

[Harrison Bergeron]

Let's see... it costs private groups a one time fee of $8000 to rent a car round trip for a special event, but the "200 Club" gets 250 round trips per year for $70,000 ($280 per trip - ). With the Amtrak gummint subsidies, this sounds like a welfare program for the rich. It's unlikely anybody will do anything about this, especially since the congresscritters riding between Washington and Philly have a similar deal.

[ELS]

That's an amusing story. The one difference between the Millington Express and the 200 Club is NJ Transit vs. Amtrak. I guess that means the members of the 200 Club need a FOG (Friend of George) or two in the ranks.

[Alberta's Child]

It's also worth noting that within several months Amtrak is supposed to be turning the operations of its Clocker service over to NJ TRANSIT -- from what I understand, NJT does provide some kind of similar Club Car service on one of the North Jersey Coast Line trains.

[Dan Day]

Why doesn't Amtrak just add an extra car or two to the overcrowded commuter train(s)?

[hobbes1]

Naaah... I take the Bus. On the 5:35, In the City at 5:55

In the Other Direction, on the 4:15, home at 5:00.

[Harrison Bergeron]

"Do these folks have a problem with the way some people (business owners, lawyers, etc.) choose to spend their money?"

If this were private enterprise you'd be right, but essentially, Amtrak (via our tax dollars) subsidizes the extra car bigtime. If these guys were being charged even half of the going rate that regular citizens are charged for private cars, the cost would be $1,000,000 per year ($13,333 per person) instead of $70,000 per year ($1200 per person).

[Peter Porcupine]

After about 20 years of frequently hellish commuting on the LIRR into Penn Station, I moved upstate and now take Metro North into Grand Central. They're both operated by a state agency, the MTA, but that's about ALL they have in common--I've never understood why one system seems to be operated so well--clean trains, timely announcements, good on-time performance--and the other just isn't and never has been. Oh, and those Penn Station cattle calls? Unknown at Grand Central. Trains are available for boarding 20 or 30 minutes before departure.

To be fair, Penn Station is at, if not beyond capacity--and handles LIRR, NJ Transit and Amtrak--including Amtrak trains that used to be routed into Grand Central. Meanwhile, Grand Central, with ONLY commuter traffic, seems vastly UNDERutilized.

Yeah, my train trip's 60 miles now instead of 25, but I wouldn't give it up. The scenery along the Hudson line beats any other commuter route, that's for sure.

[ELS]

5:35AM!!? I have trouble getting up around then let alone being out the door by 5:30. You must live pretty close to the city for a 20 minute ride into NYC. Do you get on at the last stop in NJ?

[Alberta's Child]

There is currently a plan in place to route LIRR trains into Grand Central within the next few years, so my guess is that you bucolic commute will not last forever. LOL.

Seriously -- In answer to your question about Penn Station, you have to remember that the station is owned and operated by Amtrak, which means Amtrak gets priority in terms of schedule slots, platform space, etc.

[ELS]

Hmmm, some food for thought. I would say that NJ Transit service has more in common with the LIRR than Metro North. They just raised the fares on April 1st and the service seems to have deteriorated at the same time. (The fare hike WAS long overdue, but it just seems typical for the price to go up and the service level to go down.)

[agrace]

Ugh, you guys are reminding me how happy I am that my husband doesn't work in the city anymore. He used to take the Path into the WTC, leaving home around 530 every day and getting home after 8 pm. Thankfully his company moved from the Woolworth Bldg up to Madison a few months before 9/11 which changed his route a bit. And these days he just has to commute to Bergen County every day - not quite as bad. Almost, but not quite. :)

[ELS]

There is currently a plan in place to route LIRR trains into Grand Central within the next few years

Does that mean that Amtrak will get to use the LIRR tracks at Penn? What about the plan to expand Penn Station over to the area under the U.S. Post Office? Is that still in the works?

[Clemenza]

Big fan of Metro North. I used to take it directly from Fordham in the Bronx to Grand Central when I wasn't in the mood to take the "D" five blocks east. I also used to take it to White Plains when I had an internship there.