Posted on 05/03/2010 6:06:28 AM PDT by Willie Green
US travelers have grown accustomed to long airport security lines, delayed and crowded flights, and congested roadways. It should come as little surprise to anyone, then, to encounter similar hassles on America's long-neglected passenger railroad, Amtrak. In an April 25 travel story, Washington Post reporters Andrea Sachs and Nancy Trejos described the plight of two chronically late trains to Washington-one from Boston, the other from Charlotte, NC.
Regular Amtrak riders from coast to coast have come to expect delays, and to be sure, many trains almost never run on time. However, the Post article only examined two schedules out of hundreds and only in one sliver of the country, giving readers an incomplete rendering of Amtrak's problems and their underlying causes. For the past 50 years, the United States has spent hundreds of billions of dollars on highways, and most agree that this investment gave the economy a critical boost and made it possible for Sun Belt cities such as Atlanta, Houston, Dallas and Phoenix to flourish.
Until the mid-20th century, passenger trains were the crown jewels of American travel. Hollywood celebrities, before they switched to less glamorous jets, used the ultimate chauffeurs, the 20th Century Limited between New York and Chicago and the Super Chief between Chicago and Los Angeles to bridge their bi-coastal social calendars. (In fact, "Chiefing" became another word for cross-country travel. Somehow, "Delta-ing" just doesn't sound the same.)
These trains were luxury cruise ships on steel wheels. You could have your hair cut or shoes shined, you could enjoy cocktails and live music, or fine dining on white tablecloths with real china and silver. By the time you retired to your sleeping compartment, your bed already would be made for you by an attendant.
The public ultimately abandoned passenger trains for automobiles and airplanes, and most private railroad companies dropped passenger service in 1971, leaving what remained to Amtrak. Though ridership has grown ever since, government subsidies, amounting to a fraction of federal highway spending, haven't kept pace with demand.
The neglect shows itself in many forms: equipment shortages and breakdowns, lackluster food service and spotty on-time performance. The Washington Post reporters got that part right: It's little wonder the romance is gone.
The Charlotte-Washington Carolinian, cited as an example by the reporters, is often delayed by freight trains. The reasons are simple: In the 1980s, freight hauler CSX abandoned the direct route Amtrak used between Richmond and Raleigh. This forced passenger trains onto a slower route between the capitals of Virginia and North Carolina.
It also forced them to share space with freight trains on the primary CSX freight route along the East Coast. Until the 1960s, this line was mostly double track, but ironically, the decline of passenger trains resulted in the removal of much of the second track. The solution to this problem may involve reversing one or both of these earlier capacity reductions: Restore the direct link between the two cities or rebuild the second track on the other route. The Post article also bemoaned the limitations of Amtrak's busiest route: The Northeast Corridor, which connects Washington to New York and Boston.
Amtrak's flagship train, the Acela, the closest thing we have in the US to fast trains in Europe or Asia, must twist its way at excruciatingly slow speeds through a series of tunnels in Baltimore that date back to the 1870s. It also must negotiate century-old bridges and tunnels between Newark and New York, and a circuitous coastline path between New Haven, Conn, and Providence, RI In short, there are few places where it can operate at its maximum speed of 150 mph.
The Northeast Corridor needs tens of billions of dollars to bring it up to modern standards. Some stretches were upgraded in the past decade, but most of it-the overhead electrical supply and train control system-dates back 75 years. The Pennsylvania Railroad, a private company, made that investment, not the US government.
However, Uncle Sam was a huge beneficiary of this project-in World War II, this precursor to multilane highways carried a staggering volume of troops, equipment and raw materials by the trainload-the Allies couldn't have won without it. Now under Amtrak's ownership and with freight traffic largely shifted to other routes, the Northeast Corridor is a dedicated passenger conveyor belt that's due for its biggest overhaul since the Great Depression.
Amtrak's national network isn't just an alternative for people who can't or won't fly or drive, or a joy ride for hardcore train enthusiasts. Passenger trains serve many rural communities that are hundreds of miles from the nearest commercial airport. In densely populated corridors such as Washington-New York, Chicago-St Louis, Los Angeles-San Diego and Portland-Seattle, trains, even at relatively modest speeds, offer considerable advantages over flying or driving.
President Barack Obama has pledged the most significant rail infrastructure investment in decades. Some of these funds will upgrade existing routes with faster speeds, improved train control systems and more frequent service. The rest will plant the seed of true high-speed rail: the fast, comfortable trains that other countries have embraced during the decades when America turned its back on passenger rail. It's been 40 years since the romance of rail travel faded from America's public consciousness. Now, it's not the romance, but a practical appeal that offers the best chance for reviving US intercity train travel. After years of investing almost exclusively in highway infrastructure, we no longer can afford to miss the train.
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.
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