Posted on 02/20/2019 2:51:40 PM PST by Publius
Seeking to attract millions more passengers, Amtrak is preparing a large-scale overhaul of its national network aimed at boosting passenger service in the South and West—but at the expense of long-haul routes beloved by train buffs and their allies in Congress.
The goal is to revamp the way Amtrak runs trains along the aging network of national routes it already maintains, with more frequent service between pairs of cities in the fastest-growing parts of the country, such as Atlanta and Charlotte, NC, or Cleveland and Cincinnati. Running more trains over shorter distances would allow Amtrak to better serve those commercial corridors where rail can compete with flying and driving, railroad officials said.
But that new service could come at the cost of curtailing some long-distance routes, where storied trains like the Empire Builder and the Southwest Chief have small but fervent bases of support and lineage stretching back to the golden age of railroads.
And any change in Amtrak’s management of the national network will require approval from Congress, which has aggressively defended the long-distance routes in the past, even as it presses Amtrak to prioritize improving its financial performance.
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
10 billion to Mexico as a gift.... says it all
If Amtrak was smart, they’d offer an expanded, nationwide version of the AutoTrain that runs from DC to Florida with an option for a ‘moving cube’ service of some sort.
I would imagine that lots of people who want to haul their belongings when they move would rather load up and put it on a train rather than deal with U-Haul or a moving company.
In January and November last year, I did the round trip from Cleveland to DC to Baltimore. As situations arose...AMTRAK coped with delays because of extreme cold far better than the airlines did. Getting sold out crowds on the trains and assigned seat was very well done. The trains were clean, efficient, had large numbers of passengers, had a nice viewing /snack car, comfortable, and people were very civilized. If there were more train routes times, ridership would be even higher. I don’t think shorter routes would be a problem, if connections were available.
La Junta Colorado needs rail service more than we need to give Afghanistan six billion dollars, or chase down every moslem loyalists in central Africa.
They need it more than Nancy Pelosi needs a 767 with a $25,000 a month alcohol budget.
They need it more than they need the NSA data storage center in Utah. They need it more than NASA needs a moslem outreach program.
They need it more than the United States needs another 50,000 degrees in feminist studies paid for. They need it more than NASA needs money to study global warming. They need it more than they need Mueller and his investigation ... the list of things I would zero out before turning my knife towards Amtrak is extremely long
Frequently use route 8 Empire Builder to get into Chicago from Wisconsin which I pick up at Wisconsin Dells. It’s always been late sometimes as much as 5 hours because of the problems on that long route that can occur .Because AMTRAK requires advance booking they know the number of passengers to be picked up. When that happens instead of having a self propelled commuter style 2 level car with engine set up available. AMTRAK hires a bus service out of Winona Minnesota to pick up the stranded Wisconsin passengers along the 6 hour route from Winona going to Chicago via Milwaukee and from Milwaukee missed passengers take the AMTRAK Hiawatha route into Chicago which the bus always misses forcing those passengers wait for the next scheduled Hiawatha. Frankly AMTRAK is missing a bet by not having a AM and PM two way daily seasonal run to the Dells because of its tourist attractions,
Worse yet AMTRAK policies on getting reservations have changed. One can no longer call into a station and book a ticket there .
Can you actually sleep on a sleeper train? I can't. The bed and accommodations are comfortable enough, but rattling along down the track, all those whistles at crossroads, and lights going by keep me awake all night.
One of the things I like most is being rocked to sleep. As a kid I grew up next to the tracks. I wish the whistle was easier to hear.
From peoples comments it sounds like Amtrak can be a nice way to go if you don’t have a hard timetable. At all.
Which means in practical terms its mostly not worth the hassles.
You may have been on the same train...
But it may be that with suitable end point transportation, ie plenty of taxis and Uber/Lyft available, passenger rail could find a sweet spot in the middle ranges, say a few hours to drive but too short really for air to be worthwhile. If passenger rail can be freed of subservience to freight, a trip say from Cleveland to Chicago would be definitely worth it. Right now it takes about six hours to drive. Counting end points travel, getting to the airport and through security to the gate, and the flight itself, flying takes about four hours. A fast ride on a train would be a competitive option for many.
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