The Washington Post story on the new rail bill, but once again the headline misses the point of how this legislation is more than just an Amtrak bill:

 

Senators Try Again to Fund and Reform Amtrak

 

By Eric M. Weiss

Washington Post Staff Writer

Wednesday, January 17, 2007; A04

 

Sens. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) and Trent Lott (R-Miss.) introduced legislation yesterday that would authorize $3.2 billion a year for Amtrak over six years in exchange for greater efficiency and increased investments by states.

 

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/16/AR2007011601459_pf.html

What amazes me is the low level of investment that is required to provide good train service.  For a state as large as California, $73 million a year is not a lot of money at all--certainly cheaper than moving the same number of people in cars along highways.

Or that Illinois doubled its train services by increasing its funding from $12 million per year to $24 million -- basically the cost of a suburban highway interchange.

In Our View: Trains and Taxpayers

 

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Columbian editorial writers

(Columbia, Washington)

 

Federal match should reduce state subsidy

 

 

Conservative U.S. Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., and liberal Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., are co-sponsoring legislation to spend $12 billion over the next six years to match states' support for Amtrak rail passenger service within those respective states. Washington is one of just 14 states that already subsidize passenger rail service and thus would be a beneficiary of such a law.

 

 

http://www.columbian.com/opinion/news/01172007news93839.cfm?emilStry=1

 

Seemingly Ugly Statistic: Therefore, the cost to state taxpayers in FY 2006 for those three trains was $31.80 per passenger.

 

I would be curious to know how much the state highway system costs per driver!

According to the Ohio Insurance Institute, there were 7.9 million licensed drivers in Ohio in 2004 (most recent data I could find). ODOT's budget that year was $2.33 billion, while local spending for roads (repairs, new construction, snow removal, lighting etc.) is nearly $12 billion statewide and Ohioans spend an average of $7,000 per year on owning, operating and maintaining their cars (Source: AAA) for a statewide total of $55.3 billion. The total cost of the highway system could be in the range of $70 billion per year.

 

To me, that looks like the average cost of Ohio's highway system to an Ohio driver is $8,860.76 per year.

 

That doesn't take into account the cost of local safety forces required to enforce traffic laws or respond to traffic accidents. Local governments also spend a huge amount of money for running the court system, only some of which is paid for by traffic fines. Another huge expense is building and maintaining storm water drainage from sprawling, auto-dependent areas where there are large swaths of impervious surfaces. And, let's not forget the environmental and national security costs we incur from burning fossil fuels. Two-thirds of our nation's oil consumption is for transportation, and highways have a 90 percent market share. Plus, as many of you know, we import more than 60 percent of our oil.

... and land taken to build/expand roads and highways disappears from the property tax rolls, diminishing the revenue available to pay for infrastructure maintenance while increasing the amount of infrastructure to be maintained. The result is higher property tax rates for homeowners and businesses, some of whose property values and revenues are being driven down by increased traffic through residential neighborhoods and migration of retail away from locally-owned downtown stores to suburban chains.

 

... and in most places, property taxes lie most heavily on "improvements" and less heavily on land. When investment groups buy business property and demolish the structures for parking lots, the tax revenue from the property falls while the increased parking availability keeps parking prices low and encourages more one-person-one-car commuting, increasing congestion and enforcement/traffic-control costs and creating demand for more highway capacity, in a self-nourishing cycle. The worse it gets, the faster it gets worse.

 

Sorry. I digressed from the topic (Amtrak News).

My contribution to the revolution....

________________

 

A L L  A B O A R D  O H I O !

 

Contact:

Andrew Bremer

Interim Executive Director

All Aboard Ohio!

309 South 4th Street

Suite #304

Columbus, OH 43215

614- 228-6005

 

Jan. 18, 2007

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

Congress urged to pass rail bill for Ohio's future

 

More and better passenger trains in Ohio would result from the passage of an important piece of legislation that was introduced this week in the U.S. Senate. All Aboard Ohio, a nonprofit advocacy organization, is asking the Ohio Congressional delegation to support this bill and to ensure a companion bill in the U.S. House of Representatives is introduced and passed this year.

 

The legislation -- S.294, the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act -- was introduced Jan. 16 by Senators Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) and Trent Lott (R-MS). A nearly identical bill was passed 93-6 by the Senate in the last Congress, but was not taken up by the House.

 

S.294 would increase federal funding to improve and expand passenger train services nationwide by creating a six-year capital improvement program. Such a program would also benefit the Ohio Rail Development Commission's Ohio Hub System plan for fast passenger trains on a half-dozen routes linking Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, Cincinnati, Toledo, Detroit, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Buffalo and Toronto.

 

"Development of passenger train services in Ohio will stimulate the state's stagnant economy, provide needed jobs, allow business travelers to work or rest while they ride, as well as improve low-cost mobility for the state's shrinking middle class and growing senior population," said Bill Hutchison, president of All Aboard Ohio.

 

Similar to existing federal programs for aviation and highway construction, S.294 would provide a federal matching program to state and local investments in railroad infrastructure. The federal funding share would be up to 80 percent for new or rebuilt train equipment, tracks, stations, road crossings and other capital improvements. Investments in additional tracks and signaling systems would also increase the capacity of increasingly busy freight railroads and keep heavy trucks off Ohio's highways.

 

The program would also let Ohio use its current and past investments in new railroad underpasses and added safety devices at road-rail crossings. Those investments could allow Ohio to leverage hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funds if Congress passes S.294.

 

"This is exactly the kind of legislation Congress needs to pass in order for Ohio to build a quality rail network," Hutchison said. "We need this network, the Ohio Hub System, to pump new economic life into our cities and towns and respect the future in which natural resources will be increasingly constrained."

 

###

 

All Aboard Ohio! is a state-wide non-profit organization based in Columbus, Ohio, advocating for improved public transit and the development of the Ohio Hub Plan. More information can be found at   HYPERLINK "http://www.allaboardohio.org"   www.allaboardohio.org .

 

Way to go AAO !!!! :clap:

 

But wait, there's more.....

 

 

http://www.courant.com/news/opinion/commentary/hc-plcotisamtrak.artjan14,0,5173267.story?coll=hc-headlines-commentary

 

Amtrak's Roundabout Journey To Success

 

By OTIS WHITE

 

January 14 2007

 

That ground-shaking sensation you just felt wasn't an earthquake. It was Amtrak waking up. That's right: After exploring every possible avenue of failure, America's passenger train network is trying success - and succeeding!

 

 

White has a few things wrong-- like saying ridership is declining on LD trains, it's not, ridership is increasing. 

 

Also, Amtrak is not heavily subsidized compared to other transport modes, that's why the system is so skeletal. 

Rob_1412 and KJP have some very interesting points on the cost of owning a vehicle.   The direct costs alone are very high, as KJP points out and just goes to show the absurdity of continuing to rely on the SOV as our sole means of transport. For the middle class the cost is high and getting higher, but for the working poor, it's becoming prohibitively expensive and yet there are no alternatives. What are these people to do?

 

This would make a fascinating study if done in-depth. What are the true costs to Ohio of auto overdependence. I think we are just scratching the surface! :-o

Media lead articles on passenger rail with titles like "Amtrak Continues to Lose Money"  but take a different slant on parking and highways, downplaying taxpayer subsidies.

 

The money that the city and county have to kick in to cover the shortfall comes from the taxpayers.

 

Ironically, the Plaza Garage is adjacent to the former Nickel Plate elevated passenger platform built in 1955. I think it served passenger trains for only three years after it was completed.

 

http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/journalgazette/news/local/16506291.htm

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted on Sat, Jan. 20, 2007

 

Plaza Garage sees rise in revenues for 2006

 

By Amanda Iacone

The Journal Gazette

 

The Plaza Parking Garage behind the City-County Building generated more revenue in 2006 than the previous year but city and county leaders are still working to increase that amount.

 

 

Government should get on board with passenger rail funding

Sunday, January 21, 2007

BY FRANK BUSALACCHI

 

Travelers across America are voting in record numbers for expanded passenger rail service in the United States.

 

 

FRANK BUSALACCHI is the Secretary of Transportation for the State of Wisconsin and Chairman of States for Passenger Rail.

 

©2007 The Patriot-News

http://www.pennlive.com/columns/patriotnews/review/index.ssf?/base/opinion/1169144745188460.xml&coll=1

January 24, 2007

Amtrak’s FY07 off to a strong start

Railwayage.com

 

Amtrak ended FY 2006 with both ridership and revenues on the rise, and the trend continued and strengthened in the first month of the new fiscal year. In October 2006, system-wide ridership of nearly 2.14 million trips was 5% ahead of the prior October and revenues of $123.5 million were up 13%.

 

 

http://www.railwayage.com/breaking_news.shtml

Great to see LDT ridership up 77 percent! Incredible! But when OTP on those trains rises 15 percentage points to attain a 43 percent rate, that's awful.

A link to an interesting story carried yesterday (Jan 23rd) on National Public Radio re: whether Amtrak should be restructured.  It also gets into the subject of state-generated passenger rail plans:

 

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6952490

Consider this ugly little graphic I researched and produced...

 

 

Note:  The statistic “arrivals-departures per week” is the total number of weekly trains in a state multiplied by the number of stations they serve. In other words, a train operating five days a week (ie: Monday through Friday) and serving four stations in a given state has 20 arrivals/departures in that state. The statistic measures the extent to which a state is actually served, so that routes with frequent service stopping in only one or two stations in the corner of a state aren’t presented in a way that suggests the entire state has more extensive service.

I wonder what the average percentage of day service is in these other states and how it compares to Ohio. It looks like only about 5-10% of arrivals and departures in these states are between 12 midnight and 6 am. Ohio is exactly the opposite, where it appears that at least 75% are in the wee hours. Nice. :-(

Right, BuckeyeB... Equally as sobering, in addition to Cleveland, Ohio's largest metro area with both trains (round trip, meaning all 4) on the 2 lines are in these wee hours,  Cincy, has only one line, one train (if I'm not mistaken), the Cardinal, ... and Columbus, ... zippo!  As noozer correctly notes, we're merely 'flyover' country for Amtrak... And unlike Chicago Amtrak satelites: Milwaukee, Detroit and St. Louis, there's no regional service linking any Ohio city to Chicago, Detroit, Pittsburgh or any place else.  This, despite Ohio's being the Midwest's 2nd most populous state behind Illinois (and we at least match, or even surpass, Michigan as an industrial/ center -- well, Detroit might trump that; I could be wrong, but the point remains valid, anyway) .... Ohio screams for Ohio Hub!

Well as an interim step we should see some of these "Draktrak" trains rescheduled to run at marketable hours. The Westbound Lake Shore/eastbound Capitol Limited used to do that to serve the Cleveland-Toledo-Chicago line at decent times. The Cardinal could be run at least five days a week instead of tri-weekly, without using more equipment and could be slightly rescheduled to hit Cincinnati at a more reasonable time.

 

Then there is the possibility of extending trains into Ohio, such as the New York-Philadelphia-Pittsburgh "Pennsylvanian" to Cleveland, or one New York-Buffalo round trip to Cleveland as well. One of the Chicago-Detroit trains could be extended to Cleveland and other things could be done as well, all without using new equipment.

 

Even at that, Ohio would still be severely underserved and that's where the Ohio Hub plan comes in. Our future is dense, fast corridor service on multiple headways. That will take a lot of time and money to develop and one thing that seems to be happening in Congress is a growing awareness that this needs to be done all over the country.

 

Here's a plug: Write, call or email Senators Voinovich and Brown and tell them you want them to support S. 294, introduced by Seantors Lott and Lautenberg, which will steer real money to passenger rail for the first time ever.

 

We have to have this if we are to move ahead. If you do write or call let us know what you said!

Corridor services are indeed the bulk of Ohio's future and definitely where we need to concentrate our energies on now and over the next few years.  However, once the corridors are in place and at full build-out, it will be useful to have perhaps a few more long distance trains through Ohio to overlap the corridors.  Especially a north-south route.  One step at a time, though.  Let's get the Ohio Hub built first...

 

On another note, I figured out that once the Empire Corridor was fully upgraded and BUF-CLE-TOL-CHI is upgraded to 90-110 mph services that can get average speeds up to 60 or 65 mph over the current 40-45 mph, it would shave off something like 4 or 5 hours off the full run of the Lake Shore Limited.  Add in the PGH-CLE upgrades and it would shave some hours off the Capitol Limited too.  This may be the best way to get better Ohio times for these trains in the long run, though Amtrak should still  be able to do better in the meantime.   

By looking at those 12AM - 6 AM departure times, it appears that Amtrak looks at Ohio as an inconvienience, rather than an opportunity. 

 

i.e. "It sucks that we have to go all the way through Ohio to get from NYC to Chicago."

The trains have to be someplace in the middle of the night and Ohio is unfortunately, by virtue of both geopgraphy and scheduling, that place. The kind of critically needed rail corridor improvements described by Gildone would go a long way toward allowing faster, more convenient schedules.

 

But the ultimate answer lies in having trains that originate in Ohio and whose schedules are controlled by Ohio.  That's at the heart of the Ohio Hub Plan and is of a far greater benefit than depending on Amtrak to anything approaching the same level of service. Even with vastly improved funding under the proposed U.S. Senate Bill-294 (Passenger Investment & Improvement Act), Amtrak would still have to "spread the wealth over it's entire system.

 

S-294 would, however, establish the federal funding mechanism that states need to build plans like the Ohio Hub.  An Ohio Hub system, as Gildone points out, would connect well with an improved national system of passenger service.

National Association of Railroad Passengers: www.narprail.org

 

 

 

House Freezes Amtrak, Boosts Highway Spending

Release #07-02—February 2, 2007

 

Contact NARP

 

 

Washington, D.C.—The Fiscal 2007 continuing resolution passed by the House Wednesday contrasts sharply with today’s report on climate change.

 

On one hand, H.J. Res. 20 freezes Amtrak at fiscal 2006’s $1.294 billion.  This is:

 

• $304 million or 19% below Amtrak’s “basic” request of $1.598 billion, and

• $579 million or 31% below Amtrak’s full request of $1.873 billion [see note at bottom]. 

 

Amtrak’s requests were developed by a board of directors composed exclusively of Republicans appointed by President Bush; one Democrat, R. Hunter Biden, joined the board later, on July 26.

 

The house also has, and the Senate likely will approve, a $3.532 billion or 9% increase in federal highway funding.  On the bright side, transit gets a boost of $480 million. The continuing resolution must be enacted by February 15 to avoid shutting down much of the government.

 

According to Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Amtrak is 18% and 17% more energy efficient per passenger-mile than airlines and cars, respectively.  (A passenger-mile is one passenger traveling one mile.)

 

On the other hand, the world’s top climate scientists report a 90% probability that human activities have caused most of the earth’s warming in the past 50 years.  They foresee temperature increases this century that could put as many as four billion more people at risk of serious water shortages, and sea levels rising from 7 to 23 inches or more, covering land occupied by millions of people, especially in south and east Asia.  One of the scientists, Paul Valdes, professor of physical geography at the University of Bristol, said “it is possible to reduce our emissions without endangering the economy or changing our way of life but we must start to act now” (today’s Financial Times).

 

NARP Executive Director Ross Capon said, “While we understand that the path of least resistance in quickly disposing of Fiscal 2007 issues is to ignore the Amtrak board’s request and comply with the ‘guarantees’ in SAFETEA-LU, that does not make this good policy; it is not ‘acting now.’

 

“Even more appalling is the fact that criticism of the House’s Amtrak number as ‘excessive’ was the only transportation reference in the Bush Administration’s lengthy policy statement on the resolution.  It will be interesting to see how the Administration handles these issues in Monday’s budget release, particularly in light of projections that the Highway Trust Fund could be $9 billion in the red during Fiscal 2009.  Americans need transportation policy to give them more choices—not increasingly confine them to auto reliance—so the first, post-election transportation results are not encouraging.”

 

Meanwhile, in the U.K., airport departure taxes doubled yesterday.  BBC said this was “because [Chancellor of the Exchequer] Gordon Brown says airlines should pay more for damaging the environment.” Brown, according to Reuters, “said the extra money will pay for public transport and environmental measures.”

 

[Amtrak’s higher, $1.873 billion request for this year, included four “strategic investment initiatives”--$100 million each for a U.S. DOT-administered state corridor development program and for Amtrak debt reduction; $50 million to help freight railroads address “chokepoints” that cause delays; and $25 million for Americans with Disabilities Act compliance.]

 

 

About NARP

 

NARP is the only national organization speaking for the users of passenger trains and rail transit. We have worked since 1967 to expand the quality and quantity of passenger rail in the U.S. Our mission is to work towards a modern, customer-focused national passenger train network that provides a travel choice Americans want. Our work is supported by over 22,000 individual members.

 

http://www.narprail.org/cms/index.php/news_releases/more/nr07_02

 

This is really starting to honk me off!!!!  When are the idiots in Washington going to wake up!?!?!?  It is a VERY sad thing that Africe will have high-speed rail before the United States!  WAKE UP MORONS!!!

From the NARP Hotline Feb. 9, 2007

 

The Senate is considering H. J. Res. 20 that would fund all government programs for the remainder of Fiscal 2007 (through September 30).  Amtrak funding for Fiscal 2007 would be frozen at the Fiscal 2006 level of $1.29 billion.  The bill must be passed and signed by President Bush before February 15, when the current CR expires.  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid initiated a procedural move called “filling the tree” to limit or even prevent the offering of amendments to the bill which will speed passage, but has angered Republicans.

 

H.J. Res. 20 freezes Amtrak at the Fiscal 2006 level, but that is a $200 million improvement over what Amtrak gets in the existing continuing resolution.  To strengthen Amtrak’s hand in the funding process in years to come, contact your Senators and ask them to support S. 294 and tell your House member to urge introduction of companion legislation.  Go to our Action Alert center for full details including a list of co-sponsors.  This bill likely will get a hearing in the Senate committee next month. 

 

President Bush’s Fiscal 2008 budget would cut Amtrak funding to $800 million, a 39% reduction from this year.  The $100 million reduction from last year’s request was explained this way by NARP Executive Director Ross Capon, quoted in NARP’s news release condemning the request:  “The Administration is trying to take credit for creating the long-awaited federal-state partnership program without providing new money.  They simply reduce an already comically-inadequate $900 million request by $100 million, and assign the latter amount to ‘capital matching grants to States for intercity passenger rail projects.’”

 

Capon also said, “In a world that must emphasize environmentally benign and energy efficient transportation, cutting Amtrak funding makes no sense either as a stand-alone proposal or in context of this Administration’s proposal to continue increasing highway spending…they still don’t get it.” NARP’s release can be found here on our website.

 

The Administration requested $500 million for capital improvements, but ignored nearly $300 million in debt service needs, and proposed a completely unworkable $300 million operating grant (down from $485 million in FY 2006 and probably 2007). 

 

Objection to the Amtrak number was universal.  New Mexico Senator Jeff Bingaman (D.) said, ““Passenger rail service is a crucial element in helping to attract businesses and new jobs to our state…The end of Amtrak services in the state could have a negative economic impact on those communities that depend on its services.” Representative Nick Rahall (D-WV) told the Charleston Gazette, “It’s worse than a broken record. When is this president going to figure out that Amtrak is essential to meeting the transportation needs of our citizens?”

 

Energy efficiency also figured prominently in yesterday’s Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing, where the only graphic—based on the same Oak Ridge National Laboratory figures NARP has been touting—showed Amtrak’s superior energy efficiency compared with airlines and automobiles.  It was presented by Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ).  DOT Secretary Mary Peters, accompanied by Assistant Secrtary for Budget and Programs Phyllis Scheinberg, were the sole witnesses.  Observing Lautenberg’s graphic, Peters said “that chart makes a compelling argument for greater use of rail”—a tacit admission that the Bush budget is out of step. 

 

Lautenberg also grilled her on the $309 million shortfall between the supposed guarantee for transit in SAFETEA-LU and what Bush requested.  She responded, “We were asked to limit non-defense discretionary spending growth to 1%.  We’re not leaving any transit projects ready to receive funding” out in the cold.  The truth, of course, is that the Administration has constricted the pipeline, that is, the whole “New [transit] Starts” process is designed to minimize the number of projects “ready to receive funding.”

 

Of course, highways got the full SAFETEA-LU guarantee of almost $41 billion.  This is an increase, but some senators, including Kit Bond (MO), the subcommittee’s top Republican, lamented the absence of $631 million than would have been permitted by SAFETEA-LU’s the RABA (“Revenue-aligned budget authority”) feature, which was continued over from the previous highway/transit authorization.  However, the administration was on solid ground to exclude RABA, because gasoline tax revenues are declining, making the “look-back” mechanism for calculating RABA inaccurate. 

 

Asked by Murray how DOT would avoid putting the Highway Trust Fund into bankrtupcy, Peters cited the absence of that $631 million.  She also said highway funds would be “flexed” to transit [where states decide to spend the money on transit] “as needed” rather than in a big lump sum.  This could be the first act in a drama where transit is sacrificed to help solve the highway funding problem; if this approach is adopted (unlikely because Congressional Budget Office does not want to set a precedent for other ‘trust funds’), transit could be shortchanged the next time around.

 

http://www.narprail.org/cms/index.php/hotline/more/hotline_487/

Those last three paragraphs tell the story.  We are rapidly becoming a Third World nation when it comes to the development and operation of passenger rail. Worse: it's happening at a time when we most need to be redeveloping and expanding our rail systems. Even Vietnam is planning a high speed rail system.  Not bad for a nation that was a bombed-out backwater 35-plus years ago.  But then, Europe was in much the same condition in 1945 and we helped them (with the Marshall Plan) re-build the foundation of what is now an interconnected, multi-national high-speed rail system.

 

And what have we got?

 

Amtrak.  Poorly conceived and grossly underfunded from the time it was established in 1971..... just about the same time we left Vietnam.  Interesting parallel.

 

But as much as I applaud Congressman Oberstar, he fails to make mention that the development of better, faster passenger trains in this nation is being generated by the states, not the federal government.  Certainly we need to fund Amtrak on a better and long-term basis.  But the development of passenger rail in the United States cannot be framed solely around funding Amtrak.  There has to be a significant federal effort to assist states in developing regional, high-speed trains. 

 

That's why U.S. Senate Bill 294 is so important.  It not only puts Amtrak on a firm financial footing to allow it to plan and improve better long-distance rail service, but establishes the state-federal matching fund program for regional rail plans.

Amtrak was set up to get the freight railroads out of the passenger business and then die a quiet death a couple of years later. There was no rational process used when it came to planning its route structure or its mission. Instead, it was all politics. If a legislator squawked loud enough, he got a route. Competing groups each had their ideas (ICC, NARP, etc), but no clear vision came from government, so we got a patchwork solution that we have to deal with to this day.

 

Consider what could have happened: we had about 500 trains still operating by the time Amtrak was formed, but instead of chopping two-thirds of them, we should have declared a one year moratorium on discontinuances, covering railroads' losses while a comprehensive plan was concieved and put into effect. I won't get into what trains would have run where, but it'd be a safe bet we would have had a system that really made sense. We would have had something to build on.

 

This is what must be overcome.

Here's a link that has what was operating in 1970, just prior to Amtrak.

 

http://www.narprail.org/cms/images/uploads/map70.gif

 

And here is what existed in 1962. Impressive..

 

http://www.narprail.org/cms/images/uploads/map62.gif

 

Interestingly, 1962 was when the 10% federal excise tax on rail tickets was eliminated. The tax, enacted as an emergency war measure in 1942, was in place for 20 years, during which time, about $6 billion went into the federal treasury. No doubt, some of that money was used to build competing roads and airports.

 

If there had been anyone with vision around back then, the feds could have refunded what was collected after the war and used it to improve the rail system. But noooo.. :cry:

This appeared in the Sunday Cleveland Plain Dealer.  Nice to see them send one of their own reporters out on the Amtrak system. The article really shows the best side of traveling out West by rail.  But it would be nice to see the Plain dealer and other Ohio papers focus in on how how Amtrak service in Ohio is so pitiful.

 

 

A ride in the country

Amtrak takes the scenic route

Sunday, February 18, 2007

Katherine Siemon Long

Plain Dealer Reporter

 

Mountains in the Flathead National Forest hide the dawn when Amtrak's Empire Builder glides out of the historic railway station in Whitefish, Mont., on New Year's morning.

 

Many of the passengers who have been aboard for hours, climbing on in Seattle, Portland or Spokane, are snuggled beneath blankets and sprawled on large reclined seats, oblivious to the newcomers knocking about the coach car.

 

http://www.cleveland.com/travel/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/living/1171620583309210.xml&coll=2

^ That's a cool article.  My wife and I were just researching taking a trip on the Coast Starlight to check out San Fran, Portland, Seattle and maybe Vancouver.

I've heard the Coast Starlight is a great ride and the scenery is spectacular.  A friend of mine took his wife on VIA Rail Canada's train from Edmonton to Vancouver several years ago for their 30th Anniversary and he made sure they rode in the "dome" car at night while they went through the Canadian Rockies.  It was a moonlit night with a full Moon and they cracked open a bottle of bubbly while the mountains rolled by.  He said it was the best evening he and his wife had had in years.

 

I'd bet that opportunity exists on the "Coast" as well.  Go for it!  Bon Voyage.

Unfortunately, the Coast Starlight regularly runs extremely late. I'm talking 5-10 hours. Check the Amtrak website www.amtrak.com at "Train Status" over several days to see if things have improved.

Kummant sees doubled Amtrak ridership in 15-20 years

Railwayage.com

 

Amtrak President and CEO Alex Kummant has asked Congress for $1.53 billon in federal funding for FY 2008, nearly double the $800 million requested by the Bush Administration. Both Amtrak and the Administration are asking for an additional $100 million for matching grants to states to begin the transition of corridor routes to states.

 

http://www.railwayage.com/breaking_news.shtml

This is the sort of upbeat story that is good to read. I do think Kummant is being conservative, tho. I think growth will explode as we get more crowded and driving or flying becomes more of a hassle. Then there is the Peak Oil scenario. If that happens, look out! :-o

The Coast Starlight, which runs between Seattle and Los Angeles, had an on-time performance of 4 percent in the fiscal year ended Sept. 30.

 

Well...that vacation idea may be on hold for awhile.  Seeing as how I'd like to stop off in 3-4 cities, I'd say that chance that Amtrak ruins my vacation is pretty good. 

But Kummant said the situation has shown some improvement in recent months. And in what he called a sign of better relations, he has been given a sneak peak at the railroads' capital plans, and "they're nothing short of stunning."

 

I sure hope so, because what's been happening this week on Norfolk Southern between Toledo and Chicago has been simply horrible.

 

Amtrak has had to combine trains (the Capitol and Lakeshore limiteds) detour them via Michigan, and even annul trains. The reasons?

 

According to “official” Amtrak sources, the re-routes were done because of extreme congestion on NS west of Toledo.  In one case, the congestion involved “foreign” train traffic (likely Canadian Pacific which uses the NS main west of Butler, IN). Major source of the freight congestion was weather-related – frozen switches,  broken rail, outlawed crews, etc. Annulments were equipment and weather related – frozen cars, equipment in the wrong places; congested trackage, etc.

 

It's been a sad week for railroading on that extremely busy stretch of railroad.

Which is why my llast two posts on the Ohio Hub/ORDC thread are worth reading.  We need to be pushing for greater investment in our overall rail system.  We can't have decent passenger rail unless we also solve some of the rail bottlenecks that tie up the freight railroads and cause the very delays KJP speaks of.

 

We have to convince our leaders to begin looking at our rail infrastructure in the same way we do our highway, water and sewer systems: as an essential investment.

Here's the skinny on the Toledo-Chicago meltdown....

 

 

Service Disruption on the NS Chicago Line Desk

 

Freight train operating issues compounded by inclement weather caused delays to Amtrak trains operating between Toledo and Chicago on Friday and Saturday. To help relieve the traffic volume on Saturday, Amtrak’s 48(24)and 30(24) combined detoured between Chicago and Toledo via Detroit, MI.

 

 

 

On Sunday, delays caused by these conditions required Amtrak to cancel 29(25) and 30(25) with no alternate transportation, 49(25) and 48(25) detoured through Detroit, with alternate transportation provided. Monday update: NS has 10 freights on the law between Elkhart and Porter and 10 freights outlawed between Porter/MP482 and MP502. There were also (2)disabled freights blocking the single tracking operation on the Chicago Line. As a result trains 30/48(26) were combined in Chicago and operated via the Michigan Line to Dearborn and over the detour into Toledo. The trains were scheduled for an 8:30 PM-CT departure when the Pilot for the Michigan Line would be rested at 8:50 PM-CT at Hammond.

 

 

 

Busses were dispatched from Chicago at 8:00 PM-CT to make all stops between South Bend and Toledo where the passengers will board the detoured train.

 

Delays:      29(25) Cancelled

 

30(25) Cancelled

 

48(25) 6’02” CHI-TOL – Detour

 

49(25) 6’29” TOL-CHI – Detour

 

30(26) 1’51” CHI Initial Terminal

 

30(26) 4’30” CHI-TOL – Detour

 

48(26) 1’01” CHI Initial Terminal

 

48(26) 4’30” CHI-TOL – Detour

 

352(26) 3’08” CHI-Pine Junction Single Tracking

 

364(26) 2’32” “ “ “ “ “ “ “

 

353(26) 37” “ “ “ “ “ “ “

 

365(26) 33” Track Car Ahead CP513-CP518

 

370(26) 1’11” CHI-Pine Junction Single Tracking

 

354(26) 1’48” “ “ “ “ “ “ “

 

355(26) 1’17” “ “ “ “ “ “ “

 

http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070228/NEWS11/702280405/-1/NEWS

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Article published February 28, 2007

 

Amtrak route is bedeviled by delays

Freight train congestion clogs Toledo-Chicago run

 

By DAVID PATCH

BLADE STAFF WRITER

 

 

Schedule-keeping on Amtrak's passenger trains between Toledo and Chicago, hardly exemplary during the best of times, has taken a beating in recent weeks because of freight train congestion in Indiana.

 

I speculate that that particular mess is one of the consequences of the "rationalization" that took place in the 70s, 80s and 90s as systems were pruned of what the bean-counters considered redundancy. One example of that was cutting off the Conrail (former PRR) line through Fort Wayne that resulted in the loss of Amtrak service here in 1990. That was once the preferred detour route for the Lakeshore Limited when traffic was disrupted on the former New York Central Water-level Route.

 

I used to listen to scanner traffic on the Conrail frequency, and one night in the 1980s I learned that the Lakeshore would stop at the Baker Street Station. I called a friend and we met on the platform. We ended up seeing three Amtrak trains (Broadway, Capitol and Lakeshore) at the station or within sight, all at the same time! The good ol' days revisited! The main was still double track then, with three or four tracks across downtown, and both platforms were still in service. With all that activity plus freight traffic next door on the NS former Wabash line, I had goosebumps.

We ended up seeing three Amtrak trains (Broadway, Capitol and Lakeshore) at the station or within sight, all at the same time!

 

I don't suppose you got a photo of that? If so, I'd love a copy for use in the Ohio Passenger Rail News.

D'OH! It never occurred to me to take a camera that night; I already had quite a few train photos at Baker Street, and one Amtrak train looked pretty much like another. I didn't expect to see that much traffic piled up.

 

I can remember two occasions when I saw the Lakeshore in Fort Wayne, and once the Cardinal came through westbound. In that case, the passengers had already been put on a bus and Amtrak was just ferrying the empty train. It might have come up from Muncie on Norfolk Southern, and I saw it perform a rather convoluted switching move through downtown on track that no longer exists, and then go through the interchange off the former Wabash onto the Conrail (PRR) line to Chicago.

 

The assistant division superintendent was overseeing the switching move and he was boiling. At one point, all three districts that come together in Fort Wayne were tied up by it.

More neocon bullshit. The only way things will change is if these trogolodytes are pushed aside. :whip:

Thankfully, the Administration's manifesto plan doesn't stand a chance in hell of passing through Congress.

By trotting out a five-year-old plan from Mineta probably did more good than harm to the cause of better passenger rail. To me that tells me that Amtrak is no longer a priority target for them and may care less what happens. Opponents have nothing of substance to rally around, while supporters can simply dismiss the regurgitated Mineta plan as dusty rhetoric.

TRANSPORTATION COLUMN  

ALEX MARSHALL 

 

Running a Railroad

 

Its schedules are undependable, prices high and on-board service of middling quality. Yet demand for Amtrak’s inter-city service grows.

 

Every morning at 6 o’clock, one lonely train passes through Lynchburg, Virginia, on its way north. The train is often late, so passengers have to wait on the platform or in the tiny station for, sometimes, an hour or more. The ride is not cheap: $144 round trip to Washington, D.C.; $332 for New York. Once on board, the service is hardly white glove.

 

 

 

http://www.governing.com/articles/2trans.htm

^Bush/FRA: American passenger rail = Joe Calabrese:Cleveland Transit

It's interesting that no one applies the same standards of profitability to commercial aviation and the interstate highway system. I'm trying to get beyond being too dumbstruck to respond, when I hear people express the belief that airlines and trucking companies don't benefit from taxpayers' money.

Rail labor's take on what needs to be done re: Amtrak.  To be sure, they have some labor-management beefs, but they also raise some strong arguments in favor of Washington finalkly funding Amtrak at a level where it doesn't have to "rob Peter to pay Paul."

 

http://www.utu.org/worksite/detail_news.cfm?articleid=33899

 

AFL-CIO unions push six-point Amtrak plan

 

Amtrak must stop trying to solve its financial woes on the "backs of the company's 20,000 employees," say AFL-CIO member unions.

 

The AFL-CIO Transportation Trades Department, working with the UTU and other federation-member unions, have developed a six-point Amtrak reform plan to address chronic under-funding, unmet safety and security needs, a history of poor management decisions, and a rogue board of directors. Lawmakers and other opinion leaders and decision makers will be asked to support the plan.

 

Other nations around the world invest billions in passenger rail because they know that a robust economy is dependent on a strong transportation system and infrastructure. Meanwhile, Amtrak juggles deferred maintenance, unmet security needs, outdated cars and equipment, and fails to compensate its employees fairly.

 

Highlights of the six-point Amtrak reform plan include:

 

•Congress must pass a long-term authorization bill that provides at least $2 billion per year, to be fully funded by appropriators.

•Labor/management relations must be reformed. Amtrak must stop withholding reasonable wage increases by blaming unpredictable federal financing for the carrier. Most Amtrak employees are entering their eighth year with no general wage increase.

•A new Amtrak board of directors should be created with members – including a voice for employees – who actually believe in maintaining and strengthening a national Amtrak system. Board members who pursue self-destructive policies for Amtrak do not serve in the interest of the company, its workers or the 25 million passengers who depend on Amtrak service.

•After 30 years of under-funding, Amtrak has taken on substantial debt that should be paid down with federal assistance.

•The way Amtrak security costs are paid must be reformed. Specific expenses associated with the defense against terrorism should be borne by the Department of Homeland Security.

•To ensure independent oversight, the Inspector General of Amtrak should be separated from the company. It should not work as an extension of Amtrak management as it does today.

March 7, 2007