Such as CSX between Buffalo and Schenectady? Or CSX anywhere??

Such as CSX between Buffalo and Schenectady? Or CSX anywhere??

 

Probably CSX anywhere...but I don't want to be a "Debbie Downer" here. The ARE some big opportunities, especially in states which have active rail programs and railroads which are---shall we say---more enlightened. Even if CSX is a pain, the Lake Shore could be speeded up between Cleveland and Chicago (NS) and New York and Schenectady (Amtrak). 

That was more of a rhetorical question on my part.

I have been to Chicago Union Station many times in the past 30 years and I have never seen the skylight concourse like this. The main staging area is actually far off to the right through the high arched passageway. Earlier today, these crowds were waiting to board Amtrak trains to all parts of the nation on the busiest travel day of the year. My estimate is that if just the five Amtrak trains to/through Ohio didn't exist, it would have added another 17 fully loaded 737s today or 30-50 buses (# varies with type of bus) with every seat taken. And that's just Ohio which has only those five trains per day.......

 

^

Great photo and great stats.

Many people allege that passenger trains won't work in America because it is much bigger than Europe and has such wide open spaces and thus its cities are farther apart.

 

The maps below suggest otherwise -- especially east of the Mississippi. By the way, just in case you were wondering, the distance from San Francisco, California to Washington DC is 2,450 miles. The distance from Lisbon, Portugal to Moscow, Russia is 2,450 miles.

 

On Monday the official Amtrak app for Windows Phone was released.  There already appears to be an update.

 

Discover the convenience of traveling with Amtrak on your Windows Phone®. With the Amtrak app you can you can get simple and intuitive access to all the travel information you need, whenever you need it.

• Book one-way and roundtrip tickets

• Check train status

• Search for station information

• Show your eTicket while onboard

• Save your ticket to your phone calendar

 

http://www.windowsphone.com/en-us/store/app/amtrak/c8824bb8-3a85-48f7-af54-954bd5673cc6

 

I thought this was exciting news.  Then again, I may be the only Windows Phone user at UO....

This will benefit Amtrak service to Ohio -- namely the busy Lake Shore service to Cleveland, Elyria, Sandusky, Toledo and Bryan that runs daily between Chicago, New York City and Boston. And the goal of this project is also very similar that which is needed at stations in TOL, SAN, ELY and CLE. Read more about the Ohio station issues here: http://allaboardohio.org/2013/11/13/ohios-4-busiest-stations/

 

 

Thursday, December 26, 2013

USDOT allocates grant for Syracuse, New York station work

 

The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) on Tuesday announced it will provide an $18.5 million grant to the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) to reduce freight- and passenger-rail congestion at a Syracuse, N.Y., station.

 

NYSDOT will use the proceeds for the final design and construction of track reconfiguration and replacement, and signal system improvements at the station, which is located on Amtrak's Empire Corridor route.

 

To begin in 2015, the project includes the upgrade of two sidings, one of which is used by passenger trains to access the station, with the other used by CSX Transportation trains to access a nearby yard. The work will remove current 30 mph speed restrictions on the sidings.

 

READ MORE AT:

http://www.progressiverailroading.com/federal_legislation_regulation/news/USDOT-allocates-grant-for-New-York-station-work-FRA-boosts-accident-reporting-threshold-for-2014--38847

On googlemaps, the preferred transportation route is now by train for travel between the east coast cities.

 

For instance, when getting directions between Washington DC and Philadelphia, they list the train first.

You just might be able to recover inter-city train service as a viable option if you could get the TSA to butt out.

 

I don't see them as being willing to do that as they seem to be eager to consider trains and even buses as the same threat as airlines.

 

Which of course is nonsense, especially concerning trains:  which do not depressurize, can easily be remotely stopped in an emergency, and cannot be used as weapons.

Where does the TSA butt in to train service?

Where does the TSA butt in to train service?

 

Google VIPR teams....

Those are related to border security. A VIPR team was established for the Syracuse-Toronto ferry that didn't last. So since that VIPR team didn't want to be out of a job, they reassigned themselves to patrol Amtrak trains and Greyhound buses between Rochester, NY and Toledo, OH. They do random checks of passengers without cause -- very Gestapo-like.

Those are related to border security. A VIPR team was established for the Syracuse-Toronto ferry that didn't last. So since that VIPR team didn't want to be out of a job, they reassigned themselves to patrol Amtrak trains and Greyhound buses between Rochester, NY and Toledo, OH. They do random checks of passengers without cause -- very Gestapo-like.

 

They're a lot more than that.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/06/us/tsa-expands-duties-beyond-airport-security.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Those are related to border security. A VIPR team was established for the Syracuse-Toronto ferry that didn't last. So since that VIPR team didn't want to be out of a job, they reassigned themselves to patrol Amtrak trains and Greyhound buses between Rochester, NY and Toledo, OH. They do random checks of passengers without cause -- very Gestapo-like.

 

They're a lot more than that.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/06/us/tsa-expands-duties-beyond-airport-security.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

 

I don't know anything about the security enforcement at East Coast stations. But I do know that teams walk the aisles of Amtrak trains in Ohio asking passengers "papers, please." And I don't like that.

Interesting. There is pretty much zero TSA presence on north east corridor trains and in the main stations.

Interesting. There is pretty much zero TSA presence on north east corridor trains and in the main stations.

 

Interesting. I haven't traveled to the East Coast much (except this past summer) so I couldn't say. I have traveled to Chicago a lot and occasionally see TSA wandering Union Station, which sees more passengers than Midway Airport. But that's all they do. There are no security lines. They don't scan people's belongings. They don't do random searches. They just wander.

 

Compared to my first trip to Chicago Union Station as a 17-year-old with my father in 1984, I am happy to see security personnel wandering the station. It was a different place back then. Not very active except during rush hours. And there were lots of people wandering the station who weren't security personnel.... And some were pretty aggressive. I needed to use the restroom and my father offered to go with me. That didn't go over well with a 17-year-old. In retrospect, I'd wished he had. I got out of there pretty quickly as some tough looking young men were hanging out in there and wanted to discuss the weather, where I was from, etc. Time to go.....

 

Today, Chicago Union Station is a very safe place with families, young professionals, college students and, of course, commuters. The "strength in numbers" that's come with the doubling of train travel to/through Chicago has helped. But so has a visible security presence.

If you have an AMEX card. They're offering $30 off on $150 worth of tickets from Amtrak. Any purchases must be use by mid-Feb.

I was one of the conservatives who opposed the "Patriot Act" and the formation of the TSA back in the post 9/11 days.  There were actually quite a few of us on FR and other places then.  I especially didn't like that the first head of the TSA was John McGaw, Clinton's ATF director.  The abuses of the Clinton era ATF even post Waco were legion.

 

One of the things we pointed out was that a federal agency with this name and vague "mission" would inevitably find excuses to expand their reach. 

 

An airplane is more dangerous to the rest of the world than any other form of transport by an order of magnitude.  A train is unique in the opposite direction.

 

I hope Ken was being sarcastic, but I would be quite unsurprised if he wasn't.

 

 

I hope Ken was being sarcastic, but I would be quite unsurprised if he wasn't.[/color]

 

I used no sarcasm in my last message. Which part were you hoping I was using it?

 

BTW, a freight train could actually be far more damaging than any other mode of transportation. The quantities of hazardous materials they carry could, if released or detonated simultaneously, kill everyone in a small city (30,000).

 

But, back to Amtrak.....

 

 

^To your point, that awful train wreck in Quebec last year that killed almost 50 townsfolk.

 

I should add that while I don't think I ever see TSA in NEC stations or trains, I see plenty of Amtrak police, including K-9 units, in the main stations. It's also possible I have seen TSA before and just assumed they were Amtrak police without looking closely... I definitely don't see many (if any) random bag searches.

^To your point, that awful train wreck in Quebec last year that killed almost 50 townsfolk.

 

I should add that while I don't think I ever see TSA in NEC stations or trains, I see plenty of Amtrak police, including K-9 units, in the main stations. It's also possible I have seen TSA before and just assumed they were Amtrak police without looking closely... I definitely don't see many (if any) random bag searches.

 

From 2012, Amtrak police threw the bums out in one instance.  Can't say I blame them.

 

http://www.cnn.com/2012/02/06/opinion/don-phillips-tsa-vipr-teams/

I hope Ken was being sarcastic, but I would be quite unsurprised if he wasn't.[/color]

 

I used no sarcasm in my last message. Which part were you hoping I was using it?

Semi-sarcasm on my part.  Even with my anti-police state views, I didn't know it had gotten that bad.  I thought the harassment was limited to exit and entry.

A while back I saw a vid of a TSA checkpoint set at Savannah GA. These dimbulbs went thru peoples' belongings AFTER they got off the train. They also harassed people who were merely walking nearby. This did cause a flap and the people responsible were fired.

A while back I saw a vid of a TSA checkpoint set at Savannah GA. These dimbulbs went thru peoples' belongings AFTER they got off the train. They also harassed people who were merely walking nearby. This did cause a flap and the people responsible were fired.

 

The CNN story above talks about that.  Apparently, the Amtrak police chief hit the roof and brought them into line.  It seems they actually have to be invited to operate on private property.

A while back I saw a vid of a TSA checkpoint set at Savannah GA. These dimbulbs went thru peoples' belongings AFTER they got off the train. They also harassed people who were merely walking nearby. This did cause a flap and the people responsible were fired.

 

The CNN story above talks about that.  Apparently, the Amtrak police chief hit the roof and brought them into line.  It seems they actually have to be invited to operate on private property.

 

Something similar was happening in Buffalo NY, where Homeland Security teams were boarding the Lake Shore Limited and delaying the train repeatedly. That ended when an Amtrak bigwig ordered the train to depart with the team still on board.

 

 

 

 

 

Winter weather is wreaking havoc on Midwest Amtrak service. Last night, trains from Chicago to the east were the last to leave Amtrak's Chicago hub and were significantly delayed, with both the Washington DC (Capitol Ltd) and New York/Boston (Lake Shore) trains passing through Cleveland after 9:30 a.m. Today/tonight, only the Capitol Ltd will run through Ohio in both directions.

 

Here is a press release...

 

http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/ContentServer?c=AM_Alert_C&pagename=am/AM_Alert_C/Alerts_Popup&cid=1251625336082

 

Amtrak Makes Additional Chicago Service Modifications for Monday, Jan. 6

 

Federal and State Officials Call for Reduced Travel in Severe Winter Conditions; Some Freight Railroad-Owned Routes Impassible

 

 

Jan. 5, 2014

9:00 p.m. CT

 

Due to severe weather conditions and decreased travel demands in several states where travel advisories have been posted by the National Weather Service and state officials, Amtrak plans to operate modified service to and from Chicago on Monday, Jan. 6. Also, some of the freight railroad-owned routes used by Amtrak in the region are temporarily closed due to weather conditions or other issues.

 

Passengers with plans in the region on Monday, Jan. 6, are urged to consider deferring their travel and/or confirming their train's status. Significant delays are likely. A range of tools – including Amtrak.com, smartphone apps and 800-USA-RAIL – are available to assist in travel planning.

 

This Service Alert will be updated by 7:00 a.m. CT on Monday, Jan. 6, if necessary. Alternate transportation is not available.

 

The following Chicago Hub Services will not be available on Monday, Jan. 6:

 

• Lincoln Service Trains 300, 301 & 305 are canceled.

(Trains 302, 303, 304, 306 & 307 and Trains 21/321 & 22/322 will maintain service on the Chicago-St. Louis corridor)

• Hiawatha Service Trains 329, 332, 333, 336, 337 & 340 are canceled.

(Trains 330, 331, 334, 335, 338 & 339 will maintain service on the Chicago-Milwaukee corridor)

• Wolverine Service Trains 352 & 353 are canceled.

• Pere Marquette Train 371 is canceled.

(Trains 350, 351, 354 & 355 will maintain service on the Chicago-Ann Arbor-Detroit-Pontiac corridor)

• Carl Sandburg Trains 381 & 382 are canceled.

(Trains 380 & 383 will maintain service on the Chicago-Quincy corridor)

• Saluki Trains 391 & 392 are canceled.

(Trains 390 & 393 and Trains 58 & 59 will maintain service on the Chicago-Carbondale corridor)

 

 

These National Network Services are also modified on Monday, Jan. 6:

 

Empire Builder Trains 7/27/807 are canceled from Chicago to Whitefish, Mont., with Train 27 represented by buses as alternate transportation between Spokane, Wash., and Portland, Ore.

 

Empire Builder Train 8 will operate from Seattle to Whitefish, without service east of Whitefish. Empire Builder Train 28 will be represented by buses as alternate transportation between Portland and Spokane, connecting with Train 8.

 

Lake Shore Limited Trains 48 & 448 from Chicago to New York/Boston are canceled.

Lake Shore Limited Trains 49 & 449 from New York/Boston to Chicago are canceled.

 

(Service between Chicago and Cleveland will be maintained by Trains 29 & 30 and service in upstate New York will be maintained by Empire Service and other trains.)

 

Passengers who have paid but choose not to travel due to this service disruption can receive a refund or a voucher for future travel. Some reservations booked online can be modified or canceled on Amtrak.com or by using the free Amtrak mobile app.

 

Amtrak regrets any inconvenience. This information is correct as of the above time and date. Information is subject to change as conditions warrant. Passengers are encouraged to call 800-USA-RAIL or visit Amtrak.com/alerts for Service Alerts and Passenger Notices. Schedule information and train status updates are available at the Amtrak.com home page.

 

END

Amtrak CEO holds to focus on the future

Written by  Frank N. Wilner, Contributing Editor

 

To economists and financial analysts whose obsession is return on investment, opinion leaders advocating smaller government, and corporate executives captivated by stock prices, Amtrak President Joe Boardman is surely a curiosity.

 

Yes, Boardman maintains a focus on income statements and balance sheets, but he is not single-minded. He considers equally important a responsibility to provide affordable and reliable intercity rail mobility to rural families, college students, vacationers, an aging population, city dwellers without automobiles, and a growing number of citizens now signaling that they clearly prefer public transportation.

 

While such concerns are lost on lawmakers awash in political campaign contributions from those demanding lower taxes and greater profits—“the feeding of Wall Street while dismantling Amtrak,” he calls it—Boardman is relentless in educating members of Congress on public opinion polls, validated by Amtrak ridership gains, that voters even in hard-core conservative districts are supportive of federal financial support for Amtrak.

 

Boardman’s unswerving message to lawmakers is that the “most essential debt to be paid down is a moral obligation to the future”—a conviction he believes is lacking among many politicians, whom he says ignore a lesson of history that made America a shining city on a hill.

 

READ MORE AT: http://www.railwayage.com/index.php/blogs/frank-n-wilner/amtrak-ceo-holds-to-focus-on-the-future.html?_escaped_fragment_=0&fb_action_ids=10201242606294143&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_source=other_multiline&action_object_map=%5B193072324225636%5D&action_type_map=%5B%22og.likes%22%5D&action_ref_map=%5B%5D

The weekly Hotline from the National Association of Railroad Passengers:

 

More on the Empire Builder delays, how Atlanta's #Snowpocalypse could've been prevented with a robust transit system, NARP's letter to the Canadian ambassador about the discontinuation of Canada's Sault Sainte Marie – Hearst train -- and much, much more!

 

http://narprail.org/news/hotline/2500-hotline-847-january-31-2014

 

Please join NARP and get 10% off on Amtrak coach travel! www.narprail.org

 

 

 

Atlanta: where love affairs with cars get creepy.

Atlanta: where love affairs with cars get creepy.

 

How many times do you have to quote the same topic across multiple threads to get your point across? :shoot:

 

I appreciate you having your opinion, but to broadcast it across every thread in the forum sometimes gets a little boring!

Good thing you always have something new to say!

Redirected from the Cleveland Hopkins thread....

 

Question for those more familiar with other forms of transit such as Amtrak/Greyhound. In other cities that this has happened has demand for train and bus service increased. Would Amtrak for example add service to those cities affected by the hub closure? And if so would that make the case for a Transportation Center stronger.

 

Discuss here or in this thread.

http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,2068.msg695115/topicseen.html#new

 

Amtrak typically doesn't initiate new services on its own, except on the Northeast Corridor where it owns, maintains and dispatches most of the tracks and stations. So outside of the Northeast where Amtrak, for the most part, must rely on the railroad corridors owned by freight-hauling railroads, its barriers to entering or expanding in a market are higher than they are for an airline or bus carrier to enter/expand. Amtrak is the only U.S. passenger rail carrier (yes, there are others like Veolia, Herzog, RATP Group, FirstGroup America, Keolis America, etc) which has $500 million in liability insurance and a Congressionally mandated form of eminent domain to use any railroad corridor it wishes as long as the existing owner/operator is fairly compensated. And that's the rub. Tomorrow, if Amtrak went to Norfolk Southern Corp., which owns the most direct and highest quality rail corridor from Cleveland to Chicago and operates up to 90 freight trains a day over it, and said "we'd like to run four more daily round trips over your tracks at a 90 mph top speed to O'Hare Airport," that would start the process. NS and Amtrak would do a rail traffic simulation showing how these added trains would interact with NS's existing and future (perhaps 10 years growth) train schedules. This would demonstrate where scheduling conflicts occur and where new tracks, crossover switches, passing sidings, and enhanced signal systems would be needed. I can you tell that, from past scenarios where similar requests were made by sponsoring state DOTs like Ohio and Indiana, that NS discovered it would need the construction of a third main track along the existing two-track line all the way from Cleveland to Chicago -- 340 miles. The projected cost 15 years ago was over $500 million. Today it would probably be more like $750 million to possibly $1 billion.

 

However, Amtrak would never go to NS on its own initiative and make such a request.

 

The reason is that Amtrak is prohibited by Congress from adding new services that add to its operating shortfall. All new train services must receive an operating subsidy because they must operate over private-sector owned rail corridors that carry costs that public-sector owned highways, airports/airways and waterways do not carry. So while the rails' competition gets its infrastructure subsidized, passenger rail must get its operations subsidized (unless the government decides to take over the ownership and capitalization of rail corridors -- not likely). As you may know, Amtrak does occasionally add new services outside the Northeast. That happens when a sponsor, usually a state department of transportation, purchases services from Amtrak. The sponsor's purchase of service includes an amount that guarantees Amtrak will not incur an operating shortfall from providing the new service. Under Ohio's current governor, it is very unlikely that ODOT is going to purchase any service from Amtrak. An alternative is for regional entities such as NOACA, TMACOG, etc to join forces by signing a memorandum of understanding and allocating some limited funding to leverage a federal grant, such as a Congestion Mitigation/Air Quality (CMAQ -- see-mack) grant, to operate the train for up to three years. However there are loopholes which may allow CMAQ to be used for longer than that.

 

If I were king for a day, I'd expand the shortline/regional railroad federal income tax credit to include passenger rail capital/operations and adjust the formula a bit so that it would make it financially attractive for passenger operators to monetize for use in expanding train services. And any tax credit recipients or their host right of way owners would have their liability capped at $200 million. Then you might see passenger rail services expand more readily to opportunities like Cleveland Hopkins (or Cincinnati, or St. Louis, or Pittsburgh, or Memphis....) getting de-hubbed by major airlines.

^ok thanks for that. I suspected the answer was a complicated one. Then if not the government or Amtrak I wonder why the RR's would not see an opportunity to get back into the people moving business, I mean that's what they used to do. RR's over the last 50 years have all but become a mover of freight and not people. The opportunity is theirs and they don't seem to recognize it or just don't want any part of of.

^ok thanks for that. I suspected the answer was a complicated one. Then if not the government or Amtrak I wonder why the RR's would not see an opportunity to get back into the people moving business, I mean that's what they used to do. RR's over the last 50 years have all but become a mover of freight and not people. The opportunity is theirs and they don't seem to recognize it or just don't want any part of of.

 

The problem is that the railroads would have to compete against vast government support for the highway and aviation modes, which as a major factor behind their decision to abandon the passenger business in the first place. That is unlikely to change.

 

However, the railroads are watching the Florida East Coast RR, which is planning its Miami-Orlando service. The key here is that real estate development is a major part of this and its a unique market with 50 million travelers a year. Still, this might work in some markets elsewhere, but not all.

 

As KJP noted, Amtrak is not allowed to initiate new services by Congressional fiat. The only way it can add service is by the request of a state or other entity. Private RR's could get into select projects in public-private partnerships that are real estate development driven with special tax districts to help finance the rail project that makes the development possible.

Note that the Marriott hotels chain tweeted this...

 

MarriottPublicPolicy ‏@MarriottPOV  5m

First class jobs need first class infrastructure -- all aboard! @Amtrak @TravelCoalition  http://www.transportation.gov/fastlane/amtrak-rolling-forward-new-locomotives

Some have asked me if this situation will come to the Marcellus/Utica regions of Eastern Ohio and Western Pennsylvania. I do notice there are a lot more freight trains coming through Northeast Ohio carrying long strings of nothing but oil tank cars....

 

ND oil, freight shipments detour Amtrak trains

8 hours ago  •  By JAMES MacPHERSON | Associated Press

 

BISMARCK, N.D.  — The ice fishing in northeast North Dakota is the best it's been in two decades, but some anglers can't make it because trains handling freight and crude from the state's oil patch are displacing Amtrak passenger service.

 

Steve Dahl, owner of the Perch Patrol guide service, said he spent the past week calling hundreds of customers who had made reservations to fish at Devils Lake and stay in its namesake city.

 

"The conditions are perfect but I've had to explain to them about this dumb train thing," Dahl said. "For some of them who had their heart set on this, I would have rather told them I ran over their dog."

 

READ MORE AT:

http://bismarcktribune.com/bakken/nd-oil-freight-shipments-detour-amtrak-trains/article_e5c2d0e0-921f-11e3-8f9c-001a4bcf887a.html

United should consider getting into the passenger rail business as a way to funnel more passengers to its hubs.

All Aboard Ohio @AllAboardOhio  ·  44m

Track work across northern Indiana causing big delays to @Amtrak trains 29, 30, 48, 49, 448, 449. Check http://m.amtrak.com/mt/www.amtrak.com/home?un_jtt_v_target=status … B4 traveling!

 

This is also pretty cool:

http://dixielandsoftware.net/Amtrak/status/StatusMaps/

 

Use this resource to see where every Amtrak train in the USA is right now. And if you click on the train #, you can see its arrival/departure history at every station earlier in its trip.

7/02/2014 @ 6:15PM 3,348 views

Amtrak Looking To Boost Acela Express Capacity, Speeds

Jason Rabinowitz

Contributor

 

Amtrak’s Acela Express service may not be true high-speed rail, but as ridership hits new records and trains consistently packed, Amtrak is looking to prepare  for the future by replacing its current rolling stock.

 

On Wednesday afternoon, Amtrak said it has issued a request for proposal to “acquire new trainsets to supplement and eventually replace its aging Acela Express.” Acela Express, which runs exclusively along the Northeast Corridor (NEC), is currently operating near capacity and frequently sells out before and after major holidays.

 

The RFP seeks up to 28 next-generation high-speed trainsets capable of meeting or exceeding current Acela trip-times on the existing NEC infrastructure. Aside from faster trains, Amtrak is also looking to boost the passenger capacity of each trainset by 40 percent, or 120 passengers. Just how Amtrak plans to do this is unknown, however.

 

READ MORE AT:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonrabinowitz/2014/07/02/amtrak-looking-to-revamp-acela-boost-capacity-and-speeds/

The combination of Norfolk Southern upgrading existing tracks across Indiana and adding third main tracks near Elkhart and Gary, followed by a derailment of a sand train just west of Toledo meant very late Amtrak trains across Northern Ohio on July 4. So the photographers came out along the tracks, including yours truly.....

 

I first caught the Chicago-Toledo-Cleveland-Buffalo-Syracuse-New York City/Boston "Lake Shore Limited" zipping by the Triskett Red Line station on Cleveland's West side:

 

Then I caught up to #48 again at the Amtrak station downtown, shot through the dirty windows of the Waterfront Line's North Coast station:

 

This is from an old acquaintance Jeff Hartung in Ravenna where he caught the Chicago-Toledo-Cleveland-Pittsburgh-Washington DC "Capitol Limited" complete with a private car on the back:

 

Why would there be a private car?

Why would there be a private car?

 

Private cars regularly travel on the back of Amtrak trains. In fact, a revival of the Pullman Company runs regularly scheduled private cars available for booking on the City of New Orleans between Chicago, Memphis and New Orleans. The same company is rumored to be adding private car service on the Lake Shore Limited between Chicago, Cleveland and New York City. However they did a test of this a year or two ago and found the Lake Shore Limited was already too long and the platforms at Penn Station in New York were too short.

Some interesting food for thought and a good summation about how the deal to create Amtrak has handicapped passenger rail development in the U.S.

 

Amtrak: A Failing Bargain

 

Charles H. White Jr.

For the Valley News

Sunday, July 6, 2014

(Published in print: Sunday, July 6, 2014)

 

Rail passengers in the Upper Valley have been waiting a long time. They weren’t fooled by talk of creating high-speed American trains early in the Obama administration, but they did see some reason for optimism in the announced use of Great Recession recovery funds for transportation infrastructure development. But as long as American rail passenger service is tied to Amtrak, that hope was destined to be frustrated. Amtrak, as designed and financed, simply cannot fully meet today’s growing rail passenger needs … nor was it intended to do so. The creation of Amtrak was merely an expedient to address a much larger issue.

 

To understand Amtrak’s limitations and the crisis which gave it birth, it is necessary to review U.S. railroad history for the last quarter of the 20th century. The period from 1970 to 2000 is pivotal. It embraced both a real crisis and a grand bargain between Congress and the U.S. railroad industry, which gave us Amtrak as a byproduct.

 

America’s rail industry was in a serious long-term decline after World War II. Fundamental economic change and the government’s policy of subsidizing competitive transportation infrastructures drastically cut into the railroads’ previous near-monopolistic position on interstate transportation. The new interstate highway system greatly expanded trucking competition as well as the reach of the interstate bus industry and private automobiles. The American dream of a home and a car in the new burgeoning suburbs, combined with cheap gas, confirmed the long-term decline in demand for rail passenger service. And the maturation of air travel added to the downward pressure.

 

READ MORE AT:

http://www.vnews.com/opinion/12596142-95/amtrak-a-failing-bargain

Why would there be a private car?

 

Why not?

Why would there be a private car?

 

Why not?

 

Because it's an Amtrak train, and if a private car were profitable, I would just expect Amtrak to offer the service.

Because it's an Amtrak train, and if a private car were profitable, I would just expect Amtrak to offer the service.

 

Private cars are profitable. Some are offered for charter. Some are offered as common-carrier transportation but for a high-end clientele Amtrak is not pursuing. But most are a cross between private jets and mobile homes -- a vehicle owned and used by wealthy people for private transportation and hotel at the same time.

^ often, private cars are owned by the individual using them.  I know a guy in Mt Lookout who, with a number of friends owns 3 private cars, very historic and in mint condition.  They often attach to the California Zephyr and do a trip for 15 or so people once a year.  $3600 a person, but it's 2 weeks of luxury, complete with your own butler, etc. 

 

^ That's not too bad, I guess.  $260/person/day all-inclusive for those kinds of accomodations really isn't that obscene.

California's Carl Moyer grant program is a clean-air program for cleaner-than-required engines and equipment. Wish Ohio had one.....

 

Monday, July 14, 2014

Amtrak RFI ponders Tier 4 locomotive order

Written by  Douglas John Bowen

 

Amtrak has issued a request for information concerning 15 new Tier 4 diesel-electric locomotives, as well as one diesel switch yard locomotive.

 

Amtrak RFI X-061-4184-001, issued earlier this month, seeks a response by July 28, 2014. Amtrak said the RFI has been issued "in Conjunction with Amtrak's application to the Carl Moyer Program Grant Program."

 

READ MORE AT:

http://www.railwayage.com/index.php/mechanical/locomotives/amtrak-rfi-ponders-tier-4-locomotive-order.html