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New York Times to Highlight Rail Transit Commuting
Monday, December 31, 2007
To kick off 2008, New York Times real estate reporter Billie Cohen will spend the month of January documenting the daily commutes of some of the Tri-State Region’s rail transit commuters (who take over six million trips every weekday, accounting in part for nearly 40 percent of all daily transit commuters in the nation).
Meanwhile, as 2007 comes to a close, be sure to read NARP’s end of the year report to our members to take a look back at an productive, exciting year in passenger rail advocacy. NARP and its staff wish you a happy and safe 2008!
—Matthew Melzer
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France’s iDTGV Innovates the Train Travel Experience
Friday, December 28, 2007
The Age (Melbourne, Australia) covers the fascinating development of cutting-edge, passenger-friendly amenities being tested on SNCF‘s TGV high-speed trains in France:
Joined to a regular TGV train, this iDTGV, playing on the French word “idee” or “idea”, is operated privately, but owned by the national SNCF rail company and designed as a laboratory for future rail travel.
The iDTGV was launched in December 2004 and offers cheaper tickets, Internet reservations, and services aimed at pleasing passengers, including a soon-to-be launched party train, to help the SNCF better compete with low cost airlines.
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Downstairs is peaceful with no noisy chat or mobile phones. The top deck is designed for entertainment and interaction between passengers, including a service that helps them meet each other en route.
As the bar fills up, some passengers, many of them young professionals, browse a catalogue of DVDs and video games available for rental, while others peruse magazines.
Nearby, a couple of young workers from an AIDS charity set up a stall.
“What’s the difference between this bar and those on other trains?” says Patrice, one of the conductors. “Well, people are more open. We sometimes have concerts on board too.”
Since the start, iDTGVs, which now travel to around 20 French towns and cities, have hosted a string of events, from food and wine tastings to massages and cabarets.
A few months ago, Reuters reported on a dating service that Germany’s DB is offering on Munich-Nuremberg RegionalExpress trains:
While these amenities being tested in France and Germany could be dismissed as gimmicky, they might also go a long way to making train travel a way of life for a younger clientèle in America. But Amtrak is starved for a healthy funding stream that would allow it to test relatively radical on-board services, while the rail networks in Europe have reached a point of maturity from which they arguably have the luxury of testing these products. If Amtrak is unable to further innovate on-board services with the resources that it has, the private sector could play a role. We’re already seeing this on a limited basis. A game company used to sponsor the Kiddie Cars on the Coast Starlight, and redevelopment of these cars is supposedly in the works. Free samples of food and toiletries are currently supplied by the manufacturers for Empire Builder sleeping car passengers. Amtrak also granted a concession for T-Mobile HotSpot to offer paid wi-fi access in certain Northeast Corridor stations, with an on-board wi-fi program currently being studied.
Amtrak should continue to observe how operators abroad experiment with new products and technologies, and do the best that it can to deliver quality service on its constrained budget. The possibilities for market segmentation go far beyond certain age groups or income levels. Train travel is for everyone, and there are many ways to improve the experience.
—Matthew Melzer
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Former Amtrak President Warrington Dies
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
George Warrington, who led a controversial tenure as Amtrak President and CEO from 1997 to 2002, passed away on Christmas Eve of pancreatic cancer at the age of 55. While he was widely praised for his work at the helm New Jersey Transit, he led Amtrak through a difficult period in which federal appropriations were slashed and the company was sanctioned to become self-sufficient.
We’ll have more coverage in this Friday’s Hotline. Our thoughts are with the Warrington family.
UPDATE: Click here to read his obituary in the Newark Star-Ledger, including funeral information and how to donate in Warrington’s memory.
UPDATE 2: A Tribute to George Warrington from the Tri-State Transportation Campaign.
—Matthew Melzer
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Holland Sentinel Readers Confident in Amtrak
Thursday, December 20, 2007
In an unscientific readers’ poll, the Holland Sentinel (MI) asked, “How has the Amtrak [Pere Marquette] train crash in Chicago November 30 impacted the likelihood of you riding the train in the future?”
Check out these astonishing results:
Not only are the majority of readers confident that the train is safe, there are more folks who would ride Amtrak after the crash than those who would avoid it! As they say, all publicity is good publicity. And for the safe mode of train travel, good publicity is well-deserved, even if the rare incident is regrettable.
While commercial aviation is also, for the most part, a safe mode of travel, I submit that a scary, non-fatal situation in the air is much more likely to draw strongly negative reactions. On Sunday, my return trip from Miami was on American Airlines. As we descended towards Reagan National Airport, strong winds in the area contributed to severe turbulence, the kind that makes the wings visibly flap and causes even iron stomachs to drop. Perhaps a hundred yards from touchdown, the captain engaged full throttle and we aborted the landing. At this point, several people were crying, a few were vomiting, and a woman behind me was in the grips of an uncontrolled panic attack. We circled around for another landing attempt; the captain threw in the towel at about 1,000 feet and announced that dangerous 40-knot crosswinds were not worth the risk for our Boeing 737-800.
We were diverted to Dulles International Airport, where we landed nearly an hour late. However, we parked on the tarmac and awaited paramedics to board to treat the sufferer of the panic attack. Passengers were eventually allowed to exit onto the unique IAD people movers (“moon buggies”), which incidentally will soon be replaced in normal service by an intra-airport automated train system. American chartered coaches to get everyone back to DCA, and by that point we were two-and-a-half hours late.
The incident with our flight apparently made the local news, along with an earlier MIA-DCA flight that day which was also diverted to IAD, due to mechanical reasons.
Even if air travel is safe, the perceived perils are rightfully greater than that of train travel. Let’s also not forget that over 45,000 people die each year on the road; 15.5 deaths per 100,000 population is greater than the murder rate in many major cities.
It bears repeating: However you may be traveling this holiday season, stay safe out there!
—Matthew Melzer
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More Yummy Dining Car Food News
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
As a brief follow-up to my last post, it turns out that omelettes (or omelets, in the variant that Amtrak spells it) are no longer pre-prepared. They are now freshly made aboard the train, which should represent a major improvement in most cases. Scrambled eggs, which are newly offered on most routes after a long absence of regular egg dishes, are in fact pre-prepared in bulk.
We had also erroneously reported last week that dining car menu cycles will change every three months. In fact, the actual cycles of the menus between trains will change every six months. The good news is that the various specials offered at each meal may change more frequently. In any case, Amtrak has still scored a winner with its new formal dining offerings. Now they just need to update their web site to show off the commendable menus!
Meanwhile, north of the border, VIA Rail Canada is continuing a Canadian railroading holiday tradition in the dining car, and the Toronto Star is there with good coverage:
When the federal government’s carving knife first scraped VIA’s carcass a quarter-century ago, the plum pudding fell by the trackside for budgetary reasons. Now, with trains back “in” with the public and politicians alike, the tradition is being revived for Christmas week on the stainless steel dining cars of VIA’s transcontinental streamliner, The Canadian.
VIA’s Vancouver director of customer experience, James Kleiner, says the inspiration for the holiday-only dessert came from one of the railway’s Winnipeg chefs, who sent him a Canadian National (CN) cookbook from the 1950s containing the original recipe. “I did my apprenticeship with Canadian Pacific Hotels,” says Kleiner.
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“I’ll bet there hasn’t been a railway that’s ever made money on its dining cars. But you have to do it and do it well because it’s the one thing, above all, that people expect and remember. You’re helping to create an experience that will last them a lifetime. That’s a challenge and a pleasure. Bringing back the old CN plum pudding is one of those pleasures,” Kleiner says.
This year he received a call from a Winnipeg woman whose father is terminally ill. One last thing he wants is to taste the CN plum pudding again. It has been arranged.
Amtrak officials are known to follow VIA’s customer service practices, and should especially take note of the lore of the plum pudding. Imagine if any item in Amtrak’s dining cars could become such a cherished national tradition that Americans request it on their deathbeds.
—Matthew Melzer
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New Amtrak Dining Car Menus: Yum!
Monday, December 17, 2007
As we reported in last week’s Hotline, Amtrak has improved the experience for long-distance train passengers with new, expanded, and varied dining car menus. Last Thursday, the day after they were launched, I had the opportunity to taste the improvements for myself while I rode Silver Star train 91 from Washington, DC to Miami. Other observers online have posted information about the menu offerings and their own experiences. Now, enjoy the photos I took of some of the new selections (dinner, breakfast, and lunch, respectively):
Though Cornish Game Hen has replaced Roast Chicken at dinner, on day two of the new menu chicken was still being served (presumably to use up commissary supplies). The chicken was perfectly seasoned. The short-grain saffron rice was a welcome departure from the usual rice pilaf. The beans, while fresh, were bland and could have used seasoning.
The Tilapia was served with a tomato sauce that my companion said made all the difference with the already-tender fish. The garlic mashed potatoes were also rich and creamy. Notably, she was not charged for a second can of soda.
The vegetable omelette with olives and red peppers was satisfactory (especially as pre-prepared egg dishes go), and the new chicken apple sausage was extremely tender and juicy. While grits are now available again, I still enjoy the shredded potatoes.
Belgian waffle with powdered sugar was the breakfast special on this trip. Alas, table syrup remains the only available topping, with no fruit toppings as one might expect.
The Greek salad with warm grilled chicken was fresh and flavorful. Amtrak has really improved its salad offerings; even the side salads are now based in spinach and dark lettuces, not wilted pieces of iceberg lettuce.
The Key Lime Pie with graham cracker crust has not changed much, but is still a fine product.
The new Red Velvet Cake by Sweet Street is of very high quality, especially with the richness of the cream cheese frosting, the moistness of the cake, and the apparent lack of chemical additives. This is probably one of the best desserts Amtrak has offered, and I understand it is one of many in rotation right now.
Clearly, Amtrak has listened to its passengers’ demands for better dining options (even while reduced staffing means plastic plates and cups continue to prevail on most routes). If Amtrak’s critics are so concerned about the company operating in a business-like manner, they should praise Amtrak for being market-responsive and instituting new service offerings that can drive revenue increases and win favor with the traveling public.
—Matthew Melzer
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Amtrak Markets Carbon Offsets
Monday, December 10, 2007
Amtrak has announced a partnership with the non-profit Carbonfund.org Foundation to market the sale of carbon offsets to environmentally-conscious passengers who want to mitigate the impacts of their already-efficient mode of travel.
The Amtrak/Carbonfund.org products include 2,500 miles of rail travel offsets for $3 and 5,500 miles of offsets for $5.50, and is currently featured on Amtrak’s home page.
While cases of apparent abuse fuel the debate regarding the impact of unregulated carbon offsets, any effort to boost the visibility of trains as the green travel option is welcome given the inherent energy superiority of passenger rail for intercity transportation.
—Matthew Melzer
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Reporter Liveblogs a Pere Marquette Trip
Friday, December 07, 2007
On Monday, Grand Rapids Press (MI) reporter Ken Kolker liveblogged a round-trip to Chicago on the Amtrak Pere Marquette, three days after the train was involved in a serious read-end collision with a Norfolk Southern freight train outside of Chicago that caused 60 injuries. Kolker shows his lay credentials, referring to a couple boarding the train as, “climbing aboard the locomotive.” More notably, he also collected anecdotes from two passengers who were on the ill-fated train the previous Friday. 78 year-old Louisa Vargo, who still had a black eye to show for her troubles, nonetheless returned home by Amtrak as a vote of confidence in the safety of rail travel:
Despite the crash, she did not hesitate to ride Amtrak home. She takes this trip several times a month.
“I don’t even think about it,” she says. “It’s just another trip, I’m not apprehensive at all.”
Members of the traditional news media are beginning to embrace technology as a means to expose the public to the rail travel experience. At the vanguard of this phenomenon is Rafi Guroian, Director of Technology & Online Content Manager for Cox Newspapers Washington Bureau, whose Rafi on the Rails feature includes regular insights from his experiences on Amtrak. Guroian even went so far as to have a live webcam and GPS tracking during a recent two-week cross-country trip!
Hopefully, this is a trend that will expand. Not only do these “new media” ventures by traditional outlets provide greater exposure for the rail travel alternative, they can lead to greater accountability for the bad apples at Amtrak who the correspondents encounter, as Guroian did on a recent trip.
—Matthew Melzer
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NARP Blog Welcomes Your Comments
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
NARP is pleased to announce that narprail.org registered users may now post comments to NARP blog entries. (Entries dating back to September of this year are also comment-enabled.) We are eager to facilitate lively, fruitful discussions of the future of passenger rail, as well as current events related to our cause. We hope that these conversations can help us all to become more effective passenger rail advocates. NARP staff may respond to comments where appropriate.
You do not need to be a NARP member to post comments, but you do have to register with the web site. When you register, you must agree to the Terms of Service, including the following provisions regarding the blog:
Access to narprail.org entitles you to post comments in response to NARP-generated postings on the Blog. By registering at this site you agree 1) that all comments will be relevant to the respective posting and 2) not to post any messages that are obscene, vulgar, slanderous, hateful, threatening, or that violate any laws. We reserve the right to permanently block postings from any user who does not abide by the above terms. NARP reserves the right to remove, edit, or move any messages for any reason.
Existing narprail.org users do not need to re-register, but by commenting on the blog you do imply agreement to the Terms of Service as amended.
We look forward to you being an active participant on our blog!
—Ross B. Capon
NARP Executive Director