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A Healthy Dialogue
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
In a welcome show of responsiveness to Amtrak’s most loyal riders and supporters, President & CEO Joseph Boardman requested, and TRAINS Magazine hosted, a public forum on the present and future of the passenger railroad at the Merchandise Mart adjacent to Chicago’s Union Station, the main hub of the long-distance train network. Over 300 people signed up on a first-come, first-served basis and about 250 showed up to hear from, and ask questions of, Boardman, Amtrak Police Chief John O’Connor, Vice President for Marketing and Product Development Emmett Fremaux, Chris Jagodzinski (a senior official who reports directly to V.P. for Transportation Richard Phelps), and other top officials.
Amtrak officials did discuss the possibility of splitting the Lake Shore Limited at Toledo instead of Albany, with the New York section running via Pittsburgh/Altoona/Harrisburg, partially recreating the Broadway Limited. As columnist Don Phillips put it, “They mentioned this at the same time they said they would operate no new long-distance routes. Train reroutes can have the effect of creating a new service.” As for adding new long-distance routes, the assembled officials would only commit to improving existing services. Fremaux pointed to the fact that the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act (PRIIA) of 2008 emphasizes the expansion of short-distance corridor services and relies on state leadership. “This country builds stuff, including Amtrak, then walks away from it and doesn’t give it the support it needs,” said Boardman. “I want to do real stuff.”
Fremaux did make a commitment that efforts would be made to improve existing long-distance trains, including daily operation of the Texas Eagle and Sunset Limited (as a through Chicago-Los Angeles train with a connection at San Antonio for Houston, New Orleans and points in between) and the introduction of on-board wireless Internet service across the entire Amtrak system.
On the condition of Amtrak’s fleet, Jagodzinski emphasized “We don’t want 60-year-old equipment. The passengers don’t want it, and we don’t want to maintain it.” He reiterated that the Heritage diners and baggage cars, which are around 60 years old, will be the first to be replaced, within the next five years. After the forum, attendees were led on a tour of three newly-rehabilitated passenger cars—two Superliner sleepers and one Superliner diner—and a rebuilt P42 locomotive that were parked in Union Station’s trainshed.
Another topic of concern to attendees was Amtrak’s months-old policy prohibiting photography from station platforms, except by ticketed passengers and those with permission from a station agent or other Amtrak official. In response to criticism from train advocates, including NARP, O’Connor announced a program whereby photographers could register themselves and be amongst a group of citizens who act as a second set of eyes to warn of safety and security issues, similar to the one initiated by BNSF Railway.
Boardman has promised that this will be the first of many such discussions. NARP welcomes, and stands ready to help facilitate, the further involvement of passengers and train advocates as Amtrak continues to plan and prepare for growth. —Ross Capon and Malcolm Kenton
Posted by Malcolm Kenton
Tags: amtrak, amtrak policies, broadway limited, dialogue, expansion, forum, growth, improvement, joseph boardman, lake shore limited, long-distance trains, passenger trains, photography, sunset limited, texas eagle,Acela Should Be the Mold for Modern American Trains
Monday, August 09, 2010
I am aboard an Acela Express from Newark to Washington and am amazed at the lack of enthusiasm for these trains from policymakers and even rail advocates, except for this pile of passengers that pay good bucks to use them. These are not all businesspeople traveling on their employers’ dime.
Acelas are maligned because they “only” do 150 mph for the twelve miles in Rhode Island and no faster than that, but it is a fine 125-135 mph product right down to the on-board service people and crews. Passengers seem delighted with it. It has clean restrooms, big windows and, with the wide vestibules, a joy for those with special needs.
I know no two are alike due to modifications and that Amtrak must hire special talent to maintain them, these problems cured with ongoing new equipment procurement with extension options, which in the end requires a dedicated source of funding.
Passenger train advocates should continue to pursue the running of Acela-type trains outside the Northeast Corridor on places where track conditions can accommodate them, pulled by diesels until the day we finally adopt electrification nationwide. I can only imagine the quality of service: modern long-distance trains with a sit-down diners and maybe even sleepers a la the Talgo equipment on Spain’s Renfe between Barcelona and Geneva. Canada’s VIA should be in on this as well.
—James Churchill, NARP Director
Editor’s Note: Amtrak says that the 130 new cars (sleepers, diners and crew dorms) being ordered for long-distance service will contain design elements borrowed from the Acela, including the large windows.
Posted by Malcolm Kenton
Tags: acela, amtrak, equipment, james churchill, long-distance trains, national network, northeast corridor, railcar design,Sununu Would Curtail Americans’ Freedom of Mobility
Wednesday, September 07, 2011
NARP President Ross Capon penned the following in response to this Boston Globe op-ed by former U.S. Senator John Sununu (R-NH):
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To the editor of The Boston Globe:
You wouldn’t guess from John Sununu’s cherry-picked data (“Off the rails on Amtrak’s crazy train,” Sept. 5) that Northeast Corridor (NEC) capital investments consume $350 million annually—25% of Amtrak’s federal funding. This excludes heavy overhauls on NEC rolling stock and work on the $100+ billion plan for a new Boston-Washington high speed line.
Instead, Sununu implies that long-distance trains consume the bulk of Amtrak’s federal grants. He calls NEC trains “profitable,” but this is true only if one leaves out the just-noted infrastructure and rolling stock costs.
He sneers at leisure travel, which should offend the tourism industry. His statement about buying California Zephyr passengers airline tickets reflects ignorance that most passengers use intermediate stations, many with astronomical air fares or no air service. Also, many Americans cannot fly or drive.
The long-distance trains—the only Amtrak trains in 22 states—are valuable both in their own right and in facilitating start-ups of shorter-distance services. To end them would be to deny Americans the freedom to avoid the growing costs, congestion, and hassles of highway and air travel. It also would be a statement of federal disinterest in rural travel. America’s energy-efficient passenger railroad is too valuable to be torn apart.
Posted by Malcolm Kenton
Tags: amtrak, amtrak funding, boston globe, john sununu, long-distance trains, mobility, northeast corridor, tourism, travel costs,Kansas Rail Advocates Organize for New Amtrak Stop
Friday, October 07, 2011
The Northern Flyer Alliance, a grassroots organization of passenger train advocates in Kansas and Oklahoma whose primary goal is the northward extension of Amtrak’s Fort Worth-Oklahoma City Heartland Flyer to connect with the Chicago-Los Angeles Southwest Chief in Kansas, is also making inroads towards other, more modest but nonetheless significant, improvements to existing Amtrak service in the two states.
The Alliance co-organized a community forum in Emporia, Kansas, in late September to mount a campaign to rebuild the city’s depot, which was destroyed in the late 1990s, and get Amtrak to add the city as a stop on the Southwest Chief route. Emporia is located between Topeka and Newton on the route, which traverses the length of Kansas during the night on its two-day transcontinental journey. NARP wholeheartedly supports the Alliance’s effort.
About 50 people attended the the meeting, which discussed the costs and benefits of the new stop and possible locations. It received television coverage on WIBW Channel 13. Among the interviewees is Northern Flyer Alliance President (and NARP State Representative) Deborah Fischer Stout.
Posted by Malcolm Kenton
Tags: amtrak, amtrak funding, economic development, emporia, ks, heartland flyer, kansas, long-distance trains, national train network, northern flyer alliance, southwest chief,New York Times looks at the pleasure of long-distance train travel
Monday, December 19, 2011
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| The Silver Star in Winter Park, FL [Image: Davisdrives] |
The New York Times featured a nice piece by Joe Sharkey in the Business Section concerning the lost art of the extended business trip. In his “On a Long Train Trip, Rare Pleasures Return,”, Mr. Sharkey began his trip on Amtrak’s Silver Star with trepidation, wondering whether the 26 hour trip from Tampa, Florida to New York City would be an excursion or an ordeal:
Before boarding, I was skeptical about this adventure, but I have to report that the trip was more civilized than air travel and worth it this one time. The dining car menus offer a good range of selections. Communal dining — that is, you’re seated at a small table with strangers — was a nice change from the general social alienation of air travel.
Early the next morning, incidentally, I was astonished when the sleeper car’s affable porter, Thomas Clemo, tapped on my door to deliver The New York Times, one in a bundle that had been picked up at a stop in North Carolina.
The writer concludes that he will most likely save train travel for business trips under 500 miles—but conceded that time spent sleeping isn’t really time lost, and arriving in downtown Manhattan was a “significant convenience.”
Unfortunately, Mr. Sharkey is a little too sanguine about the funding shortfalls facing intercity passenger trains, merely noting that the Congressional budget in the coming year is too tight to allow for any real expansion of service and that the High-Speed & Intercity Passenger Rail Program has become politicized. One would hope that a recent convert to the convenience and comfort of train travel would spend a little more time asking why government spending is a tiny fraction of what is directed to modes like highways and airports.
The last sentence almost makes up for this oversight, however, perfectly capturing what is so special about overnight train travel;
I slept well in my bunk with the gentle sway of the car. My ear never heard the mournful wail that the sad ballads claim for a train whistle. Instead, I heard soft chords that reminded me more of Duke Ellington’s rhythms as the Silver Star sped up the coast through the dark.
Posted by NARP
Tags: business travel, florida, joe sharkey, long-distance trains, manhattan, new york times, silver star, tampa,Amtrak Funding, Amtrak’s CEO, and the National Network
Friday, January 13, 2012
Under the debt ceiling law enacted in August, if the supercommittee failed (which it did), domestic discretionary programs would be cut 7.8% in Fiscal 2013, which starts October 1, 2012. That would mean yet another Amtrak funding reduction, this one exceeding $100 million. Three other wild-card factors could affect the outcome:
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| Amtrak’s westbound Sunset Limited arriving at Palm Springs, CA. [Image: Florian Boyd on Flickr.com] |
- Efforts to reduce the impact of sequestration on the Pentagon by increasing the magnitude of cuts for other programs.
- Flexibility in application of the 7.8%. If it applies only to the transportation/housing appropriations subcommittee’s overall total, the subcommittee almost certainly would hit some programs harder in order, for example, to protect the Federal Aviation Administration, which is being forced to “lay off more than 2,000 employees…close 246 air traffic control contract towers.” The 7.8% cut applied across-the-board also would “cause significant delays of FAA’s NextGen program which is needed to modernize an already aging air traffic control system.” See House Appropriations Chairman Harold Rogers’ (R-KY) “failure-is-not-an-option” letter of October 14 to the supercommittee (FAA paragraphs are on page 6). Particularly given the amount of new equipment authorized (both Amtrak’s orders already placed and planned orders for California and Midwest states), it would appear that Amtrak will have to fight hard just to be exempt from the hunt for “offsets” to protect the FAA.
- If funding for 2013 remains unresolved by November, the outcome of the elections could bring an even darker future for Amtrak, considering the statements that some candidates have made.
Posted by Malcolm Kenton
Tags: amtrak funding, faa, federal transportation spending, joseph boardman, long-distance trains, national debt, sunset limited, union pacific,©2010 National Association of Railroad Passengers | » NARP website
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