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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
Posted by NARP
Tags: amtrak, news media, pere marquette, safety,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
Posted by NARP
Tags: air travel, airlines, amtrak, news media, pere marquette, safety,NARP’s Ross Capon on the Radio with Arthur Frommer
Friday, January 04, 2008
NARP Executive Director Ross Capon is taping an interview with Arthur Frommer which will be broadcast at the start of “The Travel Show with Arthur Frommer” this Sunday (January 6), Noon Eastern Time, on WOR radio in New York City (710 AM). The show is carried on the air in some other major cities (including Los Angeles and Chicago). It can also be heard live—and will be archived for later listening—at WOR’s web site.
Frommer, one of the nation’s most accomplished travel guide publishers and advocates for travelers on a budget, is also a vocal proponent for expanded passenger rail, as evidenced by recent blog posts, and a November, 2007 column that appeared in the Houston Chronicle and other newspapers.
--Matthew Melzer
Posted by NARP
Tags: arthur frommer, narp on the air, news media,CBS Evening News: “Train Travel On The Rise”
Monday, February 11, 2008
In this piece from last night’s CBS Evening News Sunday, correspondent Michelle Miller highlights the inherent advantages of train travel, and Amtrak’s ongoing funding challenges. Amtrak President and CEO Alex Kummant says he feels Amtrak could grow ridership “between 50 and 100 percent in the next 15 years.” This story mainly focuses on the Northeast Corridor (and cites NARP-provided on-time performance statistics for inside and outside of the Corridor). But Amtrak services must continue to grow across the country to sustain the continuing renaissance that has made trains more widely accepted and popular than they have been in decades. Amtrak is a national system and needs to grow more relevant and useful on a systemwide basis.
--Matthew Melzer
Posted by NARP
Tags: amtrak, news media,Malaise in the Airline Industry: Safety, Fuel, and the Economy
Thursday, April 10, 2008
This lead in today’s Financial Times says it all:
Chaos gripped US airports for a third straight day on Thursday as the government’s top transportation watchdog called for changes to airline safety oversight, citing an “overly collaborative” relationship between airlines and their regulator, the Federal Aviation Administration.
Calvin Scovel III, the US transportation department’s inspector general, made his comments before Congress as American Airlines cancelled 900 flights to perform safety checks, stranding thousands of air passengers.
American has canceled over 2,400 flights and counting this week due to potentially faulty wiring in its MD-80s, which comprise one-third of its fleet and form the backbone of its medium-haul domestic fleet. At least 250,000 passengers have been affected, far more than when Southwest Airlines grounded dozens of 737s last week. Disruptions are afflicting other airlines as well, and further groundings are likely as the FAA responds to the harsh light being shone on its inspection standards.
On Tuesday, Jon Stewart of The Daily Show responded aptly:
Stewart’s money quote:
It’s all sort of ironic, when you think about it. When you fly, you are inspected quite thoroughly, whereas the plane itself is, perhaps, occasionally vacuumed. See, with this administration, if a passenger blows up a plane, it’s a failure in the War on Terror. But if the plane just blows up on its own, eh, that’s the market self-regulating!
Yes, that’s hyperbole (Jon Stewart is a comedian). But if the aviation system is generally safe, why on earth would federal regulators start down the dangerous slippery slope of cutting corners, glossing over potential problems, and creating the appearance of impropriety in dealing with the airlines they’re supposed to regulate?
Meanwhile, external economic factors have eviscerated the viability of several airlines, while many survivors are trimming their capacity (for more coverage, see last week’s Hotline). Yesterday oil prices (Nymex West Texas Intermediate) surged to a record $112.15 a barrel before settling at $110.87, even though US demand over the past four weeks was 0.4% below the same period a year ago. Oil was $52 a barrel in January 2007. Here is a quick list of airlines that are now history, a list that is bound to grow:
December 26, 2007 – Maxjet Airways (offering London-USA business class service) files for bankruptcy protection
March 31, 2008 – Aloha Airlines ends passenger services after more than 60 years
March 31, 2008 – Champion Air (Minneapolis-based charter operator) announces flights will end from May 31
April 3, 2008 – ATA Airlines ends service, files for bankruptcy protection
April 5, 2008 – Skybus, start-up low-cost carrier which had 65 new Airbus A319 jets on order, ends service
April 9, 2008 – Oasis Hong Kong, budget carrier, ends service after 17 months
So far, Amtrak revenues do not appear to have been hurt by the economic downturn (or recession), and fuel prices probably are driving some business to Amtrak. This will likely hasten as airlines are forced to raise fares and further reduce capacity to stay in the black.
Intrepid blogger Aaron Donovan has noted that passengers trapped in the current nightmare at American’s hub at O’Hare have the option of Amtrak’s hub at Chicago Union Station, an easy ride away on the CTA Blue Line. Even taking a leisurely-paced long-distance train would be a faster option for many people than waiting for the next available flight, whenever that might be. And some passengers are indeed taking advantage of the train option.
[Amtrak spokeswoman Tracy] Connell says ridership has gone through the roof out of the Chicago area because of all the cancellations at O’Hare Airport. Some of its trains have seen up to a 60 percent boost in riders.
Amtrak has seen a spike in passengers since the flight cancellations began earlier in the week, especially in the Northeast, spokesman Cliff Cole said.
“Our ridership was heavy yesterday, is heavy today and is likely to be heavy tomorrow, based on our reservations,” Cole said Thursday.
Once again, Amtrak is proving its value and relevance by providing redundancy in a fragile transportation system.
--Matthew Melzer
Posted by NARP
Tags: air travel, airlines, amtrak, multimodalism, news media, oil, safety, the daily show,Oil Problems
Monday, April 21, 2008
Since there are occasional claims that current oil prices are not accurately reporting the market, and indeed it is possible that oil could experience another significant price drop short-term, the following information reminds us about long-term realities. And, yes, there would be more production if politics did not prevent modern technology from being applied to the oil industries in many nations, but those political issues are real and don’t show signs of going away.
In yesterday’s Week in Review section in the New York Times, the lead story, “Barreling Along: The Big Thirst,” included this:
Oil prices rose above $116 a barrel last week…"This is the market signaling there is a problem,” said Jan Stuart, global oil economist at UBS, “that there is a growing difficulty to meet demand with new supplies.” …At a recent energy conference, John Hess, the chief executive office of Hess Corporation, the international oil company, warned that an oil crisis was looming if the world didn’t deal with runaway demand and strained supplies…The number of [motor] vehicles in China rose sevenfold between 1990 and 2006, to 37 million…China…is set to overtake the U.S. by around 2015. China could have as many as 400 million vehicles by 2030…The United States is the only major industrialized nation to see its oil consumption surge since the oil shocks of the 1970s and 1980s…
Among several accompanying graphs, one showed these oil consumption changes since 1980: U.S. +21%; U.K. +2%; Japan +0.2%; France -14%; Germany -20%.
Last week, a Russian oil executive suggested he might not live to see the day when Russian oil production would exceed the 2007 level. A decline in production this year would be Russia’s first in ten years. Russia’s first quarter output this year was down 1% from a year ago. Russia is the world’s second largest oil exporter.
Financial Times today reports that Saudi Arabia’s “most powerful policymakers have said [the nation] has put on hold any plans to further increase long-term production capacity from its vast oil fields.” FT said these statements, including one by the king himself, “will harden the view of those skeptics who argue the kingdom is unable to boost production because of the high decline rates at its fields.”
Theories that Saudi oil production has peaked are not new. MSN Money in 2004 ran an article, “Is Saudi Arabia running out of oil?” There is a huge article, “The Breaking Point,” in the NYT Sunday magazine of August 21, 2005, by Peter Maas.
Near the end of his NYT article, Maas wrote:
The most worrisome part of the crisis ahead revolves around a set of statistics from the Energy Information Administration, which is part of the U.S. Department of Energy. The E.I.A. forecast in 2004 that by 2020 Saudi Arabia would produce 18.2 million barrels of oil a day, and that by 2025 it would produce 22.5 million barrels a day. Those estimates were unusual, though. They were not based on secret information about Saudi capacity, but on the projected needs of energy consumers… [Capon note: Today’s FT article quoted above has this from Saudi Arabia’s energy minister: “We are idling at around 9 million barrels per day and we will reach capacity of 12.5m by 2009…As far as I know, all the latest projections, at least up to 2020, do not require anything higher than that.” The article goes on to say that International Energy Agency forecasts “reach a different conclusion.”]
More from the end of Maas’s article:
It would be unfair to blame the Saudis alone for failing to warn of whatever shortages or catastrophes might lie ahead. In the political and corporate realms of the oil world, there are few incentives to be forthright. Executives of major oil companies have been reluctant to raise alarms; the mere mention of scarce supplies could alienate the governments that hand out lucrative exploration contracts and also send a message to investors that oil companies, though wildly profitable at the moment, have a Malthusian long-term future. Fortunately, that attitude seems to be beginning to change. Chevron’s ‘’easy oil is over” advertising campaign is an indication that even the boosters of an oil-drenched future are not as bullish as they once were.
--Ross Capon
Posted by NARP
Tags: energy, news media, oil,NARP on NBC Nightly News
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
NARP Executive Director Ross Capon made an appearance last night on a segment of NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams regarding Amtrak’s increasing popularity, prospects for expansion, and funding and operational challenges. The soundbite from Capon notes, “To get trains, it takes time, it takes money, and it takes political commitment.” While correspondent Tom Costello misses some technical details (such as saying that Amtrak’s diesel “trains” are 33 years old on average, without specifying which components), he highlights an issue of great national importance as the Nightly News continues its series on America’s infrastructure problems.
--Matthew Melzer
Posted by NARP
Tags: amtrak, brian williams, capon, narp on the air, nbc nightly news, news media, tom costello,Oil consumption since 1980: U.S. way up; Europe down
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
To quote again from that April 20 New York Times article, “Barreling Along: The Big Thirst” [the following quote picks up at the end of the quote in Ross Capon’s April 21 blog entry]:
The United States is the only major industrialized nation to see its oil consumption surge since the oil shocks of the 1970s and 1980s. This can partly be explained by the fact that the United States has some of the lowest gasoline prices in the world, the least fuel-efficient cars on the roads, the lowest energy taxes, and the longest daily commutes of any industrialized nation. The result: about a quarter of the world’s oil goes to the United States every day, and of that, more than half goes to its cars and trucks.
An accompanying graphic showed the following changes in oil consumption from 1980 to 2007: Denmark -33%; Sweden -32%; Germany -20%; Switzerland -18%; France and Finland -14%; Italy -13%; Japan +0.2%; U.K. +2%; United States +21%.
Last night, Stephen Colbert addressed the various proposals for a summer holiday on the federal gas tax (see last week’s Hotline) through The Wørd, “proposing” free gas for everyone:
Colbert remarks:
I’m sure you’re asking, folks, “How will we pay for unlimited free gas?” Well, the answer is simple: I don’t care! Besides, have you forgotten about a little thing called ‘our grandkids’? Because they are very generous, even though they don’t know it yet. They can be the generation that walks to work or uses public transportation! They’ll have to, because without a gas tax to pay for infrastructure, there won’t be any roads.
--Matthew Melzer
Posted by NARP
Tags: energy, news media, oil, the colbert report,Case for Trains and Public Transport Grows Stronger
Friday, May 30, 2008
This week saw three particularly good media boosts to the case for sensible transportation or Americans’ readiness for such. First, the Outlook section of Sunday’s (May 25) The Washington Post carried a column by author James Howard Kunstler, “Wake Up, America. We’re Driving Toward Disaster.”
The paragraph of most direct interest is this:
Fixing the U.S. passenger railroad system is probably the one project we could undertake right away that would have the greatest impact on the country’s oil consumption…If we don’t get the passenger trains running again, Americans will be going nowhere five years from now.
Kunstler has been saying similar things for some time, but it is good to see his views get aired in The Post.
If anyone doubts his comment about airlines, consider that AP’s David Koenig reported May 22 that “even though most of the big airline companies have large cash stockpiles, analysts suggest they could burn through their cash and go bankrupt by early next year.”
The Washington Post had a May 27 front-page story about the explosion in transit ridership around the nation’s capital, including car-dependent outer suburbs. The top-of-page-A1 headline was “Stung at the Pumps, More Hop on a Bus; D.C.’s Outlying Transit Systems Rush to Add Capacity; Metro Worried.” (The worry is about trains being “overwhelmed” if gasoline hits $5 a gallon.)
Finally, also May 27, the radio program To the Point had an excellent discussion of the energy situation in which most of the panelists (including the Wall Street Journal’s reporter) said Americans need to drive less and use public transit more. Listen to “The Future of Energy: Is the U.S. Prepared?” here.
The panelists were:
- Neil King: Diplomatic Correspondent, Wall Street Journal
- Juli Niemann: Oil Analyst, Smith, Moore & Company
- David Sirota: author, ‘The Uprising’
- Robert Manning: Professor of Finance, Rochester Institute of Technology
Panelists agreed it was outrageous that the U.S. with less than 5% of world population is responsible for about a quarter of world oil consumption. Interestingly, Ms. Niemann, the principle advocate for expanding oil exploration and drilling within the U.S., said this should only be allowed under strict government regulations which would significantly increase costs. Mr. King said the U.S. consumes roughly 20 million barrels a day and produces only five. He said it is widely believed in the industry that, if the U.S. started taking advantage of all domestic oil opportunities, by 2020, we would still be producing only about five MBD because new production would simply offset declines in existing fields.
--Ross Capon
Posted by NARP
Tags: airlines, james howard kunstler, news media, oil,Travelers Leaving Cars Behind; Will Federal Funding Recognize This?
Tuesday, June 03, 2008
Among the multitude of reports about growing ridership on Amtrak and mass transit, here are links to four.
Last night, Brian Williams on NBC Nightly News opened a major report with this:
“Transit is booming. Ridership is now at its highest point in 50 years. The bad news: because it’s largely been underfunded for decades, mass transit may not be ready for all the Americans leaving their cars behind…”
Here is the video:
The free Washington Examiner yesterday ran a story headed “Gas prices send travelers to Amtrak.” The report said October-to-April ridership was up 10.6% nationwide and 11.2% in the Northeast Corridor compared with the same months a year earlier.
The lead story in yesterday’s USA Today was headlined, “Mass transit breaks records; Rail, bus ridership up as gas prices rocket.” The text highlights one sad irony (also covered on the NBC report): although South Florida Tri-Rail commuter rail ridership was up 13% during the first quarter and up 28% in April, “the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority…faces an $18 million budget hole that may mean cutting train service by more than half.”
Today’s Tampa Tribune carries a story keyed to NARP’s year-ago predictions about the price of oil and gasoline under the headline “A New Train of Thought.” The article begins with this:
One year ago, the National Association of Railroad Passengers predicted the average price of gasoline would top $4 a gallon, a forecast that is close to becoming a harsh reality.
What drew less attention was the organization’s prediction that the cost of flying would soar. In fact, aviation fuel prices are up nearly 85 percent over 12 months, an increase that has contributed to the loss of commercial airline service for 30 small U.S. cities and fewer flights at most other airports.
Perhaps the most important quote is mine in the Tampa article:
“The press has been filled with articles of this nature [about growing train ridership] in recent weeks. What is hard is to get Congress to do anything about it.”
The Climate Security Act now on the Senate floor presents one opportunity to increase funding for passenger trains, but support for this bill has become shaky because the economic climate has made some erstwhile supporters nervous, while longtime opponents of climate change bills are pumping away with statements focused on how the bill would further increase energy and electricity prices.
--Ross Capon
Posted by NARP
Tags: amtrak, brian williams, capon, climate change, legislation, nbc nightly news, news media, tom costello, transit,Will US Transport Priorities Change?
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
A major reason why mobility for Americans is so much more at risk than for Europeans is that federal, state, and many local governments have been making the wrong transportation investment—and land use—choices so much of the time for such a long time.
The pendulum may be starting to swing. On Sunday, The Washington Post, which in recent decades has endorsed just about every local superhighway proposal in sight, ran an editorial under these headlines: “Screeching to a Halt; On mass transit, the nation is falling perilously behind”. Here is the last paragraph:
“Last year, a bipartisan commission recommended sharply higher levels of funding for transportation of all kinds, including mass transit. The panel’s recommendations included raising the gas tax. Although Transportation Secretary Mary Peters was on the commission, she declined to endorse its findings. Her head-in-the-sand posture neatly captured the administration’s abdication of responsibility.”
So, we believe, does the Bush Administration’s threat to veto the House’s Amtrak bill.
And the lead story in today’s Washington Post is headlined “Fuel Prices Challenge Cars’ Reign; $4 Gas Transforms Buying Habits, Affecting Everything From Vacations to Pizza Orders”.
Of course, the Commission advocates spending big bucks on all forms of transportation, which implies that no tough choices need to be made. However, that is not necessarily true, since both Presidential candidates are sounding like fiscal hawks on government spending. From our perspective, a key test of public policy is the ability to tilt towards energy-efficient transportation—trains, bicycles, walking—regardless of whether overall transportation spending increases significantly or at all. Energy efficiency and sustainability should be a crucial determinant of our transportation spending priorities. Period.
--Ross Capon
Posted by NARP
Tags: funding, news media, transit,Barron’s and Kiplinger’s Acknowledge Passenger Trains
Friday, August 08, 2008
Two periodicals have train-related stories of interest. In the weekly Barron’s (cover date August 4, but will soon be off news stands), the cover story is “ALL ABOARD! With gas prices high, traffic gnarly and imports buoyant, railroads look like terrific long-term investments. Just ask Warren Buffett. Why we like Bombardier, Burlington Northern and Canadian National” ("Ticket to Riches” in the online version).
Text does acknowledge Amtrak’s ridership (“up 12%”) and says “Wabtec, a brake manufacturer, is the only U.S.-traded play on passenger travel.”
Also, as noted in our September newsletter, the September issue of Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine (now on news stands) sports a letter from editor (and NARP member) Fred W. Frailey which discusses the decline of air travel and the need for passenger trains. Publisher Knight Kiplinger (editor in chief of this and two other publications) also has a column with good comments on the U.S. and its use of energy.
--Ross Capon
Posted by NARP
Tags: amtrak, energy, news media,©2006 National Association of Railroad Passengers | » NARP website
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