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Flag Stops: Doing the Math
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
The latest news and views round-up.
—Malcolm Kenton
Posted by Malcolm Kenton
Tags: amtrak, bridges, cars, costs, development, downeaster, economy, empire builder, green metropolis, infrastructure, lawsuit, light rail, maine, ohio, passenger trains, phoenix, pioneer, restoration, sprawl, study, transit, washington state,One Step at a Time: Checked Baggage Returns to Cardinal
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
When seeking a long-term goal such as a world-class passenger train network that exceeds travelers’ expectations, it is important to celebrate small improvements. The Cardinal, which is the only Amtrak train serving Cincinnati, Charleston, W.Va., and other intermediate points—and the only direct link between Chicago and Northeast Corridor points such as Baltimore and Philadelphia, is one of only two overnight trains that run less frequently than once a day. To add to that, the Cardinal is given a shorter consist than all other overnight trains, often resulting in bedrooms and seats selling out weeks in advance of departure. The line is in great need of improvement, which is now beginning to happen thanks to the route performance review system put in place under the 2008 Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act [PDF summary].
Beginning with the departure of train 50 from Chicago on Tuesday, May 11, a baggage car was added to the Cardinal, which had been without checked baggage service for more than ten years. Although the number of stations where bags can be checked is limited to those staffed by Amtrak agents, the addition of checked baggage—a service so commonplace in air and intercity bus travel that it is taken for granted—should help to reduce delays and crowding that result by passengers having to bring large, heavy suitcases onto the train with them.
We hope that this will be the first in a series of significant improvements to long-distance service in the next few years, and that its success—combined with an infusion of new cars and locomotives—will provide further impetus to run the Cardinal daily.
Here is the baggage car on train 50, shown on Wednesday morning, May 12, in Charleston, WV (photos by Charles Riecks)
Yet the Charleston station crew is still waiting for power baggage carts to be delivered. In the meantime, this is what they are using:
—Malcolm Kenton
P.S.—Check out the winners of Amtrak’s “Trainsportation” video contest for Illinois college students.
Posted by Malcolm Kenton
Tags: amtrak, baggage, cardinal, charleston, cincinnati, improvement, long-distance route, ohio, passenger train, service, west virginia,Train Investment IS a Deficit Reduction Measure
Wednesday, October 06, 2010
Many articles in the press are playing up the opposition of some politicians to spending scarce state funds, or adding to the national debt, to improving passenger train service. Most recently, a New York Times piece cites opposition from some gubernatorial candidates in Ohio, Wisconsin, Florida and California. However, if polls showing broad public support for passenger trains reflects the attitude of the electorate, running on an anti-rail platform may not be wise. Yes, the price tag for high(er)-speed rail projects is high, but the price of maintaining the status quo—lost productivity from ever-increasing road and air congestion, escalating health costs from air pollution, and the opportunity cost of forgoing the economic development that modern train service would generate—is much higher.
As economic policy expert Ezra Klein writes in the Washington Post, “[d]elaying a dollar of needed infrastructure repairs is no different than racking up a dollar of debt.” Now is the best time to build major pieces of infrastructure like better railroads and train equipment because construction costs and interest rates are historically low and so many people are in desparate need of a job. The economic output generated through building out needed infrastructure—both direct and indirect—will result in increased tax revenue, leaving us better able to pay down whatever additional debt we incur.
If we use our fiscal deficit as an excuse to continue to ignore our infrastructure deficit, our children and grandchildren—putting up with a lower quality of life than we now enjoy—will look back and ask “What were they thinking?” We already have the vision and the means to build out our rail network so that almost every American community is served by fast, frequent, reliable trains. We just need the political will, and that’s where each of us citizens comes in. Make sure your elected officials and candidates know that investing in this infrasturcture now will pay much greater political dividends than continued inaction.
Side Track
- A Vancouver Sun editorial details just how misguided Canada Border Service is in its insistence that Washington State pay additional hundreds of thousands (more than $20 per passenger per day) in order to keep the popular second Portland-Vancouver Cascades frequency running across the border. The train’s economic benefit to British Columbia far exceeds this cost, and Canada does not charge US authorities for border inspections at road crossings, which far outnumber the 3 existing passenger train crossings. If you live in Canada, please contact Prime Minister Harper and your Member of Parliament and ask them to waive this charge.
—Malcolm Kenton
Posted by Malcolm Kenton
Tags: 2010 elections, 2010 governor races, budget shortfall, california, deficit, ezra klein, florida, infrastructure investment, national debt, new york times, ohio, states, wisconsin,Post Editorial: Election = Kill Trains
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Today’s Washington Post editorial, comes to the false conclusion that the election of governors who ran partly in opposition to the use of federal funds to upgrade passenger train service in their states means that the voters don’t want or need trains. This is consistent with their longstanding opposition to public investment in intercity passenger trains that do not serve, well, Washington. The Post also published Robert Samuelson’s scurrilous column two weeks ago and failed to publish any letter in response to it.
We encourage you—even if you don’t live in the Washington metropolitan area, but especially if you do—to write a letter to the Post’s editor. You may submit your letter by email or by postal mail to Letters to the Editor; The Washington Post; 1150 15th Street NW; Washington, DC 20071. I will also write one on NARP’s behalf. Keeping your letter under 150 words is recommended for best chance of publication. My response to the Samuelson column was 207 words.
If you want to document some statistics in your letter, you can do it in a “note to editor” below your letter so that it does not add to your word count, and the newspaper does not have to ask you where you got your numbers (or decide to ignore your letter because of the work involved in checking facts).
—Ross Capon
Posted by Malcolm Kenton
Tags: editorial, high-speed rail, john kasich, ohio, passenger trains, scott walker, washington post, wisconsin,Ohioan to Kasich: “When will my needs be considered?”
Friday, November 19, 2010
An open letter from Cleveland resident Angie Schmitt to Ohio Governor-elect John Kasich, originally posted on Streetsblog Capitol Hill, has been making the rounds of alternative transportation advocacy blogs, but it is worth reprinting its key points here as it exemplifies how the 3C Corridor trains would improve the lives of ordinary people in ways that just building new or repairing old roads cannot.
Here are some excerpts:
Forgive my confusion, but I fail to see how returning $400 million in federal money is the right decision for a state with our record on unemployment. According to the Ohio Department of Transportation, that infusion of cash would have immediately created 255 jobs. The U.S. Department of Commerce suggested it would result in a total of 8,000 spin-off jobs.
...
...[A]re you aware that at the time of the latest census, 374,000 Ohio households did not have a private vehicle available to them? This represents more than eight percent of the state’s households.It frustrates me when I hear people make unqualified statements such as “no one will ride it” because I, for one, would ride it. See, I own a car but prefer other modes of transportation. I like to bike and take public transit. It saves me money and it makes me feel like I’m doing my part to preserve the environment.
...
Ohio’s current infrastructure, as convenient as it may be for those who just love going everywhere by private car, isn’t serving people like me very well. Nor is it serving the hundreds of thousands of households who lack access to private automobiles.
....
Another complaint one hears about the rail system is that it wouldn’t be self-supporting and would have to be subsidized by the state. To this, I say: show me a transportation mode that doesn’t require public subsidy. Certainly not private automobiles, which require enormous public expenditures on roads and parking, far above and beyond what drivers themselves contribute.
...
It makes me question my future in this state. I read today that fewer young people across the nation are choosing to get driver’s licenses and purchase cars. This is part of a national trend away from car-based lifestyles. I consider myself a part of this movement. But the message I am getting from the state of Ohio is that there’s no room for people like me here.
...
So, although it seems like your mind is made up on this issue, I still feel compelled to ask you: Please don’t kill 3C rail in Ohio. I was planning to use it to visit my parents in Columbus and, later, if the corridor were to expand as seemed likely, Toledo. It would have made it possible for me to get rid of my car.I’ve done the right thing. I’ve paid my taxes. I’ve tried to help contribute to the state’s future prosperity. When will my needs be considered? Or do I have to move to another state for that?
Posted by Malcolm Kenton
Tags: 3c corridor, job creation, john kasich, ohio, open letter, passenger trains, streetsblog,©2010 National Association of Railroad Passengers | » NARP website
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