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New Virginia Train Shows What’s Possible With Cooperation
Thursday, October 01, 2009
Yesterday’s Washington-Lynchburg inaugural special, in advance of revenue service starting today, follows 2-1/2 years of hard work and cooperation by state, local, Norfolk Southern and Amtrak officials. Gov. Tim Kaine (D) gets a huge share of the credit, another reminder of the critical importance of having a governor who believes in passenger trains. Hailing Forbes’ ranking of Virginia as “Best State to do Business” for the fourth consecutive year, Kaine said “the expanded service will support economic growth and benefit the environment by taking more cars off the road, improving air quality, and saving fuel.”
Kaine spoke at Charlottesville and Lynchburg [video]. At both stations he followed his father-in-law—former Governor (and former Amtrak Board Member) Linwood Holton (R), the man who 2-1/2 years ago told the Virginia Transportation Board, “You can do this.” Virigina Transportation Secretary Pierce Homer spoke at the earlier stations. There were impressive crowds at all six Virginia stations.
Reflecting the increasingly positive relationship between Amtrak and host railroads, NS Chairman & President Wick Moorman and Amtrak President & CEO Joe Boardman spoke at all the stations. Moorman said, “We’re delighted to partner with Amtrak and their fine team. Amtrak and NS have conversations, we have some tough conversations, but we recognize at the end of the day that it’s a partnership. Norfolk Southern is proud to have worked closely with the Commonwealth and Amtrak to provide this new service.”
Boardman spoke in a similar vein, complimenting NS on a dramatic improvement in their dispatching of Amtrak trains.
The new service is strongly supported by on-line chambers of commerce which long have been working together to create travel products based on train travel. The train is viewed by many as the first step in extension of service to Roanoke and Bristol, the “Trans-Dominion Express,” something that the governor referred to.
The train also should help Amtrak’s Crescent as many shorter distance travelers shift to the new train, freeing up space for more longer trips on the Crescent. The platform was lengthened at Lynchburg which means Crescent won’t have to double-stop there anymore. Lynchburg station costs now are shared among two trains rather than shouldered by Crescent alone, and Crescent’s share of costs at the other jointly served stations will decline. And Crescent should benefit from the added flexibility that makes train travel more practical for more people, and the greater visibility that Crescent gets from people drawn to the stations by the new train. As for example, “Oh, a trip to Atlanta by train? Maybe I’ll try that next time.”
Click “Read More” to see photos of the inaugural run.
—Ross Capon
Posted by NARP
Tags: amtrak, charlottesville, inaugural, joseph boardman, lynchburg, new train, northeast regional, passenger train, tim kaine, virginia, wick moorman,Flag Stops: Informed Decisionmaking (Or Lack Thereof)
Friday, January 15, 2010
Many reasons cited for car ownership drop, a way to show that conventional intercity trains actually do make money, Schwarzenegger’s missteps, and more.
—Malcolm Kenton
Posted by Malcolm Kenton
Tags: amtrak, automobiles, budget, california, car ownership, cars, congestion, energy, financial, green, passenger train, profitability, recession, traffic, train,Columnists Laud Amtrak Experience
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Three newspaper columns this week are singing the praises of American intercity passenger trains, enumerating their many advantages over driving and flying.
The Boston Globe’s Rebecca Ostriker tried the Lake Shore Limited from Boston to Chicago, and made a video to complement her article. She waxes poetic about the journey:
Tucking yourself into a bunk next to your own picture window, the landscape unfurling a wordless bedtime story, is a marvelous sensation. You hear the rumbling rails, the bells ding-dinging at train crossings, an occasional faint, distant whistle. As night falls, there are no more announcements over the loudspeaker, just the train rocking quietly. You linger on the views, even if all you can see are the black shadows of trees slipping away, silhouetted under the moon and stars.
She continues, describing the spontaneous camaraderie that is unique to dining and lounge cars:
You’ll surely find some kindred spirits. But it’s a funny thing, presenting yourselves to a new set of companions, one meal after another. How do you tell your own story? While you digest how others come across, you may ultimately find yourself reflecting on the show you’ve just put on. Who were we just now, for couples one, two, and three?
Mike and Liz Busch of Vancouver, British Columbia, write:
McClatchy’s Roger Rapoport explains why he chose Amtrak over flying:From the start the rails exposed us to the forests and mountains of the Northwest, dreamy waterfront vistas of Puget Sound, interspersed with grimy industrial back lots, sleepy little towns and a fascinating peek in to America’s back yard.
Looking back, we found the entire rail trip to be an inexpensive yet civilized mode of travel especially suited to those not rushing to the next meeting or bound by a stopwatch existence.
Airlines make a big deal out of the fact that they waive some cancellation penalties when it’s their fault. But they are quick to add a hefty up charge when passengers have a change of plans. Amtrak’s change and cancellation fees are either minuscule or nonexistent.For a long time, many frequent riders considered Amtrak to be the best-kept secret in American travel. Now, happily, it seems that the cat is out of the bag.I’ll be the first to admit that Amtrak isn’t perfect. But on the whole train service appears to be improving. During my regular weekly trips over the past two months only one of my trains was delayed a mere 45 minutes, though several others were early.
—Malcolm Kenton
Posted by Malcolm Kenton
Tags: amtrak, columnists, driving, enjoyable, flying, intercity, journey, long-distance, newspaper, passenger train, relaxing, sleeping car, travel,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,Flag Stops: New Ideas, New Challenges
Monday, July 19, 2010
A roundup of news and views on passenger train issues.
- The Housatonic Railroad has commissioned a Massachusetts research firm to study restoring passenger trains on its line between Danbury, CT and Pittsfield, MA—essentially extending northward the Danbury Branch of Metro-North’s New Haven Line from New York City. The railroad’s vice president of special projects, former Connecticut transportation commissioner Colin Pease, told the Danbury News-Times: “If the study’s finding strongly indicate a passenger market, [the Housatonic Railroad] is prepared to spend, along with other private investors, $100 to $150 million to improve the tracks and infrastructure along the line.” Housatonic has become the first private “freight” railroad to formally study getting into the passenger business since 1980.
- A national passenger train network as a key component of mobility, and it’s equally important to our national security. The impetus to invest in trains in order to cut the transportation sector’s oil consumption becomes more urgent as the US military warning of serious oil shortages within five years.
- Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood touts the outlay of stimulus funds for augmenting North Carolina’s passenger railcar and locomotive fleet as another step towards completing the Southeast High-Speed Rail Corridor. 34 jobs will be created immediately, while the transit-oriented development the corridor continues to attract will generate an estimated 19,000 jobs. The Secretary also comments further on how better automobile alternatives work to combat obesity.
- The CEO of JetBlue acknowledges that hundreds of his airline’s short-haul flights won’t be needed as high-speed train service increases—and he’s fine with trains being a complement to air travel.
- The American Prospect lays out the challenges before the new reform-minded leadership at the Departments of Transportaton and Housing and Urban Development—challenges worsened by public pressure for reduced deficits and against tax increases, which have led the White House to impose a 3-year freeze on discretionary spending. Luckily, former Reconnecting America President Shelly Poticha and other New Urbanists in the administration have a “can do” attitude and are breaking down decades-old barriers to interagency communication.
- A graphic designer has reimagined the national Amtrak network as a subway map. This conceptualization gives one a better perspective on how Amtrak works as a network—and shows where connectivity is sorely lacking: the Gulf Coast, Boston North to South, and between North Carolina and Memphis, to name a few spots. Importantly, the Florida-New Orleans route is left off of this map, although the “suspended” line remains on Amtrak’s official map and on the US DOT’s “existing services” map.
- Hoping life will imitate art: The author of a novel featuring a train across North Dakota and Montana (a NARP member) is using his book to promote restoring the North Coast Hiawatha in real life. A friend of his discusses on YouTube.
- LCL: Support for the fight to prevent the Princeton Dinky from being replaced by a dedicated busway grows. * * * A National Journal panel of transportation experts expounds upon the potential for high-speed rail to generate economic activity. * * * Planning for rail systems and transit-oriented development, long the exclusive domain of government, is generating interest from private funders. * * * The Quiet Car movement reaches New Jersey Transit.
—Malcolm Kenton
Posted by Malcolm Kenton
Tags: amtrak map, danbury, high-speed rail, housatonic railroad, jetblue, mobility, national security, network, north coast hiawatha, oil shortage, passenger train, pittsfield, ray lahood, shelly poticha,Real-Time Train Tracker Developed for Google Maps
Monday, December 06, 2010
DCTransitGuide.com has developed a module that displays, within a Google Map, the real-time location of Washington, DC, Metrorail trains based on train arrival predictions publicly available through the transit agency’s Website. Check it out:
Click on any station to see the anticipated arrival time of the next several trains that are due.
NARP member John B. developed a similar live-status map for Amtrak trains, which is updated as Amtrak’s Website reports each train’s departure from each station. The next step is for Amtrak and all transit systems, and perhaps airlines as well, to be integrated into one display to aid passengers in connecting seamlessly between modes.
—Malcolm Kenton
Posted by Malcolm Kenton
Tags: amtrak, metrorail, passenger train, status map, train status, transit, washington dc,©2010 National Association of Railroad Passengers | » NARP website
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