16 Replies to “Interesting Read on Amtrak”

  1. There’s only one reason the trains run late and it is the fault of the freight carriers, who are making record profits and simply refuse to make appropriate infrastructure improvements. Congress should be putting in place stronger enforcement measures for on-time performance and routing priority for pax trains running on freight systems.

    1. Even if you create enforcement measures, the incentives are still for the freight railroads to avoid providing service – it’s detrimental to them. We used to have enforcement, and it was lobbied away. Doing that again would be, again, a temporary fix.

      There are real solutions that can help at the state level – Amtrak Cascades can run in a lot of its own right of way if we fund the 20 year plan. There’s not much we can do at the federal level but to offer state corridor grants in amounts high enough for the states to purchase right of way.

      1. The funny thing is that in cities implementing commuter rail, Amtrak can effectively get their way in pushing freight lines to the wayside at appropriate times. Why they can’t use the same muscle for long distance routes is beyond me, but I’m wagering their ability to do anything decreases with distance.

      2. That’s not Amtrak getting their way as much as the commuter agencies being willing to help out! Yeah, though, that’s why the Point Defiance Bypass project is so important.

  2. Uh, Congress already has all the necessary tools in place, but when the DOT is run by a former railroad CEO, enforcement gets mothballed. Hopefully it will change with a new administration.

    ROW is not the silver bullet to every transit issue. There are things that can be done TODAY to make incremental improvements to transit.

    We should be looking at a variety of measures, not just hanging our hats on a single solution.

    1. What variety, exactly, is that?

      Remember, we have tons of bus service hours, but our mainline corridors are underserved. When we build rail there, we open up bus hours to serve the places we don’t need rail.

  3. Just curious, but do any of you think that America might ever see “Mag Lev” trains or a significant upgrade to the existing rail infrastructure to support or cross-country, or regional high-speed rail transit?

    It seems like with soaring energy prices affecting not only driving but the airline industry as well that perhaps future administrations might want to encourage a more efficient rail system througout the country?

    What do people think about that? I know it would be many, many years in the future…

    1. We will see in November when CA votes on its regional high speed rail. I’m not sure how far along plans are for the DC-NY high speed rail, but that is there also. Apparently Cascades has one too?

      I’m not sure if a cross-country rail would work, but there is definitely room for increasing the viability of rail connections between proximate major cities. From what I hear, rail is already a better alternative to the car between Seattle and Portland. It could be faster than taking a plane given much more improvements. The CA high speed rail is promising huge savings in time over driving and slight savings over flying between SF and LA.

    2. Considering that TGV (conventional rail) and maglev have essentially identical top tested speeds, I don’t think there’s any reason to.

      Air resistance (on the front of the train) increases with the square of velocity, while rolling friction increases proportionally with velocity. When you’re getting up near 300mph, it doesn’t matter anymore to your top speed whether you’ve got conventional rail or maglev.

  4. I once took the Empire Builder to Chicago, and at least three ties we waited for freight trains, once for several hours.

    1. It’s just not necessary. Maglev can’t really go any faster, at least in its current incarnation, than equivalently funded conventional rail. It’s not cost effective to run either at the speeds we’d need to go cross-country anyway.

      Look, maybe this will change someday, but every time it gets brought up, people start HATING regular rail systems because maglev looks “futuristic!” It’s counterproductive when we’re so far behind.

  6. Wish me luck! I’m taking a romantic and slightly crazy trip this weekend to Glacier National Park on the Empire Builder. I leave work on friday and walk to the station. Ride the train overnight, and get there in the morning. Hike all day, then hop on the train back (another overnight). I won’t even have to miss any work.

    Yes, it’s much slower than flying, but I figure the train ride will be a big part of the vacation.

    What I’m most afraid of (esp. after reading this article) is the train not being around when I’m ready to leave – or for the next few days. At least the east-bound train starts in Seattle so it might not be too late.

  7. Ooh, this is good news. There’s a great performance tool out there that tells me the train’s normally only 14 minutes late on the way east to Glacier park, though it’s usually 75 minutes late leaving from there to go west. Using a cell phone to check the status, that might just mean I hike a bit longer.

  8. Sounds awesome Matt, I might have to look into that for a weekend trip this summer. Tell me how it goes.

  9. I’ve done the Empire Builder to Chicago a couple times and a few other 24-48 hour routes. My advice is to bring plenty of food- the food available on the train is not bad, per se, it’s just that any overnight train routes on Amtrak are a bit like camping (particularly if you can’t afford a sleeper car)—I’ve been on or heard of instances where they ran out of all food, most toilets were blocked, etc. I still highly recommend Amtrak – esp Empire Builder and Southwest Chief routes as they are gorgeous- but plan ahead, bringing blanket/food/etc. My last time on the Empire Builder, it was dusk and we were heading through a heavily wooded area and someone in a sleeper car below was playing a moody sounding oboe and it was just beautiful.

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