Passenger Trains > Government cutting 10% of all flights

Because of the goverment shutdown it was announced today that 10% of all flights will be cut.  Does anyone klnow if they are primary in the Northeast where alternate Amtrak transportation can be made?  Does anyone know if Amtraks ridership is up in the corridors that compete with air as the excessive wait for TSA along with limited air traffic controllers is affecting flights with massive delays and cancellations?

amtrakbill Wrote:
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> Because of the goverment shutdown it was announced
> today that 10% of all flights will be cut.  Does
> anyone klnow if they are primary in the Northeast
> where alternate Amtrak transportation can be made?

All news stories I have seen indicate the list of the 40 affected airports will be published soon. Good guestimate says 40 is a lot more than just the NE.

A Fox News report in Seattle tonight indicated little if any effect so far at Sea-Tac Airport (now officially called SEA, but few people out here pay attention to that).  Unfortunately, most Amtrak Cascades trains are now so short of coaches thanks to the Horizon mess that they can be of little if any help.

The 40 airports will be announced tomorrow, Thursday.
Some will have cuts in excess of 10%, some less than 10%.

The Northeast Corridor might have 10 of the 40 airports.

Maybe Amtrak could put some of the "spare" Acela sets into service. Or, gasp, put a few of the stored sets into service.

Nothing yet on which airports, but I think that was on purpose. My guess is that this will affect some of the busiest airports such as JFK, LAX, or ORD first. But I wouldn’t be surprised if this becomes a political move focused on particular areas, that’s just how crazy things have become with both parties now, which is extremely disappointing and discouraging.

Outside of the NEC, I don’t see anything Amtrak can or will do to adapt or benefit from this situation. I’m just glad I don’t have any travel plans at the moment.

Nathan

Posted from iPhone

Yes, I am booked on Amtrak to Savannah in two weeks, with a booking to fly back.  However, I have booked a Meteor/Acela return as a backup.  I just do not trust that things are going to be back to normal yet.  It means leaving the evening before I had planned to return, but at least I know I will get back.

Shorthanded for years. Immense stress levels. Virtually impossible workload. Near misses, a collision - you guys keep on working.

Oh, political points? Mayday, Mayday, Mayday! Reduce trraffic! It's too dangerous.

TAW

It would be great if amtk could make hay while the sun is shining, but based on their zero response to the post covid bump, I;m expectimg nothing.
Its unfortunate and always disappointing.

 As a a small biz owner, we always have to take advantage of any bumps that come our way, as does every other big or small company out there.

Amtrak  has  no   excess  capacity!!

Given how these clowns operate they'll concentrate the cuts on democrat led cities.

PumpkinHogger Wrote:
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> Given how these clowns operate they'll concentrate
> the cuts on democrat led cities.
Most large cities are headed by a democratic so please take political takes on this somewhere else.

Thanks

Posted from iPhone

cutboy1958 Wrote:
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> Amtrak  has  no   excess  capacity!!

Their excess capacity is stored in the Philadelphia Coach yards, Olean NY, and various other locations for the past five years.  And they are perfectly happy to let it sit there

The feds could resolve some of their problems by shutting down several private aviation facilities like Teterboro airport in NJ, Boca Raton, Naples, and Stuart FL which cater to billionaires and their private aircraft. Put those tower controllers at bigger airports where they will serve many more people.

The Wall Street Journal mentioned the other day that TSA shut down several of its secretive "VIP lanes"at major airports to move those inspectors into regular inspection lanes.  These VIP lanes are separate from Pre-check and crew lanes.  Apparently Rep Nancy Mace (R-SC) didn't receive her special escort at Charleston airport recently and delivered an expletive laden salvo at the poor TSA and security inspectors.  When the shutdown affects Congress, they get upset...

amtrakbill Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> PumpkinHogger Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Given how these clowns operate they'll
> concentrate
> > the cuts on democrat led cities.
> Most large cities are headed by a democratic so
> please take political takes on this somewhere
> else.
>
> Thanks
>
> Posted from iPhone

It’s all openly political. Hard not to have a take at this point.

If I were in charge, which I most definitely am not, I'd look first at airports that I could close for one shift.  Surely there are airports with relatively few flights over night.  Cancel those flights, and concentrate controllers on the rest of the day.  

When Reagan fired all the striking controllers, didn't they bring in military controllers?  Anybody remember for sure?

Ugh.

Ya know. you cant just work at a new facility or sector without qualifying.  Its like posting at a RR tower.   Moving controllers around would involve a lot of training, and it would be a while before there was any net gain in shift coverage.

Here's a novel concept...ppl in our federal govt stop all the primal chest beating, and start thinking about serving the public rather than themselves.
Oh, im sorry, I forgot..it all about winning and power, not public service.

 

s  
>
> When Reagan fired all the striking controllers,
> didn't they bring in military controllers? 
> Anybody remember for sure?

When "Mr I hate unions, after being a union supporter earlier in his life". fired the controllers. it was a mess and unsafe, and lots of flights were cancelled, bc hold times getting in and out of airports got huge.    IIRC, they secretly let a lot of controllers have their jobs back, without publically offeding Regans Mr tough guy persona.   I was working at Western Airlines Ops at the time. 

I agree with Nathan.  The Horizion situation has certainly ended any chance for Amtrak to help with canceled flights, unless it can lease off-duty commuter coaches and add them to some of its trains..

As someone who works for an Arline the "educated guess" from us is the top 30 airports eg ORD, JFK, EWR, BWI, IAD, DFW, DEN LAX, SFO, MCO etc then some of the busier "medium airports" EG MDW HOU DAL AUS etc that way they take out 2 flights for the price of 1 (there and back), I think the only place that Amtrak will see a "boost" so to speak will be on the NEC and maybe some Midwest routes, West coast pro ably wont be that affected by this (in terms of people taking Amtrak) but the airlines could also decide to eat this by up gauging aircraft, Taking one round trip on a 737 vs 3 Round trips on an E175 to places that are more likely to fill the aircraft (for example between Chicago and Grand Rapids Michigan)