Passenger Trains > Amtrak and CSX talk

For what it's worth:

http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD%2FMGArticle%2FRTD_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1149190630845&path=!business&s=1045855934855

One item from the article is that CSX is after Amtrak to add an hour to the Auto Train. Also on time performance for the DC-Florida routes is only 19.5%. While I have not been known as an advocate for long distance trains, I believe that over the years the NE - Florida business has really been buggered up. This segment historically has been strong. The reductions in CSX line capacity have really taken its toll. I'd like to see some more public investment in this corridor to bring rail passenger back to its former prominence. I'm getting a little impatient at the pace of progress for southeast High Speed Rail:

http://www.sehsr.org/

> public investment in this corridor

Inviting in the public is like inviting a vampire into your house. Once in, it'll suck your blood until you die.

TB

tburzio Wrote:
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> > public investment in this corridor
>
> Inviting in the public is like inviting a vampire
> into your house. Once in, it'll suck your blood
> until you die.
>
> TB

Are you talking about from CSX's point of view? I don't follow your point.

This mentality is exactly why there won't be high-speed corridors in the US anytime soon. Railroads should not be treated as "private property and nothing more", but instead as a national asset. A privately-controlled national asset maybe, but a national asset nevertheless.

Until that happens, John, if you want to experience high-speed rail on a daily basis, you might as well start looking for an apartment in, say, France, Germany, or Japan.

tburzio Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> > public investment in this corridor
>
> Inviting in the public is like inviting a vampire
> into your house. Once in, it'll suck your blood
> until you die.
>
> TB

tburzio Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> > public investment in this corridor
>
> Inviting in the public is like inviting a vampire
> into your house. Once in, it'll suck your blood
> until you die.
>
> TB


The railroads are already so screwed up it's hard to imagine them getting any worse. They're really quasi-governmental organizations already.

If CSX is smart, they can resurrect the lines they tore up, then they can have it easier for everyone!

ChS7-321 Wrote:
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> This mentality is exactly why there won't be
> high-speed corridors in the US anytime soon.
> Railroads should not be treated as "private
> property and nothing more", but instead as a
> national asset. A privately-controlled national
> asset maybe, but a national asset nevertheless.
>
> Until that happens, John, if you want to
> experience high-speed rail on a daily basis, you
> might as well start looking for an apartment in,
> say, France, Germany, or Japan.
>
> tburzio Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > > public investment in this corridor
> >
> > Inviting in the public is like inviting a
> vampire
> > into your house. Once in, it'll suck your
> blood
> > until you die.
> >
> > TB

One of the little known facts in the high speed passenger rail debate is that in Europe and Japan, both of which have high speed rail, the vast majority of passenger miles is acrued on conventional trains, at conventional train speed (under 100 mph). And, of course, neither train makes money.

Citing a linked article, ts1457 wrote:
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> One item from the article is that CSX is after
> Amtrak to add an hour to the Auto Train...

Thought from the thread title that maybe CSX and Amtrak were talking merger!

ts1457 continues:

> ...On time performance for the DC-Florida routes is only
> 19.5%. While I have not been known as an advocate
> for long distance trains, I believe that over the
> years the NE - Florida business has really been
> buggered up. This segment historically has been
> strong. The reductions in CSX line capacity have
> really taken its toll.

Hey, CSX sized its plant to support the existing traffic. Freight plus Amtrak. The results on passenger traffic were probably inescapable. And reflect what happens when passenger and freight traffic co-habitate on the same property.

He concludes:

> I'd like to see...more public investment in this corridor to bring rail
> passenger back to its former prominence. I'm getting a little impatient at > the pace of progress for southeast High Speed Rail...

This is one of those government-sponsored pie in the sky programs that will be worked on ten to twenty years from now. For the moment, all that it involves are a lot of stupid feasibility studies by Beltway Bandits that produce a lot of sound and fury, and signify little. I personally expect the current status quo to continue this way for years...

billio Wrote:
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> passenger traffic were probably inescapable. And
> reflect what happens when passenger and freight
> traffic co-habitate on the same property.
>

You know something? Each time I hear this argument, I am driven into amazement. Maybe somebody should start talking to the Russians and the Ukranians (especially the Russians because of the lesser "density" of lines) about how they manage to combine heavy freight and passenger operations, give passenger trains adequate priority, and everything gets to where it's going.

I don't about in Ukraine, but the Russian Railways have a policy that states that if your train reaches the destination 6 or more hours late, you get a sizeable refund.

And the number of passenger trains operated daily by each the RZD and the UZ is probably equal to the number of trains that Amtrak operates in a week......