Passenger Trains > Amtrak article....Washington Post

An extensive article in the Washington Post today gave thorough coverage on the Northeast Corridor.  $28 billion needed for state of good repair.  The long distance trains serving the Northeast received one 14 word sentence in this lengthy piece.  "The long-distance trains serving the Northeast are getting upgraded bedding, towels , and linens".  Sorry, but my LOL woke up the dog.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/03/19 13:06 by mp208.

That's Amtrak, using the media to beat the drums for getting more of other people's money to fix their own neglected physical plant.

GenePoon Wrote:
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> That's Amtrak, using the media to beat the drums
> for getting more of other people's money to fix
> their own neglected physical plant.

Imitating Pan Am.

GenePoon Wrote:
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> That's Amtrak, using the media to beat the drums for getting more of other people's money to fix their own neglected physical plant.

Yea, it's a damn shame they were too late to the table to get all the hidden subsidies like all the other methods of transportation and fossil fuel industries.

Brian

Not too late.

Too dumb.

GenePoon Wrote:
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> Not too late.
>
> Too dumb.

Yet we all know that Amtrak was set up to fail.  Even failed at that simple expectation.

Brian

NEC-Nothing Else Counts. Link to article, hopefully no paywall.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/amtrak-aspires-to-a-2-hour-dc-ny-trip-but-its-going-to-take-a-lot-more-than-faster-trains/2019/11/02/b761a61a-e523-11e9-a331-2df12d56a80b_story.html

While I agree that the article says nothing regarding the LD services, you have to remember the Washington Post is mostly concerned with the NEC.  Agree or disagree that is just the way it is.

One comment struck me as odd, that being the comment about "aging tracks". I last rode the NEC in September from DC to New Haven and the actual track structure looked totally first class.  I am not an engineer so I don't know what I was really looking at, but, out the rear Business Class door, I saw concrete ties, heavy rail, heavy ballast, no weeds, modern turnouts, etc.  The slow points occurred on the bridges, tunnels, and just the volume of traffic.  The bridges and tunnels will hopefully, hopefully, hopefully, some day be rectified, but the curves and traffic...won't happen.

One point of reference...two years I took a trip to Europe.  Rode Eurostar from London to Paris, Thalys from Paris to Cologne, and German ICE from Cologne to Berlin and returned on the same route.  The Eurostar and Thalys trips were unbelievable regarding infrastructure.  On the return trip, on the leg from Berlin to Cologne on the ICE I noticed we were on a seperate high speed track most of the way.  To my left (my train was traveling WB) there were two tracks that would go through the stations located along the route for the local trains.  Our train stayed on the outer 2 tracks and didn't have to deal with the congestion of the locals.  I don't think our speed was above 125 mph BUT it was consistent.  That is the key!

I know the NEC is Amtrak's bread and butter but I'm fed up with that mindset myself, I can also see why the fights happen on preserving things like last year with the Chief!