Passenger Trains > "The slow train to South Bend:..."

The slow train to South Bend:
What an Amtrak ride to Pete Buttigieg’s home town taught me about America’s railroads As transport secretary Pete Buttigieg prepares a one-in-a-generation investment in America’s railroads, 

Richard Hall travels 17 hours on a sleeper train to his hometown

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/pete-buttigieg-south-bend-amtrak-transport-b1812129.html



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/05/21 04:50 by joemvcnj.

Amtrak Marc: " We started in 1971 with someone else's map..."

As an English jurist once said:
"Like the sound of a mad clock striking 13, that statement
brought into question everything said before and after"

Well Marc, all you have done in 50 years is erase as many lines on the
map as possible.

The absolute time of the LD schedules miss the point.  What good is a train that leaves the east coast later in the evening or arrives Chicago earlier in the morning?  The Cap and LSL both make use of time that one would have served no useful purpose, either in a hotel in Chicago or prepping for a 5am wake up in the east. 

Englewood Wrote:

> Well Marc, all you have done in 50 years is erase
> as many lines on the
> map as possible.

Classic victim mentality. Railpax's map was pretty well analyzed, except for the Water Level Route west of Buffalo. 
They have since pawned off any train running under 750 miles to the states, or they go away too. 
They also started off with lack of NEC stewardship, something they never should have been handed, being a minority user of it, only handed it when the PC went belly up . 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/05/21 05:39 by joemvcnj.

Amtrak didn't pawn trains traveling less than 750 miles to the states, Congress did (specifically radical Republicans). Just like Amtrak didn't choose to end dining car service, Congress did.

joemvcnj Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Englewood Wrote:
>
> > Well Marc, all you have done in 50 years is
> erase
> > as many lines on the
> > map as possible.
>
> Classic victim mentality. Railpax's map was pretty
> well analyzed, except for the Water Level Route
> west of Buffalo. 
> They have since pawned off any train running under
> 750 miles to the states, or they go away too. 
> They also started off with lack of NEC
> stewardship, something they never should have been
> handed, being a minority user of it, only handed
> it when the PC went belly up . 

I find articles of this type boring., because---

It's old new to compare trains with the speed advantage of air travel.--  Acela neutralized this speed advantage on the NEC

It's old news (and a lie) to infer airlines and the Interstate highways have made trains irreverent. --  Amtrak trains were setting
ridership and revenue records all over the Country--right up to the start of Covid.

The article is right in saying trains can be "uncomfortable".  They have been made so deliberately by Amtrak management.
Placing cars behind exhaust belching, horn blowing locomotives is proof of this.  Likewise, "old cars", and destroyed food service.

If Biden and Mayor Pete can do anything about two other  "Old Stories"---i.e. under funding, and freight railroad obstruction, -- then
passenger trains will have a fighting chance for further growth,
 

Boardman, Lautenberg, and Gardner wrote PRIIA.

The F&B language has been stripped from the recent C-R's, and there is no accounting on what money was saved by killing eastern dining cars, some of it hidden under sleeping car accounting. We did not pay $4 million for Viewliner diners to become sleeper service table cars. 

There was also PRIIA Section 210 (Performance Improvement Plans) and Section 216 (charters, specials). They didn't have any problem tossing that in the shredder, did they. 
 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/05/21 06:43 by joemvcnj.

Chicago east and south fine for HSR, but makes no sense to build it, especially west of the rockies. We have a much more suitable and quicker alternative for that long haul, it is called a plane. But we do need new superliners...

Posted from Android



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/05/21 10:42 by goduckies.

For HSR to work commercially, it must be fed by an elaborate connecting system of commuter and local transit trains. There is not much of that in the country outside the NEC or Chicago.

In the 24 years since the Desert Wind's demise, various entities have been screwing round with HSR plans from Victorville to Las Vegas, not having figured out how to get from LA. How about just run the Desert Wind to SLC, one additional frequency on a 12 hour flip to Las Vegas, negotiate with UP on some more sidings and double track, run plain 79 MPH trains, and stop the pie-in-the-sky BS, or is that beneath them ?  



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 03/05/21 15:51 by joemvcnj.

joemvcnj:

I agree with you about Calif. HSR being pie-in -sky.  Kinda dumb to expect high speed rail in the mountains outside LA.

But, we can't handle it in the flat-as-hell terrain off Illinois either.  Billions spent with nothing o show for it.

So, again -- if Mayor Pete brings about the slightest improvement -- it's more than we can expect from Flynn or Gardner.,
or the useless Amtrak Board



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/05/21 11:05 by ronald321.

ronald321 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> joemvcnj:
>
> I agree with you about Calif. HSR being pie-in
> -sky.  Kinda dumb to expect high speed rail in
> the mountains outside LA.
>
> But, we can't handle it in the flat-as-hell
> terrain off Illinois either.  Billions spent with
> nothing o show for it.
>
> So, again -- if Mayor Pete brings about the
> slightest improvement -- it's more than we can
> expect from Flynn or Gardner.,
> or the useless Amtrak Board

Neither Mayor Pete, nor the figurehead President will do anything. They have other fish to fry.

ronald321 Wrote:

> If Biden and Mayor Pete can do anything about two
> other  "Old Stories"---i.e. under funding, and
> freight railroad obstruction, -- then
> passenger trains will have a fighting chance for
> further growth,
>  

That's a big IF Ronald!

Posted from Android

SanDiegan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> ronald321 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------

> 
> Neither Mayor Pete, nor the figurehead President
> will do anything. They have other fish to fry.

The "figurehead president" seems to have accomplished quite a bit.  I really wish we could leave garbage like this out of TO.

WP-M2051 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> SanDiegan Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > ronald321 Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
>
> > 
> > Neither Mayor Pete, nor the figurehead
> President
> > will do anything. They have other fish to fry.
>
> The "figurehead president" seems to have
> accomplished quite a bit.  I really wish we could
> leave garbage like this out of TO.

Sorry, politics seems to be a part of everything these days.       sigh...