This Was The Week That Was, Vol. I No. 33, 2001-12-21
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Is it Christmas morning, yet? No? Good. Some of us are still dealing with the concept of getting shopping finished before Christmas Eve.
- Christmas is coming early for Amtrak riders in Florida and North Carolina.
Florida Governor Jeb Bush, brother of the president, and son of Barbara, announced yesterday (Thursday) that the State of Florida would cough up the additional money needed to fund the expansion of Amtrak in Florida to include the long dormant FEC passenger line from Jacksonville south to West Palm Beach. The line has hosted freight trains only since 1968.
The money will be included in next year’s fiscal year state budget to get things going with one frequency a day, and then a final amount will be included in the 2005-2006 budget year for final upgrades that will allow multiple daily frequencies. With planning and construction issues, stations to be built, and other needs, it will most likely be one to two years before a trains actually rolls down the FEC tracks.
The project has been stalled for about a year because a lack of funds, totaling over $40 million. Governor Bush and the Florida Department of Transportation made that amount possible yesterday.
This is the same governor that when newly elected in 1998, had the foresight to kill the unworkable FOX high speed project in Florida that was about to begin construction. There was great hue and cry at the time that yet another Republican was killing a rail project in favor of concrete pouring highway interests.
But, Bush and the Florida DOT stuck to their guns, and have killed that bad project but also kept the DOT policy of no new major highways to be built in Florida. Instead of new highways, the state made a commitment to an expansion of rail. That commitment was backed up with big bucks yesterday with the announcement of the restored route.
The FEC was the original host of a number of famed trains from the 1880s until 1963 when the railroad was struck by its unions. Included in those trains were the Atlantic Coast Line’s Havana Special and East Coast Champion, the Illinois Central’s City of Miami, the New York Central’s Royal Palm, and the Pennsylvania’s South Wind, plus others. The FEC made a brief attempt at running instate service only in the mid-60s, but ended that in 1968. The FEC did not join Amtrak when the company was created.
The bonus from this move is the expanded service to other parts of Florida already served by Amtrak. Tampa, which is Florida’s most under served market, will see two more daily trains under the current plan, and a direct train connection between Tampa and Orlando will be restored, too.
This is one of Amtrak’s better expansion plans that should work well under the New Amtrak.
The State of North Carolina, which owns the North Carolina Railroad infrastructure and leases the tracks to Norfolk Southern and CSX, has announced a track upgrade between Cary (a Raleigh suburb) and Greensboro. This is part of the route of the Carolinian and the Piedmont Amtrak services.
North Carolina is spending $24 million to upgrade tracks and infrastructure on this one relatively short stretch of track (75 miles), and the upgrades will, when completed in two years, cut at least 20 minutes of running time off of the schedules.
This is in addition to other upgrades between Raleigh and Selma announced earlier this year that will knock off at least an additional 10 minutes of schedule time on that end of the line where the Silver Star also runs. Overall, this will mean the Carolinian will have a net gain of at least a half hour in its schedule since it operates over both pieces of upgraded track.
There are many other opportunities across the country for this type of infrastructure upgrades that will mean significant savings for passenger trains.
North Carolina and Florida are leading the way, demonstrating the importance of a balanced, true national system.
- Amtrak has added extra capacity on the Northeast Corridor for the holidays.
It was a simple thing to do, and it’s been done in previous years, but not many people know about it.
Southbound, from New York City to Washington, Amtrak allows local passengers for travel between these points. Normally, for the Florida Silver Service trains and the Crescent, these are “receive only” stations for passengers.
In past years, this move has not only added a substantial number of seat miles and a pot full of extra revenue for these four trains, but it has also made the full amenities of the long distance trains available to corridor riders, including dining cars and lounges.
The Crescent dining car is consistently one of Amtrak’s best food experiences with a smorgasbord of freshly prepared entrees and special wines and desserts. Most of the chefs working on the Crescent could easily work in any high quality restaurant. The table service is good, as well.
The Silver Meteor, Silver Star, and Silver Palm have good dining car menus for lunch and dinner, too.
This holiday travel experience is a great way for Amtrak to win new patrons for the long distance trains.
Too bad it’s not something they are willing to do year round.
- Tonight (Friday night) the onboard services crew of the Sunset Limited, train No. 2, will depart for their regular run from Los Angeles to Orlando and back. They won’t return home until Friday, December 28, three days after Christmas. And, following them, the Sunday night crew will leave, and not be back until Sunday, December 30th.
They will all be on the road both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. The Friday crew will spend Christmas Eve in a motel room in Orlando, and work train No. 1 back, leaving Christmas Day. The Sunday crew will spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Day working on the train.
All over the Amtrak system, crews will be leaving home during the next five days, and will not be home for Christmas.
As the saying goes, it’s a tough job, but somebody has to do it. And, these people will do it well. They will be courteous, offer good service, and make their paying passengers feel comfortable while they are traveling away from home, too.
Amtrak and all of its friends and passengers owe a moment of thanks to these people, and everyone who will be working during the Christmas holidays to make our traveling experience possible.
Most of the freight people will be at home, but because of Amtrak, all of the dispatch centers will be manned.
There will be plenty of tickets agents, baggage handlers, and managers out there, too. Plus, the reservations center never shuts down.
Take a moment and think about these people as they perform their jobs for your benefit.
While you’re thinking about them, don’t forget your local fire fighters and policemen, as well as the guy who delivers your newspaper on Christmas morning and the clerk at the local convenience store sloshing his way through the holiday so you can get those batteries you forgot to get on Christmas Eve.
While we are all at home, all of these people will be working for our benefit.
And, we appreciate that.
Until after Christmas, that’s it for TW3. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Happy New Year to all.
