This Week At Amtrak 2005-09-24
Vol. 2, No. 26 – September 24, 2005
- Harrumph. Under alleged great political and public pressure, Amtrak has backed off on its fare increases, specifically reducing the outrageous 70% multi-ride discounts to a less, but still outrageous 50% discount.
Numerous newspaper stories in Northeast cities served by the Northeast Corridor ran multiple sob stories about how innocent multi-ride tickets holders would have to substantially rearrange their lives because of this allegedly callous, unthinking, and uncaring act by an impersonal Amtrak.
Hogwash.
Here in Bow and Arrow Country, which is defined as anything more than 50 miles to the west of the NEC and south of Washington, D.C., most real Americans somehow get along very nicely without relying on federal government 70% subsidy for comfortable, air conditioned train rides to and from work and college and other activities in cities and towns and states other than where you live. Here in the real world, you work where you live, and you live where you go to college. Complaining about how long your day is because of the high fatigue level of an intercity train ride every morning and evening is pretty hard to justify here in the real world.
But, Amtrak being the political corporate animal that it is, backed off the fare hikes and did not set a date for them to kick in again. In all fairness, Amtrak perhaps did announce the new fares probably a month or so too close to the change date. It wouldn’t have hurt to have given 45 or 60 days notice for the fare changes. So, a delay is equitable. However, if this delay becomes permanent, then it’s business as usual, as passengers along the Sunset and Cardinal routes are somehow supposed to be happy with only tri-weekly service, and many other major American cities are supposed to grin and bear it with no train service at all, while pampered NEC riders complain about having to pay too much for Amtrak to provide them with a service that Amtrak never should be offering in the first place.
This is gut check time for Amtrak. Amtrak made the right decision to raise the fares, even if its execution was not the best. Amtrak needs to stick to its guns and keep the fare increase, and a year from now, raise the fares even more. If they don’t, then millions of Americans in Bow and Arrow Country will just continue to be insulted by the excess and inequity of the NEC.
- We wish to stand corrected and apologize for our error. We previously said that it was impossible to imagine that Amtrak’s one-note, transit loving, unwashed socialist planning department would ever come up with the concept of lowering the obscene discounts for multi-ride ticket holders on the NEC. Well, one of the socialists in the Amtrak planning department hastily forwarded an internal Amtrak planning document that he had prepared showing the relationship of the Amtrak discounts to discounts on transit systems (Amtrak ranked number one before the change, and number two for the highest discounts after the change which is now doubtful it will take place) for similar multi-ride tickets. This gentlemen, who always seems distraught if he is ever left out of any conversation and loves to share insider Amtrak information to prove his point in debates, says that he has been pushing for these fare increases for three years. We take him at his word.
- Last week we also lamented about how nice it would be to have a national passenger railroad system where it wasn’t necessary to apologize in advance for normal operations, or lack thereof. Here’s a depressing story from a distinguished TWA reader in Northern California that more than amply makes that point.
… [Poring] through the mail I found this in a letter from an old friend (who prefers the old fashioned letter to e-mail … refreshing). He did not say his date of departure on the Coast Starlight.
My son, his wife and I decided to take the train from Davis (CA) to Albany, OR, which is 56 miles from our place in Newport (he lives in Santa Rosa). There are commuter buses that run from Albany to the Coast [Starlight], so it sounded great. I got a compartment (Deluxe Bedroom) for the three of us; Cost $725. Very expensive, but I thought fun. The train was supposed to leave Davis at 11:30 P.M.
Well, it was 3 1/2 hours late getting into Davis. By the time we got to Albany it was 6 hours late and there were no more commute buses running, so I had to take a cab. It cost me $100 from Albany to Newport. It is only $169 from Oakland or SFO to Portland. I could have rented a car in Portland and driven to Newport and still have come out a lot better moneywise. No wonder the rails are in trouble. However, I will say the food was much better than I remember from my last trip a few years ago.
- The latest information on the wreck of the Gulf Coast and New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina is that Norfolk Southern has opened its railroad all the way into New Orleans, and the Union Pacific/BNSF line is also open (but now compromised further to the west by Hurricane Rita). Both CSX and CN/IC are still working to reopen their lines. New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal continues to be the New Orleans City Jail for the time being.
The Crescent is operating from New York City to Meridian, Mississippi, and the City of New Orleans is now operating from Chicago to Hammond, Louisiana.
The beleaguered Sunset Limited still is a much truncated operation, especially now after Hurricane Rita, with nothing operating east of San Antonio, Texas. Let’s look again at the point that on the Sunset’s 2,764 mile long route, only 1,423 miles are being operated. Nothing is going in and out of Houston, America’s fourth largest city (which was only minimally affected by Hurricane Rita). Most depressingly, the railroad from Mobile, Alabama east to Orlando, Florida, the eastern terminus of the Sunset is open and clear and running, yet Amtrak has indefinitely suspended operation of the Sunset on this 624 miles portion of the route.
The Sunset is continually a punching bag for those who are ignorant of the true costs of running long distance trains. The complaint is always that the Sunset loses more money per passenger than any other train in the Amtrak system. If Amtrak continues to mistreat the Sunset, not to mention the cities and towns that it doesn’t serve during these partially unnecessary service interruptions, and not to mention the American taxpayers that are continually providing free federal money for Amtrak to have a subsidy, then the Sunset will always be a punching bag for those who don’t understand long distance trains. Amtrak is setting itself up for failure because it doesn’t want to be bothered with unfamiliar logistics and operating plans out of the norm.
Amtrak scrambles to accommodate whiners on the NEC that want a nearly free ride to work and college, but it keeps thumbing its corporate nose at Sunset Limited passengers that only ask for the barest of services. Shame on Amtrak, yet, again.
- Hurricane Rita came storming ashore at the Texas/Louisiana state line in the early morning hours of Saturday, September 24th.
This time, there were two evacuation trains taking fleeing inhabitants of Houston to safety. Amtrak operated one train from Houston to San Antonio over the Sunset Route, and BNSF operated a second train, using Trinity Railway Express commuter equipment and crews from Fort Worth. That train ran Houston to Dallas/Forth Worth. Unlike government in Louisiana, government in Texas didn’t wait around for someone else to come up with a plan to solve their internal problems. Both of these trains were the result of Texans planning for Texans.
Initial storm reports show that Union Pacific took the hardest beating from Hurricane Rita of all of Amtrak’s host railroads in that area. No reports yet of what it will take to reopen the railroad.
Amtrak, always ready and standing tall to accommodate its operating department rather than its passengers, halted all service on the Texas Eagle south of St. Louis, and cancelled one of the Sunset Limited runs. Amtrak says it will reassess track and operating conditions this weekend for restoration of service. As is now customary with Amtrak, no alternate forms of transportation were provided. Remember, when traveling on Amtrak today, the company’s new slogan: “When traveling with Amtrak, if it’s not convenient for us, you’re on your own.”
