United Rail Passenger Alliance

Most of Amtrak’s excuses for not restoring the Sunset have been in the “the dog ate my homework” category. It appears that Amtrak is holding out, hoping a coalition of Gulf Coast states will cough up money to pay for a restored Sunset Limited. This dangerous precedent would make any long distance route vulnerable to discontinuance until local money was found to run a train.

URPA has been pushing hard for this restoration, along with the excellent and independent efforts of the Florida Coalition of Rail Passengers, and several well-connected individuals in Florida who fully understand the need for this service. A number of mayors from cities and towns along the abandoned Sunset route have joined the effort, as well as distinguished members of Congress who represent districts and states along the forlorn route.

NARP’s Mr. Capon, however, sees things differently. Here is an e-mail Mr. Capon sent, in effect, telling everyone to cool their jets and let the “experts” at NARP handle the matter.

Sent: Wednesday, February 28, 2007 2:25 PM

Friends–

There is no possibility that Amtrak will reinstitute a train that serves Mobile at bad times, which would be needed to produce a reliable same-day connection from #2 to a restored New Orleans Florida service.

Making the case for any restoration is tough enough without advocates burdening the case with specifics that most outsiders would regard as micromanaging–including politically connected outsiders whose help we need to press for restoration.

–Ross

Well. The entire future of the Sunset route depends on a small city like Mobile, Alabama have a marketable time? Hmmmm … let’s look at some other major cities and their “marketable” times.

Columbia, South Carolina

Silver Star - 1:44 A.M., southbound; 1:12 A.M., northbound

Cleveland, Ohio

Capitol Limited - 2:31 A.M., westbound; 2:06 A.M., eastbound

Cleveland, Ohio

Lake Shore Limited - 3:27 A.M., westbound; 4:02 A.M., eastbound

Cincinnati, Ohio

Cardinal - 1:03 A.M., westbound; 3:02 A.M., eastbound

Carbondale, Illinois

City of New Orleans - 1:21 A.M., southbound; 3:16 A.M., northbound

Fargo, North Dakota

Empire Builder - 3:35 A.M., westbound; 2:13 A.M., eastbound

Spokane, Washington

Empire Builder - 1:40 A.M., westbound; 1:15 A.M., eastbound

Lincoln, Nebraska

California Zephyr - 12:08 A.M., westbound; 3:56 A.M., eastbound

Salt Lake City, Utah

California Zephyr - 11:33 P.M., westbound; 3:15 A.M., eastbound

Topeka, Kansas

Southwest Chief - 1:09 A.M., westbound; 5:20 A.M., eastbound

Little Rock, Arkansas

Texas Eagle - 3:10 A.M., westbound; 11:34 P.M., eastbound

San Antonio

Texas, Sunset Limited - 3:00 A.M., westbound; 10:25 P.M., eastbound

And, there are, of course, other examples. Apparently, “marketable times” are not a factor for Amtrak service in these cities. One must realize that any long distance train will serve some markets at good times, and other markets at bad times. When scheduling a train like the Sunset Limited that literally is the only train in North America to travel coast to coast, some markets will not receive the best times.

When dealing with people - like this writer who used to have some responsibility for the marketing of the Sunset Limited - making decisions about which markets to emphasize and which to realize will have less than perfect service, and adding in the needs of the host railroad, and also adding in the operating characteristics of each train, there has to be some hard decisions made and some “give and take” as schedules are tweaked for optimum performance.

The easiest solution is to run at least two schedules on each route, with a “flip” schedule, and markets served at less than perfect times of one schedule are then afforded good service on the flip schedule. Also helpful is to fill in some markets with short “daylight” service on corridors where corridor and long distance trains complement each other and share expenses and provide better travel opportunities to generate higher revenue passenger mile counts.

Mr. Capon also seems to not understand the economics and dynamics of the Sunset Limited. While as typical of any long distance train, the Sunset provides lots of “local” service between numeral intermediate station stops, much of the success of the train is because of its important place in Amtrak’s passenger matrix of delivering passengers from one passenger junction to another. A good deal of the business of the Sunset east of New Orleans consisted of passengers who were “bridge” traffic, moving from points west of New Orleans to either Jacksonville, where the train connected with Florida service trains, or to the train’s ultimate destination of Orlando, the single largest vacation destination in the country. While Mobile, Alabama is an important small city on the route, the operations of the Sunset east of New Orleans were not wholly dependent on Mobile’s business.

We know NARP has had a too-cozy relationship with Amtrak for a long time, including taking payments from Amtrak for operating a customer advisory panel. We also know NARP is Amtrak’s greatest apologist, and seldom seems willing to prod Amtrak to do anything different than what Amtrak is willing to do on its own.

Any of us who regularly deal with words and proofing know it’s far too easy to look at something you see everyday and read the whole word the way we imagine it to be, instead of reading letter-for-letter. Sadly, this column is often proof enough of that concept, even though it is rigorously edited and sent through a thorough spell checking several times before publication. It’s just hard to believe something as large as an Amtrak locomotive got past so many eyes before the error was discovered.

The Chicago melt-down on Monday was pathetic. Apparently all the mechanics and yard crews laid off for the Super Bowl. Train 301(5) departed 43 minutes late but that was only AFTER its frozen cars were swapped for the Superliner set that was supposed to be for 303(5); but even that one had never been serviced after coming in on Sunday night.

Pity the passengers and crew who were on 303(5); even after additional time to service the all-Horizon consist, it had frozen toilets in every car and left Chicago over 3 hours late, arriving in STL just a shade under 5 hours late.

They all KNEW that the Horizon set for 301 had frozen toilets but the crew was told that Mechanical was working it; in reality there was not a single mechanic to be found, either inside the train or servicing it outside. There WAS an oil heater aimed at the toilet tank of one of the frozen Horizon cars, but it was stone cold; not even turned on!

The mechanical foreman claimed only one pipefitter showed up and he needed three, so nothing was going to get done.

One has to suppose that football beats passenger service, every time.

If you’ve been on a train that is delayed, you know what can happen: Passengers begin to wonder what’s happening and why. Try as you might to inform, calm and appease them, sometimes it’s all for naught. That’s when it may become necessary to introduce service recover meals. Do you know about these?

These individually wrapped, “emergency” snack packs include bottled water, cheese and crackers, a cookie and some trail mix. They can work wonders on delayed long-distance or short-haul trains, according to Cynthia Winslow, Assistance Superintendent of On-Board Services.

“They’ve given us an easy and effective option for service recovery,” Winslow said. “The snacks seem to be well-received and appreciated by our passengers, because sometimes all they’re looking for is that good-faith effort and attentiveness on our part.”

Learn where these service recovery meals are on your train, and find out from a manager or supervisor under what circumstances you are to use them.”

(Sigh) “Do you know about these?” That’s just depressing there would be anyone working as part of an Amtrak onboard crew that doesn’t know about these simple and good examples of making service recovery efforts. And, apparently, they are to be used only after OBS personnel have tried to “inform, calm, and appease” passengers. So, the snacks are only a last resort? Not to be used except in extreme emergencies? No chance this simple gesture could be made without OBS employees being painted into a corner by passengers?

The story also indicates that some crews may not be making a “good-faith effort” or providing “attentiveness” on the part of Amtrak. Why is the concept of good passenger service so hard to grasp?

Outside of Amtrak, Ms. Witt has been busy holding senior-level positions at other large agencies, including Montgomery County Maryland’s Department of Environmental Protection, the D.C. Department of Public Works, and the Children’s National Medical Center.

One can conclude Amtrak is not through recycling lifetime government bureaucrats that go endlessly from one government job to the next, and back again.

Free Congress Foundation Commentary

Why the Next Conservatism Should Bring Back Streetcars

By Paul M. Weyrich

January 31, 2007

Streetcars? What could conservatism have to do with streetcars? Some of you may be wondering if I have slipped my trolley.

Maybe I have, but wanting to bring electric streetcars back to our cities is no sign of it. In an earlier essay on the next conservatism, number ten in this series, I argued that conservatives should want to bring our cities back. Too many of them have become cold, hard, empty places, devoid of life and unable to perform the important functions cities have in any culture. Well, it turns out that if you want to bring cities back, you also want to bring back streetcars.

A great new book, Street Smart: Streetcars and Cities in the 21st Century, explains why. Streetcars, it seems, are one of the most powerful tools for reviving cities. Several American cities have already brought the streetcars back, with tremendous positive effects on re-development. Kenosha, Wisconsin, brought streetcars back for just $6.2 million, and the new streetcar line has already brought $150 million in development, for a return on investment of 2,319%. Portland, Oregon, put in a downtown streetcar loop 4.8 miles long for $55 million; it generated over three billion dollars in new development. A 1.2 mile extension of the original loop brought in another $1.35 billion in development.

Why do streetcars bring new development? There are several reasons. First, middle-class people with significant disposable income like riding streetcars. That is not true of buses. Second, streetcars are “pedestrian facilitators.” People who ride through a city on a streetcar tend to get off and on, walking for a while, then riding some more. While they are walking, they go in stores, stop in restaurants for something to eat, maybe see a movie or get tickets for a show. In other words, they spend money downtown. Middle-class pedestrians are the life blood of a city, and streetcars make it easy for them to get around.

Third, from a developer’s perspective, a streetcar line is a guarantee of high-quality public transportation that will be there for decades. That is not true of buses; a bus line can be here today, gone tomorrow. The investment in track and overhead wire streetcars require means their routes don’t get up and move. Not surprisingly, bus service does little or nothing for development.

Beyond their positive effects on re-development, there is another reason the next conservatism should want to bring back streetcars, and passenger trains for that matter. Thanks to trains, streetcars, and interurbans (which were big, fast streetcars that ran from cities far out into the countryside), travel in America used to be a lot more enjoyable than it is now.

Today, we don’t really travel. Instead, we are just packaged and shipped. That is true of air travel, which has become an ordeal, and also of much driving. One interstate highway is much like another and driving in or around cities often means getting caught in traffic congestion, which everybody hates.

The next conservatism’s theme of Retroculture wants to bring back good things from the past that we have lost. Pleasure in travel, in the journey itself, should be one of those good things. Life is too short to make travel into misery, when it can be fun.

Yes, riding streetcars is fun. Our grandparents used to enjoy riding the streetcars. They have a feel to them that is completely different from a bus. You can take my word for it. I have ridden streetcars all over the world. Better, the next time you are in a city that has streetcars, or Light Rail, take a ride. You will see the city in a whole different way. And I think you will enjoy the experience.

A few years ago, I was in Denver with a friend, a United States Senator, who was a strong opponent of rail transit. Denver has a Light Rail system. I asked him if he would take a ride on it with me, and he agreed. About half way through our ride, he turned to me and said, “This is nice.”

Our cities, if they are to be living cities, need streetcars. The next conservatism should work to bring the streetcars back, as one of many nice presents the past can offer the future. Resurrecting good things from the past is what conservatism should be about.