Happy 40th Birthday Amtrak!!! Keep Up the Great Work!!!

[FayeforCure]

Amtrak at 40: Credit Where Credit Is Due

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Posted on 29 March 2011

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By Alan Kandel

It used to be in the industrial age, build a railroad and they will come, from both hither and yon and in droves, no less. In the modern age, this declaration is no less true. Since the Baltimore&Ohio Railroad, the nation’s first common carrier railroad was chartered on February 28, 1827, comparatively speaking, the look and feel of railroading has changed little, though the locomotive power, rolling stock (railway conveyances) and track structure has evolved into what we have today and thus is far, far-improved.

Although many railroads have come and gone, railroading, not surprisingly, has been in it for the long haul and from all indications it will continue that way. At its zenith in 1916, no fewer than 254,000 railroad route miles of track had crisscrossed America. By 2006, that figure had dropped to approximately 140,000. Amtrak, the nation’s rail passenger hauler, meanwhile, didn’t arrive on the scene until May 1, 1971. From about the mid-1950s on, as motor vehicles and airplanes saw more widespread use, these modes had gradually, but effectively, gnawed away at the private railroads’ passenger train profits.

“The twin impact of airways and roadways was devastating on American railroads, which, after all, were private companies that paid property taxes and ticket taxes on their operations,” wrote Mark Reutter in “How America Led, and Lost, the High-Speed Rail Race.” “For example, between 1956 and 1969, a total of 28,800 miles of interstate highways were opened to traffic. In the same period, 59,400 miles of railroad were taken out of passenger service.

“From 2,500 daily intercity trains in 1954 (that’s excluding commuter service), fewer than 500 trains were left when the National Railroad Passenger Corp., or Amtrak, took over intercity rail service in 1971. Outside of the Boston-Washington Northeast Corridor, America’s passenger train had virtually disappeared,” Reutter wrote.

Many have been critical of the government subsidizing the nationalized passenger rail network, even though Amtrak’s subsidy is and has been paltry compared to what other subsidized modes receive.

Looking at the period between 1949 and 2006 and in “2009 Constant Dollars” as revealed in the April 2011 Trains issue, between 1949 and 1970 subsidies for intercity passenger rail was non-existent. Between 1970 and 2006, annual intercity passenger rail subsidies varied; from a low of roughly $500 million to a high of about $4 billion. Contrast that to highway subsidies. In 1970, highways received $30 billion. Even air fared far better than intercity passenger trains. In 2000, subsidies for air totaled about $18 billion while those for highways approached $60 billion. (Source: “Speed: It’s all relative,” Bob Johnston, Trains, April 2011, pp. 36-41). The scales have definitely been tipped in favor of highways and air.

Amtrak often gets criticized by train travelers for perceived poor on-time performance on a number of its trains. What people may not realize is that it’s up to host railroad dispatchers to safely facilitate the movement of trains (and that could include freight, commuter and Amtrak trains) in an established territory (or “district” in railroad parlance) under that dispatcher’s oversight.

It can be a juggling act, for sure, in making sure all trains movements within specified district limits take place without incident. On Amtrak’s 457-mile higher-speed Northeast Corridor (NEC) between Boston, Massachusetts and Washington, D.C., the reverse is true; i.e., Amtrak personnel handle the dispatching of not only NEC-based Amtrak trains, but also with regard to commuter (and freight) trains that run over much of that territory as well.

At this, the cusp of the introduction of domestic high-speed rail and a new revolution in American railroad operations and train travel, Amtrak for 40 years has not only held its own, but continues to shine and, with ever-increasing and record-setting and record-breaking passenger volumes, it’s no wonder. In fact, in FY 2010, Amtrak carried a grand total of 28.7 million passengers, an all-time high. This is up from 20.99 million in FY 2000.

Add to this the 3.2%, 6.1% and 8.4% ridership increase on San Joaquin, Pacific Surfliner and Capitol Corridor (Amtrak California) services, respectively, for the period between Oct. ’10 and Feb. ’11 compared to the same period one year earlier. On-time performance on Amtrak’s three California corridors is very respectable - typically greater than 90%.

Amtrak, home and host railroad dispatchers, crews and other critical personnel, all definitely deserve credit where credit is due.

Happy 40 Birthday Amtrak! Keep up the great work!

http://www.californiaprogressreport.com/site/node/8824

[johnnyroadglide]

National Train Day is May 7, but infortunately there will be NOTHING at all going on at the Jacksonville Amtrak Station to celebrate. I find that disappointing.

[FayeforCure]

National Train Day is May 7, but infortunately there will be NOTHING at all going on at the Jacksonville Amtrak Station to celebrate. I find that disappointing.

Well, we could all still gather to support trains and show our anger at Rick Scott for killing Florida HSR!

Lets make it a collective meet and greet for Jax rail supporters!!!

I really like that idea. Anyone else?

[johnnyroadglide]

Except I'm not angry at Rick Scott for killing HSR. IMHO, I don't think its needed here. Florida is not the Northeast Corridor. Florida is not the Pacific Coast of California.  And Jacksonvilles lack of support for National Train Day has nothing to do with Rick Scott.

[Timkin]

National Train Day is May 7, but infortunately there will be NOTHING at all going on at the Jacksonville Amtrak Station to celebrate. I find that disappointing.

Well, we could all still gather to support trains and show our anger at Rick Scott for killing Florida HSR!

Lets make it a collective meet and greet for Jax rail supporters!!!

I really like that idea. Anyone else?

* raises hand

[Ocklawaha]

AMTRAK is vital to many rural communities in the west and some in the deep south, it is also vital in the northeast corridor and pacific coast.

While Amtrak's very survival has been a miracle of running the gauntlet, some constructive criticism would be in order too.  Several routes over the years would have had much better cost recovery with an additional train each way daily. Continuing to run the Sunset from Los Angeles to New Orleans on a tri-weekly schedule is ludicrous. Folding the package express service rather then bending it to fit the passenger train schedules (they were doing it the other way around making the passengers subject to express) was stupid. Second worse thing AMTRAK has done is destroy the rail service to and within Florida, more or less as a temper tantrum to show the budget cutters what would happen if they quit.  Ask people between Chicago-Florida, New Orleans-Florida, North Central Florida, and those that depended on multiple choices of arrivals or departures daily between New York and Florida how that is working out. Perhaps the worst thing that they have done is to sit on their hands as Obama came into the office and not ask for a damn thing in the way of new equipment until just recently. So they effectively lost 2 years which they might not get back for another 40 provided they survive the idiots at CATO, HERITAGE, RANDALL O'TOOLE and his band of merry fools. Bottom line for me? Glad to have you AMTRAK, but you could be so much more relevant then you currently are.

It would be great to have some sort of bash on national train day, AMTRAK might be willing to show up with a table of goodies, operation life saver, a few hobby stores, the 3 area regional railroads, etc... if we wanted to hold it at JACKSONVILLE TERMINAL it certainly demonstrates our intent.

OCKLAWAHA

[FayeforCure]

It would be great to have some sort of bash on national train day, AMTRAK might be willing to show up with a table of goodies, operation life saver, a few hobby stores, the 3 area regional railroads, etc... if we wanted to hold it at JACKSONVILLE TERMINAL it certainly demonstrates our intent.

OCKLAWAHA

Stephen, do you mind maybe putting an event page together on facebook, so we can send out invites to our FB friends too, and get a sense of who will be attending?

It would be great to invite a featured speaker such as Paula Dockery or Corrine Brown, who is the only Florida Representative who sits on the Congressional Rail Caucus.

[johnnyroadglide]

I have a good friend who is director of the National Association of Rail Passengers, NARP. I will get in touch with him and see if he can put me in touch with someone locally from Amtrak that might be able to assist.

I will advise.

John

[FayeforCure]

I have a good friend who is director of the National Association of Rail Passengers, NARP. I will get in touch with him and see if he can put me in touch with someone locally from Amtrak that might be able to assist.

I will advise.

John

Great! Thank you.