Train travel

[Big Buckin' agate_monkey]

I spent the weekend in St. Louis and traveled by Amtrak. I had taken Amtrak once before — I think it was third grade, and we took a 40-minute trip up to the next sizable town and bussed back home. So this was really my first impression of Amtrak.

As I'm traveling to St. Louis on Thursday, I reach a quick conclusion: Train travel will struggle to become a popular mode of transportation — as it is in Europe — as long as trains are constantly late.

My train was from Chicago to St. Louis, and I jumped on in the middle. It was 30 minutes late into my station and an hour late into STL. My return train left STL on time (it was the first stop though), and 30 minutes late into my destination. From what I understand, 30 minutes isn't really late for Amtrak. Correct me if I'm wrong, but if a train is 10 minutes late in Europe, people wonder what's going on.

I guess it was just another eye-opener that our public transit infrastructure isn't ready for fuel prices to continue to escalate.

 

[Armchair_QB]

Amtrak's success in the Northeast shows that regional train travel could work in the US. I'm not sure I'd want to go cross country but there is no reason networks like these couldn't work:

Chicago-Milwaukee-MSP-Des Moines-Omaha-KC-St. Louis
San Diego-LA-Sacramento-SF-Portland-Seattle.
LA-Vegas-Phoenix
Atlanta-Orlando-Jax-Miami-TSP
Phoenix-Albuquerque-Denver-Vegas

Set up regional networks like that and interconnect them with a small number of inter-regional runs.

But there would have to be a massive upgrade in railbed for high speed passenger service to get it off the same lines used by freight service, which gets a priority in traffic right now and causes most of Amtrak's delays.

That upgrade would probably be equal to the construction of the interstate system in the 60s-80s. I'm not sure our elected officials have the balls to push for that though.

Every few years you hear talk of a high speed rail link in the DFW-San Antonio-Houston triangle down here but it never seems to go anywhere. Southwest Airlines usually lobbies against it but with their rising fuel costs they might not be as opposed to it.

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

Atlanta-Orlando-Jax-Miami-TSP

I get my own Amtrak stop??

 

[Armchair_QB]

Atlanta-Orlando-Jax-Miami-TSP

I get my own Amtrak stop??

The second Wednesday of every week.

 

[crimsonace]

Amtrak's two biggest problems are ...
*-Infrastructure (the track needs upgraded/laid to not interfere with freight traffic).
*-A bad business model. Amtrak is still in the 1930s when it comes to its business model -- going after long-haul cross-country passengers, who are going to choose airplanes 99.99999% of the time. Where it focuses on short-distance high-speed rail (DC-Balt-Philly-NYC-Boston/West Coast), it's profitable. But the decisions to keep/drop routes basically have to do with whichever friendly congressmen have stops in their districts.

 

[OTD]

Amtrak's two biggest problems are ...
*-Infrastructure (the track needs upgraded/laid to not interfere with freight traffic).
*-A bad business model. Amtrak is still in the 1930s when it comes to its business model -- going after long-haul cross-country passengers, who are going to choose airplanes 99.99999% of the time. Where it focuses on short-distance high-speed rail (DC-Balt-Philly-NYC-Boston/West Coast), it's profitable. But the decisions to keep/drop routes basically have to do with whichever friendly congressmen have stops in their districts.

One of Amtrak's biggest problems is that they must share the tracks with freights. Amtrak is supposed to have priority, but that often is ignored, so the passengers must wait while freights are routed ahead of them. This is mostly what makes them late. It would be nice if they had their own tracks, as they do in the Northeast, but that's not going to happen.

As far as the long-distance trips, I've done that several times in sleeping cars and enjoyed it. But Amtrak also serves a different kind of customer: in the coaches, you see people who are obviously of more modest means. They can and do take the train for long distances because it's cheaper. Also, don't forget that many people don't ride all the way from say Chicago to Los Angeles. Some ride from Jefferson City MO to Las Vegas, NM. For these people, Amtrak is perfect.

 

[sgaleadfoot]

If you don't mind running late, Amtrak can be a great way to travel. Where I worked a few years ago, the southbound stop headed toward Miami was around 2 am, only about an hour after we cleared our final pages at night. You could get off work, head to the station and get on the train and not worry about trying to stay awake at the wheel in the wee hours of the morning.

 

[Brooklyn Bridge]

And the government keeps cutting back on AMTRAK's subsidies. It needs track upgrades if there is going to be high speed rail service. We're talking billions of dollars. An outmoded business model doesn't help and Bush continues to tell the service to be profitable. But we continue to sink billions of dollars into highways and for air travel. In France the high speed train runs on Nuclear fuel....Good luck getting that here.

 

[Big Buckin' agate_monkey]

I didn't realize Amtrak was supposed to have priority over freight traffic. I know we got held up for 10 minutes or so waiting on freight traffic last night.

As long as fuel is above $4 and I'm not relying on the train to get me to a certain place by a certain time, I'll use the train.

And the government keeps cutting back on AMTRAK's subsidies. It needs track upgrades if there is going to be high speed rail service. We're talking billions of dollars. An outmoded business model doesn't help and Bush continues to tell the service to be profitable. But we continue to sink billions of dollars into highways and for air travel. In France the high speed train runs on Nuclear fuel....Good luck getting that here.

No kidding. GW can't even say nuclear.

 

[Brooklyn Bridge]

There was a story on AP about a week or so ago about huge backlogs in some areas. We are basically using the same tracks we were using 100 years ago. If more track isn't laid and soon, it will be virtually impossible to move freight from one end of the country to the other.

 

[Norman Stansfield]

I rode on Amtrak for the first time a few summers ago.

Sat next to a girl with more facial piercings and tattoos than three guys. She also had a skateboard under her seat.

Directly in front of us was a nice Amish couple.

An interesting ride, to say the least.

 

[bagelchick]

My ex works for Amtrak on the Miami to NYC route.

The stories he tells me about how inefficiently they operate are a riot....and that's just in the dining car.
And they are never on time.....

 

[Smasher_Sloan]

My ex works for Amtrak on the Miami to NYC route.

The stories he tells me about how inefficiently they operate are a riot....and that's just in the dining car.
And they are never on time.....

How long after a trip did it take for him to stop wobbling?

 

[ColbertNation]

I didn't realize Amtrak was supposed to have priority over freight traffic. I know we got held up for 10 minutes or so waiting on freight traffic last night.

As long as fuel is above $4 and I'm not relying on the train to get me to a certain place by a certain time, I'll use the train.

And the government keeps cutting back on AMTRAK's subsidies. It needs track upgrades if there is going to be high speed rail service. We're talking billions of dollars. An outmoded business model doesn't help and Bush continues to tell the service to be profitable. But we continue to sink billions of dollars into highways and for air travel. In France the high speed train runs on Nuclear fuel....Good luck getting that here.

No kidding. GW can't even say nuclear.

Nu-cular. It's pronounced nu-cular. [/Homer Simpson]

 

[Armchair_QB]

My ex works for Amtrak on the Miami to NYC route.

The stories he tells me about how inefficiently they operate are a riot....and that's just in the dining car.
And they are never on time.....

Please share a few stories.

 

[bagelchick]

Lots of stupid stuff, like the equipment is broken, specifically the coffee equipment. He said the worst thing he has to do is tell people who have been rockin and rollin all night that there's no coffee. And the paperwork he has to fill out is immense. They have to do inventory after every meal and every single thing has to be accounted for. There is no "waste", which is kinda scary when you think about the item that accidentally falls on the floor.

He's only been working that route since February and he can't get used to sleeping on the train and the turn around in NYC can be less than 24 hours especially if they arrive into Grand Central late. But the pay is pretty good, as is the benefits.

Next time I talk to him I'll get more good stories.

 

[JR]

I love trains. I travelled all over Europe by train back in the 70's and before I die, this is the one train trip I want to take: Vancouver to Halifax on Via Rail. 5800 kilometres in first class. Gourmet meals, sleeper berth.

http://www.thestar.com/Travel/article/449226

Aboard via rail's Silver and Blue–I knew I would get little sympathy when I announced my latest adventure, my Boston Marathon, my Everest: to eat my way across Canada.

For one, my chosen mode of travel was a little too posh: VIA Rail's famous Silver and Blue transcontinental service from Vancouver to Halifax.

As my mother said, "That's like a cruise ship isn't it? Only it goes over land?"

Just me & HC. I would be the happiest man on earth.

 

[slappy4428]

I love trains. I travelled all over Europe by train back in the 70's and before I die, this is the one train trip I want to take: Vancouver to Halifax on Via Rail. 5800 kilometres in first class. Gourmet meals, sleeper berth.

http://www.thestar.com/Travel/article/449226

Aboard via rail's Silver and Blue–I knew I would get little sympathy when I announced my latest adventure, my Boston Marathon, my Everest: to eat my way across Canada.

For one, my chosen mode of travel was a little too posh: VIA Rail's famous Silver and Blue transcontinental service from Vancouver to Halifax.

As my mother said, "That's like a cruise ship isn't it? Only it goes over land?"

Just me & HC. I would be the happiest man on earth.

In the 1970s or your 70s?

 

[JR]

I love trains. I travelled all over Europe by train back in the 70's and before I die, this is the one train trip I want to take: Vancouver to Halifax on Via Rail. 5800 kilometres in first class. Gourmet meals, sleeper berth.

http://www.thestar.com/Travel/article/449226

Aboard via rail's Silver and Blue–I knew I would get little sympathy when I announced my latest adventure, my Boston Marathon, my Everest: to eat my way across Canada.

For one, my chosen mode of travel was a little too posh: VIA Rail's famous Silver and Blue transcontinental service from Vancouver to Halifax.

As my mother said, "That's like a cruise ship isn't it? Only it goes over land?"

Just me & HC. I would be the happiest man on earth.

In the 1970s or your 70s?

Very ****ing funny.

Worst train trip I took was from Trieste, Italy to Belgrade, then part of Yugoslovia. I think it was about an eight hour ride.

Had a vicious fever and my g/f at the time just kept feeding me orange slices.

A wonderful old lady sitting across from us kept patting my hand.

 

[Armchair_QB]

I love trains. I travelled all over Europe by train back in the 70's and before I die, this is the one train trip I want to take: Vancouver to Halifax on Via Rail. 5800 kilometres in first class. Gourmet meals, sleeper berth.

http://www.thestar.com/Travel/article/449226

Aboard via rail's Silver and Blue–I knew I would get little sympathy when I announced my latest adventure, my Boston Marathon, my Everest: to eat my way across Canada.

For one, my chosen mode of travel was a little too posh: VIA Rail's famous Silver and Blue transcontinental service from Vancouver to Halifax.

As my mother said, "That's like a cruise ship isn't it? Only it goes over land?"

Just me & HC. I would be the happiest man on earth.

I'd love to make that trip and do the Blue Train in across South Africa.