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You did notice that the Amtrak coach fare was competive with the airline and bus fares. Neither offer meals in a diner, nor a flat place to sleep except a chair. Amtrak's sleeper accommodations are priced at the high end because they sell out! However, when looking at the sleeper for one person, the price is very high. Yet, when looking at the sleeper for two persons, the price is not so high. The sleeper accomodations not only provide a at least two bunks to sleep on, but also included in the fare are two very nice sized chairs with a table; free sodas, juices, and coffee; breakfast, lunch, and dinner; not to mention a zone of privacy. Before the recent cuts Amtrak offered fruits, chocolate chip cookies, and mints. And the deluxe sleeper accomodations offer you a private shower, and a couch to rest on. Nevertheless, you are correct in stating that you could fly to Fort Wayne for less and spend a couple of nights in a resort hotel. But when you flew, you missed the deserts of Arizona and New Mexico, the mountains of Colorado, the wheat fields of Kansas, and the corn fields of Missouri and Illinois. And you should have had arranged for someone to pick you up at Waterloo, Indiana. Surely at that time of night you did not expect to have a rent a car or taxi available. They are hard to arrange at that time of night in almost any city at any airport, much less Waterloo, Indiana. As for a passenger rail service in the future, the Amtrak of today will not survive. It is based on out of date 1950s to 1970s technology while at the same time using railroad tracks that have considerably been left to rot. Passenger trains will not survive in the future going less than 120 mph, at least. Today Amtrak across the nation averages less than 45 mph, and in Texas averages less than 30 mph. The railroad tracks need to be upgraded to 120 mph at least, preferrably faster. We have several alternatives in front of us: to spend $60 billion or so to upgrade the tracks to 120 mph using the same old equipment, to spend $60 to $100 billion to upgrade the tracks to 150 mph using a Jetrain, or spend $120 to $180 billion building 4,000 to 6,000 miles of electrified dedicated TGV high speed rail lines with a top speed of 190 mph. I prefer the later, as do the Europeans and the Japanese. Faster trains, such as the TGV, will not only get us to our locations quicker, but provide for much more needed frequency too. A 900 mile train trip from Dallas to Chicago would take less than 6 hours instead of the current 22 and a half hours. Amtrak could operate its three trainsets of the Eagle instead of once a day to three times a day service. There would be no more arrivals at midnight or in the wee hours of the morning anywhere any longer.
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