Your ideas on saving or destroying Amtrak...What would you do if you ere incharge?

[Anonymous]

Your the government and a train fan. What would you do with Amtrak?

[Anonymous]

keep it open but im not in charge so shut it down and make amtrack a frweight road

[Hugh Jampton]

see what trains/ routes make money and keep them for the time being

[Junctionfan]

To save Amtrak do the following.

1/ End the indemnity agreements with the railroads. If the railroad is at fault, they should be held responsible; if Amtrak is at fault then Amtrak is responsible; if someone else is at fault then someone else is responsible.

2/ Properly fund the NEC corridor and the corridors along the Pacific Coast.

3/ Establish a Great Lakes Corridor. Doesn't have to be high speed electric like that of the NEC but enough that it is an efficient and reliable means of commuting within the Great Lakes area including Canada.

4/ Establish an agreement with the railroads to give Amtrak the highest priority; if that is not possible due to traffic constraints, pay for another track and give the railroads a tax break on the increase use of land.

5/ Purchase newer equipment including European style coachs for the NEC.

6/ Outsource dining to professional cafeterial/ catering businesses.

7/ Higher more car shop employees to ensure quicker maintainance time.

8/ Get rid of those dopey F-40/ baggage cars. How much did it cost to do those in the first place?

9/ Purchase more superliner equipment concentrating on sleeper cars for the most part.

10/ Offer a variety of different levels of fares/services on all trains. (ie economy, best fare, First class) Best fare for booking in advance, economy is basically the like coach class except slightly more generous, first class is just that and then some.

11/ Have more advertising in the actual railcars as well as paint schemes of some of the locomotives and equipment. It is a revenue generator.

12/ Offer autotrain services on the cross corridor services( must book in advance). Have to buy more autoracks though.

13/ If any roadrailers are left, lease those out to people who are moving across the country. Again advanced booking and only offer between points. (ie Capitol Limited-Boston/New York and Chicago) this way it reduces in-terminal time as the roadrailer can be simply dropped off into a siding for switching.

[TheS.P.caboose]

I would continue with Amtrak. I would keep the long distance trains; Coast Starlight, Sunset Limited, Southwest Chief, California Zephyrs and so on.

I'd look to see if there are any cities with large amonts of visitors that go to that region that doesn't already have a long distance train serve the city.

I don't think passenger service can break even, let alone make money, so government funding is needed.

After the long distance traffic has been settled, I'd go for regional carriers like Metrolink, METRA and so on.

[Puckdropper]

I'd get accurate of numbers on who's going where and what's making/losing money and use that information to strip the rail network to the bones. Then, I'd concentrate on building it by improving the core as much as I possibly could. I'd also get Amtrak into the package shipping business. You've got trains able to run 79 mph in many areas (and faster and others) why not use some of the extra HP?

There would be NO regular freight, no bulk freight, just packages. That'll hopefully provide an extra revenue stream for Amtrak and keep the freight railroads happy.

As I could, I'd upgrade/update equipment using a new paint scheme. Something reminisent of the passenger trains of old but modern at the same time. I'm not a big fan of stainless steel "paint"

[mucable]

I'd upgrade the 3/week services to daily. That would of course require more equipment.

It would also help to create a disincentive for stabbing AMTRAK trains. Heck...we (the taxpayers) already pay them for running on time!

It is possible for passenger service to break even...or even to make money. This happened regularly before the mail came off the trains. Not many remember the extra passenger (the mail) that used to ride, be sorted and delivered while in motion. I'm not sure any more efficient method could be devised even today.

[DaveBr]

On the 25th of this month Amtrak will delete the stop at Glendale,Ca.This will hurt the people in the San Gabriel and San Fernando Valleys.They will have to travel
almost 10 extra miles to catch the Coast Starlite.Or they can fight the traffic on the freeways going into the Los Angeles Terminal.Then there is Metrolink,which will cause the Coast Starlite a little delay.At that time also there is aUP freight train,approx.80 cars coming inbound to LA.Glendale and Amtrak should get together and keep the stop here in Glendale because hey have a brand new rebuilt train station,almost becoming a junk yard. [e-mail][V]

[Sterling1]

I wouldn't really work for Amtrak, but I would work for the US DOT. Then I would really come up with an intermodal plan that includes a viable future for passenger rail and Amtrak.
I would NOT split Amtrak up into separate companies, the would be . . . just _______ dumb.
Upgrade the company for the sake of the passengers, communities and taxpayers.
WHO wants to PAY for inefficient air services that jack the price of fuel???!!!

[PNWRMNM]

Kill the beast. Find some one to run the NEC, which is the only part that you can even say is socially usefull. None of it makes money nor will it ever. If a separate tax supported entity owns, maintains, and upgrades the NEC, at great expense to the taxpayers, then a train opoerating company could possibly make money on operations.

Mac

[daveklepper]

Some of you like "kill the beast" are not very kind to those elderly and infirm people who access all of the USA only because there is an Amtrak.

I would insure that there is an annual Amtrak subsidy of at least two Billion Dollars a year, or 10% of the total money collected in all highway fees and taxes used for highway purposes . And then I'd have someone like David Gunn determine how to best spend the money. He is the professional in the business and knows the problems and opportunities better than I do.

I do know what is right and what is wrong from a Jewish religious prospective. I have also heard about 1000 Christian sermons during my term as an architectural acoustics consultant. I know that Bush and Mineta are morally wrong as far as treatment of the elderly and infirm and denying them access to their entire country. That is the main basis for hoping Amtrak better success in the future.

A good Amtrak is as important as what Mark Hemphill is doing in Iraq. The bottom line isn't everything, especially when a nut like Mineta determins what is the bottom line.
And Mineta is a nut because what he wants to do for Amtrak compromises safety.

[jsoderq]

Lots of stuff that has been said before. Why do you suppose it hasn't been done yet?
OK 2 ideas. Make the dispatcher on the lines Amtrak runs an Amtrak employee. Just jam it down the railroad throat. Screw the unions and all that other crap - just do it!
Second make the maintenence employees a seperate company that has to operate like any other profit-making company so that ALL the equipment is repaired and maintain to the highest standards. Since the taxpayers bought the equipment in the first place, they will have to pay to maintain it instead of just parking it. This would include routine maintenence as well as heavy repairs - all locos and cars.

[jchnhtfd]

First -- I'm with Dave K. all the way on his comments. His first paragraph hits home, as I am sort of in that class... sigh...

If there were enough cash (Dave's subsidy value sounds about right) I would definetly make all services daily if possible, but not at the cost of damaging service quality (quantity is no substitute for quality!). It would be nice if there could be some extensions of service or new services, but...

And I would add to Dave's later comments that the right and wrong of it aren't limited to the Jewish community -- on that one, all of the religions of the Book (Jewish, Muslim, Christian) will go the same way.

I don't think, however, that it is necessary to make the maintenance employees a separate company would help a bit; these maintenance men at Beech Grove and Wilmington and so on are a really dedicated, hard working bunch; I've met some of them.

The dispatching problem is much more complicated than has been suggested, too. Some railroads, curiously, don't find it to be much of a problem. Others find it to be altogether too much of a problem. Part of this is corporate culture, and could be helped somewhat by increasing the incentives for on-time performance (for those lines where the bean-counters are too much in charge) or by somehow (I don't have the answers!) persuading the railroad folks and the Amtrak folks to cooperate, instead of fight; it does take two to tango, and in some instances both sides can be found to be somewhat less than helpful. Part of it, though, is simple traffic levels on certain lines; beyond a certain point, it becomes very difficult indeed to maintain a scheduled service.

[MP57313]

Market the "private charter" business, where private railcars are tacked on to trains for a $$$fee. For example, the Cardinal...which already does have some charter business. When I rode in February the train had a Genesis engine and 4 cars...it could easily handle one or two more passenger cars on the end...

[Junctionfan]

They should try finding more businesses/ institutions to charter trains. I saw a video of a 17 coach car train with 2 AEM-7 on the NEC for the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce. That must make a fair bit of revenue.

[Wdlgln005]

For an assured source of money, the first thing I would enact ia a national Ampenny. One cent per gallon would yield 1Bil. 2 cents would get 2 bill.
I'd encourage States to match that withan additional Ampenny. The State portion would match federal funds for that state. Some of the money could go to build/operate stations on the route. States without Amtrak service could use it for Thruway and other bus services.

The second item is a national plan of service that connects the 25-30 largest cities. Some routes would get at least 2 trains daily, operating 12 hrs apart. I'd encourage states to have their own program, based on the California model.
Here in TN, there would be a train connecting Memphis with Nashville, Knoxville & Bristol. A connecting VA train could take you from Bristol to Richmond & other VA cities. New regional links would be born. All these services could be coordinated with the Amtrak reservation system.

My third directive would be to rebuild the passenger eqiopment market. i'd have a plan to keep the carbuilders making new and rebuilding old stock. No more deferred maintenance. Modular designs reduce the need to keep expensive spare parts for old coaches. No more waiting to see if Amtrak will have the money to rebuild or replace wreck damaged cars and locos.

The reason to make these improvements is to foster the economic development of each state. The chamber of commerce for each community becomes involved.

[Anonymous]

I always think it's funny that railfans want everybody else to subsidize their hobby. We have cultural districts paid for by taxpayers for the 5% of the population that go to the opera. etc. etc. I have an old railroad depot in my home town that desperately needs refurbishing into a museum. I sure wish someone else would pay for it. The fact is I love riding trains but the government (us) subsidy per passenger is ridiculous. It's somewhere in the range of $200 per passenger carried. Then everbody complains they pay too much in taxes. The fact is our government spends too much now & adding a national AMpenny or whatever isn't gonna save anything as long as everything the government subsidizes wastes about 30% of what they get. We ought to eliminate subsidies for everything from amtrak to farmers to corporations to airports to old people and then we could afford to pay for everything ourselves. Instead of always putting your hand out try helping yourself for once. The last time I rode I couldn't afford the sleeper and coach is ridiculous with kids running up and down the aisles etc. I would pay a premium for a first class coach but it's not available. Hope I sufficiently p****ed everyone off equally. John

[ValorStorm]

QUOTE: Originally posted by mucable

It is possible for passenger service to break even...or even to make money. This happened regularly before the mail came off the trains. Not many remember the extra passenger (the mail) that used to ride, be sorted and delivered while in motion. I'm not sure any more efficient method could be devised even today.

The truth of the matter is that NO rail passenger system EVER paid its own way except through non-passenger revenues, i.e. the mail. We love to cite Europe & Japan as having thriving rail systems. But make no mistake, these have by far the most subsidized passenger rail systems on earth. The Amtrak tax burden doesn't come close. REPEAT: NO passenger train system ANYWHERE is self-supporting.

Solution: Combine all transportation funding-- highway, airway, railway-- and apportion to each as required.

[spbed]

Outside of the NEC the 1st thing I would do is take a survey of the average age of the rider buying the tix. I would suspect that the survey will find that the average age of the ticket buyer will be more elderly especially on such a route as the NYC/Florida runs. That means that A/trak efforts to move young people off the road & onto rail is not working & further means as the elderly depart the patronage of A/trak trains will continue to decline. Most likely the continuing decline of A/traks base is probably for the reason I listed above. [:p][:)][:D][8D]

Originally posted by CHPENNSYLVANIA

Living nearby to MP 186 of the UPRR  Austin TX Sub

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