dakotafred Sam1: Amtrak has racked up accumulated losses of $28.5 billion since it began operations. Assuming that the ratio of the long distance train operating losses to Amtrak’s total losses has remained constant (48 per cent) since Amtrak began operations, the accumulated loss for the long distance trains is approximately $13.8 billion. Had this money been placed in an account earning the average ten-year Treasury note interest rate for 40 years, four months, it would have grown to $78.7 billion by September 2011. This would have been a nice kitty to enhance existing corridors or start new ones, which is the only place where passenger rail makes sense I would never argue with you, Sam1, that the losses don't add up and are even larger than they appear, when you consult interest. My quibble would be: If this money hadn't been spent on Amtrak, where would it have gone? Would it have been saved or invested more shrewdly? Pardon me for doubting it. I rather like that, with Amtrak, we have bought something tangible that people use and that has not only utility but meaning to us as Americans. If we have to start saving nickels and dimes, as we undoubtedly do, there are lots of places to start before Amtrak.
Sam1: Amtrak has racked up accumulated losses of $28.5 billion since it began operations. Assuming that the ratio of the long distance train operating losses to Amtrak’s total losses has remained constant (48 per cent) since Amtrak began operations, the accumulated loss for the long distance trains is approximately $13.8 billion. Had this money been placed in an account earning the average ten-year Treasury note interest rate for 40 years, four months, it would have grown to $78.7 billion by September 2011. This would have been a nice kitty to enhance existing corridors or start new ones, which is the only place where passenger rail makes sense
No one knows where the money would have gone if Amtrak had ditched the long distance trains. The key question is where would it go over the next 40 years if the long distance trains were discontinued. Again, no one knows. But at least the option would exist to use some or all of the savings to fund the Administration's plans to develop more passenger rail corridors or enhance the existing ones.
Make no mistake about it. If the long distance trains were discontinued, I would like to see some of the savings plowed into the planned rail corridor from San Antonio to the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. The envisioned route would include a stop in Georgetown, TX, which just happens to be where I live.
Megabus will offer two departures to Omaha from Iowa City on a daily basis. The number of trips between Iowa City, Des Moines and Chicago will also increase to four departures each day.
http://thegazette.com/2011/08/04/megabus-announces-expanded-bus-service-from-iowa-city-to-omaha/
Megabus is offering service in this lane that is faster than the proposed 79 mph Rocket schedule. Megabus fares are cheaper than proposed fares to ride the Rocket.
Megabus is not stopping in Grinnell, Newton, nor any other county seat of under 50,000 people. Stops where few board waste time. Time is money. Mega bus is looking at what is profitable, not politically popular.
Burlington Trailways has revamped its thrice-daily Iowa City-Chicago bus service , reducing trip times and adding discount fare options in response to the competition from discounter Megabus......
The 10 a.m. departure from Iowa City will become an express service with only two stops in Davenport and Naperville, Ill. It arrives at in downtown Chicago at 2:30.
The 12:45 a.m. bus to Chicago will have no stops, Hibbs said.
http://business380.com/2011/09/01/iowa-city-to-chicago-bus-service-competition-heating-up/
The Quad Cities is the largest metropolitan area between Chicago and Omaha. Megabus does not stop there. Trailways is running a bus with no stops between Chicago and Iowa City. The bus lines market studies are telling them something.
The distance from Chicago to the Quad Cities maybe short enough that most people just drive between them. It takes time to pull off the interstate to make a downtown stop. If it is not worth stopping in the Quad Cities for express buses, is it worth subsidizing a Rocket?
While the bus speeds around the Quad Cities on Interstate 80, the Rocket would run at the speed of a requiem march through the spread out cities along the Mississippi. There would be time spent at a Moline station stop. If a towboat is passing through Rock Island's Lock & Dam, add in an open bridge delay.
The bus lines competing in this lane show there are passengers to be had. Can the Rocket realistically compete with the bus? Is the subsidy worth the experience of a train ride?
John Robert Smith, a prominent rail advocate, will speak to locals about the community benefits of rail service.
Smith's visit comes in light of the Iowa and Illinois transportation departments and the Federal Railroad Administration studying a possible passenger rail route from Chicago to Omaha. That study is expected to be completed in March or April 2013.
http://www.dailyiowan.com/2012/05/04/Metro/28307.html
The advocacy continues.
Onion's announcement of President Obama's High-Speed Bus plan:
http://www.theonion.com/video/obama-replaces-costly-highspeed-rail-plan-with-hig,18473/
If GM "killed the electric car", what am I doing standing next to an EV-1, a half a block from the WSOR tracks?
Great information, Victrola1; thank you!
Looks like the bus companies are making some pre-emptive strikes; they get enterprise points.
It would be ironic, wouldn't it, if the main role of the proposed train was to pick up the small change scorned by the bus ... the Grinnells, Atlantics, etc.?
Of late, that effort has focused on the economic benefits the proposed Omaha to Chicago rail would bring to Iowa City, drawing on examples from other cities across the country. Thursday, local officials and citizens heard from John Robert Smith, who serves as CEO of Reconnecting America. He also served four terms as mayor of Meridian, Miss. , where he spearheaded a passenger rail transportation project that brought $135 million into the town for developments in the surrounding area.
Of late, that effort has focused on the economic benefits the proposed Omaha to Chicago rail would bring to Iowa City, drawing on examples from other cities across the country.
Thursday, local officials and citizens heard from John Robert Smith, who serves as CEO of Reconnecting America. He also served four terms as mayor of Meridian, Miss. , where he spearheaded a passenger rail transportation project that brought $135 million into the town for developments in the surrounding area.
http://thegazette.com/2012/05/25/iowa-city-chamber-of-commerce-hopes-to-keep-passenger-rail-in-conversation/
The lobbying continues. Would this be applicable to other cities? Does this sound too good be true?
Sound too good to be true? Indeed! I would like to see Mr. Smith's details -- as the "reporter" should have wanted to.
If newspapers have got the disappearing newspaper blues, one reason could be shallow reporting such as this story, which one can get for free on radio or TV.
http://thegazette.com/2013/04/24/iowa-house-halts-funding-for-passenger-rail-study/
The Mississippi River maybe a bridge too far for the Cornbelt Rocket.
Sam1Make no mistake about it. If the long distance trains were discontinued, I would like to see some of the savings plowed into the planned rail corridor from San Antonio to the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. The envisioned route would include a stop in Georgetown, TX, which just happens to be where I live.
Sam,
If long distance trans were discontinued is there any reason to believe they would be replaced by the trains you suggest? Isn't it more reasonable to believe that there would be no replacements at all for them?
John
Point of clarification: sam1's post was 5/4/2012.
C&NW, CA&E, MILW, CGW and IC fan
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