Amtrak's blog http://blog.amtrak.com/2013/10/coming-soon-new-long-distance-cars/ has some info about the new cars that are on the way. Not much, if anything that hasn't been in the news before, but...
The photo of the baggage car shows it in their old paint scheme without comment. New standard? More heritage? I wonder. It was always my favorite. Just saw a comment from their moderator. They are rebranding the LD trains as "Amtrak America" with the old scheme.
BTW, I really like Amtrak's upbeat tone in the blog. Their social media folk are doing a nice job with it.
-Don (Random stuff, mostly about trains - what else? http://blerfblog.blogspot.com/)
a simpler blog link
http://blog.amtrak.com/
My link should open that particular post with the comments. Yours will just go to the top when an new item is posted and you'll have to scroll down.
has there been any indication from sources of the number of completed cars of each type if any and any schedule of when testing of the cars will begin ? ?e
I think Don's comment on another thread is spot on. Rebranding the LD service as Amtrak America becomes a way to separate it from the rest of Amtrak. Watch for the numbers to be sharply delineated as well so that it has to sink or swim on its own and stop being a drain on the majority of Amtrak's operations.
C&NW, CA&E, MILW, CGW and IC fan
Marketing, advertising, promoting, is not always a government operations best suit.
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schlimm I think Don's comment on another thread is spot on. Rebranding the LD service as Amtrak America becomes a way to separate it from the rest of Amtrak. Watch for the numbers to be sharply delineated as well so that it has to sink or swim on its own and stop being a drain on the majority of Amtrak's operations.
I think that's a leap, guys. What leads you to think Boardman prefers the regional services, which lose money, to those LD services that may lose more -- but are Amtrak's historic mission?
To my ear, Boardman has never betrayed lack of loyalty to LD. Indeed, it's the regional services that have been told -- by Congress, if not Boardman -- to put up or shut up.
Maybe a leap, or maybe the handwriting on the wall, given some of boardman's other statements. "Amtrak's historic mission?" is not based on the Rail Passenger Service Act of 1970. Since preservation of long distance services is not mentioned in the beginning, how can they be "historic?"
dakotafredIndeed, it's the regional services that have been told -- by Congress, if not Boardman -- to put up or shut up.
Not exactly true. Congress saw that among the states there was not a level playing field in subsidy vs Amtrak sponsorship of the short distance state trains. Congress mandated that the playing field be leveled across all the states...............which I think is fair to all the states involved vs favoring one over the other.
I really hope the next Congressional mandate is that users of the Northeast Corridor and other Amtrak owned lines / facilities start to pay what their usage costs. I have a feeling that Amtrak might be undercharging there for several East Coast Commutation Services. Just a suspicion I have.
Now the real question is.......why did it take a Congressional mandate? Why didn't the Amtrak board institute this policy. Perhaps they need Congress to play "bad cop" for marketing or political reasons.
schlimm Maybe a leap, or maybe the handwriting on the wall, given some of boardman's other statements. "Amtrak's historic mission?" is not based on the Rail Passenger Service Act of 1970. Since preservation of long distance services is not mentioned in the beginning, how can they be "historic?"
Sorry, I misplaced my copy of the 1970 act. I do have a copy of the first Amtrak timetable, which gives a pretty good idea of what Congress had in mind -- "legislative intent." It shows a lot of what were called "city pairs" with a lot of white space between them. Not a Lincoln Service or Surfliner or Cascades in the bunch.
dakotafred schlimm Maybe a leap, or maybe the handwriting on the wall, given some of boardman's other statements. "Amtrak's historic mission?" is not based on the Rail Passenger Service Act of 1970. Since preservation of long distance services is not mentioned in the beginning, how can they be "historic?" Sorry, I misplaced my copy of the 1970 act. I do have a copy of the first Amtrak timetable, which gives a pretty good idea of what Congress had in mind -- "legislative intent." It shows a lot of what were called "city pairs" with a lot of white space between them. Not a Lincoln Service or Surfliner or Cascades in the bunch.
If you read Volpe, who was pretty much the guy who co-wrote the legistlation, pushed it through congress and conned the White House into signing it, you'll find he thought Amtrak would evolve, cutting even more LD routes and growing new corridors such that the operating profit from the corridors could cross-subsidize the operating losses of the LD trains.
That's sort of what's happening now. Corridors are where the growth is, and with the state subsidies, near break-even operation.
Amtrak's sales pitch to Congress splits.
For the LD trains, it'll be very clearly laid out that the national network eats operating subsidy, primarily. Here's how much and here's what you get.
For the corridor services, expansion means they eat capital. The more you feed them capital, the less operating subsidy they eat. Here's our current list of projects and here's what they cost and here's what you get.
No more circus shows. Just the facts.
So, Congress, what do you want us to do?
State subsidies reduce the losses of the corridor trains. True! But the state subsidies come out of the pockets of the state's taxpayers. Most if not all of them are federal taxpayers. Whether the operating losses are covered by federal subsidies or state subsidies does not mask the losses.
Shifting the subsidies for the state supported trains to the states that want them lays the cost off on the primary users and, as a result, may generate a higher level of accountability.
Not to go crazy here but where is all the press coverage for this? There was the Trains News Wire piece as well as the Amtrak blog/YouTube video. There was a very minor blurb in the Albany newspaper. Other than that there has been nothing. Usually there would be pictures posted on all the usual railfan sites. Did anyone go to this shindig? (I couldn't. I was working another soiree in Vermont.)
Editor Emeritus, This Week at Amtrak
Amtrak was formed for the benefit of Class One railroads who no longer wanted passenger trains on their rails. The idea of serving the public was not the point, but the implied and assumed political promise that without railroads really involved in the business, the public would soon go away and so would the train. What came back to bite all in the behind was that the public really wanted trains and that urban and traffic planners said that rail services, both freight and passenger, were essential to the whole transportation needs of the US then and for the future. Thus it became a game for politicians to doddle with according to who's payroll they themselves were...and are...on. The Media, being what is is today....retellers and repeaters of political handouts with little if any time given by their employers to wander far from the media book of rules and repertoire..
Sam1State subsidies reduce the losses of the corridor trains. True! But the state subsidies come out of the pockets of the state's taxpayers. Most if not all of them are federal taxpayers. Whether the operating losses are covered by federal subsidies or state subsidies does not mask the losses.
But, it makes all the difference when you go begging to Congress for your annual subsidy!
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