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Amtrak Breaks Even in 2022
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<p>[quote user="jrbernier"]</p> <p> Your plan may just work. The problems are:</p> <ul> <li>Outsourcing - You wind up at the mercy of the bidders. If you ask for a performance standard, you will also have to give a performance bonus for meeting/exceeding the standard. </li> <li>On-Line tickets - This is not a commuter operation, and Amtrak already has on-line ticketing. Doing an 'airline' penalty for buying tickets elsewhere just irritates the customers.</li> <li>Rope off the plaforms access - Does the NEC not have controlled access to the platforms at this point?</li> <li>Two employees operating the train - I hope there are not more than two cars in the train, the conductor will be very busy.</li> </ul> <p style="padding:0;margin:0;"></p> <ul> <li>Try to get rid of the long distance trains(not a political reality)</li> <li>The NEC electrical infrastructure - That needs to be completely replaced - and the saved money is not even close to paying for it. I do not think Amtrak has a real good price on what this is going to cost.</li> </ul> <p> I have a soft spot for the Empire Builder, and when riding it across North Dakota & Montana, one can see/feel the closeness of the small towns to the train. But the reality is that it will never pay it's way.</p> <p>Jim [/quote]</p> <p>You have raised some good points.</p> <p>Frankly, I don't expect Amtrak will be much different in 2022 from what it is today unless the United States has a major financial crisis. I have an additional thought on two of the points that you raised.</p> <p>BART runs from the San Francisco Airport to the Oakland Airport, for example, as well as longer end point to end point distances. The distance is not as great as the New York to Washington segment of the NEC, but the concept is the same. Moving people by rail. BART does it with six to eight car trains. They have a driver and a conductor. Tickets are validated automatically when a wannabe passengers enters the station platform, which is secured, and they are validated again at the destination. There is no ticket taking on the train. There is no reason, other than tradition, why tickets have to lifted on a New York to Washington train.</p> <p>Do corridors need to be capable of supporting 160 mph speeds? Or could they get by with less? And if so would that mean lower capital costs? Maybe the answer is not top speeds to rival those of the Europeans, Japanese, etc., but rather higher sustained speeds, say 125 mph, over a greater percentage of the route. </p> <p>Some folks say that we have to emulate overseas systems. I disagree. We need a system that we can afford and will offer a reasonably competitive service over 200 to 300 miles. We have that now in the NEC. </p>
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