Amtrak fighting to keep operating the Hoosier State

[n012944]

http://www.ibj.com/amtrak-angles-to-keep-control-of-hoosier-state-route/PARAMS/article/49760?utm_source=&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=2014-10-01

 

The improvments should have been done a long time ago.  It is sad that it Amtrak waited until the last minute to put them in place.

[oltmannd]

n012944

The improvments should have been done a long time ago.  It is sad that it Amtrak waited until the last minute to put them in place.

Exactly.  Amtrak generally doesn't move unless prodded from the outside.  It's not their fault, really.  It's how they were raised.

[Dakguy201]

I find it highly satisfactory that Amtrak's feet are being held to the fire by Indiana.  Perhaps other states, such as Illinois, should take a lesson here. 

[D.Carleton]

Trust me, there are a lot of States watching this very closely.

[krtraveler]

And the plot thickens...

http://www.jconline.com/story/opinion/2014/10/09/amtrak-ceo-decide-want-hoosier-state/16976869/

Under the model being contemplated for the Hoosier State by INDOT, payments to Amtrak will also be needed for indemnification to use our stations in Indiana and Illinois.

Ah, yes, the dreaded liability issue. This smells like SunRail all over again--only on a grander scale. What makes Boardman think that CorrCap wouldn't be able to overcome the liability insurance issue? If he's banking on it to keep contracts with the states, then he's barking up the wrong tree because it'll only take one state to dump Amtrak before others strongly consider doing the same. 

Operating passenger rail service is no small task, especially for the inexperienced. Recently, a private operator providing trains in New Mexico lasted only four months before failing — on a route much shorter and less complicated than the Hoosier State. 

 

He's citing an operator (X-Train) who has a pattern of unfulfilled promises as a reason for IN to retain Amtrak as the operator? The Santa Fe Southern is/was an excursion company--not an intercity operation. 

Boardman's resorting to scare tactics not only to keep the Hoosier State but to primarily prevent WA & OR from selecting someone else to run the Cascades--that's the real battle over the Section 209 provisions because what happens out west usually sets national trends.

I ask, where is Amtrak's plan to make the Hoosier daily? As a matter of fact, it was the CEO who blew a grand opportunity to make the Cardinal daily.

Suppose Boardman gets his wish and the Hoosier stays in Amtrak's hands, will he make the route daily and add more marketable frequencies, or will he then turn around and tell IN that another "feasibility study" will be required to change #850 & #851 from quadweekly to daily?

[D.Carleton]

krtraveler

Boardman's resorting to scare tactics not only to keep the Hoosier State but to primarily prevent WA & OR from selecting someone else to run the Cascades--that's the real battle over the Section 209 provisions because what happens out west usually sets national trends.

In the PNW the equipment is owned by the state and maintained by a third party, Talgo. Amtrak provides the operating crews and on board staff. You can find something similar in North Carolina. The proposed Hoosier State would follow these precedents with Amtrak providing the operating crews. Suddenly this is not enough for Amtrak.