What to meet more typical Canadians riding on the Canadian? Step into the long distance coaches, right this way gentlemen and ladies.....
Interesting that the price differential is even greater but difference in level of service less!
I think you will find that the overall per passenger subsidy is approximately equal for Via and Amtrak. The subsidy per passenger being greater in VIA's corridor trains and less in their long distance trains. But you will also find that the subsidy for VIA in total per capita citizen of Canada is about twice that of Amtrak per capita citizen of the USA. Why:
Because the average Canadian's recognition of the value of the trains he doesn't use is recognized more by the politicians than the average USA citizen's recognition of the value of the trains he doesn't use is recognized.
Canada's political elite has been educated to the tremendous value of Canada's long distance trains for tourism. Someone should tackle the leading Presidential Candidates on this issue and to just walk away from this effort with the statement "I won't vote" or "Let's start a Third Party" is a copout. Phil Hastings, are you listening?
And the Sunset should be repaired, not scrapped!
Paul Milenkovic wrote: IF THE CANADIANS CAN DO IT SO CAN THE USA!Here I agree with you 100 percent that Amtrak should and can emulate what Canada is doing.They operate on a yet smaller subsidy budget. They concentrate on the Montreal-Toronto corridor (think NEC), some service out to the Maritime Provinces (think perhaps Empire Corridor or the California trains), and they concentrate on that one LD train.They operate that one LD train with Heritage Fleet equipment (a lot bought from Amtrak) and F40s. They vary the length of the consists greatly to meet summer demand. From reports of people who have ridden it, they provide a high level of service and charge fares comeasurate with a luxury service.Were Amtrak to let go of the Sunset and concentrate the resources on the Empire Builder, whatever they call the California Zephyr, and the Southwest Chief, we would be following the Canadian model. But the advocacy community has visions of the glory of the passenger network from the 1920s and can't let go of anything (Three Rivers, now the Sunset) and we may end up with nothing instead of the Canadian-type system (NEC, state corridors, showcase LD trains).
IF THE CANADIANS CAN DO IT SO CAN THE USA!
Here I agree with you 100 percent that Amtrak should and can emulate what Canada is doing.
They operate on a yet smaller subsidy budget. They concentrate on the Montreal-Toronto corridor (think NEC), some service out to the Maritime Provinces (think perhaps Empire Corridor or the California trains), and they concentrate on that one LD train.
They operate that one LD train with Heritage Fleet equipment (a lot bought from Amtrak) and F40s. They vary the length of the consists greatly to meet summer demand. From reports of people who have ridden it, they provide a high level of service and charge fares comeasurate with a luxury service.
Were Amtrak to let go of the Sunset and concentrate the resources on the Empire Builder, whatever they call the California Zephyr, and the Southwest Chief, we would be following the Canadian model. But the advocacy community has visions of the glory of the passenger network from the 1920s and can't let go of anything (Three Rivers, now the Sunset) and we may end up with nothing instead of the Canadian-type system (NEC, state corridors, showcase LD trains).
SO agree with you! And I should note that VIA's tiny (even proportionately it's small) Canadian fed'l-government assistance is every bit as politicized as Amtrak's, if not more so.
I've ridden on Amtrak at fairly regular intervals since the mid-seventies but use it pretty much just when it is clearly the superior mode of travel and none other comes close, at least none that I know of. I wrote more below but it became such a rant -- albeit a focused rant -- that I'm starting a new thread on this board called, "Is it just me, or . . . ?"
Paul Milenkovic wrote:They operate that one LD train with Heritage Fleet equipment (a lot bought from Amtrak) and F40s. They vary the length of the consists greatly to meet summer demand. From reports of people who have ridden it, they provide a high level of service and charge fares comeasurate with a luxury service.
I'd even go one step farther.
I'd restructure the eastern LD trains and Coast Starlight around corridors such that they would become bridge-the-gap trains. For example, if you did the Ohio Hub and enhanced Empire Service, the Lake Shore would be the bridge between the two corridors. The LD trains would only have to bear their incremental cost to operate. Most of their route's fixed costs would be born by the corridor.
-Don (Random stuff, mostly about trains - what else? http://blerfblog.blogspot.com/)
If GM "killed the electric car", what am I doing standing next to an EV-1, a half a block from the WSOR tracks?
It would be a great idea but only if Amtrak has nothing to do with it.
People paying those kind of bucks certainly do not want surly staff and dirty cars and plastic food.
What equipment would they use they don't have enough now. The Superliners are all in use likewise any other decent equipment, and they have now retired the last of the Samta Fe Hi-level coaches.
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