TRAINS MAG. and Amtrak

[Anonymous]

Wrong again, I see. Amtrak passengers buy a ticket, from which Amtrak pays the railroads for right of way on their track. Since the goverment does not own the track, most of it anyway, why should Amtraks passengers pay a tax to support a non government owned railroad track?

Now, if the government build a new high speed rail network along new right of ways, then the Amtrak's passengers should pay a tax reflected in their ticket.

You see, Amtrak's passengers are paying their way to ride the rails........

[Anonymous]

How close do you live to a large airport, with at least a Boeing 737 service? The feds spent some $11 billion last year for new terminals and runways, and Amtrak cannot even get $55 million to repair much needed damaged cars, cars that have been damaged since the Arizona derailment several years ago.......

[Anonymous]

HOW DOES ANYONE EXPECT A PASSENGER RAILROAD TO TURN A PROFIT WITH AGEING CARS AND SLOW TRAINS?

Most of the Superliners are over 30 years old, the trains on the east coast except for the Viewliner sleepers and Acela Express are even older.....

All of you need to take a ride on a high speed train in France, Italy, Spain, or Germany to see what a railroad could be! It is fun to blitz the road traffic on the autobahns traveling at 186 mph. It is even more fun when you beat your competitor to another city riding the trains when the competitor flew....

[Anonymous]

I get three weeks of vacation a year, but I like to ride Amtrak for a week. Nothing like riding the rails to see what makes all of these small towns tink. Along the railroad right of way are most of the industries and agriculture structures which made these small towns economically tick.....

Amtraks cars are clean, as clean as any airliner, and the food is great! One can rest very well, read a book, and enjoy the solitude of his sleeper accomadation, or mix socially in the Diner and Lounge cars....

While one can see all of this from the highways, one does not get any rest at all driving an automobile......

[Anonymous]

Have you seen the high speed rail network's map. It might not be long before the track takes off from Tulsa to Kansas CIty.....THROUGH SE KANSAS! A high speed railroad through Kansas? You gotta be kidding!

[mnwestern]

Dear Soo: I understand the work thing. I put in my 45-50 hours per week whether I want to or not. But the point is that Trains, and most other railfan and model railroad magazines rely on submissions for a lot of their content. Their limited staff can't possibly cover everything going on in the world of railroading.I've sent in submissions, not always used, but some have been. These forums are always long on complaining, short on doing anything to help the situation.

[Anonymous]

Well put Terry, lets keep Trains the way it is. I think that some of have forgotten that this is just a hobby, have some fun with it. If Trains isn't your cup of tea, don't buy it.

[Anonymous]

Sorry to put a "damper" on things folks, but Amtrak is nothing more than a bad joke. Sure, you can still ride the rails, (I do on occasion), but the last time I took Amtrak on a long trip, it was a nightmare! I lost 2 days out of a one week vacation to New Orleans due to Amtrak screw-ups. First, I missed my connection in Chicago by about 30 minutes, because of two "emergency applications of the brakes", Amtrak would not hold the "City of New Orleans" for connecting passengers, instead gave me a voucher for a hotel room in Chicago. There was one day lost. The next day, ALL the stranded travellers, which by the way, had "reserved accommodations" on the previous day's train, were forced onto a short consist train. Damned near "standing-room-only"!
But, the "fun" had only just begun. Upon arrival in Memphis Tenn., we were delayed another 6 or 7n hours because of an ice storm in Mississippi. To make a long story short, "Amtrak" cost me 2 days of "Mardi-Gras" that I had been planning on for a year. What consolation did I recieve?, I was subjected to a hostile on-board staff, who, were, undoubtedly as upset as I was over the delay, but took it out on the passengers. All I can say about Amtrak is "Never again".
Todd C.

[Anonymous]

Kalmbach has started the Classic Trains magazine which is a great publication which does cover the old passenger trains of the Illinois Central, Santa Fe, NYC, etc. which I am interested in. I think Trains should start an Amtrak and transit magazine on current passenger operations which I am not interested in. The readers in the Northeast and California and anyone else interested could buy this magazine. The current Trains is trying to cover too many subjects.
The federal government may take care of this problem in the meantime by cutting Amtrak back to a transit operation which I definitely agree with.

[Paul3]

>All I can say about Amtrak is "Never again".

Todd, if you had driven, had a breakdown and lost the same two days, would you never drive your car again? If the same ice storm had grounded your plane, and you lost a day, would you never fly again? But Amtrak gets delayed (usually not by their own making) by clogged freight roads or bad weather, and it's "Amtrak: Never Again!"

We all have travel horror stories of all modes (my friend's mom was flying from London to Boston, and got diverted to Chicago for a few days), but to never travel by Amtrak again because of one bad trip is a little extreme, don't you think?

BTW, how does "6 or 7" hours equal on whole day? You lost 24 hours in Chicago, but were there more delays than the 6 or 7 hours the ice storm caused? After all, you are putting Amtrak on the hook for 2 whole days of missed Mardi Gras.

Also, how was the trip back?

Paul A. Cutler III
******************
"No, no. If you shoot him, you'll just make him mad." - the Waco Kid
******************

[mnwestern]

Todd,
All you missed at Mardi Gras was two days of Hurricanes (the drink), bare bodies on the balconies and pick pockets by the score. Seems like God was trying to tell you something.

[mnwestern]

And do you know what? Those great European trains don't turn a profit either. They are subsidized just like highways (and you thought truckers covered all the costs! They don't come close to covering the damage they do to highways.

In fact, if not for trucks, highways would last decades longer) or airports (don't believe airlines cover all the costs of building and maintaining airports or paying for air traffic control.)

What's with this fixation on having Amtrak show a profit? It is a public utility like sewers, water, police protection, fire protection, city streets, and parks. They don't show a profit either, yet they are considered essential to the vitality of a community, state, nation.

A national passenger rail network is vital to this country. What, you people weren't paying attention in the days after 9/11 when only the trains were moving (buses shutdown too, due to our homegrown wackos attacking with knives)?

The next time you travel by Amtrak, check around you at the other passengers traveling. Besides railfans like us, Amtrak is sometimes the only transportation option for people such as the elderly who can fly for health reasons or cost, minorities who can afford airline tickets, students, youth groups such as Scouts, church groups, etc. who can only travel to national gatherings by rail because of cost, etc.

For many communities, Amtrak is the only public transportation choice. Have you ever tried to catch a major airline flight out of Williston, N.D.. Havre or Whitefish, Mont.?

Anyone who thinks the long distance lines cause Amtrak's problems aren't listening. All lines, including the NE corridor and California, lose money. Actually, by some measures, the long distance lines are better bargains. They don't have the infrastructure costs like the NE.

And don't forget, Amtrak runs or controls the rails of many of the busiest commuter lines. So if it shuts down, hundreds of thousands of commuters will be walking, packing the freeways or filling the buses later this week.

[Anonymous]

First off to say let the railroads take the trains back> DREAM ON. Don't you remember why AMTRAK was formed.
As long as the goverment pays for Aor Traffic Controlers, Taxpayer subsidized airports, how can trains be expected to operate in the black or even close to breaking even.
I just retired after 43 years total railroad service and I would never tell my children, grand children or friends to hire out on the railroads of today.

If management had to operate under same rules and regulations today as 30 or 40 years ago they could not do it.
I hired out on the Great Northern and than worked the last 34 years for the Chicago Northwestern/Union Pacific.
It was no as fun as most of the fellow employees said for the last 15 years.

[Anonymous]

They DID give you a hotel voucher.

To have a short consist when there are large numbers of passengers is, I admit, not good planning. But, I suppose, since they have no money to repair coaches, then standing may be the norm.

The weather is out of Amtrak's (and any other railroads) hands.

Just a little piece of info for you: Amtrak has asked for $1.2 billion dollars for next year, and people have baulked. Here in the UK, our West Coast Route Modernisation (WCRM) is around $12-14 billion alone, and still growing!!! So, I don't think $1.2 billion for a 22 000 mile ystem is a lot.

Jason.

[Anonymous]

Very true, the railroads of today would be incapable of operating passenger trains like they were operated years ago. It is difficult to get a freight over the rails let alone keeeping a tight schedule for a passenger train. Much of the money that should have gone into capital improvements has gone into paying for overpriced mergers. The rails missed a golden opportunity in the last 20 years, instead of applying their new prosperity to the physical plant expansion that should have taken place, they plowed it into financing the merger movement and are now deeply mortgaged to the investment banks. this debt burden will take years to pay off and in the meantime it has been hard to find the dollars to increase capacity on key corriders where it is most needed.
I can remember the same thing happening to REA in the 1960s, the railroads had a lock on the express business and let it all slip away to UPS and Federal Express. Without a fight.

[Anonymous]

One comment, this forum is a good illustration of the reason Trains has lots of passenger train coverage. People enjoy talking about them, good or bad, they are news.

[Modelcar]

We railroad fans have various interests in the business....I for one, like all aspects of it including Passenger rail efforts and operations, new and old...especially as it happens here in this country. I'd rather not have to buy another magazine to get that side of it. I've been purchasing Trains type magazines since the '40s for all of rail action and would like to see it continue to cover it all. I am one that would rather have a National Passenger system...better than what we have today and not the "transit" type operation suggested. We all have our likes and dislikes, and these are mine.

QM

[Modelcar]

In fact, I'd like to see Trains feature Passenger operations several times a year in their magazine. This months [August], article of the L A Union Station is really great...Would like to see more features similar to this. It just happens to be interesting to me and I suspect a lot of other rail fans.

QM

[Anonymous]

I would like to see an comprehensive articles on passenger rail also, and information on what is going on around the globe. Obviously there is plenty of interest in passenger rail to continue covering it, judging by the response to this and other threads on this board.

[Anonymous]

Actually, if we wanted to upgrade 6,000 miles of our track to 100 mph, it would cost $59 billion, and to 150 mph, it would cost $120 billion. Two good web sites to check on the goings of high speed rail is at
http://o-keating.com/hsr and at
http://www.railway-technology.com

I noticed that Virgin airlines is involved with your west coast main line, which is 4 tracks, the outer two for freight, the inner two for high speed passenger trains, the passenger trains using the freight track to access the depots and stations.

In America, especially west of the Mississippi River, double rail would be nice.

How about this for a dream corridor. The Trans Texas Corridor is in the works for the next half century, see its 98 page report at
http://www.dot.state.tx.us/ttc/ttc_report_full.pdf

[Anonymous]

Times change, people change, editors and columnists change and or move on. I have been reading Trains, Railfan, and other mags for more years than I care to remember, but I still enjoy them all. I live where UP and BNSF (aka known here as Frisco and MOP) cross. No passenger train but we sure could use one. Yes, I am a firm believer in a national rail passenger system. We need a program like the interstate highway to build it, and the r-o-r is already in place. And if as much of your tax money was spent on it as has been spent on highways, airports, waterways and their related systems, we could have a passenger system here that would out do all the foreign ones. And with the Marshall Plan and the rest of all the so-called foriegn aid we've given to the countries we whipped in WW11, it's no wonder they have the systems they do.

[Anonymous]

You are absolutly correct, in all you say.

[Anonymous]

I just hope the DME gets started on the new PRB line of theirs. Maybe they'll give Uncle Pete a little competion? :-))

[Anonymous]

And those "user" fees don't begin to pay for the airports, highways and waterways!

[Anonymous]

Nope, not much. Contractor has 57 days from start to finish repair. Supposed to be done in August. Little towns traffic is detoured thru will be glad when completed as they are losing money. Seems people don't want to fight the 18 wheelers for space.

[Anonymous]

In 1905 we did'nt have the roads we now have. In fact, until Ike got the interstate highway system bill passed, most roads were 2 lane and very narrow. Also, in 1905 there were more horse drawn vehicles on our roads than gas engined. It wasn't until after WW11 that the auto and airplane took over as our main means of transport. That is what killed the passenger trains profitability.

[Anonymous]

In 1905 we did'nt have the roads we now have. In fact, until Ike got the interstate highway system bill passed, most roads were 2 lane and very narrow. Also, in 1905 there were more horse drawn vehicles on our roads than gas engined. It wasn't until after WW11 that the auto and airplane took over as our main means of transport. That is what killed the passenger trains profitability.

[Anonymous]

OOPs!

[Anonymous]

Well, since the U.S.Army helped in construction of the system in the early 1900's, they should be have some similiarties

[Anonymous]

Yeah, a lot of us okies would love to go some place, like St Louis, Chicago, etc and not have to waste hours getting to and from the airports, where you have to spend more hours at security checkpoints.