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AMTRAK, LONG-DISTANCE TRAINS, AND CONGRESSIONAL FUNDING

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<p>[quote user="V.Payne"]</p> <p><span style="font-family:times new roman,times;">So you can't make a 500 mile trip on a 1000 mile route. Why is that? <br /></span></p> <div><span style="font-family:times new roman,times;"><strong>Interconnected Corridors</strong> Def: An operational plan in which trip origin and destination pairs of multiple individual travelers are aggregated at peak times of travel and overlap, utilizing vehicles traveling through Metropolitan Statistical Areas; where adjoining Corridors might otherwise be defined to end, eliminating the disincentive of transferring vehicles. Syn: Long Distance Route or Through Corridors</span></div> <div><span style="font-family:times new roman,times;"><br /></span></div> <div><span style="font-family:times new roman,times;"><strong>Corridors</strong> Def: A route path that is a numerical simplification used for modeling demand using data known about  Metropolitan Statistical Areas for input as developed for highway planning with the assumption that continuing and feeder routes that are not part of the model exist. Comparisons between modes using this simplification present many problems in reality. Syn: Lane Expansion Analysis.</span></div> <div><span style="font-family:times new roman,times;"><br /></span></div> <div><span style="font-family:times new roman,times;">-------</span></div> <div><br /> <div><span style="font-family:times new roman,times;">Everybody recognizes we need Avoidable Cost numbers, see the TBD* blanks below from PRIIA reports in 2011.</span></div> <div><span style="font-family:times new roman,times;"><a href="http://i1346.photobucket.com/albums/p698/VPayne1/TBD_zps38f50797.gif"><img border="0" alt=" " src="http://i1346.photobucket.com/albums/p698/VPayne1/TBD_zps38f50797.gif" /></a></span></div> <div><span style="font-family:times new roman,times;">You know, honestly I might get a bit annoyed as a member of Congress and pull a Central Florida, if Amtrak couldn’t provide what we are talking about here, <b>Short-Term and Long-Term Avoidable Operating Costs</b>. The TBD* thing is a little old now in 2013 and just reporting the <b>Fully Allocated </b>numbers doesn’t help make decisions about what to keep.</span></div> <div><span style="font-family:times new roman,times;"><br /></span></div> <div><span style="font-family:times new roman,times;">So piecing together the <b>TBD*</b> metrics myself, for 2011 Long-Run Avoidable Operating Costs for the Crescent I get $41.17 + $1.24 + $8.16 = $50.57 Million or $50.32 a Trainmile, about $5 more than the 1968 ICC report, but I took current replacement values for the depreciation numbers, whereas the ICC report was a book value depreciation near the end of asset life.</span></div> <div><span style="font-family:times new roman,times;"><br /></span></div> <div><span style="font-family:times new roman,times;">I suspect the reality is that Amtrak should be more efficient given the current service type and crew size, but isn’t due to the pot-o’-money effect. I don’t blame them, as they are living year-to-year and wages and fuel have gone up. This is why I suggest the way to drive efficiency and volume is a cross-subsidy that is variable with passenger miles, allowing for equipment investment as needed without defending it during Congressional appropriations. </span>[/quote]</div> </div> <div></div> <div>Without access to Amtrak's books it is impossible to come up with an accurate number for the variable and fixed costs that could be eliminated by discontinuing the Crescent and/or any or all of the long distance trains. </div> <div></div> <div>The process of determining the variable costs is relatively easy. It can be time consuming to the extent that it has to be done manually.  The fixed costs are more complex, because one has to separate out the fixed costs that can be eliminated relatively quickly and the fixed costs that cannot be eliminated. They have to be allocated over the remaining units of service.  Cost accountants know how to do this.</div> <div></div> <div>Amtrak claims that many of the allocated costs associated with the long distance trains could not be eliminated.  They offer no proof of this assertion.  Unlike Amtrak, which is a government agency, a competitive business would get rid of most of the residual costs.  If it is discontinuing a business line, it has to get rid of the residuals if it is to survive.  </div> <div></div> <div>I suggest you write your thoughts in the space provided as opposed to pasting them from another source.  It causes a formatting problem for respondents.  And the print size is difficult to read. This may be the reason the paragraphs in my response have run together.  They are spaced correctly in edit mode, but the spacing is eliminated when they are posted.</div>
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