Philly Amtrak Fan I like the LD system. I've taken Amtrak from Philly to California 3 times the past 20 years. But there are some worthless trains that travel hundreds of miles through the middle of nowhere. If they were replaced with trains that served more people the LD system would be more popular.
I like the LD system. I've taken Amtrak from Philly to California 3 times the past 20 years. But there are some worthless trains that travel hundreds of miles through the middle of nowhere. If they were replaced with trains that served more people the LD system would be more popular.
Just out of curiosity, which are those "worthless" LD lines?
Any Amtrak train traveling "hundreds of miles through the middle of nowhere" would at first glance seem to refer to one or more of these: The Sunset Limited, the Southwest Chief, the California Zephyr, the Empire Builder. Certainly it can't refer to any LD train east of the Mississippi, or any of the West Coast trains.
I've traveled Chicago-LA on the Texas Eagle/Sunset Limited and LA-Chicago on the Southwest Chief and while there are stretches of magnificent open space and mountains, it's not fair to say there's hundreds of miles of nothing. People got on and off at every station along the way, often many more than I thought would be traveling to a station I barely knew existed prior to my trip.
I've only traveled Osceola, IA-Denver on the California Zephyr, but it too was well frequented. Driving along I-80 Omaha - Denver seemingly passes a whole lot of nothing, but there are still towns and people out there.
This is myopia at its finest: the plaintive plea of a big city dweller who does not understand that this country extends all the way to the Pacific Ocean and does not end at the Hudson River. Just because his own needs are satisfied by the short distance trains, does not mean his fellow citizens in less populous States should go without rail transportation service. He needs to go back to school and learn that living in a Society means the needs of all citizens must be met --- not just those relatively few who happen to live in the big cities of the East.
Tom
NKP guy Some points I'd suggest as a reply to the City Journal article: 5. People on the East Coast need to support Long Distance trains so people in Ohio and elsewhere will give a damn about trains that serve only the NEC. Capice?
Some points I'd suggest as a reply to the City Journal article:
5. People on the East Coast need to support Long Distance trains so people in Ohio and elsewhere will give a damn about trains that serve only the NEC.
Capice?
Give us in Philly a direct train to Chicago (and no the Cardinal which takes forever) and we might ride it.
The author of the article in 2010
+2
ps - Where are these under-utilized LD trains the witless wonder babbles-on about? ... and I assume this sheltered clown has never been west of the Alleghenies?
+1
1. Desiring, funding, and operating a national long distance network of Amtrak trains is most certainly not quixotic as far as their customers are concerned, and hasn't been for over 45 years.
2. There will be no national support in Congress from any state outside the NEC to support Amtrak whatsoever. Why would they? How would Congressmen justifty their continued support?
3. Therefore the proposed death of the LD trains will lead directly to the death of Amtrak.
4. Passengers on whatever trains remain in the NEC will pay dramatically higher fares; are NJT and MetroNorth prepared to operate and maintain Penn Station, the Hell Gate and Portal bridges, to say nothing of paying for the new sub-Hudson tunnels?
Here’s the reality that a New York representative like Schumer should certainly understand. The safety and convenience of passengers on the heavily traveled Northeast Corridor of Amtrak, including NJ Transit and Long Island Rail Road commuters who ride on trains using Amtrak infrastructure, are being sacrificed for the quixotic notion of maintaining a long-distance national rail system. That system, which includes many lightly traveled lines, has drained Amtrak of its resources for years, sending hundreds of millions of dollars in profits that Amtrak actually earns in the Northeast Corridor to other areas of the country and requiring the train system to go to Congress when it needs money for additional infrastructure investment.
https://www.city-journal.org/html/rails-again-and-again-15142.html
An article from the City Journal on ending long distance passenger trains to concentrate resources on the Northeast Corridor.
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