A Critique of the SOUTHWEST CHIEF bus-bridge plan

[CMStPnP]

BaltACD

Anderson is on a train killing path - nothing more and nothing less - using any available excuse, real or imagined.

I think he is still trying to preserve the National LD Network.   Understand his concern over this route as one train derailment on this little used track section due to washout or some other cause......will cost Amtrak probably several times what it's annual operating subsidy is for the train.     

If that is his real concern then just yank the plug on the train West of KC or reroute via Newton and OKC to DFW and yank the Texas Eagle / Heartland Flyer both.

[BaltACD]

Anderson is on a train killing path - nothing more and nothing less - using any available excuse, real or imagined.

[CMStPnP]

Also, the whole busses and stub ended trains thing is one of the dumbest proposals I have seen.    So many other much cheaper options where the passengers stay on the train and the train safely operates over track once a day. 

In the most draconian scenario, just discontinue the train West of Kansas City and use the extra equipment elsewhere.  

[Alan Follett]

There is absolutely nothing in this proposal that should lead to anything less than the expulsion of Anderson in disgrace.

[Convicted One]

Railvt

But as the train averages 150-200 passengers on-board daily, Amtrak will need 3-5 buses each way per day.

I would expect the ridership to dwindle down significantly after the "bus bridge" plan is implemented. Amtak likely is depending upon that, as well.

[Railvt]

As forum readers probably know Amtrak has proposed to replace the SOUTHWEST CHIEF from Dodge City, KS (or in a slightly less horrific variant from La Junta, CO) to Albuquerque, NM with a "bus-bridge" for 550 miles effective January 1, 2019. This is being blamed on the fact that the BNSF/former Santa Fe mainline over Raton and Glorietta Passes lacks Positive Train Control (PTC). But except for 80 miles in the Rail Runner commuter district west of Lamy to Isleta, NM the line is legally exempt from the PTC requirement. In the Rail Runner segment an extension to 2020 is expected to b e ok'd well before December 31, 2018. But even if this were denied the "bus bridge" would need to be barely 80 miles from Lamy, NM through Albuquerque to either Belen or Isleta, NM.

The article below reflects my critique of this plan in much greater detail. This will appear in the "Callboy" magazine of the Mass Bay RRE next month and is also posted on multiple rail-focused Facebook groups and to the sites of newspapers along the SW CHIEF route.

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This article is a response to an Amtrak Power Point slide show, presented by Amtrak to the Kansas, Colorado and New Mexico Congressional delegations. It showed Amtrak's plan to replace through Chicago-Albuquerque-Los Angeles SOUTHWEST CHIEF train service with a stub train from Chicago to either Dodge City, KS or La Junta, CO; then a bus for up to 550 miles from Dodge City to Albuquerque; finally connecting to another stub train from Albuquerque to Los Angeles. As noted below the bus ride will probably mean sitting up overnight!

In my personal view we have been misled by Amtrak, which only last month promised the Rail Passengers Association (NARP) that it had no plans to cut any national network services. I am an RPA Vice Chair, although these views are my own. We have been misdirected by Amtrak management. But more importantly they’ve done the same to all their supporters in Kansas, Colorado and New Mexico, indeed throughout the West. The Amtrak claim that a 550 mile "bus bridge" preserves rail service is a transparent falsehood.

This is the test case for Amtrak in trying to create a kind of "Balkan Track"--a train here and train there--but services isolated and of only local use. Since the Amtrak law requires full state support of all routes under 750 milers, it's easy to understand that such a disconnected network will never survive. Even the Northeast Corridor would wither if Amtrak served only the east coast, a few local lines in the Midwest and California, Oregon and Washington. Such a "network" would serve less than half the states and would never win a funding vote in Congress.

Amtrak’s assurances for the continuation of trains like the EMPIRE BUILDER and the CALIFORNIA ZEPHYR can no longer be taken as true either. If the SOUTHWEST CHIEF must go because of largely PTC (Positive Train Control) exempt track, the others will follow, as they all have this problem on at least a few route segments. Already reliable sources confirm that Amtrak has asked the Union Pacific for costs to reroute the CZ thru Wyoming west of Denver. This would eliminate the stunning crossing of the Colorado Rockies by day, which is the great draw of the route. Yet this reroute bypasses tracks that are legally PTC exempt, which means Amtrak is not prohibited from running there. This is the situation on the great majority of the SW CHIEF line as well.

The former Santa Fe RR mainline used by the SW CHIEF in the Rail Runner district is already equipped with a superb "heritage" safety system, automatic train stop. Already this pre-World War II system will stop any train that passes a block signal in violation of a green light or exceeds the speed limit. For over 200 miles west from Trinidad, CO to Lamy, NM the SW CHIEF is the sole train on this line. The Raton Pass route is legally PTC exempt due to low volumes of both freight and passenger traffic except in the Rail Runner district, yet Amtrak is falsely blaming the absence of PTC for removing 550 miles of service from Dodge City to Albuquerque. The Rail Runner is moving to complete PTC and should get an extension to 2020, yet Amtrak disingenuously uses this as an excuse to end service!

Amtrak's own refusal to honor its promise to provide a $3,000,000 match to the otherwise successful Tiger Nine Grant, to release $19,000,000 in Federal, state and local funding and $3,000,000 from BNSF ($25,000,000 total!), is the core issue here. Amtrak claims it needs a ten-year commitment to maintain the line, yet it knows very well BNSF has promised to cover costs for 79mph operation for 20 years when all jointed rail is replaced by welded rail. This of course is the central project to be addressed in the frozen grant. Amtrak knows full well that the Federal government never makes ten-year funding guarantees, but BNSF has publicly restated its promise within the last week. 

The incredibly long SW CHIEF bus bridge will obviously not work, and Amtrak knows that very well. Can they possibly believe that a bus crossing two Rocky Mountain passes (particularly in the winter) is safer than a riding the single train each day on a CTC equipped mainline? If they run the stub trains on a daylight schedule, as they suggest in the slides shown to the Congressional delegation, then the bus bridge would be an overnight trip! And this is very likely, as they could then eliminate diner and sleeper service on the line, if the trains ran only by day/evening.

The likely cost for a single 46 passenger bus in each direction will be $1200-1500 per day, each way, or no less than $876,000 per year, plus the cost of driver rooms. The trip is likely to exceed the Hours in Service Law for drivers in a 24-hour period, so an extra driver will be needed each way. But as the train averages 150-200 passengers on-board daily, Amtrak will need 3-5 buses each way per day. All these expenses will be added to the basic bus charter cost.

They think they may save $3,000,000 in maintenance costs annually by not continuing the train over the Raton Pass line, but the substitute buses could cost even more. Of course, ridership will be quickly devastated by the inconvenience and discomfort of the bus bridge. Amtrak knows this too and is clearly counting on it to justify a complete end to service west of Kansas City. Few passengers will accept the inconvenience and discomfort of an 11-12 hour/550-mile bus ride in the middle of their train trip!

The rump day trains would effectively connect to nothing. To get from Los Angeles to Albuquerque by day means leaving Los Angeles at six to seven AM at the latest, before any connections could arrive. Westbound arrivals would be after ten at night. The same would happen to a purported day train from Chicago to either Dodge City or La Junta. Indeed, to La Junta all by day/evening from Chicago is impossible.

And why these points, rather than Lamy, if PTC is the issue? The line is exempt as noted from the PTC requirement except in the roughly 80 miles served by the Rail Runner commuter line. At most the bus bridge would only be needed from Lamy thru Albuquerque to Belen, NM (or better, Isleta, NM, if a platform was rebuilt there--80 miles total) if the Rail Runner's extension request is denied. This would be a 90-120-minute bus ride--not 11-12 hours (or even the 8 hours for the shorter Albuquerque--La Junta option).

We need to go beyond mere opposition to calling out the dishonesty underlying Amtrak’s failure to honor its promises on the Tiger Grant, and the impossibility of the so-called bus-substitute plan of working as purported.

A real truth is in the last slide in the Amtrak Congressional presentation. This is really an attempt to cost shift. Amtrak claims to favor new trains in Colorado, Kansas, and Oklahoma in lieu of the SW CHIEF. But it knows perfectly well these trains will never run. Services like the suggested "Front Range Corridor" from Cheyenne, WY to Pueblo, CO would require 100% state support, as would a new Chicago to KC mini Corridor. More improbably, these new services would require multi-state compacts. This simply will not happen. Just last month the long planned New Orleans-Mobile service restoration collapsed when Mississippi and Alabama refused to contribute to the costs. Amtrak knows this. But its real plan is to transfer as much as possible of its costs to the states.

If the SW CHIEF dies it will not be replaced, rather neglect of maintenance between La Junta to Albuquerque will guarantee it won’t return, even after the Rail Runner gets its PTC going. I applaud the opposition to this plan by the Kansas, Colorado and New Mexico Congressional members on both sides of the aisle.

 

If Amtrak pulls this off it will itself ultimately die, and not only trains 3 and 4, as it will never win a national appropriation without a national network. This cannot be allowed to happen. The SW CHIEF is the 5th most heavily used long-distance train in the United States. It served over 363,000 passengers in FY 2017. This travesty of a plan will devastate ridership, as Amtrak very well knows.

 

We need legislative language specifically requiring Amtrak to continue service on this and any other national network routes and we need a directive to Amtrak to honor its promise to provide its match to release the Tiger Nine grant. It is precisely that funding which addresses Amtrak’s purported concern for the long-term operation of the SW CHIEF line. This is an existential crisis for supporters of Amtrak as a national carrier.

Carl Fowler

Mr. Fowler is the retired President of Rail Travel Center. He organized and led tours on the Amtrak national network trains for 35 years, including many programs on the SW CHIEF route. The views expressed are his own.