quote:Originally posted by yukon11: An auto train from Chicago to Denver would be a a good way to access Yellowstone and other western vacation destinations.
Richard
I respectfully suggest you start saving to create a new Auto-Train Corporation. If the President gets his way through Congress for FY18, hang out the "Adios" drumheads on the LD runs.
The 218 and the 51 have bases to appease. They screwed up repealing Obamacare. The hard conservative base will send them packing if they don't get a Pyrrhic victory on something like the 2018 non-defense discretionary appropriations.
Posts: 1404 | Registered: Oct 2001
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Mark Singer is a passenger rail consultant based here in n Chicago. I believe I met him "somewhere along the way".
Best "take away" from the blog posting:
quote:. As the late Jim McClellan commented on an article of mine by personally communicating to me (06/23/15): “Amtrak has largely lived on its ability to work the politics of passenger service, rather than actually running a serious transportation company".
Otherwise, the article is just the "same old same old; disproportionate allocation of costs to the LD's, expansion of LD routes, enhancements to the travel experience (that training of Attendants to be "mixologists" really got me).
While I believe the Trump administration's proposed defunding of LD's.is going nowhere, I still think Mr. Moorman's "glue" comment is quite on mark regarding the LD's, as they are the catalyst for obtain Federal level funding for an essential Regional operation within the Northeast. While some may cry foul that any region other than the nine states comprising the NEC wanting service must pony up a substantial portion of the cost, that is simply the politics of the situation - and the existing LD system meets that need. The situation is quite analogous to the famous line of script from the movie "The Right Stuff"; "No Bucks, no Buck Rogers", or of course Mr. Pullman's 218+51+1.
I agree that Amtrak has learned over forty six years "the politics of passenger service", but further comments within the blog posting, such as "the inept Acela purchase" astound me. Even if the equipment needs Herculean efforts to "keep it running", how can any informed person hold that Acela has been other than a commercial success. What other product offered by Amtrak can command TWO DOLLARS A MILE as did a recent fare search NYP-WAS First $460 5PM departure. Because of the Acela, as well as added inconveniences of post 9/11 air travel, Amtrak has become "king of the castle" in the NY-Wash market. The brand is a household word in the Northeast, as is the term "Acela Corridor". We can only hope the present sets remain serviceable until the new "Aviella" sets are up and running, and that those sets represent quality manufacture, rather than, as I fear, some political "kit bash" (Upstate NY rail equipment is getting a bad name for itself of late).
What is always notable to me in any of the pro-LD articles, especially those calling for more routes and frequencies, is complete ignorance or omission of the additional burden the Class I roads would have to bear. Wouldn't it be great if the pro-LD advocates would accept that the investor owned Class I ROW's are there to generate a return to the investors and that such return comes solely from handling freight.
Finally, regarding additional routes to consider "Auto Train Service" as noted by both Mr. Singer and Richard, here is an earlier topic regarding such.
disclaimer: author holds Long position UNP within a "traditional" brokerage account
Posts: 9975 | From: Clarendon Hills, IL USA (BNSF Chicago Sub MP 18.71) | Registered: Apr 2002
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GBN: Given the Trump Administration, given how he took a scythe to the entire discretionary budget, I'm not sure my old adage of "the LD network supports the votes needed for the Corridor" applies right now.
The Majority has a bunch of issues to work through, and a bunch of preferred projects that have major funding lines. Think National Institutes of Health research. Think other agency research grant budgets.
The long distance line item of Amtrak may well get swept up in the "I can only fight for X, Y, and Z, this is not worth using political capital" decisionmaking Members of Congress will need to make.
Posts: 1404 | Registered: Oct 2001
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quote:Originally posted by PullmanCo: The long distance line item of Amtrak may well get swept up in the "I can only fight for X, Y, and Z, this is not worth using political capital" decisionmaking Members of Congress will need to make.
Don't know about that. Given the way the various regions voted, if the usual way of paying off your supporters with favors applies the area likely to end up with the short end of the stick will be the Northeast, particularly when it comes to big ticket capital items. They may think the have the representation needed to push it through anyway, and that might apply to the House, but when it comes to the Senate, forget about it.
Posts: 2808 | From: Olive Branch MS | Registered: Nov 2002
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The 535 need to commute to NY regularly for all the NYC fundraisers...
-------------------- The City of Saint Louis (UP, 1967) is still my standard for passenger operations Posts: 1404 | Registered: Oct 2001
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At this point, the continuing resolution runs out Sunday. Does anyone remember how the FY2013 failure of Congress to appropriate funds impacted Amtrak then?
-------------------- The City of Saint Louis (UP, 1967) is still my standard for passenger operations Posts: 1404 | Registered: Oct 2001
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I trust all aware that since Mr. Pullman's immediate posting, the House has passed legislation to leave the CR in place until FYE17. The Senate and the President are expected to go along resulting in enacted legislation.
But I do think it incumbent upon us here to recognize that anything left of the $1.4B or thereabouts need be directed to Penn Station infrastructure. Therefore, Mr Singer's dreams of training Attendants to be "mixologists" are just going to need be deferred.
Also, I continue to hold that LD routes should solely be evaluated on how much of Mr. Moorman's "glue" they contribute. If for some reason, the two biggest losers - Cardinal and Sunset, are contributing a disproportionate amount of "glue", they stay. Perhaps it's time to whack The Meteor, as that could be discontinued without the 180 Day Notice. Another economy coming to mind is splitting the Starlight back to the Cascade and the Daylight. Breaking that connection would enable elimination of Sleepers and Diners SF-LA and will restore the Daylight as a safe connection with the Chief and Sunset.
disclaimer: should I have reason to go "out to The Coast (I've given thought to seeing the LA Phil perform)", I'd just fly.
Posts: 9975 | From: Clarendon Hills, IL USA (BNSF Chicago Sub MP 18.71) | Registered: Apr 2002
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I keep hoping that news will come of a "new" Shasta Daylight, provided by the Cascade trains, to Sac (a real Sacramento stop) & the Bay Area. However, Calif. would need to chip in and we're broke. Then the new Amtrak Coast Daylight, as you say, to make the good connection with the Sunset and Chief.
The LA Phil is a great orchestra, but I still would put the SF Symphony, with MTT, on a higher rung. Some of their Beethoven symphony recordings are really superb.
Richard
Posts: 1909 | From: Santa Rosa | Registered: Jan 2004
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Richard, it's been years since I've set foot in Davies Hall, but since then, I have heard Tilson-Thomas guest conduct the Chicago Symphony.
Back on the rails, if a Shasta Daylight replaced the Cascade, then there would be an issue of a Martinez connection to LA. "Once upon a time", the Daylight made a connection there with "The Owl" (OAK-LA all rail).There would also be connection issues at both Seattle and Portland.
Posts: 9975 | From: Clarendon Hills, IL USA (BNSF Chicago Sub MP 18.71) | Registered: Apr 2002
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