With the recent spike in gasoline prices (and jet fuel prices), and after a few close calls with 18-wheelers, it seems to me that a new generation of auto trains would be a real service to the nation.
The major drawback with current auto-train technology seems to be with the auto-rack cars. They are slow to load, and appear to be loaded from the end. Thus, a situation like the current auto-train, which is loaded in Virginia and emptied entirely on reaching Florida. If a distance train like the Empire Builder had a better means of dropping off vehicles at a couple of points along the route, it could provide a valuable service (and extra cash income for Amtrak).
Consider that at $4 a gallon, the 8.5 hour drive to Fargo, ND would cost $85 (assuming 30 MPG Hwy) and could easily run over $110 for an SUV. People might pay $100+ to ship their SUV full of hunting/fishing gear to Fargo and drive the rest of the way to a wilderness camp in Minnesota.
It's really just a question of unloading the Fargo vehicles quickly and taking on new ones there...
Posted by Gilbert B Norman (Member # 1541) on :
While I would not think of this topic as related to passenger train advocacy within the sense of the right of petition, it is an interesting concept, which unfortunately would prove to be quite impractical.
What it would appear that Mr. Oydman has in mind is for a passenger train operator, which essentially means Amtrak, to offer an auto carriage service in which an automobile could be loaded or unloaded at any station en route that was so equipped to handle such.
No doubt the technology exists for such; it would involve having an auto carrier with overhead doors (garage doors if you will) so that a vehicle could be "plucked" or placed in any vacant location from the side of the car, as distinct from the Ro-Ro - Roll On-Roll Off - arrangement used in existing rail auto carrier cars. There would also need be at each station handling autos a lift with both vertical and lateral capacity.
Aside from the cost of the equipment, it would likely require not less than ten minuets per auto being handled. Therefore if, say, three autos were to be handled at a station, there would be thirty minutes of station time involved.
The only reasonable and practical way to handle autos is how Amtrak presently does with their Auto Train, however that service exists in only one market, namely from near-Washington to near-Orlando.
But let's X-post this topic with the Amtrak Forum to see if any other ideas regarding such are presented.