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A fellow from a local newspaper e-mailed me related to some information I had offered him concerning an article he wrote.
Politely, he disputed two facts I gave him. Evidently , he used facts from an Amtrak website to disagree.
First, he said he was told by an Amtrak spokes-person that Amtrak has only about 60 total cars out of service at this time.
Secondly, he was informed that Amtrak leases only about 70% of its track-time from private freight-rail companies.
I was surprised by both of these bits of information.
First, I thought the number of damaged and un-useable cars was higher than the number quoted.
Next, I presumed the only track Amtrak actually owned and maintained (and thus was free of leasing charges for) was that over the NEC. I did not think the NEC covered a full 30% of the track Amtrak uses.
What is the "real" story here.
The writer's words that concerned me MOST we : "Amtrak says......."
Gilbert B Norman Member # 1541
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Enquiring mind wants to know:
"Track time"; are we referring to route-miles, train-miles, or possibly even train-hours?
Out of service: are we addressing cars stored and awaiting wreck rebuilding or are we addressing all cars including those that are shopped for either periodic or heavy mainentenance?
According to this site, which is owned by a RailForum member, there are 44 Superliners awaiting wreck repairs. 22 others have been retired.
Geoff M Member # 153
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Track time to me suggests a path, ie a scheduled slot. If you consider a plain simple unidirectional line with a headway of 5 minutes then there would be 12 slots or paths per hour. Both faster trains and slower trains would use more than one slot, as would very long trains. Headway, in simple terms, is the time between consecutive trains running at maximum train/line speed with no restrictive signal (ie high greens all the way).
Seeing as Amtrak run dozens of trains a day on the NEC compared to one or less a day on other routes, then 70% sounds feasible. But if this person is a media type then no doubt he'd turn it into a more meaningless figure that can be misinterpreted in the media's desired way. Whether Amtrak "leases" the route from itself, or some sort of Amtrak-owned holding company, I don't know. If not then 70% does sound wrong.
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