Monday, September 19, 2011
Broken / Transit On liking Amtrak, or not
Posted by Sam Worley on 09.19.11 at 01:19 PM
- Robert Couse-Baker
Noting troubles like this, last year the Post asked if Americans could "fall in 'like'" with Amtrak again—if we could reconnect with the romantic ideal of train travel despite the company's shortcomings ("The causes are legion, the delays legendary"). What would it take? I was surprised to learn that one reason for Amtrak's endless delays is that its trains don't travel on tracks that the company owns—that they're a lesser priority on those tracks than freight trains:
"First of all, they never have enough funding," said Andy Kunz, president of the U.S. High Speed Rail Association, a nonprofit that advocates a national high-speed rail network. "Problem two is that they basically are borrowing track space from the freight railroads. They play second fiddle to freight. Freight is never on schedule. It's big and bulky and slow."For the traveler languidly watching the landscape scroll by, it may come as a surprise to know that Amtrak doesn't own most of the track under its wheels. Although it does command stretches along the Northeast Corridor and in Michigan, most of the rails are controlled by freight train companies, such as CSX Corp., and state entities.
When not on its own turf, Amtrak has to share the track with the host company. Confronted with a freight train, Amtrak may have to reduce speed or stop and pull onto a side track to let the train pass. If only a single track is available, the traffic grows even knottier. "When you only have one lane of passenger train, that already causes conflict," Kunz said. "It's never-ending problems and potential delays."
So, there's that. There are some other problems, too, as the article notes—funding not the least of them—but it seems like for all but the most freewheeling travelers, the issue is this: the case for traveling via an enterprise that offers, on the evidence, no guarantee of getting you there on time is a pretty tough one to make. I just checked the schedule for the train I was supposed to get on this morning. It was scheduled to have arrived in Chicago, as I recall, around 10 AM. I took the bus and made it to work a while ago. The train's still not here.
Comments (9)
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It is also quite expensive, especially considering the trains are in poor condition and always late. I occasionally took it between Detroit and Chicago when I lived in Detroit. Once I was almost 8 hours late getting in! And frequently I could find flights for just a little more money, and even when the flights were late they were generally faster than the train on its best day. Plus I'd rather be waiting in an airport bar than a cramped train car.
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Although I've never ridden the Amtrak in the Midwest, I have had negative experience on Megabus. Such as, the driver just decided not to show up with no noticed and riders were stuck outside Union Station after midnight on a Saturday - not exactly reliable.
if the US funded its trains the way civilized countries do, Amtrak wouldn't "suck".
Took the SW Limited -- left 7:30 p.m. Monday and was in San Bernardino at 5:30 a.m. Wednesday, 2,000 miles in 34 hours despite numerous stops and delays for freights on the Warren Buffett Line. Average speed more than 55 mph -- hard to do on a car trip, especially if you sleep at night, and way, way cheaper in coach. SF train slower, much more scenic, some trains like the Coast Starlight maddeningly slow (12 mph average!) because RRs won't maintain the tracks well. Bullet trains on dedicated rails would be marvelous, but for now I'll venture the occasional Amtrak trip; at its very worst, it's never as dehumanizing as coach air travel.
I've done Chicago-Flagstaff, Seattle-Chicago, Chicago-Denver, Chicago-New Orleans and assorted lesser distances in the Midwest and down the East Coast over the last few years. Also Canada trains, Europe, Australia, Morocco, Japan, etc., etc.
Comparing U.S. trains with, say, Japan's is like comparing 1950s b&w TV with today's HD. No getting around that, and that's simply not going to change. The will and the economics aren't there.
Today, Amtrak works as a long-haul carrier only if 1) getting there even close to on time isn't a priority and 2) you pop for a compartment, even a small one -- which almost always pushes the price above flying.
But having said that, if you're OK with 1) and 2), it's kind of nice. Reading on trains is heavenly. Amtrak has upgraded its food service -- still not great, but not bad at all. Traditional surliness among staff seems to have gotten sunnier. If you bring aboard a music source, that makes a huge difference. Shared tables, if you choose the dining car, make for interesting conversations.
You arrive relatively relaxed. You avoid not only the stress of today's airports (and inflight discomfort) but the stress of getting to and from them.
You see stuff out the window, on a human scale.
Is Amtrak worth subsidizing to the extent it is today? Probably not. Will it ever add significantly to its customer base? Not a chance.
But for purely selfish reasons, I'd hate to see it vanish . . .
it should also be noted that if an Amtrak train gets in an accident due to the negligence of the freight train company-track owner, Amtrak can't sue the track owner for damages.
The railway freight companies hold all the cards when dealing with Amtrak.
Thirty million Americans are riding Amtrak trains every year, despite the fact that Republicans have done their very best to starve the railroad to death. Just think what would happen if Amtrak were actually encouraged! We might have better equipment on more trains running at higher speeds! And who knows ... eventually we could even have a national rail passenger system as good as those that countries all over Europe had 25 years ago! What's wrong with Republicans that they can't figure that out??
Amtrak's also very often gross. And loud, and...gah, the whole thing makes me think Eastern Europe. I dig trains, but I really think you'd have to be nuts to rely on Amtrak for much of anything outside a few high-ridership lines, like the Metroliner.
As for Megabus, yeah, I'd take it more often if half the ridership weren't obese and there weren't so many reeking smokers and cellphone talkers. What I don't want: A 280-lb smelly chick taking up half my seat and yakking away in my ear. I'll deal with that kind of thing on a city train for 20 minutes but not for hours on end. Really not a fan of the automobile, but the utter grodiness -- and loudness -- of our public transit options plus my well-earned mid-40s crankitude's finally made a driver out of me.
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