Oso planning to go pro
All things considered, not a bad way to spend a lockdown. Hope they are in good spirits
Recommendations for vacations in South America?Looking at Peru, Chile or Argentina.
Other than the price, Amtrak is actually pretty good here in the Northeast.Wether good or bad I read an article that the former Delta CEO had been running Amtrak and turning some stuff around.
In the NEC, Amtrak is the best way to travel. Outside the NEC, it is a joke.Richard Anderson, Amtrak's CEO, was at the forefront of reviving Amtrak and probably was the best leader the railroad ever had. He went after the long-distance train group the way any corporate executive would go after a money losing, poorly operated and horribly inefficient division. He wanted reform and had proposed eliminating much of it in favor of the kind of corridor service you have in the Northeast.For that, he was chased off the ranch. Not sure if he was fired or quit and frankly it doesn't matter. He spoke the truth and for that, he no longer runs Amtrak.
One of the issues with Amtrak is unprofitable routes. These are seen as government service to communities and keep getting protected at the expense of profitability. I personally don't know who is taking an Amtrak train as a necessity since it is pretty expensive and very inefficient, but its still seen that way. Many people who have run this railroad have gotten to that issue and failed/move on when they see the political will is not there to eliminate these.
When Glow jr. was stationed in Mississippi for FEMA Corps, he took the City of New Orleans (yes, like the song) to and from Jackson, because airfares were insane (apparently, no one really wants to fly to Jackson).His train was always several hours late arriving at its destination, with no decent excuse like weather. If you can't even predict when your transportation will get there within a half-day window, you've got problems.
Part of that problem is that Amtrak rents space on the rails and gets put behind freight (commerce). So they are at the mercy of the company that owns the line, with some parameters.
Pardon the ignorance... Are rail stations/tracks more expensive to build than airports?
Depends on how long, what you want them to do and how much right of way you have to acquire.If you want high-speed passenger rail, you have to electrify it. You probably need grade separation (i.e., bridges, tunnels and fencing). Electrification on intercity rail means elevated power lines and towers to hold the line.You also will need tons and tons of concrete ties, ballast to hold it down and quarter-mile or more segments of welded rail.
This ignores the most expensive part. Buying the land to run the track on.
Half right.Amtrak has slots on which it operates passenger trains. Just like a landing slot at ORD or LGA. The slots are between freight trains that operate on the same line.While many miles of rail are double tracked mainline, most of America's rails are single track. Trains are cleared across a block, where they have exclusive access. The block clearances are dependent on everything from how fast trains are moving, whether you have a breakdown or accident in the block or how long the sidings are. Hint: Short sidings cannot be used by long trains.Another problem not generally known is that the General Freight Speed in the United States is 52 miles per hour. The speed at which passenger trains outside the NEC operate generally is 79 miles per hour. Except for all you journalists, you passed math. One of the questions in seventh grade math was the weeding-out calculation for train dispatchers. If one train leaves Stuart at 79 miles an hour and the other leaves Jacksonville at 52 miles an hour, where will they meet? If you want to make it real life: There's a 3,000 foot passing siding at Daytona Beach and a 3,500 foot passing siding at Cocoa. Which train gets the siding and how long will it wait for the other to pass?We have not built any new rail, except for Virgin Trains from Cocoa to Orlando (which is under construction now). In fact, more than a few lines of rail were torn up in the 1970s and 1980s because of lost business. That's why Amtrak has problems!
Depends on how long, what you want them to do and how much right of way you have to acquire.Don't think so LOL!
Hiawatha is definitely not a joke. It is a comfortable ride and faster than driving between MKE and Chicago in rush hour. I agree with Chick that cross-country trips on Amtrak are not dependable and hardly ever on time. But for trips like Hiawatha or Chicago to St. Louis they can make a lot of sense.
Connecticut double tracked the line between New Haven & Springfield, Mass, so it could exponentially expand commuter rail service. The state worked in conjunction with Amtrak. (Coincidentally, I believe it was paid for by the federal government with funds originally allocated for the train line from Milwaukee to Madison.)
the Amtrak stop in Dane Co is right in downtown Madison near UW, crap near the airport, crap, right off the interstate, crap, next to the central bus station, crap, in Columbus -a town of 4900 people a half hour's drive from downtown Madison on a good day. No worries, you can take a Madison Metro bus to Columbus to get to the Amtrak station. It's only a 2 hour 45 minute bike ride.
Brother Coleman:That's called corridor service. That's the type of service Mr. Anderson was trying to play up. I absolutely agree with you (having used it more than a few times). The best thing Amtrak could do would be to ditch Denver and add more, faster trains over short distances to places like Milwaukee, St. Louis, Detroit, Cleveland and Minneapolis.But the foamers (people who foam at the mouth at the sight of a train) want the long-distance train service. Period. They are archaic. And, for some strange reason, they have a magical hold on Congress generally reserved for real estate agents, credit unions and large moneyed contributors.Until they build a statue of Richard Anderson as father of the Contemporary Rail System at Union Station in Washington, we'll be stuck with a slow-moving, crappy system that few ride but Congress loves.
This is a perfect example of why I became concerned at an earlier comment about federalizing air service. The second largest population center in Wisconsin, a university community and the center of government can't get railroad service.What do you think will happen when the federal government gets control of air service? And the corollary is that once you serve a community, what do you think the chances ever will be that if the service does not work, you'll get rid of it?Fed Air -- No where thank you very much!
I hope I'm not stepping into politics, but wasn't that a Scott Walker special canceling the project?