Via NARP, here's a news story about Amtrak worth passing on. Railway Age has taken note of new rolling stock and locomotives coming into service. Despite knee-jerk efforts by Republicans to kill rail passenger service in this country, despite freight railroads and court decisions putting passenger service behind slow freights, Amtrak is surviving and growing ridership.
More below the Orange Omnilepticon.
The old narrative about Amtrak for too many people is that it's expensive, slow, has terrible service, and is inconvenient. And yes, that's still the story some of the time. BUT... the truth of the matter is we're getting what we're paying for, and Amtrak has been chronically underfunded for years. With no long-term funding stream or dedicated revenue for necessary investments, with little trackage under its control, Amtrak is still providing a valued service and improving all the time. The latest from Railway Age shows what happens when needs are actually addressed and the railroad can move beyond Survival Mode.
Amtrak's 130 Viewliner II cars are slowly appearing on the company's network, mostly in the Northeast, as autumn began, as CAF USA continues producing the cars at its Elmira Heights, N.Y., facility. Most cars will be deployed on eastern long-distance routes, such as the Lake Shore Limited, Silver Star, and Silver Meteor, but the baggage cars will be used across the country, Amtrak says.
The order also originally identified 25 sleeping cars, 25 dining cars, 25 baggage/dormitory cars, and 55 baggage cars; all will first supplement, then replace, existing Heritage Fleet rolling stock that has earned its euphemistic name: Amtrak inherited its equipment pool in 1971 that included, and still includes, rolling stock produced during the 1950s.
http://youtu.be/...
And...
The NEC's time-honored old workhorses, the AEM-7s, affectionately called "toasters" or "Swedish meatballs" (owing to their Scandanavian origin), are being put out to pasture and replaced with a new thoroughbred, the Siemens-built ACS-64. [PDF] Seventy of these new-generation locomotives are entering revenue service; they'll eventually become the mainstay of NEC motive power.
The ACS-64 can accelerate 18 Amfleet coaches with a Head End Power (HEP) load of 1,000kW to 125 mph in just over eight minutes. It features an integral monocoque wide-body, double-cab suited for push-pull operation, and designed to allow compression forces of 800,000 pounds of buff load.Instead of a "conventional" mechanical safety concept in accordance with American Crash Standard AAR S-580 with collision and corner posts, the ACS-64 features a front end Crash Energy Management (CEM) system that provides better safety to crews while offering the advantage of lower weight and better reparability.
Here's an ACS-64 undergoing tests at 125mph
http://youtu.be/...
There's more at the
Railway Age article, including plans for the next step beyond the Acela Express trains sets, and new diesels for operation around the rest of the country.
California's HSR project is only part of the
Golden State's push to improve rail service, with implications for Midwest passenger service. As Railway Age reports,
New Amtrak equipment of any kind for the U.S. Midwest will rely in large measure on Midwest states themselves, joined by a very non-Midwest powerhouse, California, which will fund up to 175 bilevel passenger coaches for existing and future intercity routes linked by the Chicago Hub.
California and three Midwest states now plan to acquire an additional 45 bilevel cars from Nippon Sharyo. The states had ordered 130 cars that are being assembled in Rochelle, Ill. That contract provided add-on options at a slightly increased cost, depending upon car type. The order will now include 122 Midwest corridor cars and 175 California cars. The first of these cars are expected to enter service by 2016.
America has desperate infrastructure needs waiting to be addressed; Amtrak is low-hanging fruit. The system has been operating on a shoe string for so long, comparatively modest investments will yield impressive returns. Conversely - without making those investments - there are
major system collapses waiting to happen. [PDF] Just consider the
Portal Bridge, for one.
And before the reflex conservative screaming about out of control government spending drowns out all reason, it should be noted that this kind of spending by the government would not only make life nicer for rail-loving socialists, that money would be spent in America where among other things:
• It would create jobs, both directly and indirectly
• Spur private investment in the wake of public investment
• Add needed redundancy to our transportation net
• Boost communities all along the rail lines
• Help reduce America's carbon footprint
Amtrak's unwitting ally should not go without a mention: the airlines. Airline travel is increasingly a crap shoot. TSA Security Theater makes it a demeaning experience full of hassles - and it's only going to get worse as Ebola fears ramp up. Deregulation, cost-cutting, and pressures on the work force make getting good service less likely. The recent fire in a regional air traffic center demonstrates the fragility of the system - let a problem develop anywhere, and it cascades into delays across the whole system.
A family member just had the experience of several days of travel plans reduced to rubble by the airlines. A schedule which should have had him arriving with a day to spare before attending a wedding turned into a fiasco. Flight delays, missed connections, flights canceled because of mechanical issues, luggage sent on ahead regardless... He arrived with bare hours to spare on top of four hours of sleep, unplanned hotel stays and car rentals. The return flight included another missed connection because of delays, and another unplanned stay at a hotel. He might get partially reimbursed...
Passenger inter city rail is starting to look a lot better these days by comparison.
It's time Democrats stopped boasting about cutting spending and started talking about investing in America for Americans, not corporations. Amtrak would be a good place to start.
The new railcars are coming: http://youtu.be/...
UPDATE: Just ran across another post from NARP. They've been hearing from a lot of people about the delays being imposed on Amtrak trains by the 'host' railroads. They've been collecting stories from people to show what a problem this is and why action is needed to turn this situation around. Some interesting reading to be had. Here's just one excerpt.
“The delaying of Amtrak Trains whether by maintenance or host railroad issues hurts passengers who have planned meetings at their destination.
“A typical and occasional 1 hour delay is not really an issue, given the nature of weather and traffic constraints. However, when Amtrak trains are constantly being sidetracked so slower-moving freight trains can have priority, consumers loose. I have missed important meetings and activities due to late train issues.
“I rely on Amtrak to get me to my destination safely and on time, because I have a reoccurring health issue when flying and do not feel comfortable taking a bus. By not providing a reliable intercity rail service, the US Government is not giving those passengers with health conditions or who prefer not to fly an acceptable alternative.
“We elected our officials to do their fiduciary duty to care for the needs of all Americans... not just those who fly or manage Class 1 host railroads.”--Thomas Horak -
Downers Grove, Illinois
Now, there's something to be said for needs of host railroads to be able to keep their schedules - but there's also some grounds to wonder how much of this is a deliberate effort to so discredit Amtrak as to destroy public support for it. If so, it wouldn't be the first time the railroads have acted against the public interest. This is definitely an issue to raise with your elected representatives. Amtrak isn't failing; it's being sabotaged. We can do better. We need to do better.
UPDATE 2 The New York Times has an article that provides more information on the delays facing Amtrak: As Trains Move Oil Bonanza, Delays Mount for Other Goods and Passengers.
American rail lines now move more than a million barrels of oil a day, much of it from the Bakken shale oil field in North Dakota and Montana and from the oil sands of Alberta, Canada. Last year about 415,000 rail cars filled with crude oil moved through the United States, compared with 9,500 in 2008, according to the Surface Transportation Board, a bipartisan body with oversight of the nation’s railroads.
In large part as a result, long-distance Amtrak passenger trains are now late 60 percent of the time, Amtrak officials said, compared with a year ago, when the trains were late 35 percent of the time.
The problems are particularly acute on long-distance passenger lines like the Empire Builder, which shares tracks with freight traffic from Chicago to Portland, Ore., and is late nearly 70 percent of the time. Trains on the 47-hour trip typically run three to five hours behind. Revenue from the line has dropped 18 percent from last year, Amtrak officials said, as word about the sluggish service spread among passengers, most of whom use the Empire Builder for shorter trips between cities on the route.
The congestion is so bad, it's spreading across the country and holding up regular freight traffic as well. The article goes on to note it will get worse once mass shipments of coal to terminals on the West Coast for China go into operation. The article notes:
“It’s like having a fire hydrant hooked up to a garden hose,” said Mike Steenhoek, executive director of the Soybean Transportation Coalition in Iowa.
Railroads have long been subject to boom-bust cycles; either they have more traffic than they can handle or they have more trackage than revenue can support. Decades of mergers and elimination of 'surplus' trackage are now coming home to roost. There's a clear conflict of private versus public interests here; looks like
Naomi Klein may be on to something.
UPDATE 3 For those looking to ride Amtrak just for the pleasure of a train ride, here's some news you can use (if you're in the Northeast). Amtrak is running a Fall Foliage Special, out of Philadelphia November 8 and again on the 9th.
See fall scenery on a rare trip beginning with the Philadelphia Highline above and across the Penn Coach Yards and mainline. Travel along the Schuykill River and through the countryside that only freight trains travel now. You'll pass through the Flat Rock Tunnel, constructed in 1836 - 1840 (one of the oldest in the country) and the Black Rock Tunnel, constructed in 1838, the third oldest tunnel still in use in this country. After a brief stop in Harrisburg, PA, the Autumn Express will take you back to Philadelphia via Hershey and Reading, PA, while travelling through scenic Montgomery, Chester, Berks, Lebanon and Dauphin Counties.
Tickets will go fast if you're interested, so book now. If you follow
NARP on Facebook, you can get news like this all the time.