All Eyes on Amtrak

Montana NEEDS it's Southern line returned from AMTRAK. Funny thing they shut down the line about 2 - 3 years ago, which hit all off the major cities within Montana (Billings, Livingston, Bozeman, Missoulla....). But they kept the Northern line open that basically provides service for tourists and and a few rual communites. Oh and did I mention that our only local airlines "Big Sky" shut down a few months ago? Montana has no real infrastructure to meet the reall needs of our residence. Did you know there was another major train line that traveled within the middle of Montana and provided much needed service for the MANY rual communites within Montana. It was the blood line for these towns, but Billings determined (not the ruarl townships) it was the central hub for the train industry at the time. Today the majority means of transportation is trucks and cars within the state of Montana, not much else, and it really hurts the pocket book!!

Maybe the best way around this is to hybridize the ideas. #1 take Amtrak public. #2 Airlines get all sorts of special cash, Removing Amtrak from direct funding saves us all money, but we can still give it "spending money" periodically until its on its feet. #3 allow, no, strongly recommend that the freight rail companies create their own smaller inter-city passenger services. Seattle-Portland, OK City-KS City, LA-Las Vegas, Cleveland-Toledo-Detriot, etc. Let Amtrak continue to do the long hauls & touristy trips. #4 Fed funding to get all main lines up to high-speed standards so that all transportation companies can benefit. That means 3 track mains made with concrete ties most likely, with better junctions in main cities allowing faster transfers between private rail lines (i.e. BN-SF to UP-SP) so that Amtrak can get moving more smoothly.

Congress is always in the business of covering up real costs. Since the Interstate Highway system is essentially fully built, the major cost is, or should be, maintenance and incremental improvements designed to provide a smooth flow of traffic even at rush hour. Users of the Interstate Highway

system include just about anyone that buys gas.

So, the gas tax is the ideal place to fund the Interstate Highway system.

The only problem is that the tax collected today is too small to cover the

complete cost. So the tax should be raised to provide full funding.

Now, if the tax is raised to cover full funding of the Interstate Highway

system then two things happen. First, gas is even more expensive and other

forms of transportation look less expensive. Second, we can more clearly

look at history and say, it took X-years to fully build out the Interstate

Highway system.

The next step is to determine how passenger-rail fits in the overall

transportation system. Perhaps we could use a state orientation similar to

how a subway operates in a major city? Perhaps we need to look at the real

travel times for aircraft and put track down joining smaller cities and small

towns where rail is faster? Perhaps we need to put a big X across the

country and join Jacksonville, FL to Seattle, WA and Bangor, ME to San

Diego, CA. with Grand Central station being somewhere in Kansas. Towns

have grownup because the Interstate passed by. I'm sure new towns would

do the same around the X-corridor in the middle of nowhere (if we still have

nowheres).

But, whatever is decided, the fact is that each form of transportation needs

to eventually pay for itself. Just because AMTRAK has failed to do so for

close to 40 years does not mean it is all Amtraks fault. Just because the

Interstate Highway system is publically owned does not mean that is

inherently bad and that it should be sold into private hands. Similarly, I

doubt that Amtrak in private hands would do any better than it does today.

Personally I prefer driving from Georgia to Minnesota. But, I prefer taking the

train from several cities in Georgia to several cities in North Carolina. And, if

I have to fly, airplane travel is best for coast-to-coast travel. I have no

idea where it is best to take a scheduled bus, but,

Congress is always in the business of covering up real costs. Since the

Interstate Highway system is essentially fully built, the major cost is, or

should be, maintenance and incremental improvements designed to provide a

smooth flow of traffic even at rush hour. Users of the Interstate Highway

system include just about anyone that buys gas.

So, the gas tax is the ideal place to fund the Interstate Highway system.

The only problem is that the tax collected today is too small to cover the

complete cost. So the tax should be raised to provide full funding.

Now, if the tax is raised to cover full funding of the Interstate Highway

system then two things happen. First, gas is even more expensive and other

forms of transportation look less expensive. Second, we can more clearly

look at history and say, it took X-years to fully build out the Interstate

Highway system.

The next step is to determine how passenger-rail fits in the overall

transportation system. Perhaps we could use a state orientation similar to

how a subway operates in a major city? Perhaps we need to look at the real

travel times for aircraft and put track down joining smaller cities and small

towns where rail is faster? Perhaps we need to put a big X across the

country and join Jacksonville, FL to Seattle, WA and Bangor, ME to San

Diego, CA. with Grand Central station being somewhere in Kansas. Towns

have grownup because the Interstate passed by. I'm sure new towns would

do the same around the X-corridor in the middle of nowhere (if we still have

nowheres).

But, whatever is decided, the fact is that each form of transportation needs

to eventually pay for itself. Just because AMTRAK has failed to do so for

close to 40 years does not mean it is all Amtraks fault. Just because the

Interstate Highway system is publically owned does not mean that is

inherently bad and that it should be sold into private hands. Similarly, I

doubt that Amtrak in private hands would do any better than it does today.

Personally I prefer driving from Georgia to Minnesota. But, I prefer taking the

train from several cities in Georgia to several cities in North Carolina. And, if

I have to fly, airplane travel is best for coast-to-coast travel. I have no

idea where it is best to take a scheduled bus, but,

It's going to take a state-federal effort to improve amtrak. For example in Missouri, it suffers from delays due to only 1 track in both directions for parts of the route. As a result the amtrak is always the one that has to wait out the freight trains on sidings. Missouri is going to invest $5 Million to improve tracks so that Amtrak trains will run on time. Illinois has spent $100 Million on track improvements and it shows in the ridership levels.

Montana NEEDS it's Southern line returned from AMTRAK. Funny thing they shut down the line about 2 - 3 years ago, which hit all off the major cities within Montana (Billings, Livingston, Bozeman, Missoulla....). But they kept the Northern line open that basically provides service for tourists and and a few rual communites. Oh and did I mention that our only local airlines "Big Sky" shut down a few months ago? Montana has no real infrastructure to meet the reall needs of our residence. Did you know there was another major train line that traveled within the middle of Montana and provided much needed service for the MANY rual communites within Montana. It was the blood line for these towns, but Billings determined (not the ruarl townships) it was the central hub for the train industry at the time. Today the majority means of transportation is trucks and cars within the state of Montana, not much else, and it really hurts the pocket book!!

We are a nation of subsidies and that's sad.....

jstartmi@bellsouth.net
Riding the trains is a good thing but,the way amtrak trains are schedule they will never get the business that it should get. For example if want to go to atlanta from Ft. lauderdale, FL - Ihave to go all the way to Washing D.C. changed trains and then go back to Atlanta, Ga - GO FIGURE !!!

Jeff, Uhhh.....are you forgetting the massive subsidies paid to the airline industry for infrastructure and oversight (FAA, ATF, etc.). Subsidies for truckers include the Interstate Highway system. Having just returned from Europe, their integrated rail system cannot be beat for speed, punctuality, service, cost.

I've been thinking a lot about Amtrak myself. Unfortunatly, they just don't run the way they should. Check ou my recent blog post with 4 examples of how they can fix the system.

http://jeffthegreat.blogspot.com/2008/06/jeff-great-calls-alllll-aaaboard.html

I literally was checking out Amtrak options last night going from San Jose, CA (inconvenient) to Burbank Airport (also inconvenient). Oh joy, for $88 round trip, I spend 6 hours and 20 minutes on a bus to Santa Barbara then 2 hours and 25 minutes on a train (the same on the trip back). Needless to say, I'm opting for spending $100 more to fly round trip for an hour each way out of a more convenient airport. I loved my trip on West Coast Starlight years ago to Portland (however, I went first class), but on this business trip, I'll opt for the airlines!

Passenger service when operated by individual rail systems was quite a thing to behold, and enjoy, prior to its demise that was gradually, yet inexorably effected through government subsidization of competition - airplanes and highways. Aside from a few populous corridors, Amtrak has never been viable inasmuch as its frequency of service has been poor, its level of service mediocre and its competition daunting. Freight railroads, that had for years operated passenger trains long after they had become unprofitable by virtue of regulation, have since pared their physical plant to accommodate freight traffic that has burgeoned and will most likely continue to do so - as freight business will move to rail for the same reason passengers might with a viable option. For most of the country, Amtrak will not be able to afford a reliable alternative without huge investment in additional tracks and train frequency. The Iraq adventure has siphoned off funds that would have been more usefully devoted to a significant improvement in energy dependence in this respect. Best to purchase a motorcycle for the time being.

Passenger service when operated by individual rail systems was quite a thing to behold, and enjoy, prior to its demise that was gradually, yet inexorably effected through government subsidization of competition - airplanes and highways. Aside from a few populous corridors, Amtrak has never been viable inasmuch as its frequency of service has been poor, its level of service mediocre and its competition daunting. Freight railroads, that had for years operated passenger trains long after they had become unprofitable by virtue of regulation, have since pared their physical plant to accommodate freight traffic that has burgeoned and will most likely continue to do so - as freight business will move to rail for the same reason passengers might with a viable option. For most of the country, Amtrak will not be able to afford a reliable alternative without huge investment in additional tracks and train frequency. The Iraq adventure has siphoned off funds that would have been more usefully devoted to a significant improvement in energy independence in this respect.

The real issue about whether Amtrak will be able to seize the moment and became a competitive alternative is not track ownership nor track conditions - it's employee morale and training. It is currently very poor. I recently achieved a long-term dream of taking the Empire Builder - the train from Seattle to Chicago. It was miserable - the staff on the trains, almost without exception, were indifferent and resentful. It became a nightmare. nightmare