The problem isn't Amtrak (or to use it's proper name, Amcrash) It's a government who's in the pockets of Ford, Chevy, and Boeing. Amtrak has to fight for what is has, and many politicians want to kill it ouright and hand the money to their friends at Southwest Airlines (or whoever happens to have them in their pockets). in the 60's and 70's congress tried to strangle the railroads outright, now i think they're target is Amtrak itself.
In my view, several things have to happen for passenger rail to make a proper comeback:
1) passenger trains must return to being the hottest train on the railroad. It used to be that everything other than a train carrying perishables got into the siding for the passenger trains. That must happen again. now even lowly trip freights (or their modern equivalents) have right of way over passenger trains.
2) congress must take passenger rail traffic seriously. It's time to stop thinking of railways as "old fashioned" and "out of date" and build Amtrak up to what it can be. think of the downeaster or the NE Corridor.
3) Improvements must be made the the current rail network to enable faster running. the push should not be for dedicaded "high speed rail" corridors, but to improve current lines so that the P42s can hit 90 or 100, like the racing E and PA-units of the past.
4) Passenger trains must be heavily marketed, like the Airlines are.
That's just my opinion.
I agree...Let's get rid of the airlines. They're useless and should have been buried years ago. To be honest, I think that the airlines really want out of passenger service, but don't know how to do it gracefully. It's too bad they won't do it soon enough though. Last year I travelled between OKC and Boston via Chicago (Hi Ed). The flght to OKC was fine, but going home was a nightmare!
The OKC to O'Hare only takes 90 minutes if that. This leg was canceled supposedly due to rain. It's funny how all the other airlines except for United were flying to O'Hare, as United was the only one that canceled.
Now instead of notifying people as they were checking in, they let all the passengers go through the check-in process before they announced that the earlier flight was canceled, and now the current flight is delayed. Now the customer service clerk lied, and said it was a TSA issue at first, then it was a mechanical problem, then it was the weather. To add insult, they didn't tell anyone that the gate number changed until the plane was ready for bording. There were many people who were confused because the board wasn't even updated. I found out because I was talking to a flight attendant who was waiting for the plane herself. She was outlawed and was on her way home.
My take on the canceled flight is they wanted to save money so they cut the crew and the flight. This saves cash because they don't have to pay anyone for the flight and there's no fuel or plane operating costs to worry about. They know full well that the passengers will be forced to pay extra, and will do so as they scramble around trying to make connections. This might put an extra burden on the customer service department, but a few excuses and BS, will be quickly forgotten once people get home.
After waiting at OKC for 6 hours, we finally board and get to O'Hare at 8:00 local time. My scheduled flight was long gone, and was not delayed like the flight to O'Hare from Will Rodgers in OKC. Funny isn't that?. I now then had to bid for an open seat on another flight, or I could pay them for another ticket if I canceled the current one and flew the next day. That was complete BS! I could see if I deliberately delayed my trip, and then changed my mind, but heck they screwed with me.
Now I finally got home to Boston, but that was after a 14-hour day with most of the time waiting - like 10 hours sitting around getting pissed-off. I didn't get in until 3:00 am and had to go to work the next morning!
The next day I mailed a really nasty letter, not an email that would be deleted or forgotten, but a real letter that required a signed signature. I got a sorry for your convenience and a pin from UA. Big deal!
What's my take on this? The airlines are hurting, and are pulling things like the old railroads did in the 1960s and early 70s when they wanted out of the passenger service. The reason is passengers are expensive to ship. We have our extra needs like food, water, and comfortable seating (well mostly on an airplane). The railroads could get away with dirty cars, broken AC, etc. but the airlines are under a closer watch by the FAA so they can't do things like this. I'm sure if there was a way, they surely would.
If you think about it, freight doesn't require clean, comfy seats, water, bathrooms, and food, and they can squeaze more packages in the same space taken up by only a few passengers. This more than makes up for the cost of flying the plane, and there's less overhead costs with support personnel.
So getting to OKC is a good example of what it's like now to travel by train in America. There is no direct Amtrak trains from OKC from anywhere, even Chicago. If I were to do that, I would have to take the Lakeshore Limited overnight from Boston to Chicago, and then the Texas Eagle for Fort Worth, TX. Then it's an overnight bus back to OKC. The totaly trip would be 3 -4 days instead of 4 hours from Boston!
John
