Amtrak ridership hits record high...again

[K1052]

Link for any efforts? If it's a standard government enterprise, they'd have no incentive to reduce size and headcount...

Congresscritters would get complaints from constituents.

 

[K1052]

Hey go for it. It wont make trains any more interesting or profitable.

Once highways crumble into gravel it will be much more "interesting"

 

[Genx87]

Once highways crumble into gravel it will be much more "interesting"

They already are crumbling. And yet Amtrak cant make a profit even with govt help.

 

[K1052]

The problem is that idiots in Congress force Amtrak to run long-haul passenger services that no one uses.

Amtrak should concentrate on areas where rail travel makes sense (areas with relatively short trips and congested airports like the Northeast Corridor.) Trains from New York to Florida are retarded.

Long haul rail travel has essentially become a land cruise along with providing access to remote towns. Many of the routes actually run pretty full.

 

[Jaskalas]

Once highways crumble into gravel it will be much more "interesting"

They already are crumbling.

Whose fault is that?

Hint - not the guys wanting to spend more money, more stimulus, create more jobs. :ninja:

 

[nehalem256]

The problem is that idiots in Congress force Amtrak to run long-haul passenger services that no one uses.

Amtrak should concentrate on areas where rail travel makes sense (areas with relatively short trips and congested airports like the Northeast Corridor.) Trains from New York to Florida are retarded.

This.

It almost seems to me that the Democratic party must be populated with a bunch of little boys whose mom's would not buy them train sets

 

[K1052]

They already are crumbling. And yet Amtrak cant make a profit even with govt help.

Amtrak subsidy is about 1B annually. Road subsidies and capital bills (Fed and State) are many many times that yet not keeping up with system needs for repair/replacement.

Why does one subsidized mode not have to pay for itself entirely while you say another should?

 

[K1052]

This.

It almost seems to me that the Democratic party must be populated with a bunch of little boys whose mom's would not buy them train sets

I hate to break this to you but a lot of long haul routes run through Republican states. No house member who's district is served will ever vote to cut the Amtrak subsidy or allow them to drop unprofitable routes.

 

[techs]

The incredible lack of knowledge and common sense in this thread is astounding.

First off, there would very few railroads in America at any time if the government hadn't subsidized their construction. It seems that if you have to pay for building a railroad it doesn't make sense economically. Its a good thing the US taxpayers paid to have the railroads built. Otherwise we would be speaking German.

As to the extreme idiots who make the extremely idiotic comparisons between Amtrak and the high speed trains in Europe and Japan, you people are idiots. Those places subsidize their railroads to huge extent. The US kicks in peanuts.

Amtrak would love to have high speed trains on most of its passenger routes. The problem is that the government won't seize the land necessary(thru eminent domain) to straighten out the routes that Amtrak would need to run the high speed trains used in many other countries.

Amtrak has had to pay to design and build special high speed trains that can handle the twists and turns of its routes that are not optimized for high speed travel.

Amtrak is also responsible, btw, for allowing access to and fully paying for maintenence for freight trains as part of their "deal" for subsidies.

Train travel is the by far the most fuel effecient mode of transportation for people and many type of freight. Good for the environment, the country and national security.

There is a whole lot more idiocracy in this thread, like complaints that food service loses money, but if the idiots here cannot figure out that it is common practice for businesses to give away, or sell something at a loss because it brings in more customers or revenue, then they just went from idiot to brain dead. I guess they ate too many free peanuts at the bar. Wait, wat?

 

[berzerker60]

Do highways profit? Then why should Amtrack? The country benefits in tons of economic ways by being tied closer together by easy transport. If we have to tax some of that added commerce and subsidize the transport costs, so what?

 

[xBiffx]

When the 110mph upgrades are complete to CHI-STL it will be 4.5 hours. Much superior to drive time.

4.5 hours is far from superior to drive time. I routinely did that drive in 4.5 hours. Usually it was closer to 5 and sometimes it could be as many as 6 depending on traffic but there were still plenty of times 4.5 hours was sufficient.

 

[xBiffx]

Its a good thing the US taxpayers paid to have the railroads built. Otherwise we would be speaking German.

LOL. And then you continue to tell other people they are the idiots.

 

[CPA]

REVENUE != NET INCOME

I don't understand why people focus on ridership rather than profitability (hell breaking even would be a start) when it comes to amtrak. If you drop the prices by 50% you can increase the ridership even more; that in no way make it a good idea.

This. This is why we are in a world of hurt. We have people who cannot distinguish between revenue and income.

 

[nehalem256]

4.5 hours is far from superior to drive time. I routinely did that drive in 4.5 hours. Usually it was closer to 5 and sometimes it could be as many as 6 depending on traffic but there were still plenty of times 4.5 hours was sufficient.

Google maps says it takes 5hr 7min between Chicago and StL

 

[xBiffx]

Google maps says it takes 5hr 7min between Chicago and StL

Believable since they tend to use an average of about 60mph for interstate travel.

 

[EagleKeeper]

The problem is that idiots in Congress force Amtrak to run long-haul passenger services that no one uses.

Amtrak should concentrate on areas where rail travel makes sense (areas with relatively short trips and congested airports like the Northeast Corridor.) Trains from New York to Florida are retarded.

Once you get below Washington DC; the train stops every hour at some medium size town for 15 minutes to offload and get passengers.
Made a 24 hr trip from DC to Miami. Yet can drive it in less time.

Then the problem with the auto train.
you have to get south of DC to onload.
Train dumps north of Orlando.

That means that to go from NYC to Miami; one has to drive half the distance already if they want their vehicle with them.

 

[Genx87]

Amtrak subsidy is about 1B annually. Road subsidies and capital bills (Fed and State) are many many times that yet not keeping up with system needs for repair/replacement.

Why does one subsidized mode not have to pay for itself entirely while you say another should?

I just said drop the subsidies for all three forms of travel if you feel like it. But that wont change rail use or profitibility.

 

[piasabird]

Not many usable train routes in the MID-WEST.

 

[EagleKeeper]

Not many usable train routes in the MID-WEST.

Plenty of Freight routes;

 

[K1052]

4.5 hours is far from superior to drive time. I routinely did that drive in 4.5 hours. Usually it was closer to 5 and sometimes it could be as many as 6 depending on traffic but there were still plenty of times 4.5 hours was sufficient.

That assumes you hit absolutely no traffic coming out of the city, which aside from the middle of the day is improbable, and no stops. I drove Chicago to Springfield twice a week for a while.

 

[K1052]

I just said drop the subsidies for all three forms of travel if you feel like it. But that wont change rail use or profitibility.

Yes it would. Large parts of the highway system would fall into disuse from lack of maintenance. Rail would take over short and medium haul passenger travel just as it did before.

 

[bfdd]

That's fine as long as you have an extra week to travel cost-to-coast round trip. I love traveling by train but have not ridden Amtrak in years because it takes too long to get where I want to go. Slow trains and the lack of hierarchical (regional vs local) service turns what would be a 90-minute trip in Germany into a five-hour trip between St. Louis and Chicago for example.

Mostly for areas that are a days drive away. Was planning on going out to NM in early December possibly going to take the train. It's about the same as driving it, except much fucking cheaper cause I don't have to pay for gas lol.

 

[PokerGuy]

Other than that leftists love the idea of mass transit where everyone is dependent on government service and there is less individualism, I can't see why the left has such a fascination with trains and rail. Let the marketplace sort it out, if people want it they can pay for it.

 

[CycloWizard]

If we're willing to spend the money on fully grade separated electrified HSR we can do it in 90 minutes. Germany spent that money, we haven't.

If a private company is willing to spend the money, it can be done. Why is a public passenger rail still my only option in the US when there are demonstrated private systems which work elsewhere? It's just another heavily-subsidized "public option" where market forces were crowded out by the subsidy.

When the 110mph upgrades are complete to CHI-STL it will be 4.5 hours. Much superior to drive time.

I drove that route in 4.5 hours plenty of times. The current rail system does it in about 5 hours simply because it stops far too often and travels at a low speed. Increasing the top speed to 110 mph will help relatively little since the train spends very little time at top speed.

 

[K1052]

If a private company is willing to spend the money, it can be done. Why is a public passenger rail still my only option in the US when there are demonstrated private systems which work elsewhere? It's just another heavily-subsidized "public option" where market forces were crowded out by the subsidy.

I drove that route in 4.5 hours plenty of times. The current rail system does it in about 5 hours simply because it stops far too often and travels at a low speed. Increasing the top speed to 110 mph will help relatively little since the train spends very little time at top speed.

There is no privately funded and constructed HSR system anywhere in the world. Even the Japanese companies got enormous low interest loans from the government to build their system.

4.5 hours is ZERO traffic. Right now for instance it's 70 minutes from downtown just to I-294. Part of the agreement with UP adds several limited stop trains to the STL-CHI segment so they'll spend less time making station stops and more time at speed.