NYT, pg1: Travelers Shift to Rail as Cost of Fuel Rises; Shrunken Amtrak can't meet demand

[DeepModem Mom]

Travelers Shift to Rail as Cost of Fuel Rises
By MATTHEW L. WALD
Published: June 21, 2008

WASHINGTON — Record prices for gasoline and jet fuel should be good news for Amtrak, as travelers look for alternatives to cut the cost of driving and flying. And they are good news, up to a point. Amtrak set records in May, both for the number of passengers it carried and for ticket revenues — all the more remarkable because May is not usually a strong travel month. But the railroad, and its suppliers, have shrunk so much, largely because of financial constraints, that they would have difficulty growing quickly to meet the demand.

Many of the long-distance trains are already sold out for some days this summer. Want to take Amtrak’s daily Crescent train from New York to New Orleans? It is sold out on July 5, 6, 7 and 8. Seattle to Vancouver, British Columbia, on July 5? The train is sold out, but Amtrak will sell you a bus ticket. “We’re starting to bump up against our own capacity constraints,” said R. Clifford Black, a spokesman for Amtrak.

The problem is that rail has shriveled. The number of “passenger miles” traveled on intercity rail has dropped by about two-thirds since 1960, and the companies that build rail cars and locomotives have also shrunk, making it hard to expand....

Today Amtrak has 632 usable rail cars, and dozens more are worn out or damaged but could be reconditioned and put into service at a cost of several hundred thousand dollars each. And it needs to buy new rail cars soon. Its Amfleet cars, the ones recognizable to riders as the old Metroliners, are more than 30 years old. And the Acela trains, which have been operating about eight years, have about a million miles on them.

Writing specifications for bids, picking a vendor and waiting for delivery takes years, even if the money is in hand....

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/21/business/21amtrak.html?adxnnl=1&ref=todayspaper&pagewanted=all&adxnnlx=1214071352-k+NpouBkiJ5eaVm/d0YBXQ

[Warren Stupidity]

1. 632 usable rail cars

we are so totally screwn. Our overlords have seen fit to run this nation into the ground knowing full well that we were going to have a total crackup as the oil ran out. Other nations were investing in mass transit while we were paving our light rail beds over for bike paths and scraping our interstate passenger rail system. It is going to be a very interesting time. I sure hope Obama is up to the task, as the crypto-oligarchy fuhgnutz are handing him a huge shit sandwich.

[Buzz Clik]

3. There wasn't exactly an upswell of public opinion as the funding for Amtrak declined.

Let's not blame those who represent us. There was no demand at all, so they quit flushing the money down the toilet.

[Tutonic]

10. Jimmy Carter that the Right likes to excoriate called it correct

back in the 1970s. He had developed a timetable for removing our dependence on oil for vehicles and then along came the savior of the right--Hollywood "B" actor Ronnie Reagan. Oh and your original premise about being totally screwed, yes we are.

[Buzz Clik]

2. Amtrak has sucked for decades. That's why there's nothing left.

You only take Amtrak if you were lucky enough to be somewhere near a rail route and if you didn't care when you got there. Being 10 hours late on a 15 hour trip is not unusual.

If you want rail as an alternative, be prepared to invest some huge dollars in it.

[ThoughtCriminal]

5. Why trains run late

Union Pacific - which has been anti-Amtrak to an extreme level. It has also contribute heavily to the Republican party and in particular has rewarded McCain for his anti-Amtrak efforts. BNSF has been far more friendly towards Amtrak. It's interesting to compare compare the on-time performance of trains running over Union Pacific trackage and BNSF trackage. UP does a very poor job, BNSF much better.

[ThoughtCriminal]

4. McCain has been one of Amtrak's worst enemies

http://trains4america.wordpress.com/2008/02/07/mccain-worse-than-bush-on-amtrak-and-transport-policy/

[DeepModem Mom]

6. Yep. On the candidates --

"Amtrak’s fortunes also hinge on who wins the White House; Senator John McCain of Arizona, the presumptive Republican nominee, was a staunch opponent of subsidies to Amtrak when he was chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee. Barack Obama, the probable Democratic nominee, was a co-sponsor of the Senate version of the bill to provide an 80/20 financing match."

[Joanne98]

7. Attacked for YEARS by the privatizers. They will NEVER get it now.

[natrat]

8. a country of complete morons

[Joe Bacon]

9. Solution! Sell Amtrak to Via Rail

Let Canadians show us how to run a competent rail system because we sure don't know how!