Friday, April 28, 2006

Coming to an Amtrak competitor near you:

Advertising on tray tables!
Advertising on boarding passes!
And according to the Washington Post's Caroline Meyer, onboard commercials over the PA.

Be careful, railfans, when you clamor for an Amtrak run "like a business." Unless you specify, you could get one run like US Airways.

Thursday, April 27, 2006

How does Amtrak compare to driving? Ask AAA.

First get a fare estimate from tickets.amtrak.com
Then use AAA's Fuel Cost Calculator, which estimates your total gas cost based on prevailing average prices, make and model of car, and the mileage between the points you select.

Example: For a one-way trip from Dallas to San Antonio in a 2005 Chevrolet Impala, AAA estimates a total fuel cost of $28. Walkup Amtrak fares are in the $28-35 range.

But once you start counting all the other costs of driving--including the wear and tear on the driver--that Amtrak trip looks better and better.

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

"Bandits" on the train? (And no robbery?)

Jon Bonné has a piece up on MSNBC.com about the new 250-ml single-serve wines from Three Thieves. But instead of a bottle, these come in paper-based aseptic packs--juice boxes for grownups! (Bonné says the wine's pretty good, too.)

Because there's less packaging, "Bandits" store more compactly than bottles, and they take up far less space in the wastecan. On a train, where space is reckoned in cubic inches, the mini-winebox offers a signficant advantage over single-serve bottles. Will Amtrak put these on? Don't know--can't say. Something to watch for, however, in any case.

They say Sen. Lott is a big Amtrak supporter, but . .

it's hard to see how that reconciles with his and Sen. Cochran's proposal to relocate CSX's Gulf Coast main line way inland. And turn the current CSX right of way into a new U.S. Highway 90.

We're speaking, of course, of the route of the Sunset Limited, when it resumes running east of New Orleans.

Thursday, April 13, 2006

Something you can't fix with Amtrak 'reform'

A bridge is out in eastern North Carolina, on a route that six Amtrak trains use daily. CSX owns the bridge and promises to try to repair the bridge in 24 hours.

Now keep in mind that this isn't some lightly-used branch line to Hooterville. This is a main line that sees, according to Reuters, 50 trains a day.

And once again we see the value of Amtrak trains as the canary in the coal mine. It takes the delay of passenger trains to make an important point about the state of the rails in general, and CSX's in particular: There isn't enough profit in railroading to keep the plant in good repair.

And you're not gonna fix that with any plan to "reform" Amtrak.

Unless your aim is to take trains off--in order to move the larger rail issue to the back burner.

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

Next time, Mr. President, take the train.

President Bush spoke yesterday in Jefferson City, MO, having flown there (to Columbia, actually) on Air Force One.

What makes this interesting from our point of view? Nearly as many people take trains as planes in this metro area.

In 2004, Columbia Regional Airport (COU) boarded 20,268 passengers. That same year, Amtrak's Jefferson City station boarded or detrained 40,014 passengers. If you assume that boardings = detrainings, you get about 20,000 passengers boarded. Your conductor scores this a dead heat.

What's more, there are places where Amtrak outboards all the airlines combined. Consider Modesto, CA, where 19,798 passengers boarded at Harry Sham Field (MOD). Amtrak boarded an estimated 36,345 at its Modesto station. And with a 2000 metro population of 447,000, Modesto isn't exactly just a wide place in the road.

Your conductor has always found it a little silly to compare a single carrier, Amtrak, against "the airlines," as some so-called railfans insist on doing. Nevertheless, there really are places where Amtrak competes quite well, thank you very much, with "the airlines." Now you know two of them.

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P.S. It's too bad Air Force One didn't land at Jefferson City Memorial. JEF could use the traffic; it boarded only 154 passengers in 2004, 78 in 2003. (Source: FAA, 6.7MB PDF). Air Force One seats 102 including crew. All by itself, it could have swelled the passenger count by 40%!

Wednesday, April 05, 2006

In Sanford, Fla., big welcome (and subsidy to match) for a small carrier

Last week Icelandair transferred its service from Orlando International (MCO) to Orlando Sanford International (SFB).

The Orlando Sentinel's Beth Kassab reported that the maiden flight March 27 got one of those fire-truck "under the arch" salutes. And to sweeten the deal, Sanford is kicking in half a million dollars over the next 7 years to promote the service.

This is all well and good--Icelandair is a fine way to cross the pond--but keep in mind that we're talking about a carrier with exactly one arrival and one departure every day--handling 378 passengers per day at most. Which is 32% fewer passengers than Amtrak handled in its single daily arrival and departure at Sanford's Auto Train terminal in 2005.

Monday, April 03, 2006

In Chicago, what it takes to get rid of 'intolerable delays'

The way now seems clear for Chicago O'Hare International Airport to expand capacity and "make intolerable delays a thing of the past," according to one expert.

Price tag: $15 billion
Completion date: 2013

On today's congested railways, it will take more than gumption and org-chart shuffles to purge Amtrak's network of delays. It will take capital investment. And the time to see the investment all the way through.