Five Things To Understand About Amtrak

on may 1st 1971 railroad passengers began writing with an all-new carrier known officially as amtrak although the company provides a vital link in the mobility chain its relevance has been called into question throughout its entire life for a country that wholeheartedly ditched rail travel and has continually looked down on it ever since there's an understandable disconnect between amtrak and what average travelers expect out of it here we hope to offer some insight on five of the big questions about how we got here why things are the way they are now and what possibilities can set a course for the present and future [Music] by the turn of the 20th century railroads were operating many glamorous name trains on their own dime and few spared any expenses on some of the grandest name trains like the super chief the 20th century limited and the city of new orleans to name a few passengers were treated to exceptional dining and comfortable overnight accommodations for all of the pride that rare was instilled in these trains however not all of them made them as much money as moving freight most railroads had two major incentives for operating them with the largest being contracts for carrying mail the us post office department had been a very lucrative sponsor of passenger service as the railway post office's ability to pick up sort and deliver mail all without slowing down made for unrivaled uninterrupted service inside the passenger cars were the second incentive the clean environment the exquisite dining comfortable seating and compartments and helpful service from pullman porters created an inviting environment for guests some of these would have been heads of corporations who could have overseen the movement of their products across the continent if the railroad was to treat them with the right amount of hospitality they might look into how efficiently the railroad carried freight and just maybe sign on as a customer rail travel would peak during world war ii with rail lines operating over capacity with moving troops and supplies because facilitating the war effort was top priority railroads warned casual civilians to write only if necessary with trains being overcrowded using aging equipment and being forced to go without amenities like air conditioning the wartime conditions left a bad impression on the traveling public with repercussions lasting long after the war ended in 1957 airlines officially surpassed rail ridership and the interstate highway act would pave the way for a network of highways to offer unparalleled convenience and connectivity with those two systems in place passenger trains would start going by the wayside throughout the 50s and into the 60s mail movement would shift to trucking and air which took away most trains profitability with many of them unable to recover their losses from operating costs many of them were discontinued for all of the perks to be had with airplanes and interstates though there were still millions of citizens who couldn't move by air or weren't able to drive throughout the 60s solutions were explored to keep the fragmenting network together one solution came from a management trainee at the baltimore in ohio named william howes in 1965 he sent a paper the various eastern rail companies suggesting that they all consolidate their services into a brand tentatively named transeast railways which would own the equipment and routes while paying rent for trackage rights on their participating freight railroads this very concept would form the basis of what was first branded as rail packs which would later give way to amtrak in 1971. the regional scope of houzz's pitch expanded to cover the entire country and losses would be subsidized not with the freight railroads but by the federal government given the overall attitude to rail travel at this time the expected outcome of amtrak was at passenger rail service in its transcontinental entirety would be phased out while some name trains would pass into history because of low ridership and atrocious track conditions others were seeing a revival on rasa had seen low ridership where railroads went to great lanes to prove that nobody rode trains it soared in the following decades some trains would earn the support of their states like california illinois pennsylvania and north carolina where services would flourish even further today although it's nothing like what it was 50 years ago amtrak has still kept a national network of passenger trains together how well it has done that depends on who you ask given how people invested in rail history travel and politics all have different viewpoints on how to get the most out of today's system before amtrak began operations the country was down to 49 000 miles of passenger rail service since then the mileage has dropped to just over 21 000. over the years major cities like nashville phoenix las vegas columbus and fort wayne have been left off the network often because of low ridership track conditions or capacity issues with freight trains for parts of the country that don't have any rail service trying to reintroduce it can be a hard sell more often than not whenever passenger service is proposed on any rail line the rail company wants amtrak the city or the state to cough up the millions of dollars for necessary improvements the needed support infrastructure typically includes new stations additional trackage bridges and updated signaling once all of that is set up then the main question becomes will enough passengers use it one example of this was the kentucky cardinal inaugurated in december 1999 it initially connected indianapolis with the town of jeffersonville before extending across the ohio river to louisville just two years later despite bringing rail service to a city that had been off the network since 1979 there is one primary reason why the service didn't catch on it was timetabled to make the trip between the two cities a hundred and eleven miles apart between four to six hours long with the tracks operated by the louisville and indiana shortline the tracks were maintained for speeds at just 30 miles per hour that made the train much slower than nearby interstate 65 which allows motorists to make the journey in just two hours the primary reason for the train's existence was because of a network growth strategy plan that did not appeal to passengers which caused the trains ability to make a return on investment after three and a half years of service the kentucky cardinal would make its last run on july 6 2003 in other cases where there's a much clearer demand for moving passengers the same level of mercy for amtrak is at play in southern california one of the gaps in rail service is bridged by a three-way bus service between los angeles and bakersfield the southernmost end of the state-supported san joaquin service amtrak has tried for years to get regular service introduced through to hatch me pass which is operating at full capacity with freight trains the union pacific and before them southern pacific have blocked every past effort to get passenger trains running through this tough stretch of railroad citing capacity issues is the main reason to open up capacity on routes like these amtrak would need a benefactor to help foot the bill for adding a second or third main track often from state governments to make service competitive against the car if the train can only mope along at 30 miles per hour the service can't hold up as for state funding each state has its own approach virginia's approach is perhaps the most ambitious as the commonwealth has purchased nearly 400 bottles of track from csx for 3.7 billion dollars prior to this the commonwealth has worked with amtrak csx and norfolk southern to expand service with more frequency to existing routes and reconnect service to cities like norfolk and roanoke in this plan not only would rail congestion be relieved with expanded capacity but acquiring other routes would preserve the possibility of adding new destinations in the future similarly state funding has allowed for corridor services like the pacific surfliner amtrak california the cascades talgo the midwestern network and the northeast regionals to flourish with more train frequencies than their predecessors over half a century before new name trains that have enjoyed success include the heartland flyer serving fort worth and oklahoma city and the downeaster connecting boston with brunswick maine having a strong base of patrons though is only half the equation although amtrak's operations span coast to coast the company owns a grand total of just 643 miles of track its own routes include the northeast corridor between washington dc and boston the keystone corridor between philadelphia and harrisburg the springfield line across connecticut and the michigan line between porter indiana and kalamazoo michigan other stretches like between los angeles and san diego are owned by government agencies while the vast majority are owned by various freight railroads where maintaining amtrak's on-time performance isn't always top priority for most long distance trains it's not uncommon to fall several hours behind schedule as it delays in cartagon route mostly from waiting on freight trains add up another thing that supporters have long argued has been how undefunded and mistreated the service has been during the terrorist attacks on september 11th all air travel became grounded leaving amtrak as the one and only form of long-distance transportation for most of that day in the weeks afterward the airlines were bailed out by the federal government with a relief package worth 15 billion dollars amtrak did not get one cent as far as self-sufficiency goes there have been attempts over the years by a number of leaders going into the 1990s amtrak held profitable contracts with the u.s postal service for delivering mail and express packages on long-distance trains then president and ceo george warrington expanded on this with a network growth strategy introducing new routes like the kentucky cardinal in the hopes that the marginal freight and passenger mixed service would lead to new profitable passenger service not only did these trains not attract the freight service that had been hoped for the scheduling of these trains were not attractive to passengers taking place at odd hours of the day and taking longer than driving the network growth strategy never generated its projected income and the entire mailman express component was killed off by the following president david gunn in 2017 former delta airlines ceo richard anderson was brought on board and embarked on a very controversial cost cutting campaign that stripped away aaa discounts support for private car excursions like the new river train and the most hard-hitting stubbing traditional dining current meals in favor of airline style reheated dinners despite dividing his longtime support base down the middle eliminating the costs associated with these factors did improve amtrak's financial situation in fact when anderson left the company in early 2020 amtrak was almost to its goal of breaking even for the first time in its history just as the pandemic hit in response to lessened demand routes like the peer marquette and the ethan allen express were completely suspended while long-distance trains like the empire builder california zephyr and the southwest chief operated on a tri-weekly basis although some of these routes are back in limited service it took the passing of federal aid with amtrak's share worth 1.7 billion dollars to restore normal daily service in may and june when amtrak first took over passenger service from the freight railroads three major companies opted to stay out of these the rock island line staggered through its own financial turmoil until ending service in 1978 the southern railway relented a year later because of aging equipment and increasing operating losses and the rio grande zephyr concluded in 1983 also because of operating losses during the 70s the auto training route between lorton virginia and sanford florida was operated by a for-profit company and enjoyed much profitability with its niche route popular with vacationers and snowbirds after some failed expansion plans caused the company to fold amtrak themselves would incorporate the route into its own network two years later and is perhaps not surprisingly their most profitable route some attempts have been more recent [Music] beginning in 2015 the hoosier state service was operated by iowa pacific holdings a freight short line company that specialized in heritage excursion operations working with amtrak operating crews iowa pacific supplied their own equipment that met amtrak standards employed its own onboard service staff and tried to promote the hoosier state being a step above what was offered but in 2017 the company began faltering from internal financial problems and handed the service back to amtrak that june the train itself would last on the timetable until june 30th 2019. in january of 2018 one company went above and beyond brightline is an all-new form of higher speed rail service operating in south florida between miami and west palm beach it was founded earlier in the decade by fortress investments a privately held company who once owned the florida east coast this influx of private capital investment upgraded track speeds and capacity and added new stations that have become social hubs in their respective cities with fortress emphasizing hot real estate perks just walking distance from the platforms although the four billion dollar cost is majorly financed with private investment the only form of government funding has been when taking out loans for the construction of its orlando extension called private activity bonds these are to be paid back with revenues earned once service begins with proposals being examined to connect walt disney world and tampa at the time of recording though passenger service is suspended due to the pandemic while the company is pressing ahead with building to orlando aiming to begin service in 2022 simultaneously brightline is gearing up for constructing an all-new high-speed rail alignment between victorville california and las vegas nevada a city that has also been without service since 1997. if successful brightline west promises travel times over the 260 miles to be as little as 3 hours rail advocates describe this length and journey time as a sweet spot with the keywords being too short to fly and too long to drive in a recently unveiled map amtrak envisions dozens of new routes to fit this margin along with added capacity on existing routes but again they're at the mercy of political support and the freight railroads that permit whether or not they can reach these cities much of its 1.7 billion dollar infusion is expected to be spent uncovering for the funding shortfall caused by the pandemic as well as we're calling furloughed employees catching up on maintenance backlogs and preparing to order new rolling stock to replace its current aging flea even in the worst of times amtrak is an essential service for most of us high speed rail is the first thing that comes to mind when rail travel outside of the us is mentioned in countries like france and japan trains can reach speeds well over 200 miles per hour and offer unparalleled reliability and frequency that their native lands have come to depend on this is the type of high-speed rail that brightline west promises for reaching las vegas currently the fastest train amtrak has to offer is the acela express which connects boston with new york and washington in seven hours the highest speed limit is only 150 miles per hour with numerous curves aging bridges and tunnels and even grade crossings holding the trains back some of these bottlenecks were alleviated with the 2009 stimulus package but other areas of concern especially the hudson river tunnels have become hot political issues campaigns for kickstarting high-speed rail in states like california texas and illinois have only progressed in fits and starts another emerging trend in europe has been overnight sleeper trains which have historically been in decline because of competition from airlines its resurgence in recent years has been encouraged in part by a new travel term flagscam which is swedish for flight shaming this is a direct jab at the airline industry which is projected to account for almost a quarter of global co2 emissions by 2050. the night jet services operated by austria's obb network has been adding new routes throughout europe since 2017 with more being planned by sweden reaching as far as the british isles although airline ridership is taking a hit this recent development is still being evaluated as whether or not the trend will stick in the long run amid growing calls for minimizing carbon footprints for amtrak to operate more of these trains the longtime concern has been having enough equipment and manpower to operate them with and of course getting freight railroads to allow track space for them many of amtrak's old overnight services like the spirit of california the night owl and the twilight shoreliner have been lost through the issues with funding equipment shortages and dwindling ridership since those days however ridership has been steadily on the rise from barely 20 million passengers in 2000 to 32.5 million in 2019 this is the most the system has had in its 50-year lifespan in fact in 2021 amtrak announced that viewliner sleeping cars would be added to select northeast regional trains although a welcome return it's too early to tell whether this will set an example for the rest of the system of all the issues the amtrak must face the most critical to understand is that they rely on public and governmental support to carry out its duty without the government backing it would not survive while the end result may leave much to be desired amtrak has defied the odds time and again defeating attempts of being broken up and being there for travelers off of the beaten path who depend on rail for their preferred and sometimes only method of long distance movement is what we have today perfect no is it still something that we need yes the outcome of the next 50 years depends on many factors like taste in the traveling public its ability to recoup its losses how much support it can leverage from elected officials and unforeseen events like the pandemic [Music] the only thing that is known for certain at this point is that there is a clear and tangible demand for more and better rail service as one of amtrak's past commercials once said there's something magical about riding on a train [Music] you

Channel: High Iron

Views: 81,026

Rating: 4.9230046 out of 5

Keywords: trains, rail, railroad, Amtrak, passenger trains, amtrak trains, long distance trains, United States, America, Acela Express, Northeast Corridor, GE P42DC, California Zephyr, train, passenger rail, siemens charger, ACS-64, northeast regional amtrak, high speed rail, sleeper train usa, Talgo, amfleet

Id: Gl21GWCIJHs

Length: 21min 20sec (1280 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 28 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/Brad_Wesley]

Nice video. I hadn’t know the history of the Kentucky Cardinal. At first I was like “well it’s obvious this wouldn’t work” but then later they mentioned that the CEO at the time thought they could get freight and cargo service out of it, which surprised me.