WSJ Video about Amtrak

[iliketrains]

Agreed that Amtrak needs to be treated like essential public transportation and that steady and dedicated funds are needed for it, but I don’t agree with the DFW-HOU bullet train but. People are all up in arms about Cali HSR and the delays involved and that’s about as friendly as you can get in terms of a populous. Conservative Texas going for it? I’m not hopeful.

Yes I am willing to bet money the Texas Central bullet train will be built. I'm very hopeful.

 

[NSC1109]

Yes I am willing to bet money the Texas Central bullet train will be built. I'm very hopeful.

I will admit I don’t follow pax rail outside of Amtrak that closely (I don’t even follow Brightline’s developments...something I really should do), but I’ve always been skeptical of the “dedicated HSR” stuff. Trillions of dollars of investment for studies, contracting, construction, etc. I just can’t see it in today’s political climate.

Side note: WSJ posted the video on YouTube. I wasn’t expecting any sort of support for Amtrak (I’ve seen tons of videos that have very negative comments), but I was very surprised to see that (easily) the first 150+ comments were all in strong support of Amtrak and how Gardner and Anderson are too narrow-minded to understand the true value that the LD services bring. Maybe the people are finally understanding it.

 

[neroden]

I just took the SWC from ABQ to LA and back again and both times the coach car I was in was 100% was full. One of the times I was in car 12 and the other car 13 which I had assumed meant that car 12 was full, but maybe it doesn't. The LD's lose money even when they're full? There's that seasonal thing, I assume. About sixty people boarded in ABQ which looked like more than boarded in LA on the return trip.

No, most of the LD trains make money for the most part. Amtrak uses phony accounting to make them look like they lose money.

Seasonality is an issue on the SWC, which is half-empty in February. As a result it is probably slightly below breakeven financially in reality. (The daily trains east of the Mississippi, and the Coast Starlight, all make money.)

Amtrak's dishonest accounting throws a bunch of fixed costs, like a bunch of the cost of operating the national reservations center and the ticketing system, onto the long distance trains to make it look like they're losing more money. These are real costs, but they can't really be allocated to any train -- they're the "cost of keeping the lights on". The only way for Amtrak to make more money is to run more trains and leverage the economies of scale.

 

[neroden]

Maybe Gardner knows more than I do (I am sure he does), but I don't see how this is going to all work out.

Gardner definitely knows a lot less than I do. He clearly does not understand railroad financials, which I've been analyzing since I was 6. (BTW, CSX is in a very bad position right now due to sequential mismanagements. The states should take the opportunity to buy tracks from them.)

 

[Paul CHI]

How does the cost of maintaining the NE corridor get booked? There are huge capital costs, although those aren't technically operating expenses. But the wear and tear on the system needs to be accounted for, perhaps through asset depreciation over the expected life of the equipment?

Then there's a question as to how the overhead gets allocated between trains. I've done work on corporate cost allocation, and you can sure move profits around if you want to.

 

[Rover]

Saw the video...couple of points.

First...Does Gardner think the freight railroads will let Amtrak run multiple frequency trips on routes that currently have no passenger service at all? Atlanta - Knoxville for example. Is NS going to be, all of a sudden, this great partner when it comes to corridor services out of Atlanta? Hell, right now NS won't even let them cut off cars at Peachtree station. Have any of these issues even been discussed with the host freight railroads? Gardner seems to think that by eliminating the LD trains, the host railroads will have no issues at all with new regional service. Good luck with that!

Second...Let's say you do eliminate all the LD trains and are just left with the NEC and the state supported corridors. You still have huge capital expenses with the NEC. What are the Congress people going to say when Amtrak shows up wanting money for the NEC after cutting all the LD trains? I thought you said you were going to be self sufficient without the LD trains? I don't think so! You cut my train, don't look at me for support of the NEC.

Maybe Gardner knows more than I do (I am sure he does), but I don't see how this is going to all work out.

I'll be instructing my Texas Reps to tell the NE Corridor to go **** themselves, and to be funded by the states it serves.

 

[caravanman]

Sounds like Long Distance trains are not going to survive?



Ed.

 

[jis]

Afterall it is one of Rupert Murdoch's rags

Incidentally, RPA reps spent quite a bit of time trying to educate the WSJ folks for this article, according to Jim Matthews, but apparently it is not that easy a task.

 

[tricia]

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