Amtrak to rehab Pelham Bay Bridge along Northeast Corridor in the Bronx

ProgressiveRailroading.com reports that $10 million will be spent by Amtrak to strengthen and repair the more than 100-year-old Pelham Bay Bridge's piers, piles, abutments and foundations that support the tracks, transmission lines and catenary wires. The project will make the bridge more reliable and reduce maintenance on the structure and will be completed by October 2010. Wikimapia has a satellite view of the bridge from Google Maps.

Amtrak extends fare sale again, will now be on for more than one year

Amtrak, which cut fares up to 25 percent on its Northeast corridor in
February, is extending those cuts for the second time this year to
March 31 meaning the lower fares will be in place for over a year. The
lower fares require a 14 day advanced reservation and there are
blackout days around the upcoming holidays.

It's a good idea for Amtrak to discount its fares to boost ridership
numbers but two week advance notice limits its success. My last post
talked about buses increasing ridership along the NEC and Amtrak
should take this seriously. NEC is Amtrak's money maker, they need to
do more than just this temporary fare discount to ensure that they
don't lose market share to bus service.

Amtrak's Northeast regional trains carried 640,000 passengers in
October, up from September and October 2008. System-wide, Amtrak saw a
decline in passengers last month.

Bus companies finding a 'new demographic' - bus service taking business away from Amtrak?

A UPI story states that long-distance bus travel has risen 10 percent, while travel by train and plane has declined in the past year. The Chaddick Institute for Metropolitan Development said bus passenger numbers were up while Amtrak reported an 8 percent decline in passengers on trains January through August the Boston Globe reported. Among its findings the Chaddick Institute said bus travel is cheap and consumer technology is widely available on buses. Buses were the first public mode of travel to have free WiFi, ticket sales rose 67 percent on the Boston to New York route in the past 12 months. More than 55 percent of the riders are 18 to 34 years old and "tech savvy," the Boston Globe said.

I can personally verify this. I took Bolt Bus from Boston to NYC and it was pretty good and only $15 one way and it did have free WiFi (I didn't use it but a lot people had laptops and seemed to be using WiFi). Amtrak needs to get WiFi. The bus takes just about the same time between many cities along the NEC, is way cheaper, and has WiFi. Competition is great, this will force Amtrak to get their shit together and offier WiFi on their trains. All mobile phones have WiFi now, everyone has a mobile phone, WiFi is a must have for Amtrak for 2010, it's baffling why Amtrak can't pull this off and add this service and with the all the fed money we're giving them you need to do this. Amtrak will look like dolts if they can't do this.

Acela WiFi - more info

Some other info on AMtrak WiFi offered up by Jay Boehmer:

• Amtrak plans to launch free WiFi on Acela Express trains in the second quarter of 2010. 
• Wi-Fi installation already is underway on Acela Express trains: "This service will initially be offered at no cost to our customers, though pricing may change depending on customer response, system performance and costs" Amtrak said.
• Amtrak expects the free service to help increase ridership, adding $4.3 million in incremental revenue through the end of fiscal year 2014. 
• Amtrak said it is preparing to extend Wi-Fi to other services, "depending on market response," with Northeast Regional trains likely the first

Acela to offer free Wi-Fi Internet access in 2010 as part of an effort to attract more riders

Bloomberg story stating Amtrak will offer free WiFi on Acela trains. This is good but they should offer it on all trains along the Northeast Corridor. And why did it take Amtrak so long to do this? Maybe the federal stimulus scratch helped out.

Amtrak Loses $32 Per Passenger on Avg. Acela Makes $41/passenger, Northeast Regional loses $5

Amtrak lost money on 41 of its 45 train lines in 2008, including a $145.23 per passenger loss on the Silver Star that serves Tampa on its New York-Miami run, a Pew Charitable Trusts research group reported Tuesday. System-wide losses ranged from about $5 to $462 per passenger. The average loss per passenger was about $32, four times the $8 per passenger Amtrak computed using different methods, according to the study by Subsidyscope, which reports on how federal subsidies are used.

The Northeast corridor has the highest passenger volume of any Amtrak route, greatly enhancing efficiency. The corridor's high-speed Acela Express made a profit of about $41 per passenger. The more heavily utilized Northeast Regional lost almost $5 per passenger.

Will Amtrak cut the biggest money losing accounts? I doubt it. There's complaints about Amtrak not being efficient but when certain routes are proven to be huge money losers they just never seem to go away.

I'm surprised to see the Northeast Regional trains lose almost $5/hour. If you look at the site: http://www.subsidyscope.com/projects/transportation/amtrak/ and choose the Northeast Regional line you'll see the line actually makes almost $20/passenger. But the site notes this disclaimer:

"Including depreciation and other unallocated costs adds an additional loss of $24.29 per passenger"

This total is deducted from every passenger across all Amtrak lines thus resulting in about a $5 loss for each Northeast Regional passenger. But the NEC regional is a money maker if you ask me. If you cut the most inefficient Amtrak lines, that $24.29 in 'other costs' will go down quite a bit I'm assuming resulting in all NEC trains showing a profit. Trains will make money where there is population density.

Amtrak 2009 ridership down, but still near record high

The AP story states that "Amtrak said its ridership dropped by more than 1 million passengers during the past year, but was still the second-highest year in the railroad's history. Figures released by the nation's intercity rail operator show Amtrak carried 27.2 million passengers during the 12 months ending Sept. 30. Amtrak's record was 28.7 million passengers during the previous year, a period coinciding with record high gas prices. Still, ridership was up over two years ago by 5.1 percent."

An Amtrak ridership drop for fiscal year 2009 was expected but this is a smaller drop than I anticipated. I think this shows rail travel is critical and even in a recession is still widely used and needed. I expect growth in Amtrak's riderships numbers to return quickly and for the high of 2008 to be passed as early as 2011. I believe it is a very good thing that the US government is spending stimulus money for rail improvement. Once ridership starts to pick up the system will be ready to handle the increased capacity due to the improvements.

Bloomberg blasts Amtrak gun bill

A recent amendment to the budget bill for the Departments of Transportation and Housing and Urban Development will require Amtrak to revoke its post-9/11, post-Madrid bombing ban on guns in checked luggage.
Passengers were prohibited from bearing arms on Amtrak after 9/11, and the policy was tightened after the 2004 bombings in a Madrid train station. The reasoning is that if you can have a gun in your checked airline baggage, then why not on Amtrak? This took a beating from Mayor Bloomberg.

"If anyone in Congress thinks that the threat of a terrorist attack on a train has gone away, they are sadly mistaken," Bloomberg said in Penn Station, where mayors from New Jersey joined him in imploring the House of Representatives to reject a measure the Senate passed.

"This has nothing to do with the Second Amendment right to bear arms and everything to do with keeping our country safe from terrorists," Bloomberg stated.

I'm not a fan on this provision so I hope it is revoked.

Return of the Megaproject: Moynihation Station is Back!

Governor David Paterson, Senator Charles Schumer and Amtrak President Joe Boardman announced Sunday that months of intensive negotiations have resulted in a general agreement and mutual understanding on the basic terms and conditions that will lead to the redevelopment of New York City's historic Farley Post Office Building into a new inter-city passenger train station and center for most of Amtrak's New York City service.

So what finally led to a deal with Amtrak? According to the New York Times, Amtrak's new chief—a former New York State transportation commissioner—has been on board with the Moynihan Station plan and the government agreed to let Amtrak share in the revenue from the retail outlets that will fill the new station.

Another theory from Curbed.com - the recent revisiting of the demolition of the original, stunning Penn Station on Mad Men filled everyone with a renewed sense of shame.

I think this is great news. Penn Station is horrible, the busiest train station in the USA needs to be more impressive and efficient than the sore of a station that's there now.

Amtrak ‘security surge’ includes random bag checks

Story by Peter Mucha of the Philadelphia Inquirer discusses the Amtrak 'security surge.' The article states 'two days before the 9/11 anniversary, Amtrak is initiating a one-day "multi-force security surge" along the Northeast Corridor that includes "random passenger bag inspections at unannounced locations,".'

Security is needed along the NEC, we need to know traveling along the NEC is safe, I'm very happy to see this effort.