Amtrak Tracking for My Commute Between New York City and Philadelphia

"Amtrak rolls into the Information Age"

2012-02-15T15:49:00.001-05:00

An article on SmartPlanet, CBS Interactive site, comments on how Amtrak is improving the overall experience and service customers will receive over the coming years. Some highlights from the SmartPlanet story "Amtrak rolls into the Information Age":

Amtrak is rolling out Wi-Fi and eTicketing, outfitting its conductors with iPhones, installing high-tech tracking equipment and integrating fully automated food and beverage systems.
Currently, 75 percent of all Amtrak passengers have access to on-board Wi-Fi.
Amtrak launched an iPhone app that allows passengers to plan trips, purchase tickets, modify existing reservations and check schedules and status.
eTicketing: Passengers can print their reservations from home or print tickets at a kiosk. They can also present a barcode on their smart phone to the conductor, who will scan it with his iPhone. The system also allows passengers to purchase tickets at the last minute or once they've boarded a train.
Amtrak will be testing an app for reporting delays later this year.
Amtrak executives said they are committed to high-speed rail and the current vision includes bringing 220-mile-per-hour rail to the Northeast Corridor.

"Restore a Gateway to Dignity", NYT proposes moving MSG to make the best Penn Station

2012-02-13T16:17:00.001-05:00

A New York Times article about addressing "the calamity that is Penn Station."

The Times makes a case that "the only way to fix Penn properly is to move Madison Square Garden." They suggest that the "Moynihan plan will eventually improve a few access routes to subways and commuter trains. But it will add no new tracks and have limited effect on the congestion and misery of Penn Station" and that the way to have the best Penn Station for commuters and the city is to move MSG.

Penn Station NYC is truly a horrid to experience as a commuter, a local, or as a tourist. I applaud the efforts to improve Penn Station for commuters as well as the city's benefit. I like seeing design and construction alternatives vetted but the city needs to keep the effort moving forward whatever the final design may be. Relocating MSG is a radical idea; it's not a bad idea but it would extend the whole process, so perhaps it can be considered for phase three or later.

"Speed record will be just start of Amtrak upgrades", plans to hit 160 mph over a 24 mile stretch in NJ

2012-01-29T17:41:00.001-05:00

The site www.lohud.com, serving the Lower Hudson Valley, reports that Amtrak is planning to break its top speed when it updates a 24-mile stretch of track in New Jersey allowing trains to hit 160 mph. The trains will get to this new top speed in NJ between New Brunswick and Trenton (trains now travel there at 135 mph). Work is expected to begin in 2013 and take four years. Work includes replacing overhead wires with constant-tension wires that don't sag. Amtrak will use $450 million in federal high-speed-rail funding. The high speed is reached currently in Rhode Island as the Amtrak Acela gets to 150 mph for approximately 35 miles.

Ridership has been growing and Amtrak broke its own record in fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, 2011 with a ridership of 30.2 million, it's eighth record in the past nine years. Reaching the highest speed in NJ is great move for Amtrak. The Philadelphia to NYC stretch is the middle of the NEC and needs to upgraded to ensure continued efficiency of traffic along this stretch.

Amtrak Trains 2012 Sights on Northeast

2012-01-25T19:51:00.001-05:00

PaintSquare, a website covering the protective and marine coatings industry, notes that "contractors who serve the rail sector in the U.S. Northeast could be in for a happy new year, as Amtrak has released a 2012 construction plan that tilts heavily toward that busy corridor". That Amtrak construction plan for 2012 (link to a PDF file) includes work on track, electrical upgrades in central Jersey, environmental reviews for tunnels, and a bridge.

NJ Transit derailment renews calls for second tunnel under Hudson River to Manhattan

2011-08-11T16:46:00.001-04:00

This week's derailment provided another rallying cry for a second set of tunnels under the Hudson River.

Feds to loan Amtrak millions for new locomotives

2011-06-30T16:56:00.000-04:00

Blog item in the Washington Post about Amtrak getting new rolling stock:

The federal government plans to loan Amtrak about $563 million to buy 70 locomotives to run along the busy Northeast and Keystone corridors, allowing improvements in service between Washington and other cities, and in Pennsylvania.

Amtrak said the locomotives are expected to begin operating in 2013 and will replace models that have been in service for 20 to 30 years.

"Record numbers of passengers are riding Amtrak trains across our national network of intercity routes," Amtrak CEO Joseph Boardman said in a statement. "To better serve our customers, we are implementing a fleet replacement and renewal plan to improve the reliability and performance of our equipment. "

Amtrak New York-Philadelphia Delays May Ease by End-September

2011-06-24T16:45:00.001-04:00

Bloomberg story about the recent Amtrak delays:

"Amtrak riders who suffered three service delays between New York and Philadelphia this week may see hold-ups linger while the national passenger rail service finishes some power-system repairs over the next three months. Hundreds of thousands of passengers were stranded this week because of computer and electrical-equipment failures in a power system that was mostly built during the Great Depression. Forty of 82 electrical substations between Washington and New York will be running on new equipment by the end of September, Cole said. The $25 million project is funded by grants from President Barack Obama's 2009 stimulus package."

Such maintenance is critical but Amtrak needs to work to minimize delays.

Amtrak faces congestion and criticism as it celebrates 40 years of service

2011-05-30T23:46:00.001-04:00

Washington Post article about Amtrak's 40 year anniversary. Fine article about the state of Amtrak and possible future paths. Quote from a rider I liked: "They probably need more money to stabilize the infrastructure they have now, and then start working on improvements."

NJ Transit gets $38.5M in funding towards New Portal Bridge

2011-04-10T11:59:00.001-04:00

www.northjersey.com reports that "NJ Transit will get $38.5 million in federal stimulus dollars toward work on the 100-year-old Portal Bridge that crosses the Hackensack River between Kearny and Secaucus"

"The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act dollars from the U.S. Department of Transportation will fund the final design on a project to replace the Portal Bridge, which is a crucial link for North Jersey commuters who use Amtrak or take NJ Transit into New York.

The movable bridge, which swings open to allow ships to pass, would be replaced with a high-level fixed bridge, removing a bottleneck often blamed for delays on Amtrak and NJ Transit. The final design phase is expected to be done in roughly 18 months, after which construction on the fixed bridge can begin, he said.

The funding announcement comes a week after Governor Christie told U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood that he supports an Amtrak application for $1.3 billion in federal funding to construct a new Portal Bridge. Christie told LaHood he is authorizing a $150 million contribution from New Jersey toward the project, the letter said.

Lautenberg called the Portal Bridge 'a major chokepoint for thousands of commuters every day and an obstacle in the way of our efforts to improve regional rail transportation.'"

$1.3 billion for a new bridge, that sounds like a lot of money for one bridge. I know that bridge and it is ancient. All traffic coming from the South of NYC or going South from NYC has to use that bridge. It needs an upgrade badly and I am happy to see the project to replace is moving forward.

"Amtrak considers Northeast Corridor improvements"

2011-04-05T19:19:00.001-04:00

From The Wall Street Journal - Amtrak considers Northeast Corridor improvements:

"Amtrak is seeking nearly $1.3 billion to speed trains between Boston and Washington.

The Record newspaper in New Jersey reports Amtrak is seeking $238 million for preliminary engineering and environmental analysis on two new high-speed tunnels between New Jersey and New York and a new Penn Station South in Manhattan.

The tunnels and station are projected to cost $13.5 billion. Amtrak's president says the project would benefit travelers along the entire Northeast Corridor.

Plans also call for replacing the Portal Bridge in New Jersey with a fixed structure that's tall enough for boats to pass under. Officials say the new span, which will connect Kearny and Secaucus, would ease delays for Amtrak and NJ Transit trains."

Amtrak begins tweeting out train delays

2011-03-29T16:37:00.001-04:00

From www.newsworks.org: "Amtrak began Tweeting out major service disruptions that cause long delays or stoppages. Trains covered include Acela Express and Northeast Regional and other Amtrak trains between Washington, D.C., and Boston; Keystone Service trains between Harrisburg, Pa.; and New York City, via Philadelphia and Shuttle trains between Springfield, Mass., and New Haven, Conn. No Tweet will be sent for single trains that experience delays. The Tweets will also be linked to from Amtrak.com. Follow @AmtrakNEC on Twitter to get the latest on delays along the Northeast Corridor."

Great idea for a service and easy to implement. I don't like: "No Tweet will be sent for single trains that experience delays", why not? Amtrak knows if a train is delayed so just tweet it.

Amtrak 'Multi-Ride' 2011 Costs - Amtrak Commuter Pass / Monthly Pass for the Philly-NYC Commuter.

2011-03-16T21:26:00.001-04:00

2011 pricing and details for the Amtrak 'Multi-Ride' option are below. The Amtrak 'Multi-Ride Ticket' is the best option for anyone considering commuting or currently commuting between Philly and Manhattan on Amtrak. Financially it's the best Amtrak deal for the regular PHL-NYC commuter (it is still a high price to pay, but Northeast Regional trains should be getting WiFi soon if that helps at all), and it is the most convenient since you don't have to buy an individual ticket for each train. You can just hop on nearly any train you want. I haven't discussed the specific costs and details of commuting between Philadelphia and New York City since 2009 so this post is overdue.

From the Amtrak site:
"Multi-Ride Tickets, which allow you to ride multiple times within a set amount of time, are available in monthly, ten-ride, six-ride and two-ride options. Multi-Ride Tickets are not accepted on all routes. Read the Multi-Ride Tickets terms and conditions for travel, reservation and ticket requirements."

These prices I got today from the amtrak.com site and are between stations PHL and NYP

$1,242.00 One Monthly Ticket
The monthly ticket is valid for unlimited travel for an entire calendar month.

$552.00 One Ten-Ride Ticket
The ten-ride ticket is valid for ten rides within a 45-day period.

In January 2009 the costs were $1,152.00 and $512.00 respectively. That's less than a 10% increase but higher than the rate of inflation. Amtrak ridership keeps increasing so if people are willing to pay the prices will continue to go up I'm sure.

You cannot take any Acela trains with these passes but you can take most Northeast Regional trains. Click here to see what trains you can take with the Monthly Ticket or Ten-Ride Ticket.

Click here for more info on the Amtrak website about Multi-Ride tickets in general.

"WSJ.com: A Northeast-Corridor Bullet Train"

2011-03-16T20:47:00.001-04:00

WSJ.com article about "A Northeast-Corridor Bullet Train". The Journals states that "Today's Amtrak service—under the Acela brand name—is by international standards a joke. A new public-private partnership could change that"

I couldn't read the article since I don't subscribe to the WSJ but with the ARC getting shelved I think private investment is needed to kick start that project sooner rather than later. I'm for private investment in the NEC. It's not like Amtrak and NJT are cheap so the more competition the better.

Amtrak reaches 16-straight months of ridership growth

2011-03-10T19:41:00.001-05:00

ProgressiveRailroading.com noted that Amtrak's ridership rose 7.6 percent to 2.9 million riders for February 2011, the best February on record. Acela Express ridership increased 9.7 percent. The increase also marked 16 consecutive months of ridership growth from November 2009 to February 2011.Overall ridership averaged a 6 percent growth rate in the period. Amtrak said that higher gasoline prices, better marketing and the addition of Wi-Fi on Acela Express helped with the increase.

Amtrak will grow for sure, the trend is unmistakable. I'd like to see the growth for the Northeast Regional trains, not just the Acela. The Regional numbers will show the importance of the NEC for the average commuter and why continued investment in our rail system is needed.

Christie Says He'll Fund Hudson River Tunnel Only If New York Chips In

2011-03-04T09:19:00.001-05:00

Bloomberg article about New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said he's willing to put money into construction of a rail tunnel to New York City only if the state and city contribute.

Generally most everyone agrees that another tunnel under the Hudson River is needed. I'd like to see how long it takes to restart the tunneling effort so I'll note articles on this subject.

Amtrak’s Gateway Tunnel Rises in ARCs Ashes

2011-02-07T19:21:00.001-05:00

From Baristanet: "Today, New Jersey's Democratic Senators Frank R. Lautenberg and Robert Menendez joined Amtrak officials in announcing a proposal to build the "Gateway Project," which would follow a similar footprint as the abandoned Access to the Region's Core (ARC) tunnel, which Governor Christie aborted last year. We had reported the possibility of Amtrak stepping in to salvage some form of the concept."

The NEC and commuters need that tunnel and I applaud Amtrak looking to take this on, but starting up this effort again could take years....

Put a rail tunnel back on track

2011-01-23T17:08:00.001-05:00

A Crain's article here on Christie killing the ARC project. Stories on this matter will appear for a while but this is a decent story, I agree with this line:

"Projects like these might seem to be unaffordable luxuries in a time of economic uncertainty and dwindling government resources, but they are necessities if the metropolitan area is to maintain its status as an economic powerhouse and New York is to remain a leading international city."

NYC and the Northeast corridor will grow over time, no doubt, and having only one tunnel under the Hudson just won't be enough to cope with travel demand into NYC and the demand to get between all cities along the NEC.

Amtrak apologizes for 'communications breakdown' that led to 11-hour DC-NY trip

2010-12-20T11:58:00.001-05:00

Amtrak officials apologized Sunday for a "communications breakdown" early Friday that made a signal failure and seven-hour delays on the Northeast corridor. Amtrak says problems started when a commercial power line fell on overhead wires at about 8:45 PM Thursday December 16th; this shut down the corridor's signaling system and all trains had to come to a halt. Train #188 was stuck on the tracks for 10 hours; a reporter named Stephen Tschida was on the train and tweeted about the ordeal. What a nightmare for those people, and I have not seen a formal response from Amtrak on this yet (checked Dec 20th) other than the quick Amtrak verbal comment. Breakdowns happen and I can forgive such events but this massive delay appears to show Amtrak has both a lack professionalism and competence. I need to see Amtrak to get in front of this, how about a passenger bill of rights? Amtrak is better than airlines and cheap bus services, they need to show it.

NYC Subway to N.J. Weighed in Wake of Canceled Tunnel

2010-11-18T20:15:00.000-05:00

"New York City officials are studying a proposal to extend the No. 7 subway line from Manhattan under the Hudson River to Secaucus after New Jersey Governor Chris Christie killed plans for a new tunnel linking the states (aka ARC)."

I like this plan and it may be better than the original. First off it's cheaper than ARC and that new tunnel was just for NJT into the West side. With this plan anyone could get on the 7 train in Secaucus (Amtrak, NJT, PATH) and easily get into/out of the city and to either the West or East side of the city. Commuters coming up from NJ/Philly who didn't work sort of close to Penn Station and its accessible subways had a rough go of it to get to other parts of the city; this is largely resolved with the 7. I bet this would cut down on NJT trains that need to come into the city as some may terminate in Secaucus or the extended 7 line would simply reduce demand for NJT thus NJT would run fewer trains. Less traffic in the Hudson tunnel means it'd be better for Amtrak so most likely better for those Philly commuters who take Amtrak. Not sure why they didn't think of this in the first place.

Amtrak Won’t Revive Trans-Hudson Rail Tunnel Project

2010-11-12T16:23:00.001-05:00

Amtrak said it is not interested in taking over the Hudson River commuter rail tunnel project that New Jersey's governor killed last month.

Well, this project is looking more dead every day. Where is that Federal stimulus money going from a couple years back? Isn't this a perfect project to get such Federal funding?

AP: Amtrak in Talks to Consider Taking Over Killed Tunnel Project

2010-11-09T15:47:00.001-05:00

"The ARC tunnel project killed last month may be taken over by Amtrak, which was excluded from original plan. Plans as of now are 'exploratory,' officials say."

I hope Amtrak picks ARC up, I feel it's needed for the NEC and to boost commuting volume between NYC and Jersey/PA.

Amtrak sets ridership, revenue records in US

2010-10-11T17:55:00.001-04:00

Increased business travel in the Northeast helped Amtrak boost ridership by nearly 6 percent to a record 28.7 million passengers in the fiscal year ended Sept. 30. Year-over-year ticket revenue rose by 9 percent to a record $1.7 billion for the period that began last Oct. 1. All of Amtrak's lines experienced growth. Northeast traffic overall was up 4 percent, helped by more business travel, Amtrak said. Ridership on the Acela was up more than 6.5 percent.

Governor of New Jersey Blocks Hudson Tunnel Project

2010-10-07T14:53:00.001-04:00

Gov. Christopher J. Christie of New Jersey said on Thursday that he has decided to terminate the construction of a commuter train tunnel between northern New Jersey and Manhattan because of escalating estimates of the project's cost. Until last month, the project had been estimated to cost $8.7 billion. But after his staff reviewed the project, Governor Christie said they concluded it would cost more than $11 billion and possibly as much as $14 billion.

This is an unfortunate development but $14 billion seems like a pretty good chunk of money for a tunnel.

NJ Gov. Christie to kill ARC tunnel project?

2010-10-07T09:58:00.001-04:00

"NJ Gov. Chris Christie indicated that he is leaning toward pulling the plug on construction of a new $8.7 billion commuter rail tunnel into Manhattan (Access to the Region's Core, aka ARC), unless a revised federal cost estimate provides assurances that New Jersey can afford the project."

There's no indication one way or the other at this time if the project is dead. This tunnel will help out everyone who needs to get into Manhattan as adding train capacity will make train commuters happier, entice more people to take the train and hopefully help mitigate car traffic into Manhattan. I think this is a good project and necessary but if NJ is getting screwed on the costs then they have to do this review. Maybe he's posturing for more Fed dollars for the effort.

Amtrak proposes Northeast Corridor high-speed service; 38 minutes Philly to NYC

2010-09-29T17:13:00.000-04:00

From philly.com: "Amtrak officials today unveiled a vision for true high-speed service along the Northeast Corridor, with trains that could travel between Philadelphia and New York in 38 minutes."

"The proposed high-speed system would cost about $117 billion and take up to 30 years to complete, according to Amtrak's proposal. No specific plans were included on how to pay for the high-speed system. Amtrak officials hope to receive about $4.7 billion a year for 25 years to make their dream a reality."

38 minutes for a trip from Philly to NYC would be fabulous. That could make someones door to door commute time right at one hour if they live in CC and work in Midtown Manhattan. Great news for the commuters of 2040!

BoltBus, RedCoach, other bus lines go for business travelers - USA Today

2010-09-23T11:16:00.001-04:00

Here's a story in the USA Today about how bus companies are pursuing business travelers and are looking to compete against the airlines and Amtrak in this market segment. Some article highlights:

"Bus officials say that when factoring in security screening and getting to and from the airport, a regional bus trip doesn't take much longer than a short-haul flight. And they say that the idea of catching a bus to save money and bypass the hassles of flying is catching on."
"Peter Pan says they got some new converts after record-breaking flooding in Rhode Island in March prevented Amtrak trains from running."
"Corporate travel managers aren't flocking to the bus, says Kevin Mitchell of the Business Travel Coalition. But with work-friendly conveniences such as Wi-Fi and electrical outlets, the bus is being viewed as a potential option for some corporate trekkers who would normally hop on an airline shuttle."
"BoltBus is a joint venture by Peter Pan and Greyhound that launched in March 2008; it can make a trip from New York to Washington in a little more than four hours for an average fare of $19" (BoltBus claims 2 hours from Philly to NYC midtown even during rush hour)
By comparison, "Amtrak has more to worry about," an industry insider says, noting its slower regional trains. "As long as you aren't extremely time-sensitive, the bus experience is likely to be cheaper and more comfortable."

This is for sure happening, these bus services are pretty good now. I've taken BoltBus and MegaBus and they are both sufficiently clean, comfortable, on time, and most importantly they are quite cheap. I'd take a bus for business travel along the NEC for sure though it would not be my first choice, Amtrak is just more comfortable. Note that on these buses the WiFi rarely seems to work and sometimes the AC power does not work; this has been my experience anyway on multiple occasions so don't count on that being there.

Could a bus service be used by the Philly-NYC commuter? I'm not sure but I'm inclined to think no. BoltBus claims 2 hours between Phi and NYC for nearly all their services, even during rush hour, but there is just no way that can hit that regularly. If there's a jam up on the GW or the Lincoln (not sure how they get to the island), which is like every day, you're looking at 3 hours easy. I guess if someone can deal with a 3 hour one-way commute then the bus is an option. For me my Phi-NYC commute time ceiling was 2 hours one way max and the only way to hit that was via Amtrak.

NJ Transit suspends work on Access to the Region’s Core project

2010-09-15T16:36:00.001-04:00

New Jersey Transit announced that new work on its Access to the Region's Core (ARC) tunnel project would be suspended for 30 days. The delay would not affect ongoing work, but is intended to allow officials to re-examine the project's budget. Concerns have been raised that the nine-mile, $8.7 billion commuter-rail link connecting New York and New Jersey could be up to $1 billion over budget, according to the news report. The project includes two new tunnels under the Hudson River, new tracks between Secaucus Junction and New York's Penn Station, and a new rail station beneath 34th Street in Manhattan. The project will enable NJ Transit to double rail service into Manhattan, free up capacity for Amtrak, and reduce travel times and crowding on trains at Penn Station.

NJ is getting hammered with the economy but I hope this rail project continues. The NY-NJ metro area needs more rail capacity. Perhaps NJ is trying to get the US government to pay a bigger chunk so they are on the hook for less?

Train delays between New York, Philly

2010-08-11T17:40:00.001-04:00

Amtrak Northeast Corridor service between New York and Philadelphia has been affected by ongoing signal problems Wednesday in New Jersey, Amtrak said. The outage was caused by a downed tree that fell into the overhead wire system near Hamilton, New Jersey. As a result, Amtrak trains were moving at greatly reduced speeds, with some trains canceled due to associated congestion.

Trees fall and disrupt things, what can you do. It happened to me one time on my commute home from NYC, took me almost 5 hours to get back to Philly. It's odd that a tree would fall down now though, we've had no big storms this summer that would've uprooted a tree and Amtrak usually clears trees within 50 feet track. I'd like to know if the signal upgrades Amtrak wants to do along the NEC will minimize future signal problems, I hope so, bummer that a tree can cause massive delays along our most critical rail line.

Amtrak Wraps Acela Express With Image of TLC 'Cake Boss' Buddy Valastro

2010-08-02T19:00:00.001-04:00

PR Newswire story about Amtrak selling ads to make money, I like it, anything to help keep costs low for the commuter.

Hot Weather Delays Amtrak Service In Northeast

2010-07-18T23:37:00.001-04:00

NY1 reports Amrak trains are running at reduced speeds due to the heat. It's been brutal in NYC, I hope the air conditioning works on the trains for those doing the Philly to NYC commute.

Free Wi-Fi (AmtrakConnect) Now Standard on Acela Express

2010-06-04T11:28:00.001-04:00

MobileTech News reports that based on a successful three-month trial run (trial program began on March 1, 2010), strong customer satisfaction and solid system performance, Amtrak is making free Wi-Fi a standard service offering for every passenger traveling on its high-speed Acela Express trains operating between Washington, D.C. and Boston and is moving forward with plans to expand it to other routes. The Amtrak WiFi service is known as AmtrakConnect.

Recent on-board surveys reveal that about 115,000 Acela Express passengers per month have logged-on, or about 39 percent of ridership. In addition, 76 percent of those polled had a favorable or strongly favorable opinion of the service and with overall system performance. AmtrakConnect is available for all Amtrak passengers within the gate areas across many stations along the Northeast Corridor including Washington Union Station, Baltimore Penn Station, Wilmington Station, Philadelphia 30th Street Station, New York Penn Station, Providence Station and Route 128 Station in Boston. Wi-Fi service continues to be available in all ClubAcela lounges in Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, New York, and Boston.

Amtrak also is announcing plans to expand Wi-Fi service to other routes contingent on available funding. To advance this goal, Amtrak has just issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) for vendors to identify, procure, install and maintain Wi-Fi on its fleet nationwide, including for: its remaining passenger equipment in the northeast, the Northeast Regional service; for long-distance, overnight trains; and for passenger equipment used in corridor services across the U.S. This work is expected to begin by late fall 2010 and will start with Amtrak California services routes, followed by the Northeast Regional service.

It's good to hear Amtrak is moving quickly on WiFi across more trains. They need to work to put WiFi on Northeast Regional trains before California if you ask me but it's on the list to begin in later 2010 so that's good.

'Professional' litigant plans another suit against Amtrak

2010-05-31T23:53:00.001-04:00

Richard Kreimer, 61, who won a $230,000 suit 20 years ago when a New Jersey library kicked him out, says he's going to sue Amtrak in Philadelphia, claiming they had police forcibly eject him from the station there, the New York Post. He has filed 18 lawsuits against businesses like drug stores and restaurants and the New Jersey cities of Morristown, Summit, Newark and Woodbury accusing them of violating his civil rights by kicking him out of public places.

This guy is homeless and apparently smells so bad that he gets kicked out of public places and then sues. I hope this suit is tossed out.

Amtrak: FY '10's First Six Months: Best Ridership Ever. Year-end ridership is projected to reach 28.3 million passengers.

2010-05-31T23:39:00.001-04:00

From Amtrak:
Buoyed by continued high fuel costs, a slowly improving economy and route-specific improvements on the long-distance services, ridership on Amtrak trains for the first half of FY '10 reached nearly 14 million passengers, the best first half of a fiscal year in company history. Year-end ridership is projected to reach 28.3 million passengers.

"The 13.6 million passengers who rode with us during the first half of the fiscal year — October 2009 through March 2010 — contributed to a 4.3 percent increase over the same period the prior year," according to Marketing and Product Development Vice President Emmett Fremaux. "Ridership in the first half of FY '10 was even higher than the first half of our FY '08 banner year."

Amtrak to begin screening carry-on bags at Chicago Union Station

2010-05-27T18:04:00.001-04:00

The Chicago Tribute states that "some passengers boarding Amtrak trains at Union Station in Chicago will face random screening of their carry-on bags starting Thursday." This is just part of the plan by Amtrak to ramp up security in stations in all cities across the country, the plan started along the NEC in 2008 as mentioned in a prior blog posting.

The Economist: Amtrak's WiFi failures

2010-05-24T11:26:00.001-04:00

The Economist Blog has a post with the headline "Amtrak's WiFi failures" and it goes on to state this point among others: "None of the price-conscious customers—including loads of business travellers—who have defected to BoltBus or Megabus over the past few years are going to come back to Amtrak just because it put WiFi on Acela. If Amtrak did decide to enter the twenty-first century and install WiFi on all its trains, it might be a different story."

I found this blog post to be ignorant. I've taken BoltBus multiple times and believe me it ain't used by business travelers. It's mostly young people or folks on personal travel not looking to get someplace cheaply. Business travelers will use Amtrak since it is much nicer and they'll pay more since it's not money out of their own pocket. Amtrak is losing those young folks and economy travelers which I hope they can try to staunch but it'll be tough to beat a $15 ticket from New York to Boston and still make money; I mean my Chinese delivery cost me $15 the other night. Anyway the Economist blog post missed the point I feel in that the real issue is that the WiFi roll-out across all of Amtrak has been slow. This has given the bus services a very good leg up on Amtrak and now those people who defected to the buses will not come back to Amtrak for personal travel. I am one of those people. Why pay $60 to get to Boston from NYC for personal travel when the bus is $15? I will however use Amtrak for business travel.

So the title of "Amtrak's WiFi failures" is just silly. It's not a failure but it has been slow. Amtrak had to pilot the WiFi roll out so they chose Acela, a fine place to start if you ask me; and they do have a plan to roll out WiFi across all Amtrak services even though the post gives the impression this is not the case. I do hope Amtrak can pick up the pace of the Amtrak wide roll out.

The best discussion in the Economist blog post is the comment by Glenn Fleishman.

Northeast states seek plan for rail upgrades

2010-05-21T16:40:00.001-04:00

From the AP - A coalition of 11 states asked federal railroad officials on Thursday to develop a plan to dramatically upgrade high-speed passenger rail service along the Northeast Corridor during the next four decades. The 11 states — Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont — are proposing a three-year, $18.8 million study of possible enhancements to both intercity rail service, such as Amtrak's Acela Express, and local commuter rail systems that use portions of the Northeast Corridor track. The states noted that while the corridor encompasses an area that makes up only 2 percent of the U.S. land mass, it's home to about 20 percent of the nation's population and generates 20 percent of its Gross Domestic Product. Among other goals pone is to improve Acela travel times by 20-30 minutes between Washington and New York City. NARP said the study would be an important step toward improving capacity on the Northeast Corridor.

I am for such an analysis to maximize traffic and minimize travel time on the NEC tracks but isn't such an analysis being done already with the Federal stimulus money? I am also for not wasting money so I don't know if this would be a redundant analysis.

Seventeen Minutes for the Northeast Corridor

2010-05-02T13:22:00.000-04:00

Amtrak's long-range goal for 2030 is to reduce trip times between New York and Boston by 34 minutes primarily by improving existing track conditions, capacity, and reliability throughout the corridor. This goal is good and would allow the Acela to do the trip in 3 hours.

The Gateway Streets blog discusses a change to the NEC that could shave even more time off the total The entry discusses the NEC segment between New London and Westerly CT. The corridor here is curvy and hugs the coast line and limits train speeds to about 60 mph. The suggested solution would be to move the rail corridor away from the coast and build new tracks that basically follow I-95 immediately to the North. The trip time reduction would be possibly as much as 17 minutes over just this small segment if this change were made.

I want to see the Fedeal stimulus dollars on Amtrak spent well. This sounds like a decent proposal to me and gaining 17 minutes is a big amount, that's a 5% gain over current trip times. The result of the above however would be that many of those station stops in CT would essentially be lost and possibly closed if the tracks were moved North and existing train traffic on those lines dwindled. It's the price to pay for progress in rail travel in the US if you ask me. This change does not help the Philly-NYC commuter directly but improvements and investment along the NEC will benefit every city along its path.

Amtrak On Pace to Break Ridership Record

2010-04-15T16:54:00.001-04:00

Amtrak announced that it is on pace to break its annual ridership record carrying a best ever 13,619,770 passengers during the first six months of fiscal year 2010. The 13.6 million passengers who rode on Amtrak trains during the first two quarters of FY 2010 (October 2009 - March 2010) is about 100,000 more riders than the 13.5 million posted in FY 2008 and that was the best ridership year in company history (Amtrak carried 28.7 million passengers for FY 2008). Summer is a busy season for Amtrak so the final six months of the FY are historically busier than the first six.

Bloomberg BusinessWeek: Amtrak Seeks $446 Million to Replace Aging Rail Fleet

2010-03-23T17:04:00.001-04:00

Amtrak has asked Congress for $446 million to begin replacing locomotives and passenger cars. Passenger cars in Amtrak's fleet have been in service for an average of 24 years. Joseph Boardman, Amtrak CEO, said Amfleet I railcars, which he called the "backbone" of the regional service on the Northeast Corridor between Washington and Boston, were built in the late 1970s.

Yes, this is totally needed, long overdue and a very good investment if done widely. I think with a new Amtrak fleet that ridership will continue to increase. The cars Amtrak has now are OK but they can be better with more comfortable seats, better windows (how about skylights?), in-seat entertainment system (more $ opportunity for Amtrak?), more total number of seats so more riders so more money.

Amtrak WiFi on all trains? Amtrak WiFi RFQ implies 'yes'

2010-03-17T15:59:00.001-04:00

Here's the Amtrak RFQ issued on March 3, 2010 seeking a company to install WiFi in all of Amtrak's trains. Good, Amtrak wants WiFi on all their trains, I applaud this.

Amtrak board signals times are a-changing, Solari board being retired?

2010-03-16T18:08:00.001-04:00

Here's an article in the Baltimore Sun about the new LCD departure/arrival boards seems Amtrak is installing in Baltimore Penn Station. Amtrak says they need to replace the traditional analog flap display boards (Solari boards) with LCD panels to comply with ADA requirements. I wonder if the board at 30th Street Station will be replaced? I hope not. I love that board at 30th Street, it looks cool and it is totally appropriate for the architecture of that station. And the sound that board makes is great too, you could tell when to check out departure changes when you heard that flip-flip-flip noise, until you heard that noise you could just drift off. With LCD panels changes will be totally silent, you'll have to constantly poll the board to see what's going on, just like if you're at the airport, lame.

Business Travel News: Amtrak Switches On Free Acela Wi-Fi Service

2010-03-02T00:43:00.001-05:00

Business Travel News story that Amtrak today announced that it has launched free wireless Internet service on all 20 Acela Express trains that run along the Northeast Corridor between Boston and Washington, D.C., and in all four of its in-station ClubAcela lounges

The rail provider also is launching Wi-Fi service for all passengers within gate areas of stations in Baltimore, Boston, Philadelphia, Providence, New York and Washington, D.C. The Wilmington, Del., station will be Wi-Fi-enabled once renovations are complete in early 2011, according to Amtrak.

Good news, Amtrak needed to do this or they'd give the impression to customers they are not a viable modern travel option. WiFi needs to be on all NEC trains by the end of the year I say, then rolled out nationally. Free is great and I hope they keep this model. Paying for service or getting WiFi on your iPhone when the WiFi is secure is a pain in the ass and customers will not use it and a pay model would be as if Amtrak doesn't even offer WiFi. Maybe to prevent over use by non customers at stations Amtrak can do some sort of validation where you have to enter a valid ticket number. Or get Google to sponsor free Amtrak WiFi like they are doing at some US airports.

High-speed rail: Stimulus dollars wisely spent?

2010-02-12T15:58:00.001-05:00

Mark Clayton's "High-speed rail: Stimulus dollars wisely spent?" story in The Christian Science Monitor discusses the benefits of spending much federal dollars on high speed trains. Fairly nice article but it doesn't really answer the question he asks or do a benefit-cost analysis compared to other projects the fed stimulus money could be spent on.

I liked this section the most giving some hard numbers:

What will $8 billion buy?

The initial investment will pay to build, upgrade, and plan about 7,100 miles of track, including 1,340 miles of new track, 4,724 miles of upgrades to existing track, and planning for 1,032 more.

Building a national network could eventually cost more than $100 billion and take decades, Mr. Schenendorf says. The US High Speed Rail Association, an advocacy group, envisions a 17,000-mile high-speed system to be completed by 2030. But that would require sustained support from Congress and the backing of future presidents.

Amtrak adds WiFi to Fight Disruptive Free Bus Internet

2010-01-12T18:03:00.001-05:00

Amtrak said the installation of wireless Internet access on its Acela Express trains would be complete in March and initially free to passengers. Competing bus services along the NEC have offered WiFi for over a year and their fares are much cheaper than Amtrak's. This is good that Amtrak will now be offering Internet access on their trains but by the end of 2010 there needs to be free WiFi on all Amtrak trains across all of the US, not just on Acela. I want to see both Amtrak and bus service succeed but bus service along the NEC has been gaining on Amtrak the past year and making Amtrak look bad ($1 fares, free WiFi, roughly same travel times, nearly as comfortable). There's room for both Amtrak and bus service to be profitable along the NEC I feel as both can serve different types of travelers across income ranges. Commuters can't take Bolt bus from Philly to NYC but they can take Amtrak. Commuters need WiFi on Amtrak and commuters take regional trains, not Acela.

Rail stimulus funds to bypass Northeast

2009-12-17T16:12:00.001-05:00

The Boston Globe in reporting that the NEC has been virtually shut out of $8 billion worth of federal stimulus money set aside for high-speed rail projects because of a strict environmental review required by the Obama administration. Because such a review would take years, states along the Northeast rail corridor are not able to pursue stimulus money for a variety of crucial upgrades.

This is lame but I think the NEC will still get federal stimulus funds for normal track maintenance and upgrades over the coming years. The upgrades may not boost Acela speed but they'll help the regional traffic along the NEC. So this means more trains per hour and fewer delays and perhaps faster times with gains on the order of 5 - 10 minutes as opposed to 30 minutes or more that a real high speed train would see.

NJ Transit awards contract to replace major commuter bottleneck

2009-12-10T19:05:00.001-05:00

NJ Transit awarded $87.7 million worth of contracts this week to advanced replacement of the Portal Bridge (Portal Bridge page on Wikipedia). The two-track bridge, which carries Amtrak's Northeast Corridor tracks into New York Penn Station, will be replaced with a stationary $1.7 billion five-track structure that will serve the existing tunnels beneath the Hudson as well as the new planned tunnel under the Hudson. The new bridge will be high enough to allow Hackensack River ship traffic to pass underneath – ending the routine disruptions to train service. It is scheduled to be completed by 2017, in concert with the new Hudson tunnel. Amtrak's trains carry 30,000 passengers per work day over the bridge.

Amtrak has record Thanksgiving

2009-12-08T15:36:00.001-05:00

The Times Union states that systemwide Amtrak stated it carried ~686,000 passengers from Nov. 24 to 30, including 127,557 on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. This beat the old record of systemwide 666,716 riders in 2007.

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

2009-11-21T13:09:00.001-05:00

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

2009-11-19T15:42:00.001-05:00

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?

2009-11-18T16:19:00.001-05:00

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

2009-10-30T17:03:00.001-04:00

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

2009-10-30T16:58:00.001-04:00

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

2009-10-28T11:00:00.000-04:00

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

2009-10-12T16:42:00.000-04:00

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

2009-09-27T20:44:00.001-04:00

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!

2009-09-14T16:38:00.001-04:00

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

2009-09-09T20:30:00.001-04:00

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.

Benefits of The Mass Transit Tunnel

2009-08-26T23:54:00.004-04:00

The Mass Transit Tunnel is the future railroad tunnel that will allow additional Amtrak and New Jersey Transit commuter trains to reach Midtown Manhattan, New York City.

Why Another Tunnel?

In the past 25 years, the number of people passing through the existing two-track, century-old rail tunnel connecting northern New Jersey to Penn Station has more than quadrupled, soaring from roughly 10 million in 1984 to about 44 million today. Every hour, 23 New Jersey Transit trains pass through the old tunnel during rush hour, and as any regular rider can attest, that's a recipe for delays.

While Metro-North commuters are graced with an on-time performance rate of around 97 percent, their New Jersey bound cohorts on the Northeast Corridor line have a rush hour performance of 85.09 percent, according to the Asbury Park Press.

In addition to nearly doubling capacity, the new tunnel will ease the minds of many safety-minded commuters and elected officials, pull nearly 22,000 vehicles off the road, reduce greenhouse gases emitted by 67,000 tons, and generate and sustain 6,000 jobs through the construction phase and 44,000 jobs when completed.

New Jersey via HSIPR Applies for Money to Replace and Expand the Portal Bridge near Seacacus, a Major NEC Bottleneck

2009-08-26T23:01:00.003-04:00

Governor Jon S. Corzine today announced that New Jersey completed its application for federal funding for a project to replace and expand Portal Bridge—a nearly 100-year-old span that carries Northeast Corridor train traffic over the Hackensack River just west of Secaucus. The application is through the federal government’s program to advance high-speed passenger rail service in the United States.

The proposed upgrades will cut trip times between major cities, improve service reliability, extend service to additional communities, and help fulfill President Obama’s vision of making high-speed passenger rail an integral part of America’s transportation system. In New Jersey, replacement of the Portal Bridge will eliminate a major bottleneck and source of delays on the Northeast Corridor that NJ TRANSIT shares with Amtrak, by providing additional capacity and improving reliability. Today, nearly 500 NJ TRANSIT and Amtrak trains—including the high-speed Acela service—use the existing two-track swing bridge. The bridge now operates near capacity during peak periods, carrying 23 trains per hour in the peak direction.

New Jersey is among several Northeast states that applied for funding through the Federal Railroad Administration’s High-Speed Intercity Passenger Rail (HSIPR) program. Through the Coalition of Northeastern Governors (CONEG), the Northeast states worked collaboratively for months to review proposed improvement projects for the Northeast Corridor and its Connectors serving northern New England, Upstate New York and Pennsylvania.

About CONEG

The Coalition of Northeastern Governors is a non-partisan organization that encourages cooperative action on northeast regional issues. The CONEG Governors include: David Paterson of New York, Chairman; Don Carcieri of Rhode Island, Vice-Chair; Jon Corzine of New Jersey, Transportation Lead Governor; M. Jodi Rell of Connecticut; Deval Patrick of Massachusetts; John Baldacci of Maine; John Lynch of New Hampshire; and Jim Douglas of Vermont.

Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor Facts and Background Information

2009-08-26T22:58:00.001-04:00

Want some facts and background information on Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor? Put your lips together and click here.

"Why Glaeser Got It Wrong: Re-Running The Numbers On High Speed Rail"

2009-08-26T22:34:00.003-04:00

Yonah Freemark writes on the The Infrastructurist "Why Glaeser Got It Wrong: Re-Running The Numbers On High Speed Rail", he disputes Glaeser's analysis in the New York Times that high speed rail is not a worthwhile invesntmet. Good article giving much detail why high speed rail will be economically beneficial.

Paul Krugman also gets some knocks in on Glaeser of the New York Times in his article "More on density and rail". Krugman states that it is "ridiculous to compare the average population density of the United States with that of European countries, and think that this says anything about transportation options."

There's been a lot of activity on the net in regard to Glaeser's analysis on high speed train travel both pro and con. Discussion is needed to ensure the construction of high speed train lines is done properly and money is not wasted on a poor service, so bring it on, but let's get started with high speed rail in the NEC, it'll clearly work.

A Rail Boondoggle, Moving at High Speed

2009-08-26T13:22:00.001-04:00

Robert J. Samuelson of the Washington Post states that Obama should not invest in high speed rail. Samuelson states that Amtrak has, since 1971, received almost $35 billion in subsidies, has 78,000 daily passengers and a typical trip is subsidized by the government by about $50. Samuelson says "Given this, you'd think even the dullest politician wouldn't expand rail subsidies, especially considering the almost $11 trillion in projected federal budget deficits between now and 2019...The costs of high-speed rail would be huge, and the public benefits meager."

He goes on to note that high speed trains in Europe and Japan work because they have high population densities. Japan, density is 880 people per square mile; it's 653 in Britain, 611 in Germany and 259 in France. By contrast, US density is 86 people per square mile. Trains can't pick up most people where they live and work and take them to where they want to go. Where densities are higher, rail with direct connections between heavily populated city centers and business districts is favorable.

True, Amtrak is federally subsidized which is not ideal but $35 billion over nearly 40 years is tit money to fed. Amtrak has nearly 30 millions passengers a year and this number continues to increase. It's good policy to support rail travel since it is being used and very heavily used in some regions. I'm in favor of high speed rail where economically feasible, along the NEC for sure. But along other places I'm not so sure and I'm fine with a feasibility review being performed before going forward and potentially wasting a lot of money on a high speed train line that would be under utilized. But I am for the federal rail stimulus for use across the US, we need to improve the track infrastructure everywhere in this country so as to improve reliability and maybe even boost train speeds by a little bit. This is good and will be benefit to the economy. It may be a small benefit but even small benefits are good. And note the fed stimulus money funding a lot of these rail improvements is targeted to get us out of this recession, I'd rather have the fed spend the money on rail improvement over giving more money to the banks.

High Speed Trains Won't Revitalize Dying Cities, so says Harvard professor Edward Glaeser

2009-08-21T00:07:00.002-04:00

In the fourth installment of a series by Harvard professor Edward Glaeser looking at the economics of high speed trains at the Economix blog of the New York Times, Glaeser argues "rail's potential reshaping of the American economy" is overblown. He notes high speed trains will not help cities, not even Philadelphia:

Philadelphia is the more natural beneficiary of high-speed rail access to Manhattan; there are already people who live in Philadelphia and commute to New York. Yet even in this most propitious setting, the coming of Acela seems to have had little impact on the population decline of Philadelphia or growth of Wilmington. Perhaps the absence of any trend break in population growth around 2000 just reflects the incremental nature of the Acela investment, but there is little here to bring confidence that rail lines revitalize cities.

Jay Yarow of the Business Insider disagrees with Glaeser and notes that "he prohibitive cost of the Acela makes it impossible for rationalizing a move to Philadelphia and commuting to New York on economic grounds. If a truly high speed rail line were set up between the two cities, and the commute only took 45 minutes to 1 hour, and the tickets were more reasonably priced, $1,000-$1,200 a month, we think Philadelphia really becomes the sixth borough of New York, as the New York Times called it in 2005 (to the consternation of Philadelphians)."

I agree with Jay, high speed trains will economically benefit US cities serviced by them and Philly would likely be one of the cities to benefit the most with high speed service to NYC and Washington DC. I would've taken the Acela all the time if it were cheaper and did the run in 45 minutes. Don't know if I would have stayed in Philly but I know there is demand for faster service to NYC from the metro Philly area. Will the economic impact of high speed trains be dramatic? Not huge but tangible I think and shortening the time it takes to get between cities by train has been proven to be a good thing in every country that has fast train service. Even the success of Amtrak's Acela has proven high speed trains are a good business in the US and are profitable. So resistance to deploying high speed/higher speed trains in the US where appropriate in the face of proof that it is working now and will be successful is just silly.

Amtrak Extends Fare Promotion on Northeast Regional Service through December 16 2009

2009-08-20T23:43:00.001-04:00

Fares for regional trains along the NEC will maintain their 25% reduced price through December 16. Reservations are required and must be made 14 days in advance of travel. Not sure who makes Amtrak reservations 14 days in advance; rarely would I make reservations even the day before, not even for Thanksgiving or XMas travel would I make 14 day advance reservations but nonetheless this is a nice discount.

Amtrak Adjusts Acela Express and Northeast Regional Schedules to Accommodate Track Work

2009-07-09T11:25:00.001-04:00

From WebWire: "As Amtrak continues a number of track work projects to improve service in the Northeast, Acela Express and Northeast Regional (Washington – New York – Boston) passengers will see additional, temporary schedule changes beginning Monday, July 13, 2009. The track work projects will improve the reliability of train service in the Northeast and will provide passengers with a more comfortable ride. To perform the necessary work, the number of available tracks will be reduced and trains will be single tracking — sharing tracks — as crews work to replace concrete railroad ties on the track that is not in service.The track work is located between New York City and New Brunswick, NJ where only three tracks instead of four will be available at any one time. Timetables - As a result of the numerous schedule changes that will occur this summer, schedules for service in the Northeast do not appear in Amtrak's 2009 Spring-Summer System Timetable. The printing of Northeast train schedules will resume in the 2009/2010 Fall-Winter Timetable."

Not sure if this is related to the Federal Stimulus funds or not but a good sign to see work being done on the tracks along the NEC. A hassle for regular users for a few months perhaps but this will lead to better future service. Now is probably a good time to do track work, ridership is down this year so Amtrak may have more flexibility in scheduling maintenance. When ridership picks up again and they start to see the volumes from 1-2 years ago (which will probably take a year or two to reach) Amtrak will be in a better position to service this load. The story did not make it clear how dramatic the disruptions will be or what the schedule impact is directly, I'll see if I can find that out.

Who railroaded the Amtrak inspector general?

2009-07-01T18:46:00.001-04:00

Story from Michelle Malkin about the Amtrak inspector general Fred Weiderhold who "retired" last month.

From the article:

On June 18, Weiderhold met with Amtrak officials to discuss the results of an independent report by the Washington, D.C. law firm, Willkie, Farr & Gallagher. The 94-page report has been made publicly available through the office of whistleblower advocate Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa). It concluded that the "independence and effectiveness" of the Amtrak inspector general's office "are being substantially impaired" by the agency's Law Department. Amtrak bosses have effectively gagged their budgetary watchdogs from communicating with Congress without preapproval; required that all Amtrak documents be "pre-screened" (and in some cases redacted) before being turned over to the inspector general's office; and taken control over the IG's $5 million portion of federal stimulus dollars.

Malkins alleges cronyism in the firing as a Eleanor Acheson oversees the Amtrak Law Department and Acheson is a good friend of Hillary Clinton and VP Joe Biden and they're looking to protect their people in Amtrak. Is it true? Probably, but whatever. Executives get sacked all the time and I refuse to cry my eyes out for some dude who was making huge money and now gets a sweet severance deal while millions are out of a job. If Obama's people want to get some of their own folks in Amtrak so be it, that's the way politics goes when your administration injects $1 billion plus of tax payer money into a company. But I expect solid oversight to prevent waste and for Amtrak to deliver some noticeable upgrades by the 2012 election cycle now that they got major fed dollars. America needs to see results with improved Amtrak rail service along the NEC and across the US, I don't care who's in there as long as it gets done.

Work starts on rail tunnel between New York, New Jersey

2009-06-09T17:15:00.001-04:00

Construction began Monday on the $8.7 billion tunnel that's expected to double the number of rail commuter capacity between New Jersey and Manhattan during peak rush periods. This is the nation's largest transportation project. The 8.8 mile-long fourth rail tunnel under the Hudson River will require the removal of 2 million cubic yards of rock and soil and will take eight years to build. Officials estimate the project will create 6,000 construction jobs and add another 45,000 new jobs after completion in 2017. The tunnel is the centerpiece of a project to expand the Penn Station transit hub in New York and fund track and signal improvements. The tunnel will benefit both NJ Transit and Amtrak customers and is a major piece of the Obama federal stimulus plan.

Amtrak Late to Station With Onboard WiFi

2009-06-08T17:34:00.001-04:00

Amtrak does not offer WiFi on any of its trains. I've blogged that WiFi service is available at some train stations but is not offered when you're actually on the train. I'm seeing a lot of comments recently on the fact that Amtrak lacks WiFi service. It seems WiFi is gaining traction on all forms of transportation from airplanes to buses. I was on the Bolt Bus service recently (another travel option along the NEC) and the bus offered WiFi! The main reason why I took the Bolt Bus was because it was way cheaper than Amtrak, it took about the same time and I figured why not give it a try - I didn't even realize it had free WiFi to boot, another reason to prefer this service over Amtrak for some routes.

I wish Amtrak had WiFi when I was commuting regularly. They need to add WiFi service this year to the fleet (they are testing it on Acela trains), the competition is passing them by offering this service and Amtrak has been seeing ridership decline in 2009. If airlines and buses can add WiFi, it can be done on a train. Amtrak can spend some of that federal stimulus dollars to get this service up an running, without it they'll be at a competitive disadvantage.

Tampa's Amtrak ridership bucks national decline

2009-05-27T23:20:00.001-04:00

Despite a 10 percent decline in Amtrak ridership in March compared with a year ago (down to 2.2 million passengers) Tampa ridership on Amtrak's Silver Star gained 3.8 percent.

Way to go Tampa! I hope this isn't due to all those people getting evicted from their foreclosed homes.

Amtrak to woo riders with discount fares

2009-05-27T23:16:00.001-04:00

Amtrak last week announced that it will cut fares on Northeast regional trains by up to 25 percent during the summer in an effort to boost ridership. From June 2 through Sept. 3, Amtrak will offer passengers 25 percent off the lowest published coach fare on Northeast regional trains. Reservations are required and must be made at least 14 days in advance.

I'm a fan of Amtrak adopting pricing promotions to boost traffic but I don't like the two week advance purchase thing here. Why not make it a 2 day advance purchase? Or a floating reduction kind of plan; if you book 2 weeks in advance get 25% off, 1 week in advance 15% off, 2 days in advance 10% off. I'm assuming many Amtrak trips are fairly spontaneous and a majority of trips are booked a few days or less in advance. This will benefit the planners but I don't see this boosting ridership all that much and I'm sure there are lots of empty seats on Amtrak so why not adopt a more aggressive approach to fill those empty seats? If not, then Amtrak should cut capacity to save costs until ridership picks up again.

Obama unveils high-speed passenger rail plan

2009-04-16T15:52:00.001-04:00

CNN story on President Obama unveiling his administration's blueprint for a new national network of high-speed passenger rail lines. Obama says such an investment is necessary to reduce traffic congestion, cut dependence on foreign oil and improve the environment. Highlights from the article:

The president's plan identifies 10 potential high-speed intercity corridors for federal funding, including California, the Pacific Northwest, the Midwest, the Southeast, the Gulf Coast, Pennsylvania, Florida, New York and New England.
Highlights potential improvements in the heavily traveled Northeast Corridor running from Washington to Boston, Massachusetts.
Each of the corridors identified by the president's report are between 100 and 600 miles long. The blueprint envisions some trains traveling at top speeds of over 150 mph.
The administration has dedicated $1.3 billion in federal funding for Amtrak. The money for the rail service, which carried almost 29 million passengers last year, will go primarily to infrastructure repair and improvement.

It's good to get more specifics of the plan and that the NEC is specifically mentioned for improvement.

Railroad Stimulus: How to Spend $14 Billion to Improve U.S. Rail

2009-04-10T23:05:00.001-04:00

Popular Mechanics article about how to spend the federal stimulus money on US Rail/Amtrak infrastructure.The article talks about high speed rail in California. A good investment I think although I believe improving existing infrastructure so trains can travel at faster speeds is a better short term investment than the long term it would need to create a whole new high speed network/city-pair routes. Improving signaling technology and upgrading the NEC tracks so Acela can run at max speed a higher percentage of the time along with more trains running will give a boost to the East coast economy and benefit commuters to boot. This can be done pretty quickly I think, like within a couple years would be my guess.

Amtrak ridership declines for fifth straight month

2009-04-09T00:15:00.001-04:00

Amtrak is seeing a decline in ridership as reported by the Detroit News. Ridership on the Northeast Regional trains between Boston and Washington fell 15 percent to 548,695, and passenger loads on the Acela line dropped 8.5 percent to 263,970. Travel is down across all forms of transportation due to the recession so I don't think too much can be read into this. It'd be nice to know how this drop in Amtrak ridership compares to car/bus/air travel.

Obama boosts Amtrak funding

2009-03-15T01:00:00.001-04:00

The Boston Globe ran a story about the Obama administrations announcement the other day that the fed is pumping $1.3 billion into Amtrak, half of it directed to the Northeast Corridor between Boston and Washington. I'm happy to see the federal stimulus money is coming to Amtrak and into the NEC. Hope we can see some tangible improvements in the Amtrak over the next couple years.

Some points from the article with finance numbers and specific projects:

"Amtrak has been left out - in my opinion, much too long," said Joe Biden, who estimated that he has taken 7,000 trips on the rail line.

The $1.3 billion grant will double the size of the system's capital investment budget over the next two years, and will be used for capital improvements as well as safety upgrades, resulting in faster and more frequent train travel, lawmakers and transportation officials said. Amtrak's total annual budget is $3.2 billion, with $1.49 billion coming from federal subsidies.

The rail system plans to use $82 million to refurbish 68 passenger rail cars, returning them to service and increasing capacity on trains. Another $105 million is slated for replacement of the moveable bridge over the Niantic River near East Lyme, Conn. Without the bridge replacement, passengers between Boston and New York face delays or travel disruptions because the 102-year-old bridge cannot handle fast-moving trains, the White House said. Another $60 million will be used to install Positive Train Control, a technology that helps prevent collisions. The work will be done on the New York to Washington corridor and on the Porter, Ind., to Kalamazoo, Mich., route. Budget constraints have prevented Amtrak from making basic repairs in recent years and passengers have paid for it with overbooked trains, lower capacity, and slower speeds. The upgrades will make trains run faster, and added passenger capacity will save gasoline and commuter hours by encouraging more people to favor Amtrak over car travel.

The increased funding for Amtrak is "going to make America more productive," senator John Kerry said.

Bloomberg.com: Amtrak May Cut Ticket Prices Again as Ridership Drops

2009-03-04T13:26:00.001-05:00

Story in Bloomberg today by Chris Dolmetsch titled "Amtrak May Cut Ticket Prices Again as Ridership Drops", some points:

The article states that passengers are switching to slower, cheaper regional trains from the Acela. Amtrak had set an annual ridership record for the sixth straight year in the 12 months ending September 30. Amtrak states that passenger loads began falling in November 2008 as the economy worsened and gas prices dropped. Projections show passenger loads were down 1.6 percent through February for the fiscal year to date, including an 8.4 percent decline on the Northeast Corridor.

Amtrak says it isn't seeing a similar drop on its long- distance trains. Projections show passenger loads on those routes are up 6.1 percent for the fiscal year to date, with a 3.5 percent increase in February. Projections show February ridership fell 6.9 percent compared with the same month in 2008, with a 13 percent decrease on the Northeast Corridor.

To keep load factors steady Amtrak is examining whether to reduce fares on all of its routes.

I think this is not unexpected news. A bad economy means people travel less and when they do travel they'll take the cheaper options. Looks like Amtrak will take the proper pricing steps it needs to so as to remain competitive and keep their ridership numbers up.

Some comments on this same Bloomberg article in Trains for America blog...

Senator wants to jumpstart Moynihan with stimulus

2009-03-04T13:12:00.000-05:00

A Crain's New York article on Schumer's ideas to fund development of the new Moynihan Station (the NY Penn Station replacement). Some points from the article:

Senator Charles Schumer of New York says $100 million in federal money, plus some of the billions marked for train projects, could get the stalled station project rolling.
Schumer said $100 million should be tapped from the pot of funding for shovel-ready projects in the federal stimulus package, and that additional funds should be secured from the $8 billion in stimulus money set aside for high-speed rail and $1.2 billion for Amtrak.

Penn Station in NYC needs to go, it's a rat hole. I do hope some federal stimulus money goes to Moynihan Station to get this project going. A new station will make commuting along the NEC, and in to/out of NYC specifically, more efficient. If a new station gets done with federal dollars I'd feel like I would actually be gaining some benefit from all tha federal stimulus money as I use Penn Station fairly often. I don't have an AIG or a BofA account so I'm not feeling any of that federal stimulus scratch.

Amtrak arrestee Duane Kerzic received “five-figure settlement” after Colbert segment aired

2009-02-20T23:20:00.002-05:00

Duane Kerzic, the photographer arrested by Amtrak police I covered in a prior post, has settled his case as Amtrak gave him a pay out (and see the Colbert spoof of this here). The trend of photographers being arrested by police has become more common as Police state this can prevent terror attacks.

New Amtrak President Declares War on Dead End Bureaucrats in His Midst

2009-02-20T19:55:00.000-05:00

Posting today in The Infrastructurist about an interview new Amtrak president Joseph Boardman recently gave. Some of Boardman's comments include:

Amtrak as being "in worse shape than I thought" and full of hopeless clock-watchers.
There are a lot of dead enders at Amtrak. Boardman refers to them as "people who don't believe."
Their heads will roll: "he says [any] Amtrak managers… who cannot make the transition from a survival mode to a growth mode will have to find another job."
The previous management, despite the fact that traffic was up 12 percent last year, apparently didn't order any regular passenger cars as part of their five year plan. For some reason they just asked for odds and ends like "baggage dormitory cars."
This lack of passenger cars leaves Amtrak in "horrible" shape for America's new golden era of passenger rail.

I have no problem with people getting laid off if they're not doing their job or are just not effective. There are slackers at every company, public and private. Slackers at private companies get whacked more quickly though and I hope all those companies doing layoffs now take advantage of the cost cutting they need to do and ditch their losers, this will make these companies ultimately stronger in the long term though it may hurt the economy in the short term. I hope Amtrak applies these same principles, you can't have a well run company poised for growth and efficiency gains with slackers on board, they drag the company down and de-motivate others. So Boardman, do what you have to do, don't just talk the talk.

Amtrak cuts Acela fares in Northeast Corridor

2009-02-17T20:00:00.001-05:00

USA Today AP story noting that Amtrak is cutting Acela prices. Fares on the Acela Express were reduced up to 25%. Acela tickets will be priced as low as $99 between Washington and New York City; the lowest fare for that route had been $133. The offer runs between March 3 and June 26 and passengers must buy their tickets two weeks in advance to get the lower prices.

Why Amtrak Can’t—and Never Will—Make Money

2009-02-17T14:01:00.001-05:00

Article by Rush Loving Jr. in the Richmond Times Dispatch comments on the view of Amtrak funding. Amtrak has been trying to turn a profit since its inception but has never achieved. Rush Loving discusses why a focus on profitability by Amtrak's leadership has hamstrung the company.

Recently the tone toward funding Amtrak with higher amounts of government dollars has become more palatable and governments insistence that Amtrak be profitable has lessened. Achieving profitability is definitely a goal to strive for and some Amtrak services do indeed make money. But the benefits of a modern and efficient rail infrastructure to minimize congestion on roads and airways and to promote business by facilitating transportation are worth funding with tax payer dollars. Exactly what the proper public funding level is I don't know but it needs to be more than it has been and the new stimulus bill provides a good boost to make rail service better and more efficient which will ultimately benefit the economy.

Some points from the article:

"The entire history of Amtrak is replete with examples of CEOs who have tried to get government to commit long-term funding for the company, only to be ignored. Unfortunately, all but David Gunn made a fatal mistake: They never told Congress Amtrak couldn't ever make money."

"None the wiser, Congress has always expected a profitable company, and over the decades Amtrak's chief executives dutifully have talked of putting Amtrak into the black."

"Amtrak cannot ever make enough to attract the capital it will need for new equipment. Even if load factors are increased and the trains make a profit, operating and maintenance costs will prohibit Amtrak from earning enough to attract investors and lenders and finance new equipment or expand services."

"When David Gunn succeeded Warrington in 2002, he wasted no time telling Congress it had no clothes. 'Amtrak will never be profitable,' Gunn told a Senate hearing five weeks after taking office. Congress' mandate that Amtrak be in the black was, he dubbed, 'an impossible goal.'"

"Some politicians, doctrinaire conservatives in particular, insist that passenger trains should be run with private capital, and government has no business subsidizing them. It's a strange concept since government helped the early railroads develop, providing land and even capital .... government has subsidized transportation, building lighthouses and roads, dredging rivers, and so on. Amtrak's critics ignore the hard fact that regularly scheduled passenger trains might have made money 100 years ago but can't today -- not just here, but almost anywhere in the world. The incredible passenger networks of Europe are government-subsidized."

"The sooner Washington accepts Gunn's warning, the quicker America will have better transportation."

Lawmakers: 'Up To' $1.5B for Rail Tunnel in Stimulus

2009-02-17T13:37:00.001-05:00

NJBiz.com article about the the federal stimulus to be signed by President Barack Obama today contains a provision that would provide up to $1.5 billion for the construction of a new rail tunnel connecting New Jersey and New York Penn Station. The article notes that the "stimulus legislation also contains more than $9 billion for Amtrak and other passenger rail programs to improve the Northeast Corridor and begin to develop a network of high-speed trains nationwide, the lawmakers said. At least $510 million will be used for additional rail improvements in Amtrak's Northeast Corridor, in addition to Amtrak's regular capital budgets for the next 19 months"

I'm happy to see this kind of funding in the bill, this will make noticeable improvements along the NEC ultimately benefiting the economy and commuters alike.

Details of the Stimulus Package - Money Appropriated for High-Speed Trains and Amtrak Improvement

2009-02-13T19:28:00.001-05:00

Article in the Washington Post today titled "Sifting Through Details of the Deal" talks about the economic stimulus package passed by Congress. A line worth noting: "In a victory for rail advocates, the bill includes $9.3 billion to develop high-speed trains and to improve Amtrak."

This is good news, I'm happy to see spending for high speed rail made the cut in the final bill. Spending for rail provides a short term job creation boost with long term benefits to the economy as improved rail service helps commuters and business alike.

Centrists in Senate Push to Cut Billions From Stimulus, $850 million for Amtrak targeted

2009-02-05T17:20:00.001-05:00

The New York Times reported that some lawmakers are anxious over the increasing size of the proposed economic stimulus package and are looking to strip tens of billions of dollars from the bill. This effort is being led by two centrist senators, Ben Nelson, Democrat of Nebraska, and Susan Collins, Republican of Maine. They say they'd like to pare from $50 billion to $200 billion from the package. Among the initiatives that could be cut are $850 million for Amtrak.

The final Senate vote on the stimulus package was expected sometime Thursday. This would hurt any near term Amtrak/NEC improvements but the bill is not yet final.

"High-Speed Rail Key to Infrastructure Renewal"

2009-02-04T19:44:00.002-05:00

A story by Nick Gier on the New West site, a site dedicated matters around the Rocky Mountain West. Though a bit far from the East coast they have an article titled High-Speed Rail Key to Infrastructure Renewal

Couple of facts/numbers I think worth noting:

Amtrak’s Acela train averages only 79 mph between New York and Washington, while the EuroStar between London and Paris averages 136 mph
Currently China invests 9 percent of its gross national product in infrastructure, European nations lay out 5 percent, but the U.S. gives only 2.4 percent

Even with the boost likely to be given Amtrak by the Obama stimulus plan I do not think we'll be reaching these numbers in the coming years. But as long as public transit (Amtrak and other rail/public transit options) and the US transportation infrastructure receive funding for upgrades with continued maintenance, the US will remain competitive over the long term and realize steady gains in economic prosperity.

Colbert Report satires Amtrak-NPPA dispute (via Just Journalism)

2009-02-04T19:36:00.002-05:00

Post in the Just Journalism blog about the arrest of the Amtrak photo contestant at New York Penn Station spoofed by Stephen Colbert on his Comedy Central show The Colbert Report, here's the clip from the show:

The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Nailed 'Em - Amtrak Photographer

Colbert Report Full Episodes
Paul McCartney Appearance

Funny Political Videos
More Funny Videos

Acela Seeks To Lure Passengers From Airlines

2009-02-02T17:33:00.002-05:00

Here's a Huffington Post item on the New York Times article "Acela Looks to Lure From the Skies and the Roads". Amtrak has a new ad campaign to get business travelers along the NEC to use Acela instead of flying. Amtrak has an offer of buying three round-trips and get the fourth free (must be a member of the Amtrak Guest Rewards frequent-traveler program, it's easy to become one).

Amtrak Acela is great for business travel and I'm happy Amtrak is promoting it. I never used it much for my commuting but anything that makes good money for Amtrak I'm happy for them to exploit as much as they can, keeps prices lower (one could assume) for the every day traveler.

Train Speed on the NEC - comments from the Quod Ero Spero Blog

2009-01-29T18:08:00.001-05:00

The Quod Ero Spero Blog has a couple posts about higher speed trains along the NEC, wanted to put the links here:

FYI, I believe Quod Ero Spero translates to "I look forward to what I shall become"

Amtrak ridership falls below expectations in fiscal 1Q 2009

2009-01-29T00:25:00.001-05:00

Amtrak in a statement Wednesday posted on the Examiner.com site said it carried fewer passengers than expected in fiscal 1Q 2009 as businesses cut back on travel and more Americans returned to the roads as fuel prices declined from summer highs. October through December 2009 is the first quarter of fiscal year 2009 for Amtrak.

Some points from the statement:

"Amtrak carried 7.05 million passengers from October through December, the first quarter of fiscal year 2009. That's just slightly fewer riders than the same period last year, but nearly 5 percent below what the company expected for the quarter.

Revenue for the quarter was 7 percent below expectations for the government-owned corporation, which has posted six years of ridership and revenue growth.

The northeast corridor between Washington and Boston, particularly the higher-speed Acela service, led Amtrak's decline in ridership and revenue for the quarter.

Acela trains, which are popular with business travelers, carried about 806,000 passengers from October through December, about 9 percent fewer trips than a year ago and 12 percent below what Amtrak expected for the quarter."

A drop in ridership on the NEC was expected as I posted prior. I think Amtrak should be able to figure out that business travel composes a large part of the NEC traffic and since we're in a recession they should've anticipated a loss in ridership along the NEC and lowered revenue projections accordingly.

2nd Hudson Rail Tunnel Clears Key Federal Hurdle

2009-01-15T00:35:00.001-05:00

The New York Times is reporting that the prospects for a second rail tunnel under the Hudson River to Penn Station received a major boost when federal authorities approved an environmental assessment for a $9 billion tunnel planned by New Jersey Transit and the Port Authority. President-elect Barack Obama has said he is committed to spending billions of dollars on large infrastructure projects to revive the economy.

The tunnel proposed in the ARC project (Access to the Region's Core) would more than double the number of trains that can travel under the Hudson between New York and New Jersey to 48 per hour (at 23 now). The main ARC construction projects include a new two-track Trans-Hudson Express (THE) Tunnel and a deep, six-track terminal 175 feet below 34th Street as an annex to Penn Station. ARC would also allow more New Jersey Transit riders to reach New York without having to change trains in Newark or Secaucus. The project's six new tracks in Manhattan, which would terminate beneath 34th Street, would also allow commuters to connect underground to the subways and PATH trains at the Avenue of the Americas (6th Ave). This second tunnel would also relieve pressure on the century-old tunnel that New Jersey Transit shares with Amtrak allowing more Amtrak trains to be scheduled to enter/exit NYC, a benefit to commuters who use Amtrak.

A five point plan to fix the nation's transportation problems

2009-01-13T17:49:00.001-05:00

The USA Today has an article today by David Grossman titled "A five point plan to fix the nation's transportation problems". Among other things it advocates expanding rail:

"Like many cities in Europe, we need high-speed rail networks connecting large metropolitan areas less than 500 miles apart. California voters recently approved a measure to construct a high-speed rail link that will connect San Francisco to Los Angeles in less than three hours. Amtrak's Northeast Corridor service continues to set ridership records, and while the Acela is speedy by U.S. standards, it falls far short of the fast trains in Europe and Japan."

I think Amtrak service will be expanded and improved over the next several years as part of a Federal economic stimulus package. Ironic I guess that it takes a tanking economy to get money to improve transit. Any NEC improvements will be a benefit for commuters so I am for it.

Amtrak Monthly Pass / Amtrak Commuter Pass

2009-01-09T20:16:00.004-05:00

[UPDATE: See my post on 2011 Monthly Amtrak Pass costs for the PHL-NYC commuter]

A monthly Amtrak Pass, or as Amtrak calls it a "Multi-Ride Ticket", can be purchased at http://tickets.amtrak.com/itd/amtrak/MultiRide/

One Monthly Ticket, valid for unlimited travel for an entire calendar month, between Philadelphia 30th Street Station (PHL) and New York Penn Station (NYP) as of January 2009 is $1,152.00.
One Ten-Ride Ticket, valid for ten rides within a 45-day period (same station pair/effective date as above), is $512.00.

At the start of month I gauged how much I needed to commute and bought the monthly or 10 trip accordingly. I bought them at the Amtrak ticket kiosks; Amtrak only recently offered to buy these on their site. Which one I purchased varied but I often bought the monthly. The monthly is the cheapest option if you commute regularly, by regularly I mean 10+ round trips (so 20+ one way trips) in one month (not that either price is hugely economical mind you). Plus you can get on any Regional train with either ticket type without a reservation so they do offer this huge convenience.

There is no monthly or multi-ride option for the Acela. Acela tickets are full price and must be purchased for each individual leg of your trip. Neither of the above ticket types can be used on the Acela, and they'll kick you off if you try and claim ignorance. The Acela is the Amtrak money maker and the conductors enforce that you have a valid Acela ticket.

So the monthly and 10 trip is what Amtrak offers for regular riders. There is no "commuter pass" or any other viable low cost option for regular Amtrak riders. Amtrak seems to discourage commuters with its pricing in my opinion, but that's the way it is and since Amtrak had record revenue and ridership in 2008 I don't think this will change in the near term.

I get this question often and wanted to post this information as it is kind of buried on the http://www.Amtrak.com site.

"N.J., N.Y. governors look to Obama for Hudson tunnel cash"; Courier Post Online

2009-01-09T19:20:00.001-05:00

Article on the CourierPostOnline.com about Federal funding for a new tunnel under the Hudson river into NYC. I'd say this will get funded by the Fed for sure in light of Obama's stated economic stimulus plan. This is good, the current tunnel is old, one stuck train hoses everyone, and the traffic it can handle is at maximum. A new tunnel is needed to handle the long term growth of commuting traffic into and out of NYC (though I bet it'll drop over the next couple years). This will benefit the economy along the NEC I feel as well as all commuters coming from the South into NYC, both via Amtrak and New Jersey Transit.

Amtrak Photo Contestant Arrested By Amtrak Police At New York Penn Station

2009-01-07T16:06:00.001-05:00

Duane Kerzic was on the public platform in New York's Penn Station taking pictures of trains in hopes of winning the annual photo contest run by Amtrak. Amtrak police arrested him for refusing to delete the photos. We need security at our transportation hubs but security agents may go too far in some circumstances. Hopefully this will be dismissed and will be treated as just an unfortunate misunderstanding, it seems that no one was hurt. I never had a problem with Amtrak security or security in general at Penn Station. The security presence is high at this station, it's needed.

"Amtrak to seek high-speed train"

2008-12-15T16:29:00.001-05:00

Article in The Washington Times noting that "congressional transportation leaders plan to announce today that the federal government is seeking contractors to build a new $30 billion to $40 billion high-speed rail line between Washington and New York that would be used exclusively by passenger trains". "The new rail line would carry passengers between Washington and New York in no more than two hours." "A new rail line appears to be the kind of project supported by President-elect Barack Obama in his economic stimulus plan. The plan calls for heavy government investment in infrastructure projects, particularly if they are environmentally friendly."

This would be a major event as there really has not been a major upgrade in our rail infrastructure for a long time. I support this effort, this would be a major benefit to all cities and communities on the NEC and anyone who commutes regularly via rail. The article also says there are plans for high speed trains in several parts of the country, not just the NEC. Also good news. But will all this really happen? I think significant upgrades will happen but a train that would take two hours from DC to NYC, though pretty fabulous, I just cannot see becoming a reality even in the next 10 years.

Blog post "I don't know why Amtrak does not offer wireless Internet"

2008-12-10T16:58:00.001-05:00

Answer Girl blog post about "I don't know why Amtrak does not offer wireless Internet". This is a good question, Amtrak should offer this service to drive additional revenue. Amtrak could advertise their wireless internet service allowing people to be productive during their commutes enticing more people to use Amtrak. Maybe even offer this service as a free incentive for people to buy Smart Passes. Amtrak offering wireless connectivity is the way to go, airlines are starting to do this on flights and access is becoming ubiquitous so Amtrak will have to offer it at some point due to market forces. I would have loved to have had this when I was commuting regularly with Amtrak. I do observe that many people who take Amtrak have air cards so this would limit the number of people who would purchase internet connectivity from Amtrak.

Maura Moynihan to Obama: Build Moynihan Station!

2008-12-08T17:27:00.001-05:00

Maura Moynihan, daughter of Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, is pushing for the plan to build Moynihan Station (aka make a new Penn Station out of the Farley Post Office)

The New York Observer quoted Maura Moynihan as saying:

"With a new president committed to building great projects to get the economy moving again and a new U.S. senator from New York to succeed our new secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, few things should make more sense than that they become champions of Moynihan Station."

President elect Obama has talked of funding large public works projects to boost the economy. I hope the Obama administration will fund Moynihan Station development as this will have great benefit for all NYC commuters. New York Governor Paterson has stated he wants to move forward on the project but his main issues are the lack of a main tenant for the Farley building and the possible cessation of platform time slots from the LIRR and New Jersey Transit to Amtrak.

Report: Giving up car for public transit could save $11,000 a year

2008-12-08T17:16:00.001-05:00

The Philadelphia Business Journal reported that commuters in Philadelphia can save more than $11,000 annually by taking public transportation instead of driving when gasoline prices and parking rates are factored in.

Philadelphia ranked fifth of the top 20 cities with the highest public transportation ridership for its transit savings according to the Transit Savings Report, a monthly analysis by the American Public Transportation Association. New York was first.

These numbers will go down as the price of gas continues to fall. With an Amtrak monthly pass over $1,000/month the math here for Philly-NYC commuters doesn't quite add up to much, if any savings. Nonetheless, there is a real financial benefit to commuting that commuters should understand. I did that analysis a couple years ago and found commuting from Philly to NYC was a viable option for me.

Gas prices down but public transit ridership still up

2008-12-08T17:00:00.001-05:00

There is a Philadelphia Business Journal article today titled "Gas prices down but public transit ridership still up". I think this is interesting as you'd assume that public transportation ridership would go down as gas prices go down. Maybe this could become a permanent trend in the US. I think it would be great if the rate of public transit use increases faster than the rate of total number of miles driven. This is a "greener" way to travel and the Amtrak bill approved by Congress will make commuting along the NEC more efficient.

Some highlights from the article:

"Ridership on public transportation remained up in the third quarter in New Jersey and Pennsylvania and remained at record levels nationwide despite falling gasoline prices, the American Public Transportation Association announced Monday."
"Ridership on Amtrak's Keystone Line, which provides 90-minute service between Harrisburg, Lancaster and Philadelphia and a direct connection to New York City, also rose by 21.65 percent for the quarter and has experienced an increase of 18.88 percent year-to date."

Amtrak appoints Joseph Boardman as president, CEO

2008-12-01T12:07:00.001-05:00

Former New York State Transportation Commissioner Joseph Boardman has been named the new president and CEO of Amtrak. I'm not familiar with this guy but response to his appointment has been generally good.

CBS: "Al Qaeda's Goal: Cripple Amtrak's Northeast Corridor"

2008-11-29T19:26:00.001-05:00

The Mumbai terror attacks included hitting the main train station in the city, the Chhatrapati Shivaji Railway Station, where 10 people were shot and killed and many others wounded. Any terror attack anywhere in the world would most certainly include main transportation hubs. Philly and NY are the third and first busiest train stations in the US respectively. They are targets, no question.

The CBS story from November 26th states:
"Uniformed officers, including this NYPD Counter Terrorism Squad members and Amtrak cops with M-16s, flooded Penn Station Wednesday after the FBI said it had received a 'plausible but unsubstantiated' report that Al Qaeda operatives discussed a plan two months ago to bomb New York City's mass transit system"

This is scary but Philly and NY have the police resources with the equipment and experience to respond and prevent terror attacks before they arise. I take the NYC subway everyday and I generally feel OK and safe doing so. I'd feel the same on Amtrak as well if I was still a regular commuter. "See Something, Say Something": this is all over the place in the NYC subway system; it's applicable for Amtrak commuters as well.