Amtrak News: Connect The Dots

[Guest ___]

HOUSE REJECTS PROPOSAL TO CUT $446.7-M IN AMTRAK FUNDING: The U.S. House of Representatives has rejected a proposal to cut $446.9-million in Amtrak funding for the current fiscal year 2011. The vote rejecting the Amrak cuts reportedly was 250-176, indicating more Republican House support for the nation’s passenger railroad network than many observers anticipated. [Railway Age website report, 2-17-11]

 

AMTRAK PLANS TO ADD 40 ACELA COACHES: Amtrak plans to begin procurement in fiscal year 2012 of 40 additional Acela Express coach cars to increase seating capacity on all existing high-speed train sets to meet growing ridership demand. The plan to purchase new high-speed equipment is part of the national passenger railroad's $2.22-billion funding request submitted to Congress. [Amtrak, 2-14-11]

 

AMTRAK REPORTS RIDERSHIP GROWTH IN JANUARY: Amtrak announced that it carried 2.1 million people in January 2011, marking the 15th straight month of ridership growth and setting yet another monthly ridership record for the railroad, a 4.6 percent increase over the same period last year. Ridership on the Cardinal showed a 15.9 percent increase. [National Assn. of Railroad Passengers, 2-11-11]

 

NEW HUDSON RAIL TUNNEL PROPOSED: Amtrak has advanced a plan dubbed the ‘Gateway Tunnel,’ to increase capacity on the Northeast Corridor under the Hudson River. Unlike New Jersey Transit’s Access to the Region’s Core (ARC) project, terminated October 2010 by Gov. Chris Christie, the Amtrak-led effort would direct two additional tracks, and two tunnels, to directly serve Pennsylvania Station in Manhattan, including the Moynihan Station project. The Amtrak plan does not envision any connection to Grand Central Terminal, but instead would add capacity at Penn Station for Amtrak, NJ Transit, Metro-North. [Railway Age website report, 2-7-11]

[bikkuri bahn]

The vote rejecting the Amrak cuts reportedly was 250-176, indicating more Republican House support for the nation’s passenger railroad network than many observers anticipated.

 

Alot of Amtrak long distance trains run through rural districts, which tend to be Republican strongholds.  You don't want to get on the wrong side of the grandmas that use the local "flyer" to get to big city hospital every month.

[Guest ___]

Historically speaking the long distance trains are the ones that lose the most money and are on the chopping block.

[bikkuri bahn]

But somehow they soldier on, due to some benefactor in Congress.  I think Amtrak long distance operations should be re-organized by having them sectorized, either private enterprise take over routes or the states and/or regions fund/run it, like Amtrak California.  Non-viable routes would be shut down and replaced by bus.  Keep one or at most two trans-continental routes in operation, for symbolic reasons.

[Guest ___]

Usually it is the Republicans that are trying to kill Amtrrak, not save it.

[Mudkip Orange]

Keep one or at most two trans-continental routes in operation, for symbolic reasons.

 

That's basically where you're at now. The federal subsidies only run the long-distance routes, all the shorthaul is subsidized by the states.

[Guest ___]

Except the NEC. I know of know state funding going towards Accela or regional service. The state funds MARC, NJT and so forth, but then again most of MARC's funding in MD comes from the Feds to start with.

[Guest ___]

AMTRAK UPDATES FLEET STRATEGY PLAN: Amtrak released an updated fleet strategy plan today; a document intended to serve as a blueprint for the replacement of the railroad’s aging fleet and allow Amtrak to meet the steady increase in U.S. demand for passenger trains. The plan documents recent procurement efforts, which includes the purchase of 130 single-level cars to replace the oldest cars and increase capacity on long-distance trains, and an order for 70 electric locomotives to replace all those currently in operation on the Northeast and Keystone Corridors. The plan also provides additional detail on the procurement for 40 additional Acela Express cars, and updates on progress made by the Next Generation Equipment Committee. [National Assn. of Railroad Passengers, 4-1-11]

 

The new electric locomotives they are referring to are the AEM-7 and HHP-8 fleet, and not the power cards on the Acela.

[Mudkip Orange]

Isn't the NEC profitable, excluding debt service payments?

[spacecadet]

Isn't the NEC profitable, excluding debt service payments?

 

I believe that's a myth.  What I recall is that it's profitable if you don't count the infrastructure, ie. if you account for profit the same way you would one of Amtrak's other routes.  But they own the tracks on the NEC, so they pay for all the maintenance and upgrades there, which are very expensive.

 

Lots of people argue that you shouldn't force Amtrak to account for infrastructure when determining how profitable they are, because other industries don't have to do that.  United Airlines doesn't have to include the costs of repaving the Bay Runway at JFK in their financial statements, for example.  Greyhound doesn't have to account for the costs of maintaining the highways their buses drive on.  I don't believe the various JR's in Japan do either; someone correct me if I'm wrong but I think it's still the government's responsibility to maintain the infrastructure.

 

I think I remember reading that if you took out the costs of maintaining and upgrading the NEC and other corridors that Amtrak maintains, Amtrak would be profitable *as a whole*, not just in the NEC.  That doesn't mean every single line or route would be profitable, but some of them are, not just the NEC.  It's really an amazingly efficient railroad, given what they do with the resources they have (which are almost nil).

[Mudkip Orange]

I'm pretty sure the JRs own the 1067mm lines outright. It might be different for some of the newer Shinkansen lines.

 

One of the prerequisites to forming the JR companies was to split off most of the JNR-era Shinkansen debt. Sorta like "old GM" and "new GM."

[miyakoji]

I'm pretty sure the JRs own the 1067mm lines outright. It might be different for some of the newer Shinkansen lines.

 

One of the prerequisites to forming the JR companies was to split off most of the JNR-era Shinkansen debt. Sorta like "old GM" and "new GM."

I haven't read anything about the fixed stock, but for example, the E3 rolling stock was bought by both JRE and Akita Shinkansen Sharyo Hoyu, which according to Wikipedia was a part of the Akita prefectural government.  JRE bought it all about a year ago and that holding company no longer exists.

 

As for profitability, I seem to remember reading that it was politics that got JNR SOL.  It may have been the Joetsu Shinkansen, but I think I read that it had to do with conventional lines as well.  JNR was profitable through the mid-70s or so when other politicians, not just Tanaka, figured out how to force JNR to build lines through their constituencies.  That was the beginning of the end.  By the early '80s, JNR was spending 140-some yen for every 100 it collected in fares.  Oh well.  On a related note, I've seen some minor celebrations of the creations of the JR companies from time to time.  I'd think a true tetsu would treat it as a catastrophe, the JR group has killed off all the good expresses and limiteds.

[Guest ___]

National Train Day in Philly

 

http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/BlobServer?blobcol=urldata&blobtable=MungoBlobs&blobkey=id&blobwhere=1249224630991&blobheader=application%2Fpdf&blobheadername1=Content-disposition&blobheadervalue1=attachment;filename=Amtrak_ATK-11-043_NTD_Philadelphia.pdf

 

Other Amtrak News

 

http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/ContentServer/Page/1241267278292/1241245669129

[Nick_Burman]

I'd think a true tetsu would treat it as a catastrophe, the JR group has killed off all the good expresses and limiteds.

 

I think that with the enlarging of the Shinkansen network, "low-cost" airlines and changing travel patterns (worldwide, not just in Japan), these "train-offs" you mention would have happened JR or no JR. Sadly they had to happen.

 

 

Cheers NB

[KenS]

As for profitability, I seem to remember reading that it was politics that got JNR SOL.  It may have been the Joetsu Shinkansen, but I think I read that it had to do with conventional lines as well.  JNR was profitable through the mid-70s or so when other politicians, not just Tanaka, figured out how to force JNR to build lines through their constituencies. 

 

I recall reading somewhere (I think it was the biography of the first JR West president) that JNR went non-profitable with the construction of the first Shinkansen line in 1964 and never recovered.  They definitely also had problems with being unable to cut service on marginal and unprofitable lines, and those worsened over time as cars and planes took away more traffic.

 

But a big part of the problem was continually investing in Shinkansen lines, which were definitely good for the country, and attracted riders, but were also a huge investment.  And after the first one (which I think eventually became profitable even including construction costs) they were always investing in the next one, and until the breakup that debt was their to carry, even though the money was coming from the government. After that, there was a "settlement corporation" that owned (and sold off) a lot of the real estate held by JNR (like large urban yards).  I think they or another entitiy ended up owning the Shinkansen infrastructure, but I've never been too clear on that.

 

On top of that, while the first one was "relatively" inexpensive, the later ones were in harder to build areas, with fewer potential passengers, and corruption in the construction companies and JNR managers who no loner felt loyalty to the company that was crumbling underneath them caused a great deal of waste and inefficiency.

[disturbman]

Well. JR Central has bought the Tokaido Shinkansen Line some time ago. Tokaido Shinkansen Line is indeed profitable and was reimboursed quickly. If the first french HSL (LGV Sud-Ouest) was repaid in 20 or so years, there is no reason that the most heavily traveled HSR corridor in the world can't do that either. ;)

[Guest ___]

AMTRAK TAPS RAILROAD FANS TO BOOST SECURITY: Amtrak is tapping into the rail fan community to help keep the nation's passenger railroad safe. Through a new program dubbed ‘Partners for Amtrak Safety and Security,’ Amtrak will recruit people who are already watching and riding trains to keep an eye out for suspicious activity on trains and around stations and tracks. Passengers and rail fans can register online to participate in the program They'll be issued membership cards and learn more about what safety and security concerns they should look out for and how to report them. [Wall Street Journal website report, 4-18-11]

 

 

ToS For The Program

Remember that Partners for Amtrak Safety and Security Program membership does not authorize anyone to trespass on railroad property.Restricted areas include, but are not limited to the following:

 

• Platforms (except for ticketed passengers or as otherwise permitted in Amtrak's Corporate Guidelines on Photography and Video recording)*

• Crew and Employee Work Areas, Maintenance Facilities

• Unoccupied Trains and Engines

• Office Areas

• Employee Elevators

• Baggage/Delivery Areas

• Commissaries

• Right-of-Way and Track Areas

• In service train cars

 

* For further information, please refer to the Amtrak Corporate Guidelines on Photography and Video Recording

 

Remember to cooperate fully with Amtrak Police or other law enforcement when contacted. If suspicious activities are noted, report it to Amtrak Police at (800) 331-0008 or local law enforcement officers by dialing 911. Do not take any further action! I understand that trespassing is a criminal offense and that I may be arrested and prosecuted if I trespass on railroad property. I will not trespass on any railroad property or right-of-way.

 

Not sure how I feel about this considering Amtrak police's policy on arresting and or detaining rail fans, especially on the east coast. So basically according to the ToS you agree for your little card that essentially if you are standing less than 30 feet from center of the RoW including grade crossing, or are standing on a manned or unmanned station platform without a ticket are essentially admitting ahead of time to trespass. (Or any of the above stipulations). Good program for pax, not really for railfans.  

[bikkuri bahn]

...are standing on a manned or unmanned station platform without a ticket are essentially admitting ahead of time to trespass.

 

Thank God for platform passes (nyujoken)...

[Guest ___]

Shame Amtrak is too short sighted to realize they could generate revenue this way.