Siemens saved you a seat:
"Amtrak ridership grows in the Northeast" by Ron Nixon |
NEW YORK TIMES, August 16, 2012
WASHINGTON — But success is taking a toll. Most days, trains in the Northeast are
full. Several locomotives and railcars are 30 years old or more. Aging
rails, bridges, and tunnels hold down top speeds and limit expansion of
the network.
Last month Amtrak unveiled an ambitious $151 billion proposal to speed up trains and upgrade bridges and tracks.
But the plan is opposed by conservatives in Congress, who say the
government-subsidized railroad has been a failure and should be
privatized. Amtrak gets about $1.3 billion a year from the government
but still loses money — $1.2 billion last year....
I've reached the point where I am pretty much opposed to all government largesse because it's all wealth directed upward at a time of social service austerity; however, in a better world I would be willing to pay for the trains.
Part of Amtrak’s success reflects the inconvenience of air travel.
You can thank him: Sunday Globe Special: Arrogant Australian A$$hole
Or them: Taking a Stab at This Post About the TSA
Yeah, I'd rather take a train.
Even if the air shuttles worked perfectly, there is still the cost
and time of traveling to the airport, waiting at the gate, sitting on
the taxiway, and finally getting into the air....
Not to mention all the extra fees, although you can pay more to avoid all that s***.
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Related: High-speed test run for Amtrak in Illinois
Amtrak loses $361m; best since 1975
Any chance of possibly turning a profit soon?
"Amtrak hopes locomotives will pull it into a new era; Engines face key test in Northeast" by David Porter | Associated Press, May 13, 2013
NEWARK — When Amtrak unveils the first of 70 new locomotives Monday at a plant in California, it will mark what the national passenger railroad service hopes will be a new era of better reliability, streamlined maintenance, and increased energy efficiency.
On a broader scale, the new engines could well be viewed as emblematic of the improving financial health of Amtrak, which has long depended on subsidies from an often reluctant Congress.
More than 31 million passengers rode Amtrak in the 2012 fiscal year, generating a record $2.02 billion in ticket revenue. Amtrak says it will be able to pay back a $466 million federal loan for the locomotives over 25 years using net profits from the Northeast Corridor line, where ridership hit a record high last year for the ninth time in 10 years.
‘‘This is not the same organization it was a few years ago, still hoping and relying on federal handouts, limping from appropriation to appropriation,’’ said Robert Puentes, a senior fellow in the Brooking Institution’s metropolitan policy program. ‘‘Even though Washington is mired in debt and dysfunction, Amtrak is reinventing itself.’’
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Amtrak awarded the new engines contract in 2010 to Munich-based Siemens AG, which has made a big investment in the US rail industry during the past decade. The company makes about one of every three light-rail vehicles in North America and is building light-rail vehicles for Minneapolis, Houston, and San Diego at the Sacramento plant where Amtrak’s locomotives are being produced....
About 750 people are employed at Siemens’ Sacramento plant. The locomotive project also involves Siemens plants in Columbus, Ohio, Richland, Miss., and Alpharetta, Ga.
The ripple effect spreads farther.
Otherwise known as the previously-failed trickle-down effect.
As a condition of the Department of Transportation loan, the majority of the products and materials used to build the locomotives must be made in the United States. As a result, some lighting parts are coming from Connecticut, the driver’s seat from Wisconsin, insulation from Indiana, electronics from Texas, and hydraulic parts from California. In all, 70 suppliers in 23 states are providing components, Siemens said.
Amtrak must still seek federal funding for a long list of planned and ongoing improvements, including replacing sections of pre-World War II electrical systems on the Northeast Corridor that cause regular disruptions. The fact that Amtrak has reduced its debt by 60 percent over the last 10 years and its federal operating subsidy to 12 percent could make it an easier sell....
That is probably the most important part of their improvement right there. Less money serving debt interest to usurious banks and wealthy interests can only help.
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UPDATE: Amtrak Wi-Fi gets an upgrade
And then you get to your seat and....
Truck brakes blamed in deadly Amtrak crash
Can you drive me to the airport?
Avis will buy Zipcar for $500 million
The Zipcar revolution
Zippity-do-da, Globe.
