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Amtrak Long Distance Routes- 2021 to 2026 Report - Will they stay or will they go?
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- Опубликовано: 16 авг 2024
- Amtrak has provided a 5 year plan of service from 2021 to 2026. In this five year plan they discuss the long service routes that involve service of 750 miles or greater and the sleeper cars and first class service that are part of the service on long distance trains. The long distance trains are unique and serve a unique passenger. Amtrak reports that nearly all long distance train car passengers are tourists not business customers. What are Amtrak's plans to keep, remove or enhance this service over the next five years. We take a look at Amtak's five year report and show the changes that Amtrak is proposing to do. Please let us know if you think these changes are beneficial to customers.
I wish they would restore the New Orleans to Miami segment of the Sunset Limited. I rode that segment back in the 1990s. The train kept getting delayed because people were digging up the copper wires attached to the signaling devices.
Before COVID, I went on AMTRAK several times. I traveled the Sunset Limited from San Antonio to New Orleans several times. The train was always many hours late. The slow downs happened after we left Houston. I book coach for that trip since it's a day trip.
From New Orleans, I went various directions.
One time I went all the way to Baltimore, MD. My return trip departed from Danville, VA and went to New Orleans where I caught the Sunset Limited back to San Antonio.
On another occasion, I took a Mississippi River cruise to Memphis. From Memphis, I took AMTRAK to Chicago where I caught the Texas Eagle back to San Antonio. I had a Roomette on that train.
Jacquelyn. That sounds like a great trip and you are lucky to be so well traveled. We are honored to have you joining our channel and we really appreciate you taking the time to share your experiences with us and other subscribers. Hope to see you on our next video.
YES I DEFINITELY think that AMtrak should be given more authority, but it is extremely difficult when the freight trains do things to get around that legal obligation like making their trains too long to be shunted to the side when Amtrak is coming through... and I DO mean too long... those trains; at least in midwestern areas; are often about 20 cars long.....Imagine having to move over for that... THEN... getting STUCK there because the freight train broke down right in front of the Amtrak train and they claim they have to wait for parts to fix the problem they are having. The last time this happened while I was on the train; it took THREE HOURS for them to fix their problems. I personally believe this is TANTAMOUNT to BULLYING by the freight companies.
I ALSO firmly believe that AMTRAK should get rid of the FLEX dining. We have PLENTY of routes on the Eastern Seaboard that SHOULD be considered Long Haul, and from what I have seen of the Flex Dining; (I will grant I said seen and not fully tasted; except the pizza and the burger); I would not feed the food to my dog or cat..... DC to Miami=924 miles by car; DC to Chicago may only be 594 miles by car, but this DOES require an overnight sleeping arrangement; DC to New Orleans is also 960 miles. My point is; there are enough routes; enough reasons for Amtrak to restore "traditional dining" back into the Easter Long Haul Routes.
Another suggestion that I have; that I have said repeatedly; is that Amtrak should LOWER the ticket price of the sleeper accommodations for the Longer; long haul trains if no others. I am sorry, but as much as Amtrak wants to pass the sleeper accommodations off as "luxury"; they have not quite reached the level of 5 star hotel... not yet...so to charge as much as $6k for a bedroom accommodation for a round trip ticket from say DC to LAX; in my mind is ridiculous... They need to be a BALANCE between comfort and affordability; especially since that is a price that their main competitors; i.e. the airline industry; would not charge for flights within the US. It would be more of a flight from say DC to Dubai or Qatar for first class. And PLEASE don't tell me it cannot be done. In Europe; a long haul route from say Paris to Warsaw, which btw is just over 1k miles, cost for the most part for most of these companies' highest level of comfort about $200 one way or $400 rt. Now granted on those routes; the different companies that provide the service, might or might not include only one meal in the price, like breakfast, but considering the fact that they are ALREADY using high speed trains that can get from Paris to Warsaw in about 20 hours; I would say that is not bad at all since the price of the food in their cafe cars is not really expensive.
Your comment is getting many likes so I think you may have really summarized how many feel. It sure would be nice for us to have some upgrades on Amtrak
But yes, the price is too high. What about something in the middle or adding more sleeper cars so the cost could come down and make it more affordable to travel in a room on a long distance train? Just love your suggestions. Hope to see you on our next video.
@@BucketListCruiseandTravel Well to be honest, I am thinking a combination of the two would be better. 1) Though I have not traveled as much as I would like by train; I HAVE traveled by car, and so I AM a Marriott Rewards member since about 1998. I would thus put the Amtrak bedroom on the level of a Residence Inn one bedroom suite.
2) I don't see the bedroom being charged as much as overpriced New York city hotel, but if they charge say $400-$450/night and THEN also adding more rooms/cars...They should be able to keep a decent profit margin and still make it affordable for customers... OH and advertise, advertise, advertise!!!
The first time I went to New orleans just a few months ago our train got in 4 hours late. Having saturated myself with many RUclips videos I was prepared for this possibility. I didnt care. I was just thrilled to finally realize a goal......and the lateness didn't impact any of my plans
Linda, that's the way to do it. Relax and enjoy the ride. We always say...you are on train time. Thanks for watching and commenting. Hope to hear from you again soon.
The law is that passenger service must be given priority. Either it is enforced or rescind the law. Technology available today can easily summarize OTP performance results and specific reasons for delays. Once completed, the data must be presented to the governing authority (DOJ or whomever) and the resulting OTP performance improvements will be significant. Substantial time has been added to nearly all, if not all, LDS schedules allowing for a two hour late train across Montana to be on time into Chicago. A simple look at the eastbound schedule and you can see about 191 minutes of additional time added to the schedule comparing westbound point to point times. That is a lot of padding, yet trains 8/28 are regularly late. I'd also suggest that the track conditions are worthy of scrutiny. On a recent round trip, CHI-EMY I found track conditions in southern Nebraska to be deplorable with more than 2 hours of lateral and vertical movements well beyond what anyone could sleep through and at times, very worrisome. The same assessment applies for track west of Salt Lake City. Much more to add, including compliments to OBS staff for taking care of passengers even with 4 & 8 hour late trains, 5 & 6 respectively.
I enjoy traveling by train. You can walk around the train, the seats are huge, you can recline really far back in coach seats which have both leg and foot rests.
The best trains have lounge cars.
The last time I took the train, coach passengers could eat in the Dining Car. I always ate most of my meals there.
Yes. We are anxiously awaiting the return to dining car service on all trains.
I suggest a number of options. ONE Place one aurorail car on long distance services for perhaps two or three destinations, per train. In other words, Chicago Denver and Chicago Sacramento and Chicago Emeryville. So, three auto carrier cars on the train, with one each dropped off along the way. TWO Twice daily trains on some routes, typically 8 to 12 hours apart. The EMPIRE BUILDER and SAN FRANCISCO ZEPHYR come to mind. THREE Through cars on trains, as was done in the 1970's on AMTRAK. San Francisco, LA, New Orleans, New York, ONCE A WEEK.. . . . for example. Cruise train service. Through cars Chicago Miami and Seattle Washington is another route to consider. FOUR Consider a dedicated tour train on set routes including from the US to Mexico, and the Copper Canyon line.
John.. really great ideas! All of them..so out of the box but really good. Thanks so much for sharing.
I want Amtrak and Amtrak trains all year and every year.
God I hope so. Every American should experience them at least once!
Agree!!
They need to copy the high value Luxery services offered throw out the world! Bring back sleeper only trains like the Florida services and they need a cross country service that is a Luxery train!
The only way Amtrak and other commuter train services is to spend the money building rail for passengers separate from freight so that Amtrak and commuter rail have a dedicated way to travel and by doing it this way there's no concern about dealing with the freight trains. Freight companies would find that they would benefit by not having to worry about passenger trains on their routes. I would strongly suggest that instead of having every Tom Dick and Harry Amtrak route go through Chicago, why not have a straight through route from Los Angeles to New York but keeping the usual routes for passengers wanting to go to Chicago. What also bothers me is why Amtrak doesn't provide rail service to key cities including State capitals. Why does Amtrak operate their "Am bus" services? They're not a motorcoach bus company like Greyhound, Bolt Bus, and Megabus. Greyhound has severely reduced their service because Amtrak has been operating their buses and this isn't good. Let Greyhound serve locations where trains are impossible to navigate and have Amtrak focus on routes that can be done with their rail stock. More focus is to give more to the coach traveler traveling long distance by giving them the authority to use the communal showers and even allowing them to purchase at time of ticketing meal plans so when their train's meals are served, they can partake in eating. Another thought is like in Europe trains they have compartments in which you can fold down your bed and fold them up during the daytime. This is for all classes. Maybe Amtrak has to think and do things just like the European trains as they are very successful.
Hi Joseph! Thank you for your ideas. Yes, rail service in Europe is something Amtrak should strive for. But, we are so spread out and the equipment is so much older..not to say we shouldn't try to do better but a whole new track line ..I haven't heard anyone who thinks we could get that done. Some great ideas. Thanks so much for adding to the conversation.
Put more first class cars and business cars.
Hi Peter..we agree. How nice would that be? I think now more than ever having your own personal space would be a reason to travel Amtrak.
In regards to the On-Time Performance issue, I seem to remember President Biden signing a separate Executive Order just a couple of weeks ago that addressed this issue.
Wendell..thanks for the tip. I will check that out.
hello long as freight trains take over the amtrak t rains people arent gonna want to ride the trians simple as that. i tink theyh should let amtrak trains go ahed of the freight trains but it wont happen unelss people write to their congress
Danielle, very wise comment. We love to take Amtrak but we know not to take it if we have time constraints. But, yes, your idea to tell Congress what we as the customers want would be a very good way to make a difference. Maybe we can get more people involved to make that happen. Thank you for taking the time to share your suggestion.
There’s no business class on the Lake Shore Limited
There’s no Business Class on the Lake Shore Limited.
Sounds like you have personal knowledge...thanks for the update.
t's not that good. The whole experience is not worth the time or money. From October 6, 2020 to July 11, 2021 I traveled on 4 of the 5 cross country amtrak routes in a roomette. Air conditioning is the biggest problem next to on board sewer system. If you compare the price of flying, amtrak is not worth the money. About 50% of the amtrak employees are rude and unhelpful. Inter city routes like, New york to Washington DC are great and that's what amtrak should stick with. These cross country trains need to go.
no figure out how to improve the service keep the system intact
I’m sorry you had a bad experience. Inform the Rail Passengers Association! America needs its long distance trains.
Frieght is money. But passenger cars so far are not profitable. I say fright should be allowed to superceded passenger cars.
Hi..thanks for your comment. I think your comment will really open the conversation here. So glad you joined the conversation..let's see what others have to say.
I am sorry, but that is a sad thought; that goods are more important than people.
Passenger trains can be extremely profitable IF certain thoughts are changed. 1) Give more rural areas more routes and times because they could use the train service too, but not many people are going to want to catch the single train stop at their town/city at 3am. 2) LOWER the price of the sleeper accommodations for the long haul trains. 3) GET RID of the Flex dining, and re-introduce the traditional dining in the Eastern long haul routes. 4) Use the European design for seating in both Coach and Business/First Class seats where the outlets are NOT always on the wall of the train car, but under each seat's armrests or under the seat itself. They are doing this on the new Avelia trains in first-class that are set to replace the Acela trains, but they should be doing this in ALL seated cars as many people are too rude and don't want to share. 4) Find a way to give those aforementioned rural routes a better station to sit at and wait than just a glorified bus stop, or worse yet, nothing at all... How early 20th Century is that? Again I am sorry, but even our largest train stations, those like DC, Chicago, or LAX have NOTHING on the main train stations in cities like Paris, London, Rome, Vienna, Innsbruck or Warsaw... Their stations are not only visually beautiful to look at, but they are EXTREMELY convenient as they not only have the ticket offices AND self serve kiosks, but ALSO have lounges for business/first class customers AND a rather large shopping area which you could easily thus label the places as "Shopping Malls with train tracks". (Oh, and just to add a little extra note in; those train STATIONS also have large amounts of tracks as they not only handle the long haul trains that go between countries, but also intercity commuter trains AND the local metros as well... So yes train stations can be EXTREMELY more efficient here as well.
Oh forgot one sorry.... 5) ADVERTIZE a HECK of A LOT MORE than they do now! How are people going to know that these changes MAY or MAY NOT be implemented if they do not say something?