Late Trains and Other Fun…
Late Trains and Other Fun…
I am on the second to last leg home on the CSCMP trip. It has been fun, with some trying times.
SEPTA to Philadelphia 30th Station – On Time
Amtrak To Pittsburgh – Late, but made connection
Pittsburgh to Chicago – Late, but made Connection
Chicago to Denver – Late, but had lots of time
CSCMP – Great Event!
Denver to Chicago – 5 hours late – Missed Connection
Chicago to New York – Upgraded to Nice Sleeper, but 3 Hours late & Missed Connection
New York to Philadelphia – Made it by the skin of my teeth
SEPTA Home – Last train of the night, I hope Amtrak is not late.
People are using the trains. Lots of people. Every train I rode was sold out in coach. Bottom line is that people have moved onto the trains. The people that I saw were not business travelers, but young people getting home from school (or going to school) and older folks on vacation. All are doing it so not to drive. Some of the young folks just do not have cars. But every older couple that I spoke to was on the rails because even with the sleeper upgrade it was less expensive to ride Amtrak than to drive for that vacation or that visit to see the grandkids.
There was activity at every station stop. While I saw and met quite a few “thru” passengers, most of what I observed was intermediate stop to intermediate stop passengers. These were people who said that air travel was not practical, that the airports were just too far and the costs really outrageous.
I have to admit, I am spoiled by the North East Corridor service between Philadelphia, New York, Washington DC and Boston. Amtrak owns the track, and because they own the track the trains run on time. There is a power outlet at every seat, the trains move fast and the ride is fairly smooth. Get off the Corridor and it becomes a different story. Amtrak’s trains run on the lines of the four major freight railroads, so the passenger trains have to get in line for time slots. If the passenger train loses a few minutes it will miss it’s slot and finds itself behind a freight train, only to lose more time. A five minute slide will change the passenger train’s position in the freight train stack, and the delay builds and builds. On the Philadelphia to Pittsburgh run track repairs created a 20 minute delay, which got compounded by more delay waiting for a slot between freight trains later in the day. Amtrak pads the schedule to allow for the freight delays, but add in the track maintenance and things get real messy.
Equipment issues are another problem. Amtrak does not have enough cars and locomotives to support the passenger load that is now riding the rails. The sold out trains are one observation, but the short time sell outs of the all reserved trains is another indicator that there is a capacity issue. Ridership is reported to be up over 12% to over 28 mission passengers system wide.
Most of the equipment is getting old. The single level coaches in NE Corridor were built in the now closed Budd Rail car factory in the 70’s and 80’s are still in service. In a letter to congress the Amtrak CEO stated that the average age of the rolling stock was 25 years old and the locomotives are average of 15 years old. In general the cars I rode in were maintained and clean, but the lack of in service passenger cars is limiting the growth of ridership.
Maintenance is an issue that also adds to the delays. Out of Chicago the train was late due to a problem with a brake hose on one of the locomotives. It took about 30 minutes before the decision was made to replace the locomotive, and we rolled out of the station 2:10 late. On the return out of Denver the last car on the train that was being dropped would not uncouple, which set the on-time train behind 1:20, which grew with other traffic delay to 5 hours. On the Chicago to New York leg traffic, repairs, a search for lost kids along the tracks by the local police, and a broken air hose set up back 3 hours.
Don’t get me wrong, I have had hellish trips on airlines that ripped up all sorts of plans. In many cases the airlines sometimes did, and sometimes did not make up for their issues. And Amtrak’s folks really did what they could to make a bad situation better, some better than others. I got upgraded to a nice sleeper out of Chicago for the leg back home. When I missed my final leg I was quickly booked onto the next train to Philadelphia.
It took about two full days to arrive in Denver. If I had flown I would have spent a full day in transit. But on the train I did get about 10 hours of writing and work time in, and was able to have a conference call on Friday afternoon that could not happen from an airplane. On the return trip I was able to take calls on each of the two days, and again got in about 10 hours of solid work time. In the air I would not have been productive, but I was on the train.
In the future for an overnight trip I will choose to do sleeper service. First class accommodations include meal service, and the cars have a shower room on board for the “roomettes”, and a shower stall in the bedrooms. The staff on the cars is attentive and while the spaces are small, they are comfortable.
The value was there for this trip. The trains will not replace planes on all of my trips, but they will address some of my needs. I am on the rails again next week for two trips to New York City. Those trips are still the right deal.
<< Note: As a full disclosure: This entry was written on October 10, and was uploaded on October 13, but due to a mistake that I made in the settings, it was not released properly. Totally my mistake. )