Amtrak's Plans to Extend Rail Service Across the Country

Regarding remote work, my son-in-law previous commuted between NYC and Philadelphia constantly, by train. After moving to philadelphia, he was commuting to and from on the local train. After covid, he moved to part-time remote (he works at a hospital), and I moved to full time remote, and will be full time remote for the foreseeable future (cybersecurity architect). My wife at NASA has been on fulltime remote as well doing engineering things. Our car put 5200 miles on it over 16 months.... compared to 12k or so in 12.

In the fedgov space, we are seeing a big reduction in on-prem labor due to cost savings. I don't think it is ever going away, but it may shift some, especially in anything remotely computer-related. I took the Metro into DC for a considerable time, which is no longer necessary. Those funds as a result aren't flowing into the Metro's coffers, which constrains their ability to provide service (there are a lot of studies and statements from DC Metro about this effect). If remote work continues, I forsee DC Metro being seriously constrained to the point of large scale service reduction...

@Erik the Newbie posted:

Regarding remote work, my son-in-law previous commuted between NYC and Philadelphia constantly, by train. After moving to philadelphia, he was commuting to and from on the local train. After covid, he moved to part-time remote (he works at a hospital), and I moved to full time remote, and will be full time remote for the foreseeable future (cybersecurity architect). My wife at NASA has been on fulltime remote as well doing engineering things. Our car put 5200 miles on it over 16 months.... compared to 12k or so in 12.

In the fedgov space, we are seeing a big reduction in on-prem labor due to cost savings. I don't think it is ever going away, but it may shift some, especially in anything remotely computer-related. I took the Metro into DC for a considerable time, which is no longer necessary. Those funds as a result aren't flowing into the Metro's coffers, which constrains their ability to provide service (there are a lot of studies and statements from DC Metro about this effect). If remote work continues, I forsee DC Metro being seriously constrained to the point of large scale service reduction...

In the end it is going to depend on how this all works out. I have been working from home since March of last year, but it looks like starting in September we will be in the office. Tech companies have been basically saying "work where you want, you can work remotely" for example, but I also am hearing they are having second thoughts about it, they are running into a lot of the same issues that were there when stuff was outsourced to India and such. Other industries like the financial industry basically want workers back in the office starting in the fall. I don't know how it is all going to work out. I know people that moved from high priced areas like NYC that moved to rural areas with cheap housing might find out that they are going to lose a good part of their salary. The other thing that could work against remote working is the very fact that there is a lot of money in office buildings and the like at present, and the people who own them/manage them can be pretty persuasive in terms of how things play out. There is a large infrastructure around working from offices, a large economy that supports it, and will that play a role in all this? Everything from office suppliers to the people who supply vending machines to yep, car repair places for people who commute, local restaurants and take out places to office buildings, what happens?

Will the remote working continue to work, zoom and webex are okay for getting things done, that was proven out, but will it work when the teams involved have never met and don't know one another? can new people working remotely pick up the culture and be able to work? No one really knows, during the pandemic there wasn't that much shift in jobs.

I agree totally that there will be changes, but I would wager it wont' be the "work anywhere from home, we will all be virtual corporations", I think a lot of towns banking on influxes of people working remotely are going to be disappointed, for a number of reasons. My guess is hybrid offices will be the thing, where you work some days in the office, others at home, whether it is 3 and 2, or you work a certain numbers of days a week at the office, a certain at home, but it remains to be seen.

Many are the preceding arguments regarding Amtrak. The economic and the efficacy, the political and the equitable. Some that I read were well researched and presented, some polite opinion, and of course some hot air presented as fact on both sides.

For myself a small almost inconsequential point that I feel is missed but I now add to the conversation. Beyond the costs, the convenience, in short the hard realities there is also.

Our heritage; train travel, not unlike the national parks, our museums, or the historical markers that flank our highways and byways. None provide profit, none can be justified economically, often majority supported by government dollars yet used only by a minority.

Consider the Post Office, the Libraries, Universities teaching Arts and Humanities. Most could be replaced by a more efficient paradigm or system. However without these institutions our lives are poorer. Their existence is not predicated solely on efficiency but as part of our heritage as options that we enjoy.

The trains provided by Amtrak are far from what we imagine they could be. So we should support efforts and ideas to continue improving train travel.

So that again we may realize a way of travel that for a long time, to many travelers has meant more than an inconvenient necessity rather an experience. Outside passing by our country, our landscape, meeting our neighbors, lost in simple reveries a respite from the days hustle all to that rhythm. Without the distractions of traffic expected with bus travel. Without the herd mentality of air travel. You might be late arriving but that's OK; when you knew ahead it could be expected. But you also knew when you get to your destination you would be aware that you have traveled.

As a society we should preserve this option of train travel, it may cost more than it returns but only in dollars. Fix what needs fixing but don't forever discard. When we have cut out all the inefficiencies in the budget. When we are finally a perfectly efficient society. That day we will realize all we have lost.

Just an opinion....

To be clear, I have no issue with the opinions, irrespective of whether I agree with them.  But this has clearly veered into policy and politics and traditionally that has been verboten here.  That being said, it's not my forum, it belongs to OGR so it is their call obviously.  

IMHO, this has been a great thread!    I have learned a whole lot of very important information about real trains, including their operation, financing, technology, history, and differing systems of construction and regulation.

What could be better and more relevant than that?

Mannyrock

• Amtrak wants to run more trains between DFW and HOU?  What about TX Central Rail?

And maybe the airlines are being short sighted in this.  American and Delta, if they wanted to really hurt United and SW, should BUY TC.  Run from DFW Airport to US290 and I610 in Houston.  Geographic center of Harris County.  About 5 miles from Downtown.  Transit connections being planned on Houston end.

Bush is a UA hub, Hobby SW.

(I do know the current DFW terminal is near a convention center.)

For some routes, rail or bus working with air may be better?

Just happened to come across this article on-line this morning. Thought I was going to fall off my chair from laughter after reading it but the real kicker were some of the photos, especially the "private" bathroom in his roomette.

I took a 19-hour, overnight Amtrak train from New York to Chicago and found it wasn't worth the $550 price tag (msn.com)

Was that flappy thing with the blue lid his toilet? Cause Id rather share a nicer toilet down the hall, with something more hogwarty and comfy bed than have a tiny weird toilet at the foot/head of where im curled up trying to sleep! Wow!

That’s the layout in the Viewliner I Roomette.  The Viewliner II cars have no toilet in the Roomettes, but larger bathrooms with showers at the end of the car.  Both Viewliner I and II Bedrooms have en suite bathrooms with showers.

Jon

@Ray Lombardo posted:

To be clear, I have no issue with the opinions, irrespective of whether I agree with them.  But this has clearly veered into policy and politics and traditionally that has been verboten here.  That being said, it's not my forum, it belongs to OGR so it is their call obviously.  

Ray, respectfully, you are mistaken.

There is no prohibition on the discussion of policy.  There is one on discussing politics.

In my opinion, the posters have done a great job of having a very civil discussion of policy, without getting into politics!

Jim

Regarding the article linked above by Doug W

Just to be clear, our intrepid traveler/journalist who was eager to experience the “A road less traveled” may need to find a better approach or should I say departure. I was distressed to hear he had to walk toward the end of the train to find his car. Then on top of that he was forced tonavigate tight hallways with his suitcase; then it got real bad, and I quote.

“ I closed the door and shut the curtains so I could have some privacy. Once I was settled, I enjoyed the views of New York City as they flashed across the window. I also turned on Netflix for some needed entertainment.”

I don't think he enjoyed his train trip. Did Amtrak let him down or did the Netflix fail to entertain???

Robert Frost wrote a famous poem “The Road not Taken” the last lines being:

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

That is a good point. I think creature comforts have been an expected item in (our first world) culture. But not for all, and not all the time. An ex from many years past did the youth hostel + backpack tour of parts of Europe, and separately hit Iceland with the same backpack. I think the view she got of both worlds was far different from someone staying in a "proper" hotel, carrying luggage. My family has strived to travel minimally, since it makes things difficult to go, you know, be part of things. But as years wore on, and we ended up with our awesome daughter, that just isn't as feasible, and to be honest an easy way to get luggage into and out of a train car would be nice.

And before someone goes on about "here we go about other country's rail systems", the following is something that SHOULD be standard in American passenger trains... Any non-local train in Japan (specifically the N'ex airport commuter line) has a separate part of the car at the end (right where the door is) where all baggage is expected to go at boarding time (unless its full, in which case only the smallest bags can be taken into the car proper). This leaves the hallway clear, easy access to the bathroom, easy exit (people aren't backing into you or your seat as they try to unload baggage from overhead), and general comfy-ness. Moreover, this management of baggage enables this!!!:

(image taken from https://www.seat61.com/Japan.htm (ps I LOVE the food carts. Yum.)

(image taken from https://global.jrcentral.co.jp...o/oversized-baggage/)

( image taken from: https://www.seat61.com/Japan.htm (those phone-handset-cord looking are customer set codes that lock with an alarm your baggage to deter theft.))

Do you know how much nicer Amtrak rides would be without the super narrow corridors and the bumping into people all the time as you try to drag your luggage down from the overhead? A good examination of the above pictures shows that it doesn't take much space, just _better use of the space_, to really make a QoL improve in a train ride.

A trainride in India would be a Robert Frost "Experience (tm, @)". Once or twice in my life, hanging off a train moving at speed with hundreds of others would be fun to try. But I am past that age, and like sardine issues, I understand (but do not necessarily agree with) the journalist's observations. Things could be done better and differently, just takes some willingness on Amtrak's part to learn from others! I would sure as rain would take the Marc + Metro into and out of DC and Baltimore, and the occasional trip to see grandkids in PA via Amtrak and Septa, if the trains themselves were just laid out more... comfy? convenient?

Most Amfleet II cars I have ridden in do have baggage racks at the end of the car adjacent to the restrooms. Not sure about the Amfleet I. The quantity of luggage I have seen would probably make the elimination of overhead racks impractical. That was one reason multilevel cars were excluded from consideration as Amfleet replacements as there is zero room for overhead storage on the lower level (and very limited space on the upper level owing to overall clearance restrictions in the Northeast).

---PCJ

Amtrak's new "Venture" Amfleet replacement cars have HUGE luggage storage areas at the ends of the seat rows.

Jon

@Fast Mail posted:

Regarding the article linked above by Doug W

Just to be clear, our intrepid traveler/journalist who was eager to experience the “A road less traveled” may need to find a better approach or should I say departure. I was distressed to hear he had to walk toward the end of the train to find his car. Then on top of that he was forced tonavigate tight hallways with his suitcase; then it got real bad, and I quote.

“ I closed the door and shut the curtains so I could have some privacy. Once I was settled, I enjoyed the views of New York City as they flashed across the window. I also turned on Netflix for some needed entertainment.”

I don't think he enjoyed his train trip. Did Amtrak let him down or did the Netflix fail to entertain???

Robert Frost wrote a famous poem “The Road not Taken” the last lines being:

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Hopefully the won't get wiped out by the topic police, but that poem is interesting in that most people don't understand what it really means. Most people assume it means when you come to the fork in the road, take the less travelled path because it is more fulfilling. What it really means is kind of like that immortal philosopher, Yogi Berra, said, when you come to the fork in the road, take it....in other words down the road we convince ourselves that we indeed took the road less travelled and were the better person for it, no matter which fork we took

I am constantly amazed at, and plagued by, many folks on this board who think that because they are sponsors or long-time members, they can tell folks what they can and cannot say on this Board, even if what is being said is totally in compliance with the forum rules.  They don't own this Board.

I trust the Moderators to fairly and judiciously enforce the rules, and everybody else should just move on if they don't like the content.

That is a MUCH better looking! I could see riding in a train like that!