|
month |
rail |
air |
rail share |
|
Jan-1996 |
361966649 |
29876741000 |
1.2% |
|
Feb-1996 |
343129948 |
30779597000 |
1.1% |
|
Mar-1996 |
415752849 |
36660107000 |
1.1% |
|
Apr-1996 |
424923253 |
34633316000 |
1.2% |
|
May-1996 |
465851556 |
35329270000 |
1.3% |
|
Jun-1996 |
473445156 |
37436404000 |
1.2% |
|
Jul-1996 |
522179981 |
38948485000 |
1.3% |
|
Aug-1996 |
548423868 |
40185333000 |
1.3% |
|
Sep-1996 |
410564752 |
32351505000 |
1.3% |
|
Oct-1996 |
4259 |
Don: Between your post and mine, there is a clear perspective of what Amtrak is and has been for its 40 year history : a minor player in the transportation realm compared to air. Why? Because it continues to cling to the dimly recalled glorious past. of private passenger rail 60 years ago, with one notable exception. That has been the development of higher speed, 300 mile corridors first begun pre-Amtrak in the NEC and now expanding to other areas.
Don,
Let me begin by saying how impressed I am with your effort at gathering and posting that long list of monthly statistics.
While Amtrak’s share of the market is, as you point out, small it is also quite robust. Also, as I read the news, the trains that get the flak are the relatively short hauls, not the long distance trains. For example, when John Mica wanted to find a horrible example of Amtrak food service he did not use the dining cars; he used a snack bar car where you buy a hamburger. And the Philadelphia – Harrisburg service which is relatively successful has 14 trains where the Federal appropriation is being cut back. These are relatively short hauls. I find it paradoxical that Amtrak picks up most criticism in the trains that are objectively most successful.
John
The interesting angle here is the philosophical practice of difference in doing business from eras’s past. And it was not just railroads who did this. Loss leaders, charter requirements, segments which added to the flow but not the cash flow, etc. Over the past 25 or so years CPA’s, Hedge Fund Managers, and micromanaging investors changed all that in that every move of even a pinky had to add to the bottom line or it was eliminated. LD trains accounting for less than a percent of the passenger miles compared to the NE services is such an incident. Railroads used to run branch line trains or connecting trains at an out of pocket loss because they knew that it added to the income and value of the main line or connecting trains; take any of the brancline or connecting trains away and you also take away numbers from the main trains. Other businesses would drop a named product or service because of its out of pocket costs and in so doing have robbed themselves of the image or even the markets for their other or income products.
Mica would probably take an “improved” Amtrak, but he believes that Amtrak is beyond hope. That they didn’t find a way to sell a hamburger on a train at a profit - or at least at a reasonable cost - is a symptom. It didn’t seem to bother anyone at Amtrak that it cost them $15 to deliver a hamburger to a customer. He thinks the way forward is without Amtrak. (I think that would be more problematic in the long term that trying to improve Amtrak)
The long time Amtrak critics ala McCain, have long used the subsidy per passenger on the LD trains to make their anti-Amtrak attacks.
Yes, a lot of how Amtrak is, is not their fault. They have been bullied and whipsawed by Congress for a long, long time. But, just because they’ve been beaten down is no excuse for lying down - particularly when thing may be starting to break you way. …unless Mica is right and they are beyond repair.
From Amtrak’s own FY12 Comprehensive Business Plan:
The contribution per rider for Acela was $56.78
The contribution per rider for NEC regional was $43.76
The contribution per rider for the NEC overall was $20.36
The loss per rider for State Supported Routes was $10.67
The loss per rider for overall Long distance services was $111.47
The worst route was the Sunset Limited: $373.34; 2nd worst was the Southwest Chief : $158.72
The horror story goes on and on. The worst offenders in LD service should be brought in line with the better LD routes, such as the Lake Shore Limited ($84.45) per rider.
henry6 discussed the wisdom of “loss leaders” in business, which is a great marketing tool, but not when they consume all the net income from the rest of the economic endeavor and create chronic yearly losses. To point out these facts is not being a petty bean counter who cannot grasp the bigger picture. It is seeing how an antiquated (50-60 year old) service model, by draining available operating funding, severely limits the real purpose of a service, which is to provide basic transportation for the largest numbers of taxpayers/riders.
http://www.amtrak.com/ccurl/963/948/AmtrakFY12ComprehensiveBusinessPlan-FINAL-wAppx.pdf
I think that makes a lot of sense. Were I looking for a way to criticize Amtrak it would be over the long distance trains. But Senator McCain has been doing that for many years without much success.
So what happened with the Pennsylvanian when the State of Pennsylvania got the Federal Government to pick up part of the cost rather than none of the cost at all? Did John Mica simply cave in?
AMTRAK’s request for the $2.1B capital budget stated that almost 1 million passengers on the NEC came from long distance trains. I find that hard to believe ?? and does that NEC figure contain those long distance figures and how are the LD trains accounted for on the NEC ??
What is your definition of a long distance train, Blue Streak? Boston to New York or to D.C. or Norfolk or to Atlanta or New Orleans or Orlando or Miami or? These are all Corridor train routes. So is Boston or NY to Chicago via the Cardinal or the Capitol (? out of Baltimore). Yes, the core of the Corridor is either Boston to NY and NY to D.C. but a lot of those trains are also carrying loads beyond the Corridor.
If you are willing to accept Amtrak’s definitions of long distance routes, go to C-3 from the January report: and you will see the names of the current routes:
http://www.amtrak.com/ccurl/834/888/Amtrak-Monthly-Performance-Report-January-2013-(revised).pdf
A quick perusal indicates that Amtrak either has LD trains superimposed on the SD of the Corridor or the SD of the Corridor being needed for the LD trains. Now, the public definition of the Ethan Allen from Rutland, VT to NYC. I bet they think in terms of Long Distance rather than Short Distance. Likewise, even Boston to D.C in public minds is Long Distance. So what we’ve got here is an unclear interpretation of words and concepts by the public despite specific determinations for illustration by Amtrak. For me, I’m with the public.
We don’t know how much of the “gap” comes from cost/revenue changes and how much Amtrak is going to “pick up”. All we know is that PA will pay $3.8M and the train will run.
I have no idea what Mica did or didn’t do. I am guessing that Bill Shuster strong-armed Amtrak. The train runs through his district, not Mica’s.
His dad had a long tradition of getting pork for his district. One example - the requirement that Hollidaysburg Car Shop remain open for five years after the NS/CSX Conrail split. Another - Federal funding to get the Railroader Memorial museum in Altoona up and running.
“State-supported and other short distance corridor services” includes the Ethan Allen Express and the Vermonter, which are considered extensions connecting into the NEC… The route length is 241 miles. By virtue of federal law (PRIIA 2008), these routes are short distance and must be covered by the states they serve by Oct. 2013. You apparently feel that your opinion = that of the “public minds.”
Maybe there is a deliberately “unclear interpretation of words and concepts” in order to continue certain appropriations which, on first reading, it would seem that the new law stops.
Don,
Do you think perhaps Amtrak’s resistance to being strong armed on this issue might have been somewhat less than wholehearted? And do you think that some other representatives whose trains are threatened might try the same strong arm tractics?
After all, pork barrel legislation goes back to the early days of the republic. Although the Shusters, father and son, may be skilled at it they are not the first to use such skills nor will they be the last.
John
Don…everything is perception, especially in the public’s view. Ten bucks can be a bite in one’s weekly budget but is nothing in the budget of a business or public agency. Some people ride up to 100 miles each way a day commuting to and from work while others think that is too far, that even 10 or 20 miles is too far. Riding one way 100 or 200 or 300 miles for many is long distance no matter how legislation defines it. If it means that I leave before the sun comes up and get home after it goes down, that’s a long distance. I live in a county where two towns less than 10 miles apart are considered foreign countries between some inhabitants who have never set foot in the other, that the 10 miles is long distance. I can multiply that story several times in this and other areas. Yeah, you can clip off NY to D.C. in under 3 hours on Acela but that is still a long distance as perceived by the average person. It is public perception that determines the cost and payment of those costs. Acela is a Long Distance train and not a commuter coach ride to work and back.
And the people have spoken!! Or, alternatively, " ‘When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, ‘it means just what I choose it to mean.’ "
Why in America they haven’t spoken English for years! How many times have we seen discussions and arguments here over words and meanings. The words and wording of the U.S. Constitution are great examples, so much so that we impanel nine Supreme Court Justices to define what it says and bring questions to them by the dozens! Railroad Books of Rules were carefully parsed to fit any given application and yet there were constant explanations for most of what was presented. One word I always marveled at in railroading was “annulled” as applied to a train that was cancelled. It was specifically used because of the way the timetables and books of rules were written, used because “cancelled” did not fulfill the meaning. .
Since Amtrak runs the trains, they get the final say on how to classify them, not me, not you. And Amtrak is quite clear in their operational definitions, so all the obfuscations and irrelevancies in the world really don’t matter. Last I checked, we are in the 21st century, where the definition of short -distance intercity (not commuter) travel is different than 70 or 150 years ago.
You probably know this, Henry.
According to the Port Jervis website the rail line to Hoboken is 95 miles. The fastest train, No. 50, leaves Port Jervis at 5:55 am and arrives in Hoboken at 8:00 am. To get to World Trade Center change to the PATH and arrive at 8:20. Or with a change at Seacaucus you can arrive at New York Penn Station at 8:08. 95 miles and that is definitely commuter service, not intercity service.
John