Amtrak Gains from Airline Woes

Trains Magazine General Discussion
1

Amtrak gains from airline woes: Wall Street Journal (8/23) article.
(May require registration.)

"While airlines are running later and with more delays than ever – a third of flights arrived late at La Guardia Airport between June 1 and Aug. 15, according to Flightstats.com – Acela’s performance is improving. The train is running on time 88% of the time, so far this year – up from 84% a year ago. It was 90% on time in June. With Amtrak selling every seat on some Acela trains in peak travel periods, Amtrak recently added another weekday Acela round trip between New York and Washington to keep up with growing demand.

"…Amtrak’s success lately isn’t confined to the Northeast. While the railroad’s long-distance trains continue to suffer from lengthy delays, its ridership is up sharply on some improved state-supported corridors, including Chicago-St. Louis, up 53% in the 10 months through July.

“Another airline-industry legend Robert Crandall, former CEO of American Airlines parent AMR Corp., says improvements to Amtrak’s network in the Northeast are one of the best ways to reduce aviation gridlock. Since Amtrak introduced higher speed Acela trains in 2000, the railroad’s share of the 10,000 daily plane or train passengers traveling between Washington and New York has grown to 54% from 45%. The Acela runs as fast as 135 miles per hour between New York and Washington. It reaches its top 150 mph speed on a small part of the route between New York and Boston. Amtrak’s share of the Boston-New York air-rail market is also up, but by a lower amount.”

In addition, there’s an interview with Amtrak chief Alex Kummant:
‘It’s Not Luxury Service,’ what lies ahead for Amtrak

2

Robert Crandall would say something like that because he knows United, Delta and USAir have more to lose in the Northeast if the air traffic situation worsens. If Southwest Airlines took a hit because of it, he might dance for joy.

3

I would expect a better than 90% on-time performance of the Acela Expresses and the Regional trains in the Northeast Corridor. With the exception of New Rochelle-New Haven Amtrak owns and dispatches most of the corridor, and it doesn’t have to contend with freight train delays. In most cases Amtrak is the most convenient way to travel between Washington and New York. It can certainly beat the door-to-door travel time of flying so it’s not surprising that it is getting a little over half of the Washington-New York travel market.

4

Haha! Go Amtrak![^]

5

The Acelas and future trains can keep Amtrack in business if only they get out of the Rusting NEC (Northeast Corridor) and start building other corridors to serve two to three cities at a time between 100-500 miles distance to fight the short haul airline dominance. Eventually it will be possible to TGV… err… Acela your way anywhere east of the Mississippi for less than what it costs to fly.

They need to get started and build on this success. Strike while the iron is hot.