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As costs rise, Texas considers new operator for ‘Heartland Flyer’
Its time to try different things, this happens in business all the time. Amtrak has been comfortable too long and it needs to be shown that they CAN be replaced, Private companies almost always outdo govt. operations, Im not an Amtrak hater but… if you don’t improve its time to move on.
The replacement for Amtrak service may not be a train.
The request read Intercity Passenger Transit Service
Opportunities-Rail or Bus.
Amtrak has trackage rights over private railroads under the laws and agreements that formed it. What. if any, requirements does BNSF have to allow the Heartland Flyer to operate under a state contractor?
Reminds me of Alabama and the defunct Birmingham to Mobile Gulf Breeze. Amtrak wanted twice the state funding for half the service.
None of the recent public-private setups for long distance has a track record. However - private operations of passenger service as done by the railroads was often done in by the railroads. These proposals are just that. In view of past experience it is unlikely that any will succeed.
GEORGE H FORBES, there is nothing to prevent a private operator from making an agreement with BNSF. Letting the market decide is always better than forcing people to comply.
Competition almost always delivers a better outcome. Go for it Texas and Oklahoma.
The schedule as-is is the bare-boned minimum. southbound to Ft. Worth in the morning, arriving at noon-ish, and returning to OKC in mid-evening. One trainset - that’s all.
With whom will they be competing once ‘they’ have the contract? Nobody! It will be a race to the bottom to cut costs and ‘they’ will be kicked around by BNSF at will, since the operator will have no legal protections of access or priority. Service will deteriorate, people will abandon the train and bingo - the train is off! Sounds like the past to me. Of course this is why ‘we’ study history so that ‘we’ can reproduce it perfectly in all its past imperfections.
I recently rode this line from Dallas So. Service was good and the tramsfer of two cars to the Sunset. Ltd. westbound was handled well, however the three hour layover was inconvenient. I think Amtrak is a good choice.
I recently rode this line from Dallas So. Service was good and the tramsfer of two cars to the Sunset. Ltd. westbound was handled well, however the three hour layover was inconvenient. I think Amtrak is a good choice.
A bus would be a piss poor substitute for the train. Anything more than one hour in a bus is hell, Stinkpots that pass for restrooms get gross in no time. NO THANKS!
I would have to see what this operator will do to cut costs like installing vending machines in lieu of staffed food service,. That alone will turn off riders.
Ron Lewis, get your facts straight. The Heartland Flyer does not interchange cars with the Sunset Limited. (The Texas Eagle does, and the interchange occurs in San Antonio.) BTW, the Heartland Flyer does not run through Dallas.
Perhaps when Iowa Pacific starts service between Tulsa and Oklahoma City, the states can contract with them to extend the service to Ft. Worth. Better yet, extend it on from Ft. Worth to Dallas. Of course any contract will have to have approval from BNSF.
Of course the best solution is to provide Amtrak enough federal funding to bring back the Texas Chief, as a section of the Southwest Chief.
Looks like Texas is joining Oklahoma & Indiana in the race to the bottom. Maybe they will replace their passenger trains with stage coaches.
If Amtrak’s cost will go up by a million a year, it is worth looking at other possibilities.
I agree with Gary. Anthony should not give Gov. Perry ideas.
I think it is our governments responsibility to withold huge infrastructure grants to class 1’s, unless more manuverability is given to Amtrak and its plans.