Regarding thoughts expressed here and elsewhere online contending that the corridors are much more important to Amtrak and that the long-hauls should be elminated, here is some analysis from the United Rail Passenger Alliance that shows the usage and load factors - and future for growth (it’s in the LDs, folks!) for U.S. passenger trains.
This isn’t saying the corridors aren’t important, but according to this analysis, they appear to be overdeveloped and less used while the LD trains appear to be underdeveloped and more used.
This isn’t to start an argument, but to provide ammo for those that support travel choice and to come up with info to counter the generalizations that passenger rail doesn’t make sense outside of 300 mile corridors, etc.
Balance is what we need, both short and long-distance trains. I like and use both types of trains. Just like rural highways and Interstates and puddle-jumpers and big planes all play a role and are just as important in the scope of things.
The info comes in an email commentary. It’s not yet on the group’s Web site, this is excerpt of a 30-40 graf commentary stand.
AMTRAK SYSTEM OUTPUT
48% LDs
30% NEC
21% other corridors
PASSENGER LOAD FACTORS
69% LDs
45% NEC
37% other corridors
"In FY 04, the Northeast Corridor accounted for about 30.4% of system
output (long distance trains produced 48.3% and the other short distance
services about 21.3%). The NEC had 56% of system passenger revenue (based on the very high prices), while the long distance trains had 27.7% and the other short distance trains about 16.2%.
…
we do
have a
I think that Silver Star-Silver Meteor-Crescent-Auto Train-Empire Builder, SW Chief and there success is part of the problem.
Let’s look at the 3 Amtrak’s – NEC, other corridors, and LD trains. As said, the NEC is largely an electric-powered, concrete crosstied, gold-plated NY-Philly commuter line from the traffic numbers. And the part I don’t get from a passenger perspective is that NY-Philly on Acela is about a hundred bucks while you can get commuter train tickets spanning that distance for about 12 bucks. Do they fill the Acela NY-Phily at that price? Are there other price points for that run? Is the price a good deal compared to other modes (dunno, does anyone fly NY-Philly or do they get in a car?).
As to the other corridors, can anyone fill me in on that? Which are worth keeping and which are failures?
Finally, the LD trains appear to be a success story – their “operating ratios” depend a lot on accounting, and the story is that the NEC is such a money pit that passes costs on to other things that it is hard to tell. But the evidence is that they do OK.
Well, the LD trains function as rail-borne cruise ships – people riding the train for the scenery, retired people taking long vacations, etc. Yeah, yeah, there is the life-line to the small towns along the route, but what kind of lifetime service comes once a day into your town at 2 AM plus or minus some hours depending on whatever Amtrak depends on? I don’t buy the lifeline argument unless someone discusses case studies as to who are the lifeline riders and whether college students are commuting between home and school on weekends using the Empire Builder.
Now, if the LD trains are “cruise ships”, and perhaps cruise ship is the proper role for the LD train just as the ocean liner was supplanted by the cruise ship, what role is proper for the Federal government is supporting cruise ships?
When I took the Three Rivers back in October, out of the 18 or so people in the car I was in 12 were college students. Six Penn State (four Penn State Altoona, two Penn State main campus), five girls from Temple, and one guy from UPenn. Two of the PSU-Altoona passengers were on the train because they don’t own cars. The other four were just taking the train as something different (We had a three day weekend so the longer travel time wasn’t burning as much of our weekend). The five girls from Temple were traveling to Pittsburgh for a wedding and just didn’t want to drive. The UPenn guy figured the longer travel time was worth not paying for the toll on the Turnpike. Everyone except me and the other guy from State College was using the train largely because of its proximity to their point of origin.