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Trains News Wire EXCLUSIVE: Video interview with Amtrak’s Joe McHugh
When is Amtrak getting New order of Superliner Cars?? Say 500 New Cars.
Amtrak has all the Superliners it will need for a long, long time. Amfleet cars don’t need replacing, just rebuilding in kind. These are not mass-produced automobiles that “wear out”. It is always cheaper to rebuild in-kind unless you have technology or capacity improvements or innovation that drive the economics the other way.
Bi-levels for non-premium NEC service might be an example. They would “buy time” for NYP by allowing increased capacity w/o lengthening platforms there.
I hate having to watch a video of talking heads for several minutes to get information that I could read in half a minute. Can’t people read any more?
I hate having to watch a video of talking heads for several minutes to get information that I could read in half a minute. Can’t people read any more?
I hate having to watch a video of talking heads for several minutes to get information that I could read in half a minute. Can’t people read any more?
I hate having to watch a video of talking heads for several minutes to get information that I could read in half a minute. Can’t people read any more?
Transcribing a audio/video interview takes time and is labor intensive. If TRAINS subscribers would care to donate, Kalmbach could purchase equipment (similar to that used for TV closed-captioning) that would create a written transcription. And it ain’t cheap!
George
I hate having to read the same post four times, can’t people figure out how to do this?
AMEN, Mr. Stevenson. I’m reading this on a Nook, and there is no button to click on for video.
I have a very slow internet connection, and often cannot download a video (and no, I cannot get a better connection, not available). Many web sites will have a paragraph or two giving the gist of what was said, most often that is all is needed.
Unfortunately, Mr. McHugh did not answer the question about purchasing more coaches and lounges. He talked about what has been used in the past, and what has been ordered. New single-level coaches are desperately needed to replace the well over 30 year old Amfleet II coaches. Here’s hoping the new coaches will not look like airliner cabins!
The key point with respect to the new Siemens locomotives is whether Amtrak got an optimum buy. Saying that they were built in California and, thereby, created heaps of area jobs does not mean that Amtrak (taxpayers) got an optimum outcome.
Boeing sells a significant portion of its commercial airplanes overseas, i.e. China, Japan, India, etc. If those countries decided to buy only airplanes that are built in their countries, under license, would those who argue that Amtrak should only buy locomotives assembled in this country agree with a Chinese buyer that it should only buy airplanes assembled in China?
Amtrak has been trying to close the revenue/cost gap for its on-board food services for decades. Without any significant improvement! It should get out of the food service business, which is not one of its core competencies, and outsource it to an organizations whose expertise is food service. Moreover, the taxpayers should not be required to underwrite the cost of a very pricey hamburger because it is served to a passenger on Amtrak.
Amtrak shouldn’t neglect the long distance trains on the West Coast. An order for new bi levels are desired.
Actually, the new ACS-64’s are very good locomotives. Sure Amtrak could have procured cheaper locos but, in the long run Amtrak will spend trying to make good a crappy engine. The problem when tax payers groups and deficit hawks mandate government agencies to accept goods and services at the cheapest rate, at the end of the day, more money is spent trying to fix the problem. It’s a situation of damned if you did ; damned if you didn’t. Paul Smith Jr. wouldn’t you rather the jobs stay here in America rather than sent overseas? Employees in America will have money to spend thus, maintaining our economy.