OlympianHiawatha
Engineer
Here is an OUTSTANDING pro-Amtrak article from The American Conservative:
http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/dont-railroad-amtrak/
http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/dont-railroad-amtrak/
I can't get this tpen? Is it behind a Pay Wall??Here is an OUTSTANDING pro-Amtrak article from The American Conservative:
http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/dont-railroad-amtrak/
What?????????????????The railroads will fight bitterly against letting other passenger-train operators besides Amtrak run over their tracks because they fear that would lead to “open access” for competing freight-train operators as well. But a few years ago, when an old colleague of ours, the late Paul Weyrich, served on a high-level commission examining the future of transportation, several railroad presidents told him privately that if they could bid for part of Amtrak’s subsidy, they would consider again running their own passenger trains.
What?????????????????The railroads will fight bitterly against letting other passenger-train operators besides Amtrak run over their tracks because they fear that would lead to “open access” for competing freight-train operators as well. But a few years ago, when an old colleague of ours, the late Paul Weyrich, served on a high-level commission examining the future of transportation, several railroad presidents told him privately that if they could bid for part of Amtrak’s subsidy, they would consider again running their own passenger trains.
jb
Isn't this basically what happened in the UK? I do think that bringing in entreprenuerial managers rather than dead wood civil service types can bring in new ways of thinking that can lead to greater efficiency. The Uk system also means that the operating company has to bid and agree beforehand how much subsidy they want and then they have to live with that money. This makes longer term planning easier as the risk is removed from the government and tranferred to private companies. If things go well said companies end up with windfall profits they can keep. If things go downhill they need to dig into their own pockets. In fact this has led to most companies lowballing their projections and almost all have overperformed in terms of new business attracted, even if they have underperformed in other aspects for which they may face financial penalty.That's not surprising, nobody would say no to collecting that sweet subsidy money.
The million dollar question is can they make more effective use of that money zthan Amtrak does, and make enough profit to make it worth their while (and worth sending our tax money to help pad their bottom lines)? I doubt it.
Wow.sleeping car passengers account for just 15 percent of long-distance passengers but contribute 36 percent of total revenue. Amtrak’s average yield per mile for coach passengers is 14.2 cents; for sleeping car passengers, 27.2 cents.
And there's no reason that Amtrak can't do that themselves and use the money saved to increase service instead of padding a private corporation's bottom line.I do think that bringing in entreprenuerial managers rather than dead wood civil service types can bring in new ways of thinking that can lead to greater efficiency.
Man you sure are an optimist regarding what can or cannot be achieved within the current structure. Just because there is no reason something cannot be done that we can clearly identify does not mean that there are not bureaucratic or other systemic hurdles that keep such things from being done. If they can be done, why have they not been done in the last 44 years under both friendly and unfriendly administrations. It is not like all administrations have been hostile to Amtrak all the time.And there's no reason that Amtrak can't do that themselves and use the money saved to increase service instead of padding a private corporation's bottom line.I do think that bringing in entreprenuerial managers rather than dead wood civil service types can bring in new ways of thinking that can lead to greater efficiency.
I guess they aren't really happy with Amtrak's experiment on the Silvers. Neither am I.Amtrak makes a lot more money from sleeping cars than from coaches: by its own calculations, sleeping car passengers account for just 15 percent of long-distance passengers but contribute 36 percent of total revenue. Amtrak’s average yield per mile for coach passengers is 14.2 cents; for sleeping car passengers, 27.2 cents. As Jim Loomison wrote in a Consumer Traveler story last year: “Here’s the unvarnished truth, put in the simplest possible terms by a respected authority on passenger rail: ‘If the dining cars go, the sleepers go. If the sleepers go, the big revenue goes. If the big revenue goes, Amtrak goes’.”
I believe it would not hurt to send a link to our congress-droid, with a detailed personal note about how we feel about what the article says Mail is usually read first by aides, I believe, so if they think it of interest they will present it to the elected person.Wonder how many of our Congress critters and elected officials ( or staffs actually) and those running for office read this and took note?
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