I was away from this forum for a few days - and after "taking the temperature of the room" something struck me. We as rail advocates (along with Amtrak) are largely cutting off our nose to spite our face.
On our side, when Amtrak floats a (poorly communicated) proposal to vastly increase corridor service - we react with disdain that our dream LD route hasn't been included in the plan. Is the plan perfect? Heck no. But it does increase frequencies on all existing corridors - and creates a bunch of new corridors with a minimum of three trains per day each way. We should sign up for that in a heartbeat. But there is almost no discussion on this forum on how we can get behind the plan and advocate to make it better and make it happen.
On the Amtrak side - they should be doing everything they can to make sure all rail advocates are 100% in their corner to help make the plan a reality. LD and corridor service are the "yin and yang" of rail transportation. Political support for one is completely reliant on political support for the other. You can't release a corridor plan without also detailing how you are going to make the LD system better.
It's not like they need to propose to double the LD network to receive our support. When they announced their Connect US plan, if they would have simultaneously announced a plan to take the Cardinal and Sunset daily, place a large LD equipment order and increase consists - we probably would have been ecstatic. Heck, just announcing a commitment to increased levels of onboard service on the existing LD network might have been enough. Whatever the case - by throwing a (genuine) bone to the LD folks while they floated their corridor proposal - they would have just about ensured universal rail advocate support for the plan.
Instead, we continue to whine about the lack of Amtrak's enthusiasm for LD (which is real), and completely ignore a worthwhile (first draft) plan for meaningful corridor expansion which WILL help LD, if only indirectly. And they continue to ignore an important facet of their business - the only one that performed during the pandemic - assuring that an important community of rail advocates remains on the sideline.
I think we're both being idiots. I kind of expect that from Amtrak, but I think we can be better.
On our side, when Amtrak floats a (poorly communicated) proposal to vastly increase corridor service - we react with disdain that our dream LD route hasn't been included in the plan. Is the plan perfect? Heck no. But it does increase frequencies on all existing corridors - and creates a bunch of new corridors with a minimum of three trains per day each way. We should sign up for that in a heartbeat. But there is almost no discussion on this forum on how we can get behind the plan and advocate to make it better and make it happen.
On the Amtrak side - they should be doing everything they can to make sure all rail advocates are 100% in their corner to help make the plan a reality. LD and corridor service are the "yin and yang" of rail transportation. Political support for one is completely reliant on political support for the other. You can't release a corridor plan without also detailing how you are going to make the LD system better.
It's not like they need to propose to double the LD network to receive our support. When they announced their Connect US plan, if they would have simultaneously announced a plan to take the Cardinal and Sunset daily, place a large LD equipment order and increase consists - we probably would have been ecstatic. Heck, just announcing a commitment to increased levels of onboard service on the existing LD network might have been enough. Whatever the case - by throwing a (genuine) bone to the LD folks while they floated their corridor proposal - they would have just about ensured universal rail advocate support for the plan.
Instead, we continue to whine about the lack of Amtrak's enthusiasm for LD (which is real), and completely ignore a worthwhile (first draft) plan for meaningful corridor expansion which WILL help LD, if only indirectly. And they continue to ignore an important facet of their business - the only one that performed during the pandemic - assuring that an important community of rail advocates remains on the sideline.
I think we're both being idiots. I kind of expect that from Amtrak, but I think we can be better.