We have plenty to complain about on this forum (and rightly so), but in the interest of gratitude, and preserving what we have, I wanted to list all of the good things that have occurred this year with regard to Amtrak.
I don’t really consider myself to be particularly patriotic, but Amtrak is (mostly) all we got in this country with regard to rail, and I’m proud of our super but highly imperfect rail system.
Overall, 2021 was the greatest year for Amtrak in its 50 year history. There are obvious things like the first ever real capital investment in Amtrak, and smaller things like new bedding and pillows. Not all of the improvements are completely Amtrak’s doing, but all have a major impact on customer experience.
Here is a large but by no means exhaustive list of major and minor, milestone worthy improvements to Amtrak:
-Moynihan Train Hall opening
-Sleeper cars returning to NER overnight trains
-traditional dining was not only preserved, but improved upon on western LD trains.
-new bedding on all sleepers (I love the new blankets myself)
-the first of the Chargers entering service
-announcement of new equipment from Siemens to replace amfleets
-the testing of a new and more numerous Acela fleet with likely revenue service beginning in 2022
-the new bill not only giving Amtrak cash, but re-wording Amtrak’s mission, making subtle but crucial changes possible
-Amtrak endured, and continues to endure the pandemic, hopefully avoiding any of the pitfalls in service reduction currently being planned.
this year could have been a lot worse. None of these things could have happened instead...
I don’t really consider myself to be particularly patriotic, but Amtrak is (mostly) all we got in this country with regard to rail, and I’m proud of our super but highly imperfect rail system.
Overall, 2021 was the greatest year for Amtrak in its 50 year history. There are obvious things like the first ever real capital investment in Amtrak, and smaller things like new bedding and pillows. Not all of the improvements are completely Amtrak’s doing, but all have a major impact on customer experience.
Here is a large but by no means exhaustive list of major and minor, milestone worthy improvements to Amtrak:
-Moynihan Train Hall opening
-Sleeper cars returning to NER overnight trains
-traditional dining was not only preserved, but improved upon on western LD trains.
-new bedding on all sleepers (I love the new blankets myself)
-the first of the Chargers entering service
-announcement of new equipment from Siemens to replace amfleets
-the testing of a new and more numerous Acela fleet with likely revenue service beginning in 2022
-the new bill not only giving Amtrak cash, but re-wording Amtrak’s mission, making subtle but crucial changes possible
-Amtrak endured, and continues to endure the pandemic, hopefully avoiding any of the pitfalls in service reduction currently being planned.
this year could have been a lot worse. None of these things could have happened instead...
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