Addition Amtrak routes

[saxman]

I know that Amtrak has pretty much been told not to add any routes. But, if they are to get sufficient funding would they add any more routes like I saw advertised a few years ago?

I think is was in the 2000 Travel guide they were planning on adding the Cresent Star to break off at Meridian, MS, and end in Fort Worth. It sounds like that was almost going to happen. I saw another possibity of changing the route of the Sunset and bringing up from El Paso through Midland, Abiliene, DFW, and down to Houston. It would bring back Dallas-Houston service. (which I would love to have as I go back and forth often.) Heard any rumors about these possibilties again in a few years? Of course Amtrak will have requested funding. (thinking optimistic) Please add any other routes too.

 

[engine999]

I wish, but with teh current state of the railraod, new service dose not look likely. To bad FEC Amtrak service never came a reality.

 

[AlanB]

I know that Amtrak has pretty much been told not to add any routes. But, if they are to get sufficient funding would they add any more routes like I saw advertised a few years ago?

Sadly, it's not that they've, "pretty much been told". They can't add any routes under the agreement signed for the 100 M loan two summers ago. Until that loan is paid off, they can't add any routes unless a State or other entity guarentees that Amtrak won't loose any money on the new service. And unless Amtrak gets the 1.8B that they are looking for, they can't pay off the loan.

Additionally with the way the funding is now routed through the Transportation department, they have to approve everything that Amtrak wants to spend money on, before they will release the funding that Congress authorized. At least as long as the current President resides in the White House, I doubt very much that you'll ever see any funding approved for new routes. :angry:

So I wouldn't be looking for anything new, unless Bush looses. Even then chances are slim that Amtrak will get enough funding from Congress for new routes.

 

[PRR 60]

Quite frankly, I do not think that the prohibition on new routes is a bad thing. Amtrak should concentrate on running the existing routes properly, and they have a long way to go to meet even that modest goal. Why spend critical resources on new service when current needs are so acute?

And, my understanding is that David Gunn shares that sentiment. He would like to see the existing system run better before stretching the already thin inventory of equipment even thinner by adding service. And remember, every train added by Amtrak adds to the overall financial deficit. No routes make money today (with one exception) and no new ones would either. That is a fact of Amtrak life. Any route expansion would result in a higher operating deficit and the need for even more subsidy from Congress or cost cuts elsewhere.

The only exception would be added Acela and Metroliners. That service covers operation costs, and with the fixed costs of the corridor already obligated by the existing services, new Acela service incurs only incremental operating costs. If supported by ridership demand, and if permitted by the capacity constraints of the Corridor and equipment availability, new Acela service would actually help the bottom line.