Article from MSNBC. I wonder what John Mica thinks of this????
I think there's been an observation that Congressmen (even GOPers) in seats with regular, multiple-daily services are less likely to vote to cut Amtrak. It's the same principle as pork...it's bad when somebody else gets it, but not when you do. I'd also point out that "cut Amtrak" usually means, in a lot of peoples' minds, "cut those services out West I don't use, not my Surfliners" or "Cut the California services but give me new Acelas".Just another reason for him to kill it. If more people ride the train then cars or buses the oil company's loose money and they don't like that.
The projection of exceeding 30 plus million passengers for the year was the subject of an Amtrak press release in July. Don't see a press release on the August ridership numbers yet either, but that will likely show up on the website soon. Don't know what is going on with the monthly reports, but some one probably just forgot to post them.Hmmm...can't find the corresponding PR from Amtrak themselves...nor the MPR for either June or July, for that matter. Did the mandate for MPRs expire?
Heh - I suspect that the article is actually a pretty good spin on numbers that just as well could have resulted in the story "Amtraks string of ridership records broken" - or at least "Bad weather has halted Amtrak's growth"The projection of exceeding 30 plus million passengers for the year was the subject of an Amtrak press release in July. Don't see a press release on the August ridership numbers yet either, but that will likely show up on the website soon. Don't know what is going on with the monthly reports, but some one probably just forgot to post them.Hmmm...can't find the corresponding PR from Amtrak themselves...nor the MPR for either June or July, for that matter. Did the mandate for MPRs expire?
What's really sad is that breaking records month after month, quarter after quarter, and year after year did absolutely nothing to shield them from today's staunchly anti-rail politicians.Why does it feel sad that Amtrak has to set a new record every month to be able to fend off even some attacks?
Over a long enough time period there is likely to be a threat and a budget capable of bringing the TSA to Amtrak. And then what will we do? This issue won't be resolved by running away from it.Part of the reason Amtrak continues to set ridership records is partly due to three letters: TSA. The more TSA mistreats airline passengers by subjecting them to invasive screening procedures, theft of their personal belongings and sexual harassment, the more people will turn away from the airlines and ride Amtrak.
I disagree, at least in the case of several major stations (NYP being the biggest one): You'd have to redesign Penn Station and find lots of room to put in any major security stations a la an airport, and frankly you'd have to completely separate out the Amtrak services or you'd create a massive snarl at rush hour if you accidentally bottle up a couple of LIRR or NJT trains in the process. Basically, along the NEC (especially) and likely in other places (LAX with the Surfliners and the local trains, CHI with Metra and so forth, etc.), you are going to have physical problems, particularly at peak travel times, fitting things in.Over a long enough time period there is likely to be a threat and a budget capable of bringing the TSA to Amtrak. And then what will we do? This issue won't be resolved by running away from it.Part of the reason Amtrak continues to set ridership records is partly due to three letters: TSA. The more TSA mistreats airline passengers by subjecting them to invasive screening procedures, theft of their personal belongings and sexual harassment, the more people will turn away from the airlines and ride Amtrak.
In a lot of cases, you're right, but a lot of the NEC stations are a nightmare from this point of view because the tracks run right under the station. Penn Station is a good example...you've got a huge number of tracks right under the main waiting areas and the traffic volume there is such that there's just no room to set up a set of security lines, while it is probably just about impossible to even split the terminal up in such a way to segregate Amtrak passengers from NJT/LIRR passengers because not all of the tracks are dedicated. The best you could hope for would be a temporary setup at one gate or another...and that is just asking for trouble near rush hour (no, really...a line of 100-200 people jamming up the center of Penn Station at peak travel time is not going to be a pretty sight).For those that go back to pre airport security, that is, the you can walk up to the gate if you want to days, there had to be quite a few changes in quite a few airports to develop the closed and controlled system now in place. In fact, quite a few airports used to have observation decks where you could sit out and watch the planes.
For the most part, though, when it comes to controlling access to trains, it is likely that control at small stations will be more difficult than at large ones. In many many places you can simply walk up to teh platform from several directions. Plus, for those wanting to cause problems, even if access to the platform from station or parking lot is controlled, you can come in on the track.
Then there is the simple fact that trains run on or near the ground, so you do not have to be on the train to cause it problems. Just look at some of the recent events that were stupidity not malice.
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