Amtrak outperforms airlines in poor weather

[Superliner Diner]

The National Association of Railroad Passengers

900 2nd St. NE, Suite 308, Washington, DC 20002

(202) 408-8362

fax (202) 408-8387

[email protected]

www.narprail.org

For Immediate Release

02-19 Tuesday, December 14, 2002

Contacts: Ross Capon, Scott Leonard (202) 408-8362

Amtrak Outperforms Airlines During Winter Storms

Amtrak’s performance in the Northeast Corridor in two recent storms once again demonstrated the reliability of modern trains in adverse weather conditions.

On December 5th, Washington DC and much of the northeast received the first major snowfall of the year. The peak disruption to travel came during the Thursday morning rush hour. Snow-covered highways, which were blamed for several accidents, quickly congealed with traffic, while Dulles, BWI, and Reagan National Airport were forced to delay or cancel many flights. In contrast, Amtrak operated a normal schedule with only minor delays.

The following Wednesday, December 11, Washington was again hit with an ice storm.

The Washington Post reported that the storm affected one-third of all flights out of Dulles, and two-thirds departing from BWI; unlike the previous week, the problems were limited to delays instead of cancellations. Reagan National reportedly experienced the least delays since temperatures within it vicinity never rose above freezing.

In contrast, Amtrak operated a normal schedule, with only minor delays to rail traffic.

* Train 84, which departs DC at 8:35, was cancelled due to a broken rail on CSX track north of Richmond. As a result, passengers from Richmond were put on a later train, which arrived New York City at 6:35 PM. (Train 84 was scheduled to arrive there at 11:43 AM.)

 

[Bill Haithcoat]

This is good to know.....all for it.......but didn't the long distance trains run hours late during this storm? I am confused because there have been a couple of storms lately and am not sure which is which, but I know in one of them there were serious long distance delays,posted elsewhere on this forum.

I have not checked with "Julie" much lately but casual observance, driving or busing by the Atlanta Amtrak station(4-5 blocks from where I live, as you know, Diner) The Crescent has been consistently late on weekends the last few..

 

[AlanB]

This is good to know.....all for it.......but didn't the long distance trains run hours late during this storm? I am confused because there have been a couple of storms lately and am not sure which is which, but I know in one of them there were serious long distance delays,posted elsewhere on this forum.

I have not checked with "Julie" much lately but casual observance, driving or busing by the Amtrak station(4-5 blocks from where I live, as you know, Diner) it has been consistently late on weekends the last few..

Bill,

I do know that a few of the LD trains got slammed in the ice storm; however it wasn't Amtrak's fault. It was due to downed trees, frozen switches, and no power for the signals. However, by large the NEC varied from on time to about 1 hour late. Far better than as an example LaGuardia, they had 8-hour delays at one point during the snow storm.

In addition while on my recent trip the latest arrival that I had, was last night on the Acela Express coming back to NYP from WAS. It was over 1/2 hour late. All of my other trains were remarkably close to on-time, if not even early. The other trains that I hit were 97, 1, 58, 333, 336, and 30. It was a rather impressive week for Amtrak based upon my experience.

 

[Viewliner]

At least those at EWR had the choice of rail travel during the storm, I'd like to see more stations like that.

 

[tp49]

I think we compiled a list of airports with rail connections in the US on the old board but did we have a topic on this on the new board? Just thinking about this as I have to fly tomorrow

 

[Amfleet]

In the Northeast I think the only to airports that can be accesed easily by rail are EWR and BWI. However, from New York Penn Station I believe there is subways out to LAG and JFK, Philadelphia has a direct transfer on SEPTA to the airport there, and Washington National is only a taxi cab ride away. Boston, well that's another story you would have to take the Red line to the Blue, then once at the airport you have to jump on a shuttle bus to your correct terminal.

On a side note, if funding comes through a staion will be built on the Harrisburg corridor serving that cities airport.

 

[tp49]

Washington National has a station on the Blue line (change from the Red at Metro Center). Islip MacArthur on Long Island is adjacent to the LIRR's Ronkonkoma stop (via a shuttle).

 

[tp49]

JFK does have a subway connection at Howard Beach but LGA does not to my knowledge without a ride on a city bus.

 

[AlanB]

JFK does have a subway connection at Howard Beach but LGA does not to my knowledge without a ride on a city bus.

JFK, at present still requires a shuttle bus ride from Howard Beach to JFK. Now if the AirTrain ever does get off the ground one would be able to ride a train all the way. Mind you it still wouldn't be a one seat ride, if and when the complete the AirTrain.

LGA requires a bus ride also.

 

[tp49]

JFK does have a subway connection at Howard Beach but LGA does not to my knowledge without a ride on a city bus.

JFK, at present still requires a shuttle bus ride from Howard Beach to JFK. Now if the AirTrain ever does get off the ground one would be able to ride a train all the way. Mind you it still wouldn't be a one seat ride, if and when the complete the AirTrain.

LGA requires a bus ride also.

The shuttle bus from JFK to the subway is free (the airport long term parking bus), but from LGA it will cost you minimum $1.50 to get to the subway or Metro North. It will be a great day when the Airtrain opens as you will also be able to get to the Jamaica LIRR station from the airport. Will they charge for this in a fashion they do at EWR or will be free to Jamaica?

 

[Amfleet]

OK, I was not sure, but in one way or another you can get from the train tracks to the runway.

 

[AlanB]

Too my knowledge they plan to charge for the JFK AirTrain, just like they do for the Newark (EWR) AirTrain. It should be noted that the JFK AirTrain is a lightrail vehicle, while the Newark AirTrain is really a monorail.

Also thanks to metrocard, you can transfer for free from the LGA bus to a subway. It should also be noted that while the JFK shuttle bus is free, one still needs a 1.50 token to ride the subway to Howard Beach. So the cost is the same, even if it may soon be $2.00 bucks for that token/metrocard ride.

 

[Viewliner]

Is the EWR fee temporary or permanant?

I think its safe to say EWR has the best connection in the country.

 

[tp49]

EWR's connection is very good right now, but the best one will probably be at SFO when the BART connection there opens sometime in the first quarter of 2003 as the station will be right in the terminal area.

 

[AlanB]

Is the EWR fee temporary or permanant?

As far as I know, it's supposed to be permanant, although NJARP along with several other groups are lobbying to get the fee dropped. Especially since the extension was built and paid for with airport ticket surcharges. However the Port Authority says that it costs too much to run the train, so that's why they need to charge the fee.

You can however ride the airtrain all around the airport for free. In fact, you can even ride it all the way over to the NEC station for free, if you don't exit. It's only when you try to get down to the NEC train platforms, that you have to pay the $5 buck charge.

 

[Viewliner]

Why not lower it to 2-3 bucks, after all it only costs a $1.50 to ride the Subway (Although thats about to change )

 

[Amfleet]

I was just in New York this past weekend and a one ride subway card was $2. The all day metro pass for $4 was a better deal.

 

[Viewliner]

I was just in New York this past weekend and a one ride subway card was $2. The all day metro pass for $4 was a better deal.

Its a $1.50, but they wanna raise it to $2

 

[AlanB]

I was just in New York this past weekend and a one ride subway card was $2. The all day metro pass for $4 was a better deal.

Yeah, who did you buy a $2 buck card off of. You should have only paid $1.50. However you are right, if you plan to exit and enter the system more than 3 times in one day, then buy the fun pass.

In fact the fun pass is what we all used for Applefest 2002, and we will use it again for Applefest 2003 next month.

 

[AlanB]

Why not lower it to 2-3 bucks, after all it only costs a $1.50 to ride the Subway (Although thats about to change )

You got me. :unsure:

Plus keep in mind that's $5 bucks one way. If you were to use NJT to reach the airport for a plane trip, you would end up paying $10 bucks for the round trip. That's on top of the normal NJT fare, plus whatever the airline hit you up for.

 

[Amfleet]

My freind when buying the tickets out of the machine told me the one ride was $2.

 

[Amfleet]

You guys are right. I just checked the MTA website and a one ride is $1.50.

 

[AlanB]

My freind when buying the tickets out of the machine told me the one ride was $2.

Well I don't know what machine that was or where you found it, but at least for the moment one ride is only $1.50. Two would be $3 bucks, and so on. Unless of course you buy the fun pass.

While I've never brought a one-ride metrocard, I've never seen any machines that charged $2 bucks. I don't even think that buying one in a store can have a surcharge added to it.

 

[Amfleet]

We bought it at Times Square. The crowds were large and it was noisei so I think it was just a misunderstanding. Still $1.50 is kind of steep.

 

[tp49]

If you consider a couple of factors the $1.50 really is not that steep. First, NYCTA has not raised the fare in at least 10 years. Second, the system is extensive including not only the subways and regular city busses but also the Staten Island Rapid Transit, the private bus lines that run in Queens and Brooklyn and even Long Island Bus, and it operates 24 hours a day 7 days a week. Third, consider that the transit fare in Sacramento a city with a transit system that wishes it could be as good as Long Island Bus in terms of coverage and hours of operation charges $1.50. AC Transit in the East Bay charges the same amount on their local bus routes with hours similar to Sacramento's. As such, the $1.50 fare in NYC is not as steep as it appears to be.