Green Maned Lion
Engineer
I am leaving in four days on the longest Amtrak itinerary I have ever pursued. Its a trip that will take two weeks to complete, about half that time on trains, and the other half actually taking the time to explore a few cities. It is the first Amtrak trip I have taken in several years (excluding a few Lancaster-Philly trips), so I haven't actually been riding.
But apart from a few comments made lately, and a small bit of amenities being cut, it seems like the system is running more or less status quo.
I have noticed the divide between the young and the old on Amtrak, and it is a stark one. But despite my meager 29 years of age, I can attempt to bridge the gap a little, based upon the simple fact that my wife tells me I act like a "grumpy old man" most of the time. I see both points of view from a point of understanding their validity, but also from the point of view of a businessman.
And I am a man who likes nice things, especially older things. I anally searched for a house (and found one) that is a little over a hundred years old. What do I like about it? Original 6-1 window, almost entirely original 2-1-2 hardwood doors complete with mortice locks, mostly original plumbing fixtures, original hardwood floors, original woodwork, original cast-iron single-pipe steam radiators, and the piece-de-resistance, original bathroom door complete with frosted glass window. Almost every piece of furniture I own is an antique- because I prefer the quality of handmade hardwood furniture to the garbage they make now. And I am a foodie extreme, practically never touch chain restaurant food, anxiously driving hours to good restaurants I know regularly.
But! I am also a businessman who knows that one of the restaurants I like the most is a loss-leading charitable operation run by a very wealthy individual who really likes food. While I consider that impressive, and I consider the gentlemen a very nice guy, I also would find the same type of service being run by the Federal government deplorable. I wish to extend social services to people who need help, but I object to doing it on a silver platter. It is my general experience that this does not happen on the whole in this country, by the way- some rare exceptions here, there and yonder being exploited by right-wing media people in an attempt to end all social services notwithstanding.
I'm just placing my perspective out there for you to understand where I'm coming from.
Under Boardman, watching mostly from the sidelines as I am, Amtrak has, in my opinion, been run the best it has ever been run. I'm not talking about things that are essentially beyond Amtrak's control- such as the late Empire Builder. Boardman is a savvy political operative, and knows not to press to hard on issues that will mostly **** off his bosses in Congress and the White House, and make for amusing television news coverage not to his benefit (in sharp contrast to, say, David Gunn).
Boardman has, among other things, put money into solving most of the main cash drains (the more-than-fully depreciated AEM-7s and run-into-the-ground-structually-unsound Heritage cars) and alleviating certain capacity constraints (Amtrak has not ordered new coach cars, but redirection of the midwest Amfleets to the corridor will still allow a near doubling of single level long-distance cars in the form of the Horizon coaches). When Boardman came into this job in late 2008, Amtrak's operating subsidy was $600 million- it is now $340 million, and we have lost not a single train.
Over the past 10 years, Amtrak's operating loss per passenger has dropped a decent amount- from $37.50 per passenger to $12.40 a passenger. Under Boardman himself it has dropped from $22.22 to $12.40, a decrease of over 44%.
I know on the passenger amenities side, things have not been all a bed of roses. But if Amtrak actually manages to maintain ridership with those amenities cut, it will probably add a positive spin to the balance sheet in the area of $4-5 million. That's another 1.5%.
I contend further, that with the increasing ridership in the Northeast Corridor, with the improvements in ridership and revenue on the state-supported trains, I expect to see another budget surplus this year. A substantial one. I even contend that if Congress continues to fund capital projects generously (as they are likely to do, since supporting capital projects helps to line the pockets of the people that fund them) I truly expect to see an Amtrak that needs no operating subsidy by 2020.
But apart from a few comments made lately, and a small bit of amenities being cut, it seems like the system is running more or less status quo.
I have noticed the divide between the young and the old on Amtrak, and it is a stark one. But despite my meager 29 years of age, I can attempt to bridge the gap a little, based upon the simple fact that my wife tells me I act like a "grumpy old man" most of the time. I see both points of view from a point of understanding their validity, but also from the point of view of a businessman.
And I am a man who likes nice things, especially older things. I anally searched for a house (and found one) that is a little over a hundred years old. What do I like about it? Original 6-1 window, almost entirely original 2-1-2 hardwood doors complete with mortice locks, mostly original plumbing fixtures, original hardwood floors, original woodwork, original cast-iron single-pipe steam radiators, and the piece-de-resistance, original bathroom door complete with frosted glass window. Almost every piece of furniture I own is an antique- because I prefer the quality of handmade hardwood furniture to the garbage they make now. And I am a foodie extreme, practically never touch chain restaurant food, anxiously driving hours to good restaurants I know regularly.
But! I am also a businessman who knows that one of the restaurants I like the most is a loss-leading charitable operation run by a very wealthy individual who really likes food. While I consider that impressive, and I consider the gentlemen a very nice guy, I also would find the same type of service being run by the Federal government deplorable. I wish to extend social services to people who need help, but I object to doing it on a silver platter. It is my general experience that this does not happen on the whole in this country, by the way- some rare exceptions here, there and yonder being exploited by right-wing media people in an attempt to end all social services notwithstanding.
I'm just placing my perspective out there for you to understand where I'm coming from.
Under Boardman, watching mostly from the sidelines as I am, Amtrak has, in my opinion, been run the best it has ever been run. I'm not talking about things that are essentially beyond Amtrak's control- such as the late Empire Builder. Boardman is a savvy political operative, and knows not to press to hard on issues that will mostly **** off his bosses in Congress and the White House, and make for amusing television news coverage not to his benefit (in sharp contrast to, say, David Gunn).
Boardman has, among other things, put money into solving most of the main cash drains (the more-than-fully depreciated AEM-7s and run-into-the-ground-structually-unsound Heritage cars) and alleviating certain capacity constraints (Amtrak has not ordered new coach cars, but redirection of the midwest Amfleets to the corridor will still allow a near doubling of single level long-distance cars in the form of the Horizon coaches). When Boardman came into this job in late 2008, Amtrak's operating subsidy was $600 million- it is now $340 million, and we have lost not a single train.
Over the past 10 years, Amtrak's operating loss per passenger has dropped a decent amount- from $37.50 per passenger to $12.40 a passenger. Under Boardman himself it has dropped from $22.22 to $12.40, a decrease of over 44%.
I know on the passenger amenities side, things have not been all a bed of roses. But if Amtrak actually manages to maintain ridership with those amenities cut, it will probably add a positive spin to the balance sheet in the area of $4-5 million. That's another 1.5%.
I contend further, that with the increasing ridership in the Northeast Corridor, with the improvements in ridership and revenue on the state-supported trains, I expect to see another budget surplus this year. A substantial one. I even contend that if Congress continues to fund capital projects generously (as they are likely to do, since supporting capital projects helps to line the pockets of the people that fund them) I truly expect to see an Amtrak that needs no operating subsidy by 2020.