Wonder if high gas prices affect train travel.

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Guest_Gingee

Guest
Our gas just went to $2.75 in Illinois today. I was wondering how the gas prices affect the train business. Do you think Amtrak will raise it's price because of rising prices also?
 
Well Amtrak sets its prices with the various companies for six months or so. It's possible you may see a small fare hike over time, but probably nothing huge.
 
One thing is for sure, as gas prices rise it will make Amtrak more and more economical (not that it isn't now). I travel to Kansas City on business several times a year. It's 280 miles to KC. Right now it costs around $90.00 to drive including tolls. Amtrak is $68.00. The only drawback is the schedule. You leave at 2:14 AM. and get back home at 4:00 AM. If you can get a friend to pick you up and drop you off at the KCUS to save taxi fare it's going to be worth it soon, besides picking up a few more rewards points. I can't help but believe this is becomming more true all over the Amtrak system, which makes it harder to believe that GWB is using intelligence in his haste to destroy Amtrak and ALL inter-city rail passenger service in the US.
 
Aloha

Our gas just went to $2.75 in Illinois today
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Looks like Guest_Gingee can have a cop of coffee with every gallon with the difference in price of gas here.

which makes it harder to believe that GWB is using intelligence in his haste to destroy Amtrak
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Must be the number 1 classic oximoron :lol: :lol: :lol:
 
2.89 here in BFD. A.K.A. Bakersfield. This is like one of the worst cities to live financially between gas, housing, and everything else. Not to mention air polution and the heat.
 
We're somewhat lucky in my neck of the woods; regular unleaded seems to be holding at $2.54 a gallon.
 
What I don't understand is how it can be a price at 8:00 in the AM and by Noon it is 20 cents more. Doesn't make sense!!
 
It makes sense. Price gouging. Our has been $2.75 earlier in the week. My husband got it at one gas station for $2.59 tonight. Bargain? haha
 
MrFSS said:
What I don't understand is how it can be a price at 8:00 in the AM and by Noon it is 20 cents more.
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Aloha

Aren't you and I old enough to remember the price wars, where as fast as one station put up a sign, the one across the street would try to beat that, Today the are getting even. :lol: :D ;) :eek: :huh: :p
 
The cheapest I ever bought gas was .19 per gallon. My dad had an old 49 Dodge pickup he let me drive in to town for school & stuff. There was no way you put a $5.00 bill in the gas tank. The day gas went to 2.00 at the Co-op station, I told one of the boys with me, they were witnessing the end of the American dream. A little melodramatic maybe but things will be changing pretty quickly and I think we will be happy to have an Amtrak around to help.
 
I sure wish Amtrak had a straight shot down through the midwest to Florida. That would make some travel a lot easier.
 
I agree Gingee. I live in Nebraska and taking Amtrak to Florida just isn't an option.
 
Guest said:
I agree Gingee. I live in Nebraska and taking Amtrak to Florida just isn't an option.
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I have done a Hastings-Chi-Was-Charleston SC befor. Just add a few miles and you have a Nebraska-Florida route. It would be nice to run a train down there, maybe through Louisville, Nashville, Birmingham, and to Mobile or Atlanta-Jacksonville. But they need to extend the Heartland Flyer from Oklahoma City to Newton Kansas first.
 
I'm in Florida, that's been my major complaint I always point out. How can there be no train from FL to Atlanta? That's a massive hole. Then you have chattanooga, Nashville, etc, to Chicago.

It's a massive hole. Sounds like gross negligence. They complain they want Amtrak to run more like a business, yet they don't do the obvious.

And there's obviously demand, as they redesigned the Florida trains to make a chicago connection in DC. Supposedly. Can't really do it with 7 hour delays I'd assume.
 
I have gone to Atlanta from Hastings to DC to Atlanta before. But if you want to create a market, then you must have more direct service. It just makes good business sense to create a corridor like Jacksonville-Chicago.
 
Well the Floridian covered the route until '79, but I believe it was try-weakly, and it also went around ATL, it went through BHM instead. IIRC it was abandoned due to low ridership and cuts due to budget. It would take a lot to get a train on from JAX-CHI, a lot of trackwork would have to be done. That was part of the original intention of the Kentucky Cardinal, it would gradually be extended every few years until it reached JAX. Obviously low ridership, along with slow running (30 MPH for the most part south of Indianapolis) made it a hard train to sell to the masses. It's a shame management couldn't get the funding for track upgrades and whatnot to keep the dream alive.
 
If there was a straight shot from Chicago to Florida, I would go there at Christmas or some other cold time. I hate driving there in the winter.
 
"City of New Orleans" Chicago-New Orleans; Spend a day in New Orleans; Then "Sunset Limited" New Orleans-Orlando. That's a fairly straight shot. And as a bonus, the New Orleans station is within easy walking distance of the French Quarter. Three or four years ago we took Sunset from Winter Park (10 miles N. of Orlando) to New Orleans, got there in the morning, walked around New Orleans, ate, shopped, ate, took a paddle wheeler ride, ate, shopped, walked back to the station, got on the eastbound Sunset, and took it back to Winter Park. No rental car, or taxis, or buses, or hotel. Thoroughly enjoyable. I would consider a day in New Orleans in the middle of the trip to be a bonus over a non-stop, but that's because we really enjoyed it there. Just time your trip for one of the three days per week that the Eastbound Sunset goes through New Orleans.

Current schedule for City of New Orleans, I think, gets it into New Orleans around 3:30 pm, which would give you probably at least 6 hours in New Orleans, certainly enough for some shopping, eating, and general sight-seeing. Sunset leaves there Eastbound (scheduled) at 10:30 pm, and frequently later than that.
 
The overarching point of what this thread has turned into, though, is how convoluted it is to travel from the midwest to Florida via railroad. It was a lot easier in the days of the South Wind.

To get this back somewhat on topic, I think more people are investigating railroad travel as a travel option. Unfortunately, all of Amtrak's excess capacity (not that they had much to begin with) is gone. Worse, we have no excess rail capacity like we did; the accountants have seen to that.
 
Sam Damon said:
It was a lot easier in the days of the South Wind.
To get this back somewhat on topic, I think more people are investigating railroad travel as a travel option.  
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Aloha

Wasn't the South Wind a CHI to LAX via LV NV?
 
GG-1 said:
Sam Damon said:
It was a lot easier in the days of the South Wind.
To get this back somewhat on topic, I think more people are investigating railroad travel as a travel option.  
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Aloha

Wasn't the South Wind a CHI to LAX via LV NV?
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Your thinking of the Desert Wind that hitched a ride on the CZ from Chi-SLC.
 

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