It focuses on the Northeast Corridor but interesting information that is relevant on a national level too. I didn't realize that it was the Northeast Corridor's demand keeping Amtrak afloat! If ridership is really low in the rest of the country, why even offer service? That's kind of a rhetorical question - I'm sure it's all political.
WASHINGTON — Long a punch line for harried Northeast travelers, Amtrak has come to dominate commercial travel in the corridor connecting Washington, New York and Boston, and this summer its trains are packed.
A decade ago, Delta and US Airways shuttles were the preferred mode of travel between the cities. But high fares, slow airport security and frequent flight delays — along with Amtrak’s high-speed Acela trains, online ticketing and workstation amenities — have eaten away at the airlines’ share of passengers.
Between New York and Washington, Amtrak said, 75 percent of travelers go by train, a huge share that has been building steadily since the Acela was introduced in 2000 and airport security was tightened after 2001. Before that, Amtrak had just over a third of the business between New York and Washington.
In the same period, Amtrak said, its market share between New York and Boston grew to 54 percent from 20 percent.
Nationally, Amtrak ridership is at a record 30 million people; the Northeast accounts for more than a third of that and is virtually the only portion of Amtrak’s system that makes money.
“On the train, you’ve got power outlets and Wi-Fi, you can talk on the phone — it’s usable time,” said George Hamlin, an aviation writer and airline consultant who frequently rides Amtrak between Washington and New York. “Even I’m guilty of it,” he said of taking the train.
By 2040, given the trends, Amtrak said traffic in the corridor could reach 43.5 million passengers, almost four times the level today.
But success is taking a toll. Most days, trains in the Northeast are full. Several locomotives and railcars are 30 years old or more. Aging rails, bridges and tunnels hold down top speeds and limit expansion of the network.
Last month, Amtrak unveiled an ambitious $151 billion proposal to speed up trains and upgrade bridges and tracks.
But the plan is opposed by conservatives in Congress who say the government-subsidized railroad has been a failure and should be privatized. Amtrak gets about $1.3 billion a year from the government, but still loses money — $1.2 billion last year.
“Money has always been an issue and it will be,” said Joseph H. Boardman, president and chief executive of Amtrak. “But we realize we can’t stand still. We have a plan in place and we have to keep moving forward.”
Part of Amtrak’s success reflects the inconvenience of air travel, experts say, which does not easily allow travelers to work as they move.
Even if the air shuttles worked perfectly, there is still the cost and time of traveling to the airport, waiting at the gate, sitting on the taxiway and finally getting into the air.
Amtrak’s fastest train makes the trip between Washington and New York in 2 hours 45 minutes, while planes travel the distance in 1 hour 20 minutes. Equivalent times for the New York-Boston trip are 3 hours 40 minutes for train, and 1 hour 15 minutes for plane. But transportation experts say adding in the ground travel and waiting times for air travel erases the difference. On a recent trip to Boston from New York, Fernando Valdes, a management consultant, said airport security was a main reason he decided to take the train.
“It’s easier. I don’t have to take my shoes off,” he said as he shared a drink with a friend in the Acela cafe car.
Frequent flight delays, often caused by weather or congestion, have also played a role in the switch from planes to trains. Amtrak arrives on time 90 percent or more of the time, according to its data. Delta said the shuttle’s on-time percentage is “in the mid-80s,” and US Airways said its record was a little higher.
The Acela has played a big role in attracting passengers in the Northeast. The trains averaged about 80 percent full and earned an operating profit of more than $200 million last year on nearly $500 million in revenue.
But Acela tickets can be costly and wireless service spotty, and Amtrak just added a cancellation fee policy for all of its trains. Acela fares between New York and Washington range from an average of $145 for regular business class to $351 for first class; New York to Boston, $104 to $251; and Boston to Washington, $163 to $393.
Non-Acela train fares between New York and Washington average $49 to $153 for coach and $120 to $193 for business class; New York to Boston, $49 to $133 for coach and $104 to $168 for business; and Boston to Washington, $70 to $185 coach and $144 to $233 for business class.
At US Air, the lowest one-way coach rate between Washington and New York was $236 as of Wednesday, with the lowest first-class fare of $335, before taxes and fees. Between New York and Boston, the fares are $229 and $314, and Washington-Boston, $62 and $369. Corporate and other kinds of discounts can lower the prices.
To accommodate demand, Amtrak wants to add cars to each of the 20 Acela trains now in its schedules, increasing Acela capacity 40 percent, the railroad said, or about 124 seats per train. Amtrak plans to add the new cars by 2015, and by 2020 increase the frequency of the trains between New York and Washington.
But the bigger Acela trains will solve only part of the problem.
The railroad spends about $350 million a year keeping bridges, tunnels and rails in working condition, said Drew Galloway, chief of Northeast Corridor planning and performance for Amtrak. It has replaced some older bridges like the 100-year-old Niantic River bridge in Connecticut so trains can operate at greater speeds.
Still, Amtrak faces a $6 billion backlog in maintenance projects nationwide. The Obama administration has pushed for more money for Amtrak. But Congress has been less accommodating.
The transportation bill passed last month did not include money for rail projects. Transportation advocates like Mr. Repass said this left Amtrak’s budget subject to annual appropriation bills in Congress. The most recent transportation spending bill has not been approved.
The lack of money, an aging infrastructure and Congressional opposition could provide an opening for Amtrak’s competitors.
BoltBus and MegaBus, two downtown, curbside services in the Northeast, have increased ridership since they began operating in 2008. The buses generally make the New York-to-Washington run in four and a half hours and offer free Wi-Fi. Tickets range from $1 to $40, far less than Amtrak or the airlines.
Research suggests that they are eating into Amtrak’s market share. According to a study by the Chaddick Institute for Metropolitan Development at DePaul University, 34 percent of bus riders said they would have taken Amtrak if not for the bus.
“This has been the fastest-growing mode of travel in the last four years,” said Joseph P. Schwieterman, director of the institute and the author of the study.
Delta and US Airways are also making bids to get passengers back. Gail Grimmett, a Delta vice president, said the airline had made several changes in recent years to attract business travelers, including adding Wi-Fi for a fee to its flights connecting Washington, New York and Boston.
“The idea is to build brand loyalty. We want you to fly with us no matter where you are flying, not just the East Coast,” she said. “The train can’t take you to South Africa.”
US Airways’ shuttle focuses on speed, using dedicated departure gates to save time in security lines and both front and rear aircraft doors to hasten loading, said Todd Lehmacher, a spokesman for US Airways in Philadelphia. It does not offer Wi-Fi.
“Nothing compares to air service for a quick, convenient, on-time experience between major cities in the Northeast,” Mr. Lehmacher said. “US Airways shuttle allows customers to travel at three times the speed in less than half the time versus traditional forms of ground-based transportation.”
Still, many Northeast passengers say that security lines and the potential for weather delays enhance Amtrak’s appeal to them.
On a recent trip to New York, Peter G. Mirijanian, a Washington public relations consultant who usually takes Amtrak, took the plane instead to make a morning meeting.
“I get to the airport and get on the plane, and it’s delayed for two hours because of weather,” Mr. Mirijanian said, describing his trip, “so I missed the meeting. I called to say that I would not be able to get to be there and the first thing they say to me is, ‘That’s why you should have taken the train.’ ”
This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: August 15, 2012
An earlier version of this article referred imprecisely to the travel time between New York and Boston. A plane flight typically takes 1 hour 15 minutes, compared with 3 hours 40 minutes for Amtrak’s fastest train; it is when taking into account ground travel and waiting times that the times are similar, transportation experts say.
Because of an editing error, the article also referred imprecisely to Amtrak fares in the Washington-Boston corridor. The fares cited were averages for two classes of Acela service, not a range for all trains on those routes.
Love Amtrak. Wish they had more money to fix tracks, upgrade the trains and prevent the delays that happen because they don't own a lot of tracks that they ride on (freight, Chicago Metra, etc. own them). Before H and I got married, we rode from Milwaukee to Sacramento. It was one of the coolest experiences.
ETA: And yeah. Scott Walker can kiss my ass. I was so pissed when he refused the funding for that rail line.
I've taken the DC-NYC train quite a few times and it is great. The seats are comfortable, it's hassle-free getting on board, and it's so nice to be able to actually stretch your legs out during the trip. Plus you can bring your own food and drinks on board. And it's nice to be able to get up and switch seats if you want to!
I want to love Amtrak, really want too but I can't. Those fares quoted are ONE WAY. I used to live 5 mins from an East Coast/NE corridor Amtrak station and the schedules and fares were shitty. Give me the BWI-PVD shuttle on Southwest any day, with the low prices and frequency.
Post by LoveTrains on Aug 15, 2012 14:09:56 GMT -5
I fucking love amtrak. I will even take it cross country again - even after my 30 hour delay this year. It was not amtrak's fault at all that the stupid BNSF train derailed in front of them.
Ridership has been greatly increasing nationwide, even on the long-distance routes. The service is actually a lifeline for some small communities that don't have access to major airports. The reason that it is so expensive to run, though, is because it doesn't get the same sort of national funding that other forms of transportation receive. For example, for airlines, air traffic control is funded by the airports and the government. Railroads have to have their own dispatchers. You also need more staff on a railroad to run things like the dining car on a 48 hour train trip. For bus companies and other ground transport, they receive the bonus from the government of maintained roads. Amtrak owns the tracks in the NEC and thus must pay the entire cost of maintaining them.
It is a very big issue, but the good news is that revenue is up per passenger mile and ridership is up. Now we just need to convince the rest of the country that amtrak is not the boondoggle that they think it is. In reality I think its an important service for this country that is worth the investment of $100 million/year, which is really fucking peanuts to the federal government.
I want to love Amtrak, really want too but I can't. Those fares quoted are ONE WAY. I used to live 5 mins from an East Coast/NE corridor Amtrak station and the schedules and fares were shitty. Give me the BWI-PVD shuttle on Southwest any day, with the low prices and frequency.
I 100% disagree with you on the frequency. There are 16 trains daily between PVD and BWI. How much more frequent can you get?
I will give it to you that it can be expensive if you wait until the last minute. The best fares are available during down travel times and if you book months in advance. If you wait until last minute, it can cost as much as $250ish one way on the acela between PVD - BWI. I believe low bucket coach fare on the NEC is $65 one way.
If you want to ever search for the best fares in a set time period, use AmSnag.
I love Amtrak. I try to plan ahead, use my AAA discount and travel at off hours - doing all that I can usually get from Wilmington to/from NYC for just over $100 roundtrip. I am bummed to read about the new cancellation fees.
And the NE corridor trains would be even more efficient if they'd get the local and regional rails onto their own tracks (and vice versa). But yeah, let's not invest in any infrastructure that would get cars off the roads and cut down on congestion/use of gas. No, that's just frivolous government spending on pet projects (Joe B loves his choo choo trains!).
So if the demand is there for train service throughout the country, then why would a free-market guy like Romney want to gut funding for Amtrak? Shouldn't this mean the opposite should be done?
I know privatization is also an option (and likely the option that appeals to the GOP), but wouldn't that then increase fares and make demand decrease? Or are people that turned off by flying that they would be willing to pay the same fares to ride the train for all the benefits it would offer even if it would take longer to get to the destination?
I haven't read any of the replies yet, or even finished the OP, but the bolded line about how Amtrak is a failure and shouldn't be funded pisses me right the fuck off.
Our interstate highway system is a giant money suck too, but we see nothing wrong with constantly funding that. WHY ARE TRAINS DIFFERENT? Dammit.
I love Amtrak. I try to plan ahead, use my AAA discount and travel at off hours - doing all that I can usually get from Wilmington to/from NYC for just over $100 roundtrip. I am bummed to read about the new cancellation fees.
Just so you know, the "e" bucket fare is the NEC 14 day advance purchase rate and it is 25% off the regular fare. That is actually lower than the AAA rate (10% off). The difference is that if you cancel the 14 day advance purchase rate, you will now only receive a voucher for future travel. You can still cancel a coach NEC ticket with the AAA discount up to 24 hours prior to travel and receive a full refund. If you cancel less than 24 hours prior to travel you will receive a voucher for the full amount of your reservation, or you will receive a refund with a 10% refund fee (minimum fee $5, max fee $100).
And the NE corridor trains would be even more efficient if they'd get the local and regional rails onto their own tracks (and vice versa). But yeah, let's not invest in any infrastructure that would get cars off the roads and cut down on congestion/use of gas. No, that's just frivolous government spending on pet projects (Joe B loves his choo choo trains!).
IIRC, this is a problem in New Jersey with NJ Transit. Given who their governor is, I'm not optimistic things will change.
I think Metro-North has its own tracks in Westchester and its service points to the north but not 100% sure. Not sure about Connecticut and whether Metro-North shares tracks with Amtrak there but my mother lives along the NY part of the New Haven Line and I don't think I've ever seen an Amtrak train on the Metro-North tracks.
I want to love Amtrak, really want too but I can't. Those fares quoted are ONE WAY. I used to live 5 mins from an East Coast/NE corridor Amtrak station and the schedules and fares were shitty. Give me the BWI-PVD shuttle on Southwest any day, with the low prices and frequency.
I 100% disagree with you on the frequency. There are 16 trains daily between PVD and BWI. How much more frequent can you get?
I will give it to you that it can be expensive if you wait until the last minute. The best fares are available during down travel times and if you book months in advance. If you wait until last minute, it can cost as much as $250ish one way on the acela between PVD - BWI. I believe low bucket coach fare on the NEC is $65 one way.
If you want to ever search for the best fares in a set time period, use AmSnag.
The crappy schedules/fares were from the station that was closest/most convenient to my house vs BWI. When given the oppty to plan ahead, I would rather choose to book on SWA to fly up north vs book ahead on Amtrak. As a transportation and logistics major in college I really truly want to love Amtrak...maybe if it weren't for the fact that SWA was such a godsend to me in college to get back home (getting to RI from College Park b/4 SWA was horrendous) and that Amtrak really was my only option back then..bad experiences. I'm not a total Amtrak hater, I just don't think it's the bees knees
And the NE corridor trains would be even more efficient if they'd get the local and regional rails onto their own tracks (and vice versa). But yeah, let's not invest in any infrastructure that would get cars off the roads and cut down on congestion/use of gas. No, that's just frivolous government spending on pet projects (Joe B loves his choo choo trains!).
IIRC, this is a problem in New Jersey with NJ Transit. Given who their governor is, I'm not optimistic things will change.
I think Metro-North has its own tracks in Westchester and its service points to the north but not 100% sure. Not sure about Connecticut and whether Metro-North shares tracks with Amtrak there but my mother lives along the NY part of the New Haven Line and I don't think I've ever seen an Amtrak train on the Metro-North tracks.
This is a decent map that shows ownership of the tracks. Amtrak doesn't actually own a portion of the train through CT - I believe it is metro north or the CT rail group who owns it.
Post by downtoearth on Aug 15, 2012 14:30:01 GMT -5
I want to like Amtrak also, but the west is not set-up for easy train travel in any direction (east/west or north/south) for my area and it's expensive and time consuming b/c there aren't any fast trains.
It might work great in 3-5 states in the east and near Chicago, but west of the Mississippi it's still limping along and pretty unusable.
Post by LoveTrains on Aug 15, 2012 14:30:15 GMT -5
OK I can't get the map to work, but basically the track between New Rochelle, NY and New Haven, CT is not actually owned by amtrak, nor do they get to dispatch on that section of track. It is shared with Metro north, just like on the track between PVD & BOS they share the track with MBTA commuter trains.
Because the section of track in CT is owned/operated by CT, they have disallowed the tilt feature to be used on the acela trainsets, which would actually speed them up. However the train sets were built 4 inches too wide to make it safe to allow tilting with the metro north trains.
and i really hate that freights have the right of way on the lines.
Well actually the regulations state that amtrak should have precedence. The problem, in practice, is that the freight railroads own the tracks and are in charge of dispatching. And so far it looks like the FRA doesn't have the teeth to impose fines on the freight railroads for not actually following the regulations that give passenger trains precedence.
Doesn't California have an Amtrak line up and down its coast? If not, I'd imagine there'd be demand there. Maybe people like to fly between its coastal cities but i really don't think driving there is as appealing as train travel given traffic issues there.
Doesn't California have an Amtrak line up and down its coast? If not, I'd imagine there'd be demand there. Maybe people like to fly between its coastal cities but i really don't think driving there is as appealing as train travel given traffic issues there.
It does, but it takes like 12-14 hours from LA to SF--you can drive it in 6, and there's not really urban traffic in the middle of the state that can slow that down.
They are talking about building high speed rail that would let you do it in 3 hours or so, which would be awesome, but probably also not so awesome that it justifies the cost.
Doesn't California have an Amtrak line up and down its coast? If not, I'd imagine there'd be demand there. Maybe people like to fly between its coastal cities but i really don't think driving there is as appealing as train travel given traffic issues there.
There are multiple trains, including the San Joaquin, Surfliner, and Capitol Corridor services. These are all funded by the state of California and Amtrak is the operator of the service.
The Coast Starlight is the long distance route (trains #11 and #14) that goes between Seattle down to LAX. That train takes a really long time to get to Emeryville/Oakland from LAX - I want to say something like 10 hours. You can look up the timetable.
You can look at all of the routes and timetables at amtrak.com.
I took that train last year from LAX to SEA and it was beautiful. You can read all about it on my blog - trainsacrossamerica.blogspot.com.
I love Amtrak. I try to plan ahead, use my AAA discount and travel at off hours - doing all that I can usually get from Wilmington to/from NYC for just over $100 roundtrip. I am bummed to read about the new cancellation fees.
Just so you know, the "e" bucket fare is the NEC 14 day advance purchase rate and it is 25% off the regular fare. That is actually lower than the AAA rate (10% off). The difference is that if you cancel the 14 day advance purchase rate, you will now only receive a voucher for future travel. You can still cancel a coach NEC ticket with the AAA discount up to 24 hours prior to travel and receive a full refund. If you cancel less than 24 hours prior to travel you will receive a voucher for the full amount of your reservation, or you will receive a refund with a 10% refund fee (minimum fee $5, max fee $100).
I love you! (Seriously though, thanks for the tip.)
I'm a huge fan. I'll take Amtrak to NYC (from Upstate) any day over driving. I also took it to Montreal once which was nice, but when we were stopped at the border for 2.5 hours that was just a PITA and made me wish I had my car.
IIRC, this is a problem in New Jersey with NJ Transit. Given who their governor is, I'm not optimistic things will change.
I think Metro-North has its own tracks in Westchester and its service points to the north but not 100% sure. Not sure about Connecticut and whether Metro-North shares tracks with Amtrak there but my mother lives along the NY part of the New Haven Line and I don't think I've ever seen an Amtrak train on the Metro-North tracks.
This is a decent map that shows ownership of the tracks. Amtrak doesn't actually own a portion of the train through CT - I believe it is metro north or the CT rail group who owns it.
My husband takes SEPTA to Philly daily. Sometimes he splurges on the Amtrak home but whenever that happens some stupid SEPTA is broken down on the track delaying the whole line. SEPTA - get your own damn rails. You too NJT! Or I guess I should be saying the reverse - Amtrak get your own damn rails!
Oh and LoveTrains - are you into like train layouts too? My stepdad is and has this crazy impressive layout in his basement. He and my mom just got back from a train convention.