Amtrack Sucks

[GTAVercetti 0]

http://www.reason.com/0512/bagge.shtml

Why yes, my license number is a palindrome. Thank you for noticing.

[NWFlyer 2]

Agreed. It's only been a viable form of transportation in the Northeast corridor, for a long time. And from what I've heard, that's a sadly accurate description of what it's like to take Amtrak anywhere else.

"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

[Amazon 7]

But the Coast Starlight is an adventure.. just do not have a set schedule to follow and you will be ok. I took it from Seattle to Portland to pick up a car...ride down 7 hours and 15 minutes.... ride back... 2 hours 43 minutes back by car to Everret.

[miked10270 0]

Yeah... Only I guess that a lot of folk would take exception to the "Travel SOVIET-STYLE" comment. The trains in Russia (at least in "soft" class) aren't that bad - and The Russians have a more "fun" way of dealing with loss of schedule.

Mike.

Taking the piss out of the FrenchAmericans since before it was fashionable.

Prenait la pisse hors du FrançaisCanadiens méridionaux puisqu'avant lui à la mode.

[Sen.Blutarsky 0]

We’re still a far cry from catching up with the rest of the developed world but, with high gas prices, it’s possible that the Wi Fi-enabled Wolverine, Pier Marquette and smEl trains I’ve been taking for the past ~25 years are portents of good things to come. Provided we wisely choose to prepare for the inevitable strikes by transit workers that is …
For speed on rails, make it Michigan
95 m.p.h. trains zoom there, not in Illinois

By Jon Hilkevitch
Chicago Tribune

December 27, 2005

DOWAGIAC, Mich. -- The Midwest's first high-speed passenger trains are nipping along at speeds of almost 100 miles per hour on Amtrak's Wolverine service in Michigan, while technology hang-ups are sidetracking progress on similar efforts in Illinois.

Michigan got a five-year jump on Illinois. It partnered in 1995 with the federal government and the railroad industry to develop a train-control system that assures safety at up to 110 m.p.h., which is how fast Amtrak trains will operate in part of Michigan beginning in 2006. Since the fall, the top speed is 95 m.p.h.

The system can slow down or even stop the train if the engineer doesn't follow speed and track rules.

The National Transportation Safety Board has strongly recommended similar systems, called "positive train control," for passenger and freight trains nationwide. Two recent Metra derailments involving trains violating slow-zone speed limits could have been prevented if the control system were installed on the commuter railroad, the board said.

But the system is expensive and has not been deployed in the U.S. except for on a portion of the East Coast and in small areas of Michigan and Illinois.

The Illinois train-control system is being installed on tracks between Chicago and St. Louis. The program didn't leave the station until 2000 and costs have ballooned to $106 million. Illinois transportation officials say they don't know how long it will be before Amtrak trains in the state will travel above the current 79 m.p.h. speed limit.

Quickly and reliably communicating satellite-generated data that track train locations on the Illinois high-speed corridor has been a struggle for Lockheed Martin, contractor on the Illinois train-control project. System failures have resulted in trains sometimes being "lost" for minutes at a time by the command center monitoring rail activity.

Lockheed Martin has also experienced problems making sure the Illinois train-control system's wireless components activate railroad crossing gates, flashers and bells every time a train blows through a vehicle crossing.

"We have to know precisely where the train is and we have to know it every time without fail because this is a safety issue," said John Schwalbach, chief of the Bureau of Railroads in the Illinois Department of Transportation. "Most of the time is not good enough."

A trip onboard the Amtrak Wolverine demonstrated the possibilities and advantages that train travel offers--but has never before delivered in the U.S. except on Amtrak's Northeast corridor where Acela trains crank it up to 150 m.p.h.

Shortly after entering Michigan on a recent run from Chicago to Detroit, Amtrak engineer Herman Gibson advances the throttle knob on the controls of the diesel locomotive, delivering more power to big electric motors that make the wheels rotate faster.

The four-car train accelerates to a top speed of 95 m.p.h., gliding over tracks that were overhauled to handle higher speeds on a 45-mile test bed between the Indiana-Michigan state line and Kalamazoo, Mich.

The feeling is like riding on air. Out the window to the side of the tracks, stands of trees become a blur.

"Ninety-five mile an hour ain't bad. It's sort of fun," laughs Gibson, who started working for Amtrak 17 years ago washing dishes in dining cars.

The speed will be stepped up to 110 m.p.h. next year on the 45-mile stretch between Niles, Mich., and Kalamazoo in southwest Michigan that has been under development since 1996, the year after federal funding started flowing. The segment of track is part of the approximately 300-mile rail corridor from Chicago to Detroit, and $39 million has been spent to date.

Running at 110 m.p.h. except for in congested urban areas would shave at least an hour, maybe two, off the approximately 5 1/2-hour trip between the two cities, Amtrak officials said.

"There are a bunch of medium-sized markets between Chicago and Detroit--in Kalamazoo, Battle Creek and Jackson, Mich.--where people would flock to improved Amtrak service," said Rick Harnish, executive director of the Midwest High Speed Rail Association. "It has been disappointing the process hasn't moved much more quickly and that there isn't a real commitment at the federal level to make high-speed systems work. You could fill up trains that hold more people than 747 airplanes."

The higher speeds on the Wolverine are part of Amtrak and Michigan's plan to expand service and cut travel times on the first fast trains operating outside of Amtrak's express corridor between Boston, New York and Washington, where the railroad's Acela service runs at a 150 m.p.h. top speed.

Trains elsewhere in the Amtrak system are limited to 79 m.p.h., including Illinois, where the technological setbacks have delayed deployment of higher-speed service on Amtrak's Chicago-to-St. Louis corridor.

Positive train control is the key to safely operating high-speed trains on tracks shared with slower-moving freight trains, as well as through railroad crossings where vehicle traffic goes over the tracks. Positive train control uses global-positioning system technology to locate trains at any point on a route. It also determines whether barriers and warning lights at rail crossings are working properly.

"If something might not be right, the system tells me to slow down the train or stop. And if I don't act in time, it will stop the train on its own. I like that. It's like my co-worker sitting here," said Gibson, 43, of Chicago.

While the engineer still operates the train, positive train control provides a critical safety backup to the crew at the higher speeds. It can prevent collisions between trains, provide warnings about hazards on the tracks and enforce track speed limits.

"The system radios the track signals into the locomotive cab. The information basically tells the engineer what the red, yellow and green speed-code signals at trackside mean to him in terms of a speed limit," said Jeff Baker, business unit leader for GE Transportation's Incremental Train Control System in Michigan.

Instead of an engineer waiting until he or she drives by a signal to see what the indication says--then having to remember it for the next 5 miles of track--positive train control technology provides the crew with updated information every 5 seconds, Baker said.

Approaching a crossing near Dowagiac, Mich., Gibson looks up the track to see several cars, a school bus and a pickup truck stopped behind the gates next to signs at the side of the road warning motorists, "High speed trains."

If the gates or the crossing's flashing lights failed to work when the train got close to the crossing, the newly developed train-control system feeding data to the locomotive would have alerted Gibson to give him the time and distance needed to stop.

The system also would apply the brakes automatically if the engineer did not respond to a countdown clock giving him a designated number of seconds and specific number of feet to begin to slow down.

John Anderson, a veteran Amtrak road train master, said positive train control has made engineers feel more confident and protected against situations that might be coming up.

Meanwhile, Illinois and Lockheed Martin, the state's main contractor on positive train control, are wrestling to solve at least 40 different types of computer software glitches on a portion of the 125-mile test track between Springfield and Mazonia. The errors are responsible for problems in tracking train locations and maintaining data communications between locomotives and railroad crossing and signaling equipment, Schwalbach said.

Thirty-six other software problems have been fixed since February on the North American Joint Positive Train Control system built by Lockheed, Schwalbach said. But because any problem could create a safety risk, the testing is being conducted in a passive mode using Union Pacific freight trains traveling less than 79 m.p.h., instead of Amtrak trains, he said. The Union Pacific Railroad owns the track between Chicago and St. Louis.

The investment in the Illinois positive train control project totals $106 million to date, according to the Federal Railroad Administration. The federal government has funded more than $70 million and Illinois' share to date is about $15 million. The Association of American Railroads contributed about $20 million.

Although the Illinois and Michigan projects use similar technology, there are fundamental differences in design that may account for the problems here.

The Michigan system is focused at trackside. It uses wayside radio base stations and data ports that feed information to computers on board the locomotive.

In the Lockheed system, all data about track and signaling conditions are radioed to Union Pacific's dispatching headquarters in Omaha. The data are processed by a central computer and sent back to the train.

The data exchange has resulted in unacceptably long lag times--often exceeding 20 seconds, officials said.

"One of the things that surprised Lockheed is the amount of data that needs to be collected, absorbed and distributed to Omaha," said Michael Franke, senior director of corridor development at Amtrak. "I can understand that because Lockheed hasn't been in the railroad business very long."

The Illinois high-speed project is the first venture by Lockheed into railroad signaling.

Lockheed Martin officials said they are committed to completing the project.

But Illinois Transportation Secretary Tim Martin is running short on patience.

"We are anxiously awaiting additional testing next year. If it's not going to work, the question becomes when do you pull the plug and go to something that is a little more proven," Martin said. "There are nice things about being cutting edge, but if it is not going to work we have to go with something different."

Copyright © 2005, Chicago Tribune

Source: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chicago/chi-0512270090dec27,1,5806171.story?coll=chi-newslocalchicago-hed


Blutarsky 2008. No Prisoners!

[dbattman 0]

In all honesty, rail service could become a great thing here in the states. Instead of reinventing the wheel we should look at other countries where this is a regular, comfortable, and successful mode of medium range transport and adapt their methodology and technology.

Atlanta to Baltimore (two major population centers and I happen to have a customer in Baltimore) cost $102 each way on Amtrak, January 22-28. Taking a flight cost about $243 round trip. OK, so Amtrak is a little cheaper but what nails the coffin for me is the 14 hour one-way trip.

On the other hand, going from BWI to Union Station in Washington costs $11 each way. That's a bargain to be able to sit and read your paper and not stare at some guys bumper.

So, if freight is a big money maker and passenger service is a loser, could we combine the two to make it profitable? Maybe have a train that was 1/3 passenger and 2/3 cargo?