Amtrak's Latest Blunder
Markwell
Posts: 1,616 ✭✭✭✭✭
Definitely not cigar related, but thought I'd post it here as I know some of you have a slight fascination with trains. Amtrak has recently changed leaders and enacted new policies. The new president is ex CEO of Delta Airlines, Richard Anderson. One of his first moves as president has been to discontinue the hosting of special excursions along with hauling private railcars on its trains.
Several trips have already been canceled, such as the Pennsylvania Railroad Historical Society's convention trip from Philadelphia to Altoona, steam excursions out if Roanoke, VA, and the annual New River Trains through West Virginia, which attracted the general public from all across the country. This policy also ends the freedom for those who own private antique equipment to pay a fee to have it run on regularly scheduled trains. These people have invested hundreds of thousands of dollars into restoring and maintaining these cars, which were required to go through many mechanical changes to become Amtrak certified. In many cases these cars were made available for charters with the general public and used for special events like the wounded warrior project for our vets.
These changes are yet another example of our government not caring about our country's rich history. In the past, the running of such trains was a huge historical interpretation tool in rail preservation. Amtrak now says these events "caused severe operational distraction, failed to capture fully allocated profitable margins, and sometimes delayed our paying customers on scheduled trains." I urge any of you who give a hoot about such things to please reach out to your local politicians, who control Amtrak. When voters complain they listen. Thanks for reading this novel rant...things like this boil my blood.
Several trips have already been canceled, such as the Pennsylvania Railroad Historical Society's convention trip from Philadelphia to Altoona, steam excursions out if Roanoke, VA, and the annual New River Trains through West Virginia, which attracted the general public from all across the country. This policy also ends the freedom for those who own private antique equipment to pay a fee to have it run on regularly scheduled trains. These people have invested hundreds of thousands of dollars into restoring and maintaining these cars, which were required to go through many mechanical changes to become Amtrak certified. In many cases these cars were made available for charters with the general public and used for special events like the wounded warrior project for our vets.
These changes are yet another example of our government not caring about our country's rich history. In the past, the running of such trains was a huge historical interpretation tool in rail preservation. Amtrak now says these events "caused severe operational distraction, failed to capture fully allocated profitable margins, and sometimes delayed our paying customers on scheduled trains." I urge any of you who give a hoot about such things to please reach out to your local politicians, who control Amtrak. When voters complain they listen. Thanks for reading this novel rant...things like this boil my blood.
“Happiness? A good cigar, a good meal, a good cigar and a good woman – or a bad woman; it depends on how much happiness you can handle.” – George Burns
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Just the word word on the street.......
We moan and groan about pollution, fossil fuels, lives lost in auto accidents, need more lanes, and more lanes, and more lanes, and filling potholes, and on and on...
The answer is simple and proven. It works all over Europe. Here, we've dropped the ball. For example, look at Nashville. It is a hub to the outlying communities, where many of it's workers live. There was an attempt to resurrect Union Station downtown, but no serious effort made to create the commuter train system that would have made it viable. There should be hourly trains running from Gallatin in the north, Dickson to the west, Lebanon to the east, and Murfreesboro to the south.
Of course, then there'd have to be genuine public transportation in the city, as well. Perhaps if there were, then there wouldn't be daily gridlock starting at about 3 pm, or daily reports of traffic deaths, road rage.
Perhaps young people would be interested.
HEY! Teenagers! On a train you can text the entire time you're getting where you're going, and not get killed!
Adults! Instead of an unpredictable length of time weaving in and out of traffic, cursing madly, fearing for your life from the texting idiots all around you, you could be reading the morning paper, sipping your coffee, and eating a doughnut, and leave home and arrive at work at the same time every day!
Imagine.
"If you do not read the newspapers you're uninformed. If you do read the newspapers, you're misinformed." -- Mark Twain