No Way To Run a Railroad: Amtrak Arrests Photo Contest Participant- For Taking Photos

Nice foto

For most of the country, AmTrak is hopeless. There are a number of reasons why, first being that AmTrak doesn't get priority on the rails and must give right of way to cargo freighters at every opportunity. That means the trains are never on time. I talked a first-time rider into taking the train from around Des Moines to Chicago, a 7 hour drive. The train was six hours late, with not so much as a "we're sorry" from AmTrak. Then there's the price, it is almost always cheaper to split gas money with another person and drive to your destination than buy two AmTrak tickets. It's like they don't even want to be a functional business.

any comments from amtrak?

The power of arrest may be a useful way for Amtrack to grow passenger traffic!

@roy: As what? A form of punishment?

"For your punishment the court fines you 2 weeks of trying to commute to work via... AMTRAK!!!!"
*A bolt of lightning splits the sky*

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!"

Amtrak is in a difficult place. Privatization might be one way to go, but private companies would most likely cherry pick the profitable routes and close the rest. We need expanded rail service to make Amtrak a winner. I really hope the next administration can figure out a way to not only expand Amtrak's scope, but increase its comfort and reliability. In the meantime I will continue to be a loyal rider. It's always best to vote with your wallet.

I'd love to take Amtrak, but the 8-hour layovers in Chicago and the lack of track crossing the state of Kentucky (conveniently located between Chicago and Atlanta) make it time-prohibitive. Especially since I'd need 2-3 sleeper car tickets in order to make the extra time comfortable. All this to avoid a 12-hour drive or avoid 6-hours of being "randomly" searched at a commercial airport. I'd be happy to take a 20-hour trip between Chicago and Atlanta that matched my schedule, though.

Thankfully, the Midwest Rail Initiative means that someone in my region's government is at least thinking about these issues... I'm sure a few billion dollars worth of federal funding would really grease the skids.

The gravy NE routes are rapidly being eaten away by the new hip bus companies. Miracle of miracles, I prefer the bus now. This may not be a terribly bad thing, frankly. Save rail for freight.

I love this argument:

"AmTrak doesn't get priority on the rails and must give right of way to cargo freighters at every opportunity."

Imagine that!

I would expect that it would be infinitely more practical for a short train to wait on a siding than for a very very very long train to wait on a siding.

The other alternative of course, is to have rail lines that go both directions, but again, that's expensive.

I really think the rail answer is govt owned lines (like highways and roads), and private companies that run on them, exclusively for passengers. So it can be slow, or it can be fast, or it can only be between Atlanta and DC, or Chicago and Seattle. Let the market decide where the demand is, but provide the uninterruptable means in which to do that. Heck, the Big 3 could build the cars that go on the lines that a company buys to move their people and make their money. Like airlines, but smarter. And the better/cheaper/greener the fuel, the cheaper the operating costs, etc etc.
But then again, no one asked me. (Yes, the right-of-way (ROW) would be expensive, but so is road ROW - and this is the kind of low-tech construction the green movement can use).

Rail freight is pretty darn efficient and should be promoted where possible. The (industry-provided) number is 400 ton/miles per gallon of fuel. Can't beat that.

We have the rail system Congress has chosen to pay for. It's that simple. Transportation is a very capital-intensive industry. Efficient, reliable, modern transportation requires considerable investment in infrastructure. Highways and airports and air traffic control aren’t cheap, yet Congress has willingly poured as couple of trillion public dollars into them over the past 50-60 years. Intercity passenger rail has gotten maybe $40 billion in public money since 1971 and nothing prior to that. If you pay for a Soviet-style rail system that’s exactly what you get.

Too many in Congress have a double standard when it comes to rail. They think we can privatize Amtrak and be off the hook for any public investment. That’s like asking the airlines to pay for airport construction/ maintenance as well as air traffic control and making Greyhound build and maintain our highways. They need to get a clue.

Amtrak is in desperate need of new (and much more) rolling stock and the freight railroads Amtrak uses lack adequate capacity and don’t maintain their track to the standards an efficient, reliable rail system needs. That's why train service is unreliable.

If this country really wants a quality rail system, we have to be willing to pay for it.

I don''t consider this post TreeHugger material, but since it's here, I'll chime in.

Arresting photographers - or other good, law-abiding citizens - for no good reason is bad practice. I hope the press photographer's association stands up to stupid Amtrak.