The Golden Age of Rail
I have been wondering lately why Amtrak hasn’t taken full advantage of the weaknesses currently afflicting air travel.
Most people don’t even consider train travel as an option because it is so slow. After all, it takes 24 hrs to traverse the east coast by rail when the same journey can be done by plane in a few hours.
But let’s compare some of the differences, other than time, between the two modes.
When flying by air, you have to arrive several hours early, get half undressed, get subjected to all sorts of impolite groping from TSA scumbags and perverts, then you have to turn off all your electric gadgets and toss out any potentially contraband products -like water, toothpaste and the $150.00 per ounce perfume you didn’t want to entrust to “checked” luggage, which airlines generously let you “check” for a small fee. Then you sit around a generic lobby for two hours listening to other peoples children bitch and moan about how bored they are. A few more hours go by and if by some chance your flight hasn’t actually been canceled due to weather in a city 1500 miles away or some other inexplicable reason, you actually get to board the plane – this doesn’t necessarily mean that you will soon be airborne and on the way to your destination, all it means is that instead of waiting in a wide open lobby filled with screaming children you are now trapped inside a ten foot wide aluminum tube with a bunch of other peoples screaming children.
When riding the train it goes a little something like this. You show up at the station an hour or so before departure. You check your luggage which, can be two VERY heavy bags, and you also get to take a decent amount of carry on luggage with you. As a matter of fact, when traveling by rail most peoples carry on luggage exceeds that of the entire luggage allotment the airlines give you before they begin charging. You can carry your own food and beverages onto the train. You can bring a carry on containing toothpaste and deodorant. You can even carry your Swiss Army knife in your pocket and they don’t think you are going to try and hijack or disassemble the train. You can wander around, even going to the club car and getting a decent hot meal and some refreshing beverage without having to sell a kidney to be able to afford it. Maybe you will enjoy some pleasant conversation or even a game of cards with a fellow passenger and all the while your cell phone is on and ready to receive or make a call you might need to take. You can even, if you so choose reserve a sleeper bunk for those longer passages and have your own private sitting room, bedroom and bathroom away from the “unwashed, huddled masses of the generic public”.
Your time is important to you, so wouldn’t you prefer to spend it idling the hours away watching the scenery of this great nation pass by a picture window. Rather than in some over priced, cramped, so called “seat” wedged in next to an overweight salesman with garlic breath and a bad combover while the little brat in the seat behind you tries to stick his gum in your hair (and that’s what the airlines call First Class). Air travel has become terribly inconvenient and horrifically embarrassing for some, but people actually prefer it to spending so much time riding the rails and taking days to get to ones destination. What about if Amtrak made a few key changes to its business model and started providing rail transportation in a truly unique way?
The question is this : What does Amtrak need to do to get you off planes and onto trains ? For me personally they don’t have to do any thing BUT for those of you avoiding rail travel think about this
A. What if Amtrak started non stop routes between major destination hubs just like the airlines do. Non stop from Chicago to L.A. Non stop from New York to Orlando for those Disney Vacations. Non stop New York to Chicago. Non stops from Boston to New York and Washington DC. I think if the price was right even a few stops per trip would be acceptable compared to the thirty or so stops at every podunk little town these runs currently make. Much like air travel, couldn’t these smaller hamlets be serviced with regional trains ? I think so.
B. Segregated cars – and don’t get your knickers in a bunch, I’m not talking race here. I’m talking lifestyles. You could have Adult only cars that cater strictly to the eighteen and over crowd and then you could have family cars that cater to people traveling with children. For these cars they could rip out a few rows of seats and replace them with “play zones” let all the kids get together and have a good time without disturbing other passengers. Some of the seats could fold flat into passable crib type or young adult beds for when the rug rats wear themselves out.
C. More comfortable seating and more adaptable seats. If they can put lie flat sleeping pods on 747’s then they can do the same with trains. Cheaper and nicer besides.
D. Maybe a movie theater car. Have a selection and schedule movie showings and passengers can make movie reservations at the beginning of their trip and spend a couple hours killing time watching a flick – with pop corn and junior mints and all the lovely concessions. Frankly if the train had current movies playing they could really mop up simply charging for this specialized service
E. Expanded and easily affordable Auto Train service. Just imagine getting ready for that family vacation. You load up the car and go to the train station. ALL ABOARD. You spend a day or so traveling to that dream destination you detrain rested relaxed and fed. AND your car is there waiting for you with all your vacation stuff. No need to rent a car and pay for all that weird insurance. No need to worry about tons of luggage as it’s all right there in your car waiting for you. This alone could benefit families immensely. Or sportsmen and hobbyists. Golfers, Hunters, Musicians, SCUBA divers – Every time you fly you are entrusting valuable equipment to unreliable people and risking it being damaged beyond belief as well as paying through the nose to transport these odd items. Now just load up your trunk and away you go on the auto train. Your valuables safe and sound away from thieving paws and careless baggage handlers
I think it is high time for Amtrak to really take advantage of all the benefits of rail travel and remake themselves returning us to a new golden age of rail. Trains are vastly more fuel efficient than planes and far kinder to the environment as well.
So ”Go Green, Go By Train”
thank you
