Trains 53 & 97 Late 2/24

Advertise with us
shop deals on amazon
Shop deals on ebay
Amtrak Unlimited Discussion Forum

Help Support Amtrak Unlimited Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
B

b0m5jgr

Joined
Sep 19, 2016
Messages
12
I don't ride Amtrak very often, so I am not an expert, but only today you have train 97 NY - Miami over 5 hours late, also auto train 53 over 9 hours late, that's crazy. Watch PBS special about trains just yesterday which showed Japan's bullet train which is very rarely late. Also no accidents since going into service, I know Japan's ridership is way more than America because of our love of the automobile but if more was done the ridership might increase. What a joke for the American system.
 
b0m5jgr said:
I don't ride Amtrak very often, so I am not an expert, but only today you have train 97 NY - Miami over 5 hours late, also auto train 53 over 9 hours late, that's crazy. Watch PBS special about trains just yesterday which showed Japan's bullet train which is very rarely late. Also no accidents since going into service, I know Japan's ridership is way more than America because of our love of the automobile but if more was done the ridership might increase. What a joke for the American system.
Click to expand...
And other than vacuously bitching, your point exactly is what? :D

Any concrete suggestions on how things may be improved perhaps?
 
I don't think Japan's passenger train routes have at grade crossings because it is a high-speed network.

I also don't think Japan's passenger trains have to share trackage with freight trains.

And some of Japan's passenger trains do get delayed: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rail_transport_in_Japan#Suicides

Japan is a very small country.

Japan and Maryland could cozy up inside California together.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
KmH said:
I don't think Japan's passenger train routes have at grade crossings because it is a high-speed network.

I also don't think Japan's passenger trains have to share trackage with freight trains.
Click to expand...
The PBS show that the OP reference, did point out that the Japanese Bullet Train has an exclusive track that it shares with no other trains, and yes, that track doesn't have any grade crossings.

It also mentioned that the train stops at midnight. At that time, the train sets get nightly maintenance, and a small army meticulously combs over the track.
 
This is the most convoluted 'why is this train late' thread in awhile. One train had equipment issues and the other train assisted.
 
Wow, I have never seen so many people come to the defense of Amtrak, I was supposed to take Amtrak in May 2017 to Orlando from N.Y. but cancelled for other reasons. But from the time I had made the reservation until just recently I was following everyday "track your train" on the Amtrak website and very often either train 97 or 98 would be running late. Just recently my son was traveling on train 98 and his train ended up being over 6hrs late. He was not a happy camper. Sitting in the middle of nowhere for over 2hrs. as part of his delay. I must say his train did have issues. I understand Japan's trains don't share, and travel as far and also don't have issues with crossings. Amtrak is a old & tired system, it needs to be upgraded. As for suggestions, off the top of my head I don't have any at the moment. It's going to take a lot of money and where that will come from is a big question.
 
I guess I will be another to come to the "defense" of Amtrak. I am on 97 right now. We are running about 30 minutes late. My trip northbound on 98 was pretty much on time.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
And before anyone screams "endpoint padding", here is the data for the entire run.

Unknown.png

You can't really build a similar chart for 53 since it only stops at the end points, but the median arrival at SFA is 38 minutes late.

If presenting actual facts and figures is "defending Amtrak", then that means that your thoughts and feelings on Amtrak aren't based in reality. Here in the real world we live with things like facts and data and then base conclusions off of them.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Personally, I don't think it is a matter of defending Amtrak. I can agree that the OP is correct when he says that Amtrak is an old and tired system that we starve. Its fed just enough to keep it alive.

However, since you know that is the problem and offer no solutions (which puts you in line with most Americans and Congress,) I fail to see your surprise. Your final flaw is to compare it to a small, well financed, confined system that was built from the ground up probably some 50 years AFTER the Union and B&P tunnels opened up.

Your comparison is is invalid.
 
Like I said I only followed the trains on Amtrak's website "track your train" I didn't go on any other sites with charts etc. So sorry if I make people upset with what i'm saying. I'll still say Amtrak needs to be upgraded and made more attractive and afforable to take.
 
Again I'm only an occasional rider of Amtrak, but it's a shame that our rail system is so far behind other countries with less resources than ours.
 
If the US taxpayers would subsidize Amtrak, just like other countries and how the US subsidies air and highways, we could have a much better rail passenger system! But until that happens, we are stuck with what we have now.
 
From 2010:
http://www.worldwatch.org/system/files/GlobalCompetitiveness-Rail.pdf

. . . On May 26, 1934, a U.S. diesel-powered train christened the Zephyr broke the world speed record previously held by Germany, traveling from Denver to Chicago at an average speed of 77 miles per hour.
In the 1930s and 40s, U.S. intercity passenger trains were the envy of much of the world. . .

. . . The United States once had a thriving intercity rail and urban transit network. By the 1950s, however, the federal government shifted its infrastructure spending decisively to highways and airports. Public transportation systems atrophied, and America’s technological leadership in the manufacture of everything from subway cars to trams to high-speed trains passed to companies in Japan, France, Germany, and a few other European countries.
By the 1970s and 1980s, the domestically owned passenger rail manufacturing industry had vanished. Today, the U.S. passenger rail industry remains underdeveloped, with significant gaps in the supply chain for passenger rail equipment. . .

. . . About 16 percent of all European passenger travel is undertaken by bus and rail, compared with a mere 4 percent in the United States. . .
Click to expand...
 
Last edited by a moderator:
You can thank president Eisenhower for this situation. See "Divided Highways" by Tom Lewis, Penguin Books 1999.

While in Germany, he observed how great their highways were. At some point in our country, he had to make a very long trip by highway. Well this was before the interstate system. Eisenhower was appalled at how long it took to get anywhere. He felt that in a national emergency it would be necessary to move troops and materiel quickly by highway anywhere in the (continental) United States.

So when he became president, he pushed for and got the Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways.

It's ironic that these days transporting troops and materiel in a war-like situation would be far too slow on the interstates. But we are now stuck with them. They have changed the American life forever.

jb
 
Last edited by a moderator:
97 had some breakdown just yesterday and is just now approaching FLorida 6 hours late.

While Switzerland is a very small country (the size of Maine) they have an interesting approach to train scheduling. Many of their long distance sections are single track. What they do is run passenger trains during the day and freight trains at night. They have no overnight trains that stay within the country. Obviously such a system can not be done throughout the US, but perhaps in certain sections. It helps that freight and passenger service are operated by the same company, though even then all schedules are integrated throughout the country and across 62 different companies, with the Swiss Federal Railways being by far the majority operator.

While the Japanese Shinkansen high speed trains do have separate tracks and no grade crossings (same with the French TGV?), I beleive the other Japanese trains do have grade crossings.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Latest posts

Back
Top