What a wacky poll!
Mixes profound with the petty, and omits a few issues.
Nothing at all about the NEC. Isn't that some kind of oversight?
And it has this, "
Purchase equipment ... Superliners."
So, how about this unasked question?
"
Purchase equipment for Eastern LD trains".
I'd rank single-level equipment well above the Superliner order. Several LD trains in the East are not impossibly far from breakeven or an operating profit. Let's improve
those results and then turn to the Western trains and their heavy losses. But the poll forgot to ask about single-level coaches to replace the Amfleets.
Improve on-time performance.
Don't know what Amtrak or NARP can do about activist judges. Better to concentrate on things where we can make a difference.
Advocate for more funding from Congress.
The sine qua non. That without which nothing can be much improved.
Increase frequency of all services beyond one a day.
I like to say the cure for Amtrak's problems is
more Amtrak. More and better equipment. More frequencies. Restored and added routes.
So I certainly support
more frequencies. But the question is to increase frequency of
all services. Not such a hurry. A third or fourth added frequency in densely populated areas (e.g.
Lake Shore Ltd.) could be more deserving of support than a second train out in the empty regions.
Back to basics then: How can we hope to add another frequency anywhere without more equipment?
Under the latest version of the Fleet Renewal Plan (latest I read), Amtrak hopes to see two lines producing new coaches, one each for single-level and bi-level equipment, 100 each per year, over six years or so. It didn't publicly give an estimated cost for 1200 or more cars, but it's going to be in a $3 Billion plus neighborhood. That's the largest single cost item on Amtrak's wish list outside of the NEC.
Maybe that's Priority #1?
By the way,
Complete installation of WiFi on all trains (satellite-based, if necessary)
If the coaches are replaced, they'll have Wi-Fi installed. That's standard on all new orders, from Viewliner IIs, to Nippon Sharyo bi-levels to Oregon Talgos.
And NARP asked,
Refurbish all Superliner and Horizon cars.
All Superliners are rotated into the shops for refurbishment on a regular schedule. So what else is this question asking Amtrak to do? Instead of refurbishing them for years to come, the better plan is to replace them with new and improved equipment.
When the 175 bi-level corridor cars enter the fleet, the Horizons will cascade to other routes. I'm sure they'll be refurbished at that time, almost rebuilt even. Exactly to what extent, or where they will be used, I won't guess. I doubt if Mr. Boardman himself knows today what their best use will be four years ahead, after they're rehabbed and available.
Bring back the Pioneer
, the Desert Wind
, the Sunset Ltd
east of New Orleans.
Oh please. Amtrak has no spare equipment to pour into the sands of beaches and deserts. None.
When it can get more coaches to extend LD service:
Priority route #1. Take the
Cardinal daily.
Priority route #2: Take the
Sunset Ltd. daily from New Orleans to L.A.
Priority route #3. Add a train giving waking hours service to Cleveland.
Priority route #4. Add a day train Atlanta-NEC.
Priority route #5. Restore the
Lone Star (aka
Texas Chief) Chi-Kansas City-Wichita-Oklahoma City-Ft Worth-Houston. (Or Chi-Ft Worth-Austin-San Antonio, depending on costs and of any reality of high-speed rail Dallas-Houston). This route would provide a second frequency Ft Worth-Austin-San Antonio. It could turn east at San Antonio to add a second frequency San Antonio-Houston-New Orleans. These would be the beginnings of corridor services.
Priority route #6. If the Viewliner II experiment with the coming 60% increase in roomettes pays off, consider extending the
Palmetto with sleepers into Florida, or adding frequencies on a couple more Eastern routes. There's something wacky about having two trains arrive and depart Miami within a couple of hours of each other.
Reroute one or more Chicago-New York trains thru Michigan.
Priority should be to increase frequencies on the Western end of this route. To build a basic "corridor service" using Amtrak's LD trains. With enuff equipment and enuff money, it should be
easy. LOL.
So, (1) Amtrak already has two trains on this Chi-Cleveland "corridor" --
Capitol Ltd and
Lake Shore Ltd. (2) Extend one or both
Empire Service trains thru from NYC-Buffalo onward to Chicago. (3) Add a full, single-level, LD train Chi-NYC, thru Cleveland and Pittsburgh. This extension will not add to CSX congestion in most of Upstate NY, only
adding more trains Buffalo-Cleveland-Chicago. Total Amtrak LD trains running Chi-Cleveland will be 4, or 5 if both
Empire trains are extended, or 6 with a second run on the
Capitol Ltd route thru Pittsburgh to D.C. It's important to serve Cleveland during waking hours. If we've got 5 or 6 Chi-NYC trains, I could see diverting one thru Michigan. Or extend a
Wolverine to Toledo and Cleveland.
A new 4- or 5- or 6-train Chi-Cleveland "Amtrak Corridor" would demonstrate the pent-up demand here, and pressure the politicians to invest in more track upgrades for 110-mph service and 10 or even 12 trains a day. Meanwhile, of course it will take lots of money to add even two more trains. The tracks are crowded Chi-Cleveland-Buffalo. It will not be quick or cheap or easy to upgrade the route. But a 110-mph corridor should be the goal.
Encourage and promote connecting non-Amtrak train services.
Meaning,
All Aboard Florida, and
VIA and
California HSR? Or commuter rail? Don't the suburban lines have their own advocates? If NARP takes on the cause of the LIRR or Jersey Transit, who will speak for the national network of intercity trains?
Standardize passenger experience business class.
Sure. Why not.
Fix the Amtrak website to show correct sleeper costs.
Be transparent about calculation of fares.
Don't know. But can't imagine how this is a top priority when sleeper passengers are such a small fraction of the total.
Encourage Amtrak management to ride long-distance trains.
How does it work for airport officials? (See, Port Authority of NY-NJ, for example.) Avoiding long term parking, and never ever using the bus or local transit, of course, Mr Vee I. Pee arrives at the airport and alights from his chauffeur-driven car. Someone removes his baggage from the trunk and takes care of it. (Never, at any point, does Mr Pee need pay for use of a baggage cart, like those free in European airports but quite pricey in NYC and other U.S. places.) An airport police officer escorts Mr Pee to the priority security clearance, and in a moment or two he's at the departure gate. There, that wasn't so hard.
How will it help to put Board Chair Anthony Coscia or Joe Boardman thru a similar phony experience?
Instead, let me ask,
How many NARP Board members never
ride in sleepers or never ever
eat in the diners on their rail travels?
The premium service experience partaken by NARP leaders is completely different from that of the overwhelming majority of riders on every Amtrak train.
An out-of-touch tone from NARP here is perhaps best demonstrated by the question,
Create more "Parlour Cars" for trains beyond the Coast Starlight.
We have shortages of every type of useful equipment, sold-out trains, some tri-weakly service, a promise to Congress to eliminate losses on food & beverage, and NARP is worrying about more non-revenue-producing parlour cars?