Actually I just came home from a Berlin-Copenhagen run today
But I can't help chipping in my impressions of the little I have ridden Amtrak and from the discussions here, seen here from Denmark (which does not have the best or the best run railroads around in comparison to some of the neighbors).
As for the layout of the Amtrak network there are good reasons that it is different to Europe. But as for solving as many transportation needs for as many people as possible I do think that there is too much emphasis on the LD's and too little on developing feasible corridors. The PRIIA policy change of dumping them 100 % on the states does not help this. Ideally an LD forming a spine for supplementary corridor services on the stretches where it is feasible, is probably a model worth exploring. Virginia, Illinois and a few other states seem to have done this pretty successfully, but there are many more options. On the other hand keeping up the whole system to run the SSL three times a week across thousands of miles seems like a good way of spending a lot of money without getting that much for them.
But actually the article has more beef with operating practices, and honestly some of the Amtrak practices do seem archaic and wasteful.
Myself I have only ridden the Cascades a couple of times, but I was pretty shocked over the level of staffing. For example in Portland, which I think handles 9 departures a day I saw a staffing of 6: Two for the ticket counters, two for checking and loading bagage, and two for operating the gates. Add red caps and others I didn't see. For comparison the airport station when I got back to Copenhagen had a total staffing of four ticket agents. This is a station handling about 16 regional, intercity and international trains
an hour (it is the last station before the Swedish border) as well as sell tickets for and give info on the metro. All handled in several languages to passengers, who many of them have just landed and are unfamiliar with the local system, plus handling the ticketing systems of two different countries.
Now the agents were pretty busy, but lines were no longer than bearable. On the other hand noone in Portland was busy, except maybe the ticket checkers at the gates just before departure, but for whom I saw absolutely no reason for being there. Get an electronic reservation system, so people know their coach and seat numbers and an electronic info system showing which cars will park where on the platform. At larger stations put an info person out there. No need to spend manpower on hearding the passengers around like goats.
I realise that checked bagage is probably more needed for the LD's. In several countries in Europe it died altogether... But again - two guys largely with their hands in their pockets - there might be a more efficient way of organising that on a not that heavily traveled station. Why can't the ticket counter receive the luggage airport style? And does it need to be free also for short distance passengers?
Here only a few of the largest stations actually still have ticket counters. Medium sized ones will have contracted it out to the convenience store in the station, where the staff will be trained in performing all usual sales and reservations. No need to pay a separate agent, and the need is dwindling as more and more ticket sales move to the internet.
Which brings me to the absurdity of having staffed stations for sometimes well under 100 passengers and two trains a day. Yes, service and security are issues, but I have heard very little in terms of creative solutions. If you need a guard hire a security company around departures. Get the local florist across the road to sell tickets for a modest fee - whatever, but all with a sharp eye on cost per passenger. A full time agent sitting there is very costly.
And again - get an electronic reservation system, so people get their seat as they book the ticket. It can be set up to make the reservations largely the same way as the conductor distributes the passengers today. My trip from Berlin was a three seat ride (there are direct trains, but I was to late to get tickets for that at a decent price). The electronic ticket was issued with seat and coach numbers for all three, and the conducter then had a portable device that let him check my credit card to verify the printout of tickets and reservations. (you can choose other ID too). When I missed a connection in Hamburg because of a delay, rebooking was troublefree.
In summary - I think that Amtrak runs a pretty good and pretty indispenable service, given the funding constrants, but that there is a lot of do-as-we-always-did and it seems like noone is doing any systematic combing through of practices asking if the solutions are still the most practical and economical in 2011. :help:
A few other notes: Granny visiting the grandkids, students going home from college or families going to Disneyworld are transportation needs too - even if Amtrak outside the NEC is not of much use to most business travellers. Providing transportation alternatives for people who can't or don't like to drive long distances for whatever the reason is very important.
As for European LD's two things have happended: Exept for Russia and closest neighbors air travel has eaten away the passenger base of the longest routes - not just because of neglect, but simply because planes are more competitive. On the other hand on the medium distances the opposite has happened, as speeds and services has gotten better, in many corridors. And the European rail companies - and the politicians behind them - have put the emfasis on expanding the service, where the competitive edge is. And rightly so. There is no general decline in the cross border traffic either - in many places it is strengthening, with the very rapid growth traffic on the bridge to Sweden from here in DK as a prime example. It is just the very long runs through a multitude of countries that has gotten fewer.
