Trash Along The Tracks

[billthebarn]

I got a very good impression of Winter Park, Florida and Ashland, Virginia the first time I traveled through them by train. They were spotless. No trash along the rails. Beautiful. And there are many cities which keep the railroadway clean.

But there are places where there hasn't been a police call since the tracks were laid. Maybe Mr Boardman could start by sending a questionaire to all the station masters. He could get the ball rolling with a simple correspondence. The municipalities themselves could petition the owners of the tracks to tidy things up....just as they do if you didn't cut your lawn. It's been done in some towns; why not all? I've seen county prisoners in NJ doing a "police call" along Route 55.

Community service. Volunteers. Railroad employees. It doesn't matter who does it. Let's get it done. Of course, safety rules must be followed. Foreign travellers, as well as Americans, would have a much better opinion of our landscape.

 

[TinCan782]

Just last week while on the Texas Eagle/Sunset Limited I was thinking along those lines. Not "trash" as we normally think of but, all of the ties, rail and related hardware left along the ROW by UP.

 

[the_traveler]

Joe Boardman, while president of Amtrak, wouldn't have much say in the matter. Amtrak owns very little of the track it runs on. The remainder is owned by UP, BNSF, CSX, NS, CN, CP, etc... And even those, the right of way only goes 15-25 feet! Beyond that, the property is owned by the city of _______, the town of ________, the state of ________ or individual property owners. Without all of these involved, much of what you see now will remain.

 

[Ryan]

Yeah, that's wildly unrealistic and any time Amtrak would spend on this would be far better spend doing things that actually matter.

 

[benjibear]

Probably something that isn't going to be done even if Amtrak owns the tracks. Much of it is the attitude of people looking for a place to dump their junk. I know while on the NEC while in many of the cities you see a lot of junk on the the ROW. You even see mattresses, furniture, tires, etc.

While in college I worked for the maintenance department and one job was to clean up the campus. A pet peeve of mine was cleaning up the cigarette butts. Look at any major intersection where there is a median or curb and look how many butts there are. When I see someone flick there butt, I want to go pick it up and hand it back to them or put it on their car or something.

 

[AmtrakBlue]

When I see someone flick there butt, I want to go pick it up and hand it back to them or put it on their car or something.

Same here.

This reminds me of a story in our family where my mom stopped the car when one of the kids in the car (think it was a friend of one of my brothers) threw something out the window. She made him pick it up and throw it away properly.

 

[billthebarn]

Come on, men, this isn't rocket science!

Mr Boardman could get things rolling with a letter he could draft in less than twenty minutes.

The question isn't who owns the tracks or who does the cleaning up. The problem is the trash. If some cities can do it, why can't all. Try to come up with a positive idea on how things can be improved.

 

[daveyb99]

I am not so much surprised by the track area, but by the junk yards some people call home. I was thinking of a new reality show "the junking of America" shot from the train. GEEZ ...

 

[the_traveler]

Come on, men, this isn't rocket science!
Mr Boardman could get things rolling with a letter he could draft in less than twenty minutes.

The question isn't who owns the tracks or who does the cleaning up. The problem is the trash. If some cities can do it, why can't all. Try to come up with a positive idea on how things can be improved.

First, all the posters in this thread have not been men. AU is well represented by females too!
Yes, he could get the ball rolling with a letter. Then he would have to send that letter to

1) The president of UP

2) The president of BNSF

3) The president of CSX

4) The governor of Colorado

5) The governor of Oregon

6) The governor of North Carolina

7) The mayor of NYC

8) The mayor of Philadelphia

9) The mayor of LA

10) The mayor of Flagstaff

11) The mayor of Pasco

12) The mayor of Westerly

13) Etc..., etc..., etc...

I think Joe Boardman has more important things to do!

 

[John Bobinyec]

I think some of the people advocating cleaning up the right-of-way are losing sight of the fact that the railroad is an EXTREMELY dangerous place for pedestrians to be. Picking up trash can't SAFELY be done by just anyone. It takes coordination with the train dispatcher, the trains, other on-track vehicles and maintenance crews, with proper communications equipment and training.

So basically, the people given the clean-up task must be qualified track (MofW) people. And they are going to be paid for their effort. I don't think the various railroads will want to spend all that money just so Amtrak's passengers can have a pristine view out the windows.

Would you, as one of the railroad's stockholders appreciate it if your dividends were being spent on prettying up the countryside?

jb

 

[Slasharoo]

Perhaps this is better handled by us, as amtrak riders, to contact our own municipalities when we see an area that needs cleaned up. We are the ones to see where the problem areas are, rather than Mr. Boardman in DC

 

[me_little_me]

Come on, men, this isn't rocket science!
Mr Boardman could get things rolling with a letter he could draft in less than twenty minutes.

The question isn't who owns the tracks or who does the cleaning up. The problem is the trash. If some cities can do it, why can't all. Try to come up with a positive idea on how things can be improved.

First, all the posters in this thread have not been men. AU is well represented by females too!
Yes, he could get the ball rolling with a letter. Then he would have to send that letter to

1) The president of UP

2) The president of BNSF

3) The president of CSX

4) The governor of Colorado

5) The governor of Oregon

6) The governor of North Carolina

7) The mayor of NYC

8) The mayor of Philadelphia

9) The mayor of LA

10) The mayor of Flagstaff

11) The mayor of Pasco

12) The mayor of Westerly

13) Etc..., etc..., etc...

I think Joe Boardman has more important things to do!

He writes one letter. His secretary modifies it depending upon whether it goes to a mayor, governor or a railroad president. The junior assistant secretary uses the scan of his signature to put on each letter that is being printed by a laser printer. The mail room runs it through the automated stamp machine. The post office bankruptcy is thus put off by .00001 seconds.

Actually, the secretary writes the letter, Joe quick looks it over and approves it.

 

[billthebarn]

traveler,

I know there are many women on the forum. At the time I was composing on men had responded. I was speaking primarily to you and Ryan. (I believe women are the cleanlier of the species.)

Let me put it this way, Traveler, I would like cleaner tracks. (And you?)

I can probably come up with a thousand reasons why we cannot have cleaner tracks. Why don't we come up with some solutions. Maybe it's time for a woman to take Boardman's job.

A while ago a young fellow posted a video of his trip to Poland. Seemed nice and clean to me. Winter Park is clean and beautiful. It just doesn't happen. Someone makes it happen.

I, for one, would like the train experience to be the best it can be.

 

[xyzzy]

Writing letters is cheap but ineffective without follow-through, and there will be no follow-through.

 

[AmtrakBlue]

Hey, billthebarn, why don't YOU write the letters and do the follow-up if it pains you so much to see the trash?

And, as to women being "cleaner", you haven't seen my 19 year old daughter's room.

 

[PRR 60]

He'd have to also write a letter to himself. The NEC RW is as big a trash dump as any of the other railroads.

 

[Ryan]

Come on, men, this isn't rocket science!
Mr Boardman could get things rolling with a letter he could draft in less than twenty minutes.

The question isn't who owns the tracks or who does the cleaning up. The problem is the trash. If some cities can do it, why can't all. Try to come up with a positive idea on how things can be improved.

Ha. That's a letter that would get laughed at and thrown in the trash (or on the side of the tracks).

You're tilting at windmills here.

Your talk of women being cleaner is also patently offensive, as were your requests for "bikini shots" from another poster.

 

[zepherdude]

You write the letter. He is not involved nor should he be, its not his job. Write to BNSF or UP and see what answer you get. This is what community projects are for. Pick up old sofa's, tires, toilets and barkoloungers or old men. Call the Boyscouts! Its not the responsibility of Amtrak. Call the Mayor!

 

[tonys96]

Looking at this from a local government perspective, you get:

1. The right of way is not owned by the municipality.

2. Due to RR common carrier regulations, the RR has sovereign ownership of the ROW.

3. Municipal costs to clean/mow/maintain the RR ROW are not reimbursed to the local taxpayer.

4. Municipalities must get RR permission to get on the ROW.

Therefore, it is too expensive/cumbersome/difficult for municipalities to clean/maintain PRIVATELY OWNED RR ROW, just as it would be for the local municipality to come over and clean/mow/maintain my yard for me. The exception would be for public health safety.

 

[billthebarn]

Ryan,

Patently offensive? To who? Would you also think, if I had posted, that men were the stronger of the spicies, that was also patently offensive? I'm sorry if I offended your sensitivities. That wasn't my intention. However, I do believe there are differences between men and women. Maurice Chev (sp) said it best "Viva la difference".

The "bikini shots" comment, I vaguely remember. I just tried to search but couldn't bring it up. Are you sure it wasn't an attempt at humor.

Lighten up, Ryan. I'm pretty confident most riders here would like a cleaner, prettier trip. It doesn't just happen.

 

[billthebarn]

Tony,

How do Winter Park and Ashland get it done?

An old saying..."it's better to light one candle than curse the darkness".

 

[Ryan]

Ryan,
Patently offensive? To who? Would you also think, if I had posted, that men were the stronger of the spicies, that was also patently offensive? I'm sorry if I offended your sensitivities. That wasn't my intention. However, I do believe there are differences between men and women. Maurice Chev (sp) said it best "Viva la difference".

The "bikini shots" comment, I vaguely remember. I just tried to search but couldn't bring it up. Are you sure it wasn't an attempt at humor.

Lighten up, Ryan. I'm pretty confident most riders here would like a cleaner, prettier trip. It doesn't just happen.

Everybody's different. Making blanket statements about entire groups of people is bad. Be it men/women, sleeper/coach pax, white/black, Christian/Muslim/Atheist/etc, etc.

If people actually cared about this, it would happen.

People don't, and it isn't going to.

How many letters have you written? How much trash have you picked up along the ROW?

Edit (didn't see your post on this page): Ashland/Winter Park get it done because people care (and in the case of Ashland because the tracks run literally through everyone's front yard). Letters from Joe Boardman aren't going to make people care about the "problem". He's got better things to do like run a railroad.

 

[George Harris]

I would suspect that on the railroad itself most people in management, operations, maintenance, and anything else would like cleaner right of ways as well. It is just that this is below the bottom of the list of things that they the time and money to get to. In years past they did keep their right of ways clean, but that ended with the start of the depresson.

 

[BCL]

Probably something that isn't going to be done even if Amtrak owns the tracks. Much of it is the attitude of people looking for a place to dump their junk. I know while on the NEC while in many of the cities you see a lot of junk on the the ROW. You even see mattresses, furniture, tires, etc.
While in college I worked for the maintenance department and one job was to clean up the campus. A pet peeve of mine was cleaning up the cigarette butts. Look at any major intersection where there is a median or curb and look how many butts there are. When I see someone flick there butt, I want to go pick it up and hand it back to them or put it on their car or something.

I guess everything starts by people setting up good examples.

I remember I was waiting for a nighttime interpretive program at a national park in the park's only amphitheater. Let's just say it's a spectacular place in the American Southwest. So I see the park ranger who is going to be giving the presentation behind the outdoor projection screen having a smoke break before starting. Perhaps not setting a great example, but I suppose it's legal and he'd probably be jittery without it. So before the time to start, he just dumps it behind the screen and doesn't put it out. We're surrounded by a campground with rock everywhere and there's almost no vegetation, so I don't think there was a fire risk. However, it seemed really odd that someone who you'd think was in a position of authority would just chuck a butt out there like that.

 

[jis]

I would suspect that on the railroad itself most people in management, operations, maintenance, and anything else would like cleaner right of ways as well. It is just that this is below the bottom of the list of things that they the time and money to get to. In years past they did keep their right of ways clean, but that ended with the start of the depresson.

Whenever there are pressing items chasing after limited resources, those that have minimal return on investment usually fall below the cut line. This is no different.

As for passengers being bothered by the crap along the track, I am told that relatively few passengers actually bother to look out the window for too long when they are traveling by train. I don;t believe it applies to me, but apparently there are survey results to back up that claim. And it could be true, considering how many people sit down by the window, and on a BC or Amfleet II car the first thing they do is pull the curtain shut and then bury their head in a book or an iPad, or simply dose off.

So I am not even sure that trash along the tracks is a item high on the list of concerns of an average rider, to bother them enough to do anything about it.