Many long-time Amtrak travelers keep notes and generate trip reports which they share with others. What follows are some quotes from a rather detailed report by a veteran rail traveler. The writer was traveling with his wife in a sleeping car, first on the Texas Eagle from Fort Worth to San Antonio, Texas, and then…
I’m always surprised by how many people think that Amtrak ought to operate at a profit and are incredulous when I tell them that all public transportation is subsidized, even—in fact, especially—the airlines. First, sez I, there are the indirect subsidies…meaning when government picks up the tab for something that the airlines must have…
It keeps on happening. People drive around the gates, past the flashing lights and clanging bells, and into the path of a locomotive. The most recent incident was Friday and involved a semi-trailer truck loaded with 70,000 pounds of bacon. It was struck by the northbound Texas Eagle in Wilmington, Illinois. Apparently there…
An average of 86,000-plus people a day take one of more than 300 Amtrak trains. Total ridership is now more than 31.5 million passengers a year. Amtrak trains stop at more than 500 stations in 46 states, Washington, DC, and three Canadian provinces. Amtrak is now covering almost 90 percent of its operating…