Someone once told me that the most frequently asked question on an Amtrak train is, “Why are we stopped?” That may or may not be true, but it does point out an aggravating problem that also happens to be my pet peeve: conductors who don’t use the train’s PA system to keep passengers informed about…
Three years ago, when I took the Coast Starlight from Seattle to Los Angeles, we didn’t pull into LA’s Union Station until 4:00 in the morning … seven hours late. Amtrak’s long-distance trains operate on track owned and controlled by the freight railroads. They are supposed to be given priority, but dispatchers for the Union…
Some interesting ideas were recently presented by Hunter Harrison, president and CEO of Canadian National Railway, who laid out his view of the future of freight rail in a speech to the Canada Maritime Conference. First of all, Harrison predicts that multiple mergers will create two mega railroads in place of today’s “Big Six”: Union…
My tablemates at dinner tonight include a demure middle-aged lady from South Carolina and a couple from Houston. The husband was originally from Alabama and still has a heavy accent. His only interest in life appears to be NASCAR and he keeps the conversation going in that direction, reeling off the names of drivers and…