Daniel Williams

I thought some of you might be interested in the following letter I sent to a supporter of high-speed rail in the Senate. If you're interested in more info on this subject check out the web site www.acela.com; there's a link there to a site on various high-speed-rail initiatives throughout the country.

I sent this letter to: [email protected]

Dear Senator & Staff,

As a resident of Baltimore, Maryland, I have found the rail systems invaluable for travelling around the northeast corridor of the United States. Travelling to Washington, Philadelphia, New York and Boston has been a pleasure on Amtrak; hardly ever the case when driving.

I was very pleased to see your support not only of the Acela Express initiative, but also of the development of high-speed rail systems nationwide. Having travelled on the TGV in France and on the high-speed Toronto-Montreal VIA rail corridor, I see the tremendous value high-speed rail could have here, particularly considering the congestion of many of our roads.

I was surprised to see no mention on your web site of a possible connection New York (Boston)-Albany-Montreal (Toronto). The Adirondack (and Empire) that presently run these routes are terribly slow considering the distances involved . (Side note: The border is dreadfully slow on the train; possibly, a US and Canadian border check upon arrival/departure at Gare Centrale in Montréal (or Union Station Toronto) would make the international trip a more pleasant one?). One reason I think this particular route has potential is because in North America, New York City and Montréal have the highest percentage of public transit users in North America; Boston and Toronto must also be in the top 10 . Traffic can be a royal pain in Montreal and Toronto (as in Boston and NYC) year-round but particularly in wintertime with the inhospitable road conditions. Greater Toronto has a population of 8 million people, greater Montreal 3.2 million. Another plus is that from Albany to Toronto, there are a number of high population density areas such as Rochester, Syracuse, Buffalo, Niagara Falls and Hamilton, ON. While there's not many population centers between Albany and Montreal (Saratoga Springs, Plattsburgh are relatively small), there is the breathtaking beauty of Lake George, Lake Champlain and the Adirondacks which could add to the profitablitiy of THAT route. I realize that any such rail connection would require transnational agreements, but I believe that it's in both Canadian and American interest to have speedy rail connections between the two countries

Thanks again for your support.

Best regards,

Mr. Daniel Williams
Baltimore, Maryland

ICare

This is a very pertinent post on an issue that has lots to do with what it's like to travel in the US -- i.e., train travel is a disaster except for a few privileged routes, and even those are slow. I'm amazed that Amtrak has recently announced an aggressive PR campaign to compensate those who think they've had a bad trip -- HOW will they afford that so long as passenger trains have to yield to freight trains?

High-speed trains automatically require right-of-way, which is yet another reason to support them. It would be nice if Mr. Williams could have identified those Senators (and their states) on the most critical oversight committees involving passenger rail. But I applaud him for the impulse -- he has more of a life than the gnats who go around telling people to get a life.

Daniel Williams

Hi

To "I care": Senator Lautenberg (D) of New Jersey on the Budget Committee appears to be a strong supporter of high speed rail; I don't know how much support there is amongst other Senators/in the House.

As for Amtrak, I must say that I've been very impressed with the quality of service in the Northeast Corridor. I often take the train to Washington DC, Wilmington, Philadelphia and New York City (once up to Boston), and rarely has the train been over 5-10 minutes late (one in fifty times) and most of the time in my experience (9/10 times), it's ON TIME. I can't say the same for driving or flying these days (so nice to avoid traffic). The seats I've found comfortable (even more so on the Metroliner/business class), the service on the whole friendly. Some of the scenery is quite gorgeous (i.e., the Connecticut coastline (WOW) and the Susquehanna River in Maryland), which can make for a visually pleasing journey. According to a recent Washington Post article, ridership is apparently up 7%. I believe this statistic reflects Amtrak's efforts.

With the Acela Express, I believe Amtrak will have more success (particularly with Boston-bound travellers). Beyond the Northeast Corridor, I could see the New York -Philly -Harrisburg -Pittsburgh -Cleveland-Toledo-Gary-Chicago route or Chicago-Milwaukee as a possible future rail success story.

Thanks for your interest

Daniel

Dick

Hey Daniel - As a fellow Northeast corridor train rider I care, too. Thanks for sharing this information with us.

Regards,
Dick

r-travels

With all the talk recently about dismantling Amtrak, this might be a good time to bring this forum to the top. Now being requested to be to the airport 2 or more hours before flights makes rail more appealing than before. We dump monies into airport and road "improvements" with no question if they're profitable, but Congress remains determined that Amtrak must make a profit or die. What fools!

BTW- I'm another who's enjoyed your many posts, danwills, such as the recent "Neighborhoods". There's no X in my e-ddress.

Don

Good letter.

KT

Daniel- Bravo- Efficient high-speed rail travel is long overdue! Re: the idiotic comment from who cares- It really takes quite the rocket scientist to determine that if a Fodors topic doesn't interest you then simply ignore it, rather than showcase your ignorance by failing to recognize such an obviously important issue- in this case- US rail travel. Good letter Dan... KT

Philip

A few years ago, I took a trip to Germany. I took the train all around the country. It was absolutely wonderful being able to sit back and watch the scenery go by. Train travel would greatly improve the U.S.

nina

Widespread, efficient and low cost train travel is one area that could benefit from improvement in the US. We could and should take a lesson from the Europeans in that regard.

Thanks Daniel, let's hope development of rail travel improves, particularly with the mess that air travel is in lately. My husband used to fly from White Plains to Boston but the last 3 trips has taken the acela. Faster, easier and far more pleasant. He says the view of the coast is wonderful plus the train stops in the heart of the Boston business district. He just walks across the street to his office! We need more high speed train service.

S

Mass transportation systems are most effective, cost-effective, and utilized in areas with concentrated populations. That area of North America would be the best suited. It tends to be more concentrated like European cities are. In areas where the next city of any size (but tiny compared to major metropolitan areas) is at least a hundred miles away, the expense is not warranted.

Robin

keeping this issue around...

I care as well

I care as well however I am the opposite end of the spectrum and see NO USe for servis such as AMtrak. I for one have never used the train and don't plan on it. I fly often or as most americans do, I DRIVE. Amtrak or high speed rail would benefit VERY few as a limited number of americans would use this service eveni if it were more readily available. Face it, america is a DRIVING country, lets use money to improve our highway system, not rail system.

disagree

Perhaps more people would use rail travel if it were more efficient. With the increasing airport delays and hassles, I would love the option of taking a train. We don't all relish the idea of driving cross country you know. If you've ever taken trains around Europe you would see how nice it is to have an expansive and efficient train service so you don't HAVE to drive, or fly, which is no longer fun by any stretch of the imagination.

cg

I think that even people who drive all the time would benefit from high-speed rail. For instance, if it was easy and fast to hop a train from LA to Las Vegas, or LA to San Francisco. Lots of people who make the drive would likely hop the train instead to save the stress and hassle of driving (or flying, for that matter). I would much rather train it than drive due to the fact that I could read, work, etc. on the train - stuff I can't do driving the car. I hate flying so would much prefer the comfort of the train (and the fact that it remains on the ground). The fact that the train is taking a volume of people off the road would also reduce congestion and make it easier for those who prefer to drive... Giving people a choice benefits everyone.

As the population of this country continues to increase, the freeways are going to grind to a halt. I live in Atlanta and know first-hand that adding more lanes and building more roads does not help traffic since there are always more cars ready to fill up all available space when there is no other easy option. Mass transportation will become a necessity in areas of concentrated population, if it isn't already. Let's get it going now rather than waiting for it to reach an absolute crisis point.

Don

It would be nice to live somewhere where a car is truly not needed. Without a car payment, insurance, petrol, maintenance, garaging (in cities), the monthly savings could be considerable. When travelling, I like the fact that most trains run from city centre to city centre so that the extra expense and time of airport transfers is not necessary.