Midnight Train

This week's newspaper column:

Want to take a low-carbon-footprint vacation this summer? Try Amtrak.

According to the US Department of Energy, trains emit less carbon than airplanes or automobiles per passenger mile making rail travel the greenest way to commute long distances. (In the early 1900’s, artist Walter Anderson crisscrossed the country on dirt roads with a rusty old green bicycle – a great deal more sustainable than plane, train, or car - but I wouldn’t suggest this for the faint of heart.)

With fares comparable to flying, Amtrak is an attractive way to see the country on the way to your final destination. And unlike the cramped quarters of a commercial airliner, seats are spacious with much more room to stretch and move around.

Watch the passing landscape from your seat, or saunter down to the lounge car for a panoramic view. Have a drink and a snack while you meet interesting and diverse fellow travelers.

When mealtime comes around, take advantage of the dining car where window-side booths are adorned with white table cloths and fresh-cut flowers. The kitchen offers a variety of menu choices -including healthy and vegetarian options - serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Don’t expect a four star restaurant, but for diner food, the quality is surprisingly good.

Sleeping rooms with fold-out beds are available at a premium rate, but if comfort is a priority, that’s the way to go. Meals are included when you book a sleeper.

Getting beyond energy efficiency, rail travel fosters another facet of green living: cultural sustainability.

On the train, you will have the potential (and probability) of meeting people from all parts of the county and any corner of the globe. Long conversations are standard fare. Why hurry? You’ll have a few hours to relax and enjoy the ride.

If traveling alone or in a pair, the dining car hostess takes the liberty of seating you with a random rider or two leading to unexpectedly delightful conversations with people you probably never would meet otherwise.

Riding cross-country on passenger rail is the equivalent of taking a graduate level sociology class, except this course is “hands-on” and most your fellow students are up on the subject matter.

If you are planning an extended vacation, the USA Rail Pass is a great value. For less than four hundred dollars (and under two hundred dollars for kids), you can ride anywhere Amtrak travels for 15 days with up to 8 stopovers. Thirty and forty-five day passes are available as well.

Amtrak does not have advance purchase discounts per se, but as seats on a train sell out, the price gets progressively higher, so buy tickets as far ahead of your trip as possible.

Consider riding the rails this summer. Take a good book, and I bet you’ll have some great travel stories to tell when you return.

Amtrak Recovery and Reinvestment

Amtrak is getting $1.3 billion in stimulus funding from the recently enacted American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. So now we can expect new train routes and more frequent departure and arrival times on existing lines next year, right?

Not so fast.

According to the current Amtrak CEO Joseph Boardman, after years of starvation rations from the federal government, Amtrak is now being held together "with chewing gum and rubber bands."

It is important to note that no national rail transit system in the world operates in the black without substantial financial investment from their respective national governments.

Why? Because 1) every country in the world currently subsidizes automobile transportation in the form of roadbuilding, and 2) the automotive industry has been allowed to externalize some of the costs, specifically in the area of climate degradation.

The majority of the money, about $850 million, will go to much needed maintenance and repair of existing equipment, rail lines, and bridges. The remaining $450 million is dedicated to security upgrades.

I love riding Amtrak. It's easy, convenient (at least when your destination is in the vicinity of a train station), and reasonably priced, and I've never failed to meet interesting people along the way. We'll see what the future holds for expansion of the United States' only national rail line, but the latest round of funding is a start.

A nice essay on riding Amtrak was recently penned by Andy Isaacson for the New York Times. It's a good read. Find it here.

Presidential Candidates on Transportation, Smart Growth

The Brookings Institution has a side by side comparison of Barack Obama and John McCain on transportation issues including funding priorities, public transportation, fuel efficiency, passenger rail (Amtrak), and smart growth.

http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/Files/rc/papers/2008/0826_transportation_puentes_opp08/0826_transportation_puentes_opp08.pdf

Amtrak Funding

Monday the U.S. Senate cleared the way for a Wednesday vote on Amtrak funding.

For the past few years, Amtrak - America's only national passenger rail service - has been on starvation rations in terms of funding from the federal government. Typically, the Bush administration proposed eliminating all federal funding in annual budget recommendations; Congress subsequently added back "not enough" money, but nonetheless was able to keep Amtrak afloat.

Some people say: "Why does the federal government need to support Amtrak anyway? Can't they support themselves?"

Well, in addition to the fact that no other national passenger rail network in the world operates without federal investment (or has figured out a way to do so), highways nor air travel in the United States would not exist without hefty subsidization by the U.S. Government.

Like a two-legged stool, a two-faceted national transportation system becomes exponentially stronger when a third component - passenger rail - is added to the mix. In America today, we are dangerously over-weighted on the side of automobiles. As gas prices have risen, Amtrak has had record ridership.

The current bill, which has already passed the House, funds Amtrak in the amount of 13 billion over the next 5 years. They've been operating on about a billion a year, so that's a healthy increase. But this funding only maintains the current system; an increase in routes and frequency of trains will require much more investment.

Tragically, it took a passenger train wreck in Los Angeles recently where some two dozen people were killed, to move a rail funding bill forward.

President Bush has indicated he will sign the bill in it's current form.

http://www.newsday.com/news/politics/wire/sns-ap-rail-safety,0,7857812.story