Martin writes:I still don't think that LD trains have a future *as they are now* _____________________________________ I fully agree. The LD trains are handled badly by the freight roads, equipment is sitting at Beech Grove, baggage service has been discontinued at many stations and equipment is not maintained. Correcting these problems would be a step in the right direction. Setting up a program to coerce the freight roads to expedite Amtrak trains via penalties for bad handling & rewards for good handling would help solve that problem. Repairing equipment, especially sleeping cars, would put more revenue earning equipment on trains that often run soldout. This would also allow the equipment to rotate through repair facilities to run scheduled maintenance. Returning baggage service to the stations that discontinued baggage service would make the service more attractive to passengers. After all this is put in place we could begin to add routes & frequencies that would allow Amtrak to serve more of the country & make it more of an alternative to more people. Reggie
Reggie, Penalties on freight railroads have been part of Amtrak trackage rights contracts since 6/1/71. These have been ignored by freight railroads because, for the most part, the daily revenues received for on time freight deliveries have far exceeded the penalties levied by Amtrak for delaying a few trains each week. As of 2 years ago, CSX had the worst record for Amtrak dispatching ... <65% within 30 minutes to schedule. The other companies were not much better. [ 01 July 2002, 02:00: Message edited by: Hank Coolidge ]
