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Index to recent news postings 2001 news archives Photo gallery Contact us Site map Rail Travel News is a twice-monthly print publication, published since
Dec 10, 1970.
AMTRAK DINING CAR PRICES RISING Trains 21, 22, 58, 59, 421 and 422 now have a different menu than the rest of the long-distance trains. These trains use preplated meals prepared off the train and the prices appear substantially higher than rail travelers are accustomed to paying. This change is no doubt part of the DOT effort to increase Amtrak income, but could have the effect of reducing train patronage. On one of the two rotating menus, breakfast items consist of three choices with meat, each priced at $10, and one cereal choice at $6.75. At lunch, a cheeseburger is $7, a sandwich (type varies) is $7.25, barbecue chicken with potato wedges, corn and salad is $12, and soup (minestrone or chicken noodle) is $4. At dinner, a beef entree (braised or tenderloin) is $18; a chicken entree is $17.50; cod fillets are $16.50; cheese tortellini is $11; and an "evening special" is $12.50. |
Tunnel work is disrupting Coast Starlight
service in Southern California
Metrolink is now relining its Tunnel 26 north of Chatsworth CA. Work on the over 1.5-mile long tunnel will take nearly 10 months to complete. Work will take place between 10pm and 4am on Tues-Thurs and between 10pm and 7am Friday and Saturday. The tunnel cannot be used during these times, so rail operations there will be shut down. The southbound Coast Starlight, train 11, must pass Simi by 10pm or it will terminate at Santa Barbara and passengers be bused on except for those heading for Oxnard, who will be carried to their destination. Because Amtrak estimates that train 11 has little chance
of reaching Simi by 10pm due to delays caused by bad UP track north of
Sacramento, it has decided to terminate the train in Oxnard every night
Tues-Sat, and provide buses from Santa Barbara for passengers traveling
to Simi, Van Nuys and Los Angeles and for those connecting to train 596.
This plan begins at once and continues presumably for 9-10 months.
Refuting some myths about long-distance train travel Long distance trains simply do not function in the imaginary ways that government train-haters claim they do. If these train-despising politicians and government lackeys would honestly examine the trains, ride them themselves and take note of who uses them and how, they might realize the falsity of their declarations. For example, in the matter of connectivity among trains, consider the following data collected by a correspondent this month on the westbound CAPITOL LIMITED, train 29: Of the 140 passengers boarding in Washington DC on March
14, 44% had taken another train to connect to No. 29.
Obviously, the connectivity among these trains was important to the ridership of all of them. Where were these people traveling? Listed here are the endpoints of the trips of those connecting to and/or from the CAPITOL: Winter Haven-Los Angeles
Note the great diversity of locations comprising the endpoints
of these people's trips. And these travel patterns are not exclusive
to Train 29-30. All the long distance
When a train-opposing bureaucrat says that
And when they claim that people on long distance
trains have an option of taking low-fare airlines, take another look at
VIA's CANADIAN is back partially on Canadian Pacific rails Amtrak funding action in the Senate Spring-summer schedule changes for St. Louis-Kansas City coming Killing Amtrak slowly from within
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