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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. |
House subcommittee approves White
House amount of $900 million for Amtrak
The House Appropriations subcommittee on May 25 voted to give Amtrak $900 million for the fiscal year that starts next October, the amount recommended by the Bush Administration. This amount would be inadequate to keep Amtrak going and is considered a shutdown budget. The full committee will probably consider the matter in June. The chairman of the subcommittee, Republican Joseph Knollenberg of Michigan, recognizes that Amtrak needs more, and said "Obviously, we're going to have to look for an increase in funding down the way." Bush nominates two to Amtrak Board This past week the Bush Administration nominated two people to the Amtrak Board of Directors: a Democrat and a Republican. The Democrat is R. Hunter Biden, the son of Democratic Senator Joseph Biden of Delaware. NARP reported that the Senator has long been an ardent supporter of Amtrak. Little seems to be known of the son's views of Amtrak. It is known from campaign contribution records that he has contributed a fair amount of money recently to Democratic political causes and none to Republican. He is a founding partner of a Washington DC law firm. The Republican is Donna R. McLean, who has had quite a bit of transportaton experience, serving with the federal DOT, the FAA and with a House aviation subcommittee. NARP said that a Democratic colleague described her when with the House subcommittee as professional, "not hard-edged or ideological." The two nominations came as a surprise, since the White House has let the Amtrak Board stand at a very minimal number for some time, and it was surprising that the two nominees are not ideological neocons, which have recently made up nearly the entire bulk of Administration appointments to Executive Branch positions. NARP is urging advocates to press the House to support
the Amtrak request for $1.596 billion plus $275 million of Strategic Investment
Options.
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
Amtrak reaches age 35 Tunnel work is disrupting Coast Starlight service in Southern California 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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