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The June 06 Amtrak Monthly Report is now available online. The Chief Mechanical Officer's Staus Report indicates in the notes to the right of the caption "Superliner I Sleeper Remanufacture", "Project Cancelled". The same "project cancelled" notation apprears after multiple "state of good repair" projects. Does anyone have any color on this? The CMO's status report is about 2/3 of the way through the document.
TomT Member # 4559
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go to amtrak.com; press and media; other report; page 47 of 84.
Gilbert B Norman Member # 1541
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As I've long contended here, the LD's are the important catalyst to assure Federal funding of essentially a regional operation - namely the Northeast Corridor. As the Superliner fleet deterioriates, Congresscritters will find themselves on the wrong end off too many "Congressman, I would like to tell you about that awful trip I took on Amtrak....." letters. To avoid having to respond to these letters and even feel the adverse effect at the polls, they will continue to support funding of a Corridor only Amtrak and when the (let's admit it) Administration's objective of killing the LD's is realized, the Congressman can blame the lame duck administration.
That is not a "conspiracy theory" that is just politics at work.
George Harris Member # 2077
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As soon as the long distance trains are killed, I will write every politician that will listen that if it can't be national, it is time to make it nothing. The richest part of the country is well able to afford their own trains. The northeast has been eating the nations cake on this subject for way too long already while trying to make the resto of think we ought to be grateful for the crumbs. Sorry, no sale.
George
mpaulshore Member # 3785
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I certainly agree with George Harris that, as long as Amtrak exists in its current institutional form (as opposed to, say, being replaced by a multi-state Northeast Corridor compact, which I should say I'm not in favor of), it should be national or nothing.
I do, however, want to register my disagreement with his characterization of the Northeast Corridor service as "cake" and the rest of the nation's service as "crumbs". It's true that the Northeast Corridor has fairly good frequency, certain advantages of speed (although the latter aren't really as large as one might be in the habit of thinking), and unusually good station facilities. On the other hand, the trains are by far the country's most expensive, and many of them are as deficient in comfort and convenience as the Midwestern corridor services are. There's no longer any sleeping car service between Washington and Boston (or between Washington and Vermont, or Boston and Albany): you can only get a sleeping car room if you're traveling between north of Washington and south of Washington on the Silver Meteor, Silver Star, Crescent, or Cardinal. You also can't get a real, properly presented meal unless you take the quite expensive First Class on Acela, or you travel between north of Washington and south of Washington on the Silver Meteor, Silver Star, or Crescent. Checked baggage service is sparse, particularly north of New York, where only one train a day (#66) carries it, serving only Providence and Boston. Except on some of the longer-distance trains that run south of Washington, seat reclining ranges from poor to mediocre, and seat pitch is no better than mediocre except in Acela First Class and Regional Business Class. And unless you take Acela, or a Viewliner sleeper between north of Washington and south of Washington, your sightseeing opportunities range from poor (Amfleet I cars) to mediocre (the Amfleet II cars on some of the longer-distance trains that run south of Washington).
When I lived in Cleveland from 1982 to 1987, I was more pleased in most ways with the daily Lake Shore Limited than I had been with the Northeast Corridor service I'd formerly enjoyed as a resident of Boston. I now live in the Washington area, and I'm not at all happy with the fact that, for my visits every few weeks to the Boston area, I have no access to sleeping car service if traveling at night; no access to really good sightseeing unless I pay for Acela; no access to real, properly presented meals unless I pay for Acela First Class, or unless I do the southern part of the route on the Silver Meteor, Silver Star, or Crescent and change in New York; and in most cases no immediate checked baggage service, with the delay in baggage arrival being as much as 20 hours. If I were traveling between, say, stations along the Southwest Chief route, then depending on my itinerary I'd have easy access to most or all of those things.
My point then is, let's not be too hasty to assume that Northeast Corridor service is simply good and the region's residents are well-served, while other service is simply inadequate and the other regions' residents are poorly served. I think that most of the country's existing service, including all of the Northeast Corridor, is no more than a mixed blessing of one kind or another.
notelvis Member # 3071
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Mr. Shore's points are well-taken. Having lot's of trains with minimal services is not that much of an advantage.
This is why sit-down dining, sleeping car, and checked baggage service are worth fighting to keep.
TheBriz09 Member # 3166
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You know, it's interesting because the July '06 status report no longer says "Project Cancelled" by the Superliner I Sleeper Remanufacture. In June the report said that the project was cancelled after 32021 was released on June 28. The July report indicates that 32039 was released on August 8 and that 32018 has "extensive unforeseen wreck damage" but it no longer says Project Cancelled.
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All the above points are welltaken and I would add one more thing. Last year we went up to Ct. business class. I paid for business class the notation on the outsied of the car said business class but the inside was plain old coach . Some of the leg rests were missing. It had the same number of seats as regular coach. When I told the conductor about this he shrugged it off saying call customer relations. I did and told them I was really irate about this. They did refund my extra fee for the non existant.business class. When we got to Bridgeport there is no one to help with the baggage,no checked baggage service,and the station is really the pits. If the elevator isn't working which is a frequent occurance, you walk down 3 flights of stairs ,through a tunnel under the tracks and finally out to the street. It is not a pleasant experience. So there is a down side to the NEC.
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