Amtrak was formed in 1971, after decades of declining passenger rail service in the USA. The Interstate Highway system and jet airplanes attracted short and long-distance passengers away from the train, while antiquated labor contracts and regulations limited productivity improvements: a recipe for massive financial losses for the private railroads. They responded by abandoning most of their services, and Amtrak was formed to maintain train service to areas that needed it.

Many of Amtrak's trains operate on the Northeast Corridor, a 457-mile stretch of tracks serving Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, and the many cities in between. Amtrak is a crucial part of the Northeast's transportation network, carrying almost half the intercity travel market in some segments. If the Corridor didn't exist, the cost of replacing it with another highway, or with more airports, would be very, very high.

The tracks of the Corridor are all owned and maintained by Amtrak, except for New Rochelle to New Haven, which is owned by the states of New York and Connecticut and maintained by Metro-North Railroad. Amtrak also owns the Corridor branches to Springfield, Atlantic City, and Harrisburg. Since Amtrak took over the Corridor from the Penn Central, it has been upgraded and top speeds have been raised as high as 125 mph and will increase to 135 mph when the high speed trains go into service until the speeds can be raised to 150 mph..

Amtrak is continuing to improve service on the Northeast Corridor. Amtrak has completed extension of the Northeast Corridor electrification from New Haven to Boston. Trains are now able to travel from downtown Boston to midtown New York in three hours or less, and Amtrak will win an even greater share of the market. Amtrak has ordered 20 new 'Acela' high-speed train sets to operate this improved 'Express' service. The target date for the initial service with two trainsets is June 2000. All train sets are expected to be in service by late 2000. Along with the high speed service, the NortheastDirect trains will also operate faster as the Acela 'Regional' service.

The successful formula of fast, frequent train service is being duplicated in other areas too. New York State was one of the first to invest in improved passenger train service (for the New York-Albany- Buffalo Empire Corridor). New York state and Amtrak are working together on a multi-year program to upgrade the service to faster speeds and to provide rebuilt turboliner equipment.

Amtrak in conjunction with the state of Pennslyvania are upgrading the Philadelphia - Harrisburg line for 110 mph service. This will reduce the travel time to about 90 minutes.

The Cascade Corridor is realizing a significant increase in ridership with its new Service. Three new Talgo trainsets are now in service for most of the Vancouver-Eugene, OR service. Another daily round-trip was added last summer between Seattle and Bellingham and is expected to be extended to Vancouver.

The biggest successes have been in California. There are eleven daily round-trips plus two daily thruway round trips between L.A. and San Diego. This corridor is also being upgraded for faster speeds. New train equipment, second generation California cars are being introduced with the May 2000 schedule change and will eventually replace the current equipment. A comprehensive feeder bus system has built the San Joaquin trains into a vital transportation link with five daily round trips. Amtrak's newest corridor service, the San Jose-Sacramento Capitol Corridor is growing rapidly and now has six daily round trips.

A dense network of short-distance Amtrak trains radiates from Chicago, serving dozens of cities. Amtrak is working with nine midwest states to develop a plan to greatly expand this service, both in areas served and in the frequency and speed of service. Chicago is also the hub of most of Amtrak's long-distance trains. They provide a vital transportation link to hundreds of towns while also giving riders a unique view of America. With the May 2000 schedule update, Amtrak adds a fourth train between New York or Phiuladelphia and Chicago, a third with sleeping cars. A fifth train is expected to be added when equipment is available. The long distance these Amtrak trains cover is what sets them off from most other trains in the world. These trains are very popular: for sleeping car space at peak travel times, trains are often sold out months in advance. At present levels of capital investment, Amtrak can't buy enough cars to accomodate all who wish to travel. The lack of capital investment is also why Amtrak can't easily add service to new cities. There has been enough funding for Superliner II cars for western routes and fifty Viewliner cars for eastern routes. The Viewliners are in service on several routes, while Superliners are operating in the east and the west.

A new service was started last summer between Ft. Worth and Oklahoma. Initial response to this service exceeded expectations and required an additional coach. Work is underway for the startup of another new route between Boston and Portland Maine. This service is expected to start late in the year 2000 after major track rebuilding.

Outside the Northeast Corridor, Amtrak trains operate over rails belonging to the big freight railroads. While the passsenger trains get special priority in scheduling and dispatching, delays resulting from traffic congestion or a signal or equipment failure can happen. In extreme cases like floods or snowstorms which completely block the tracks, Amtrak charters buses or works with the airlines to get passsengers to their destinations.

Despite what the jokes of Jay Leno might have implied, the train is the safest way to travel, period. The historic passenger fatality rate on Amtrak trains is ten times less per mile than riding in an automobile, and about the same as on an airplane. People being killed or injured on a train is big news; auto accidents are so common as to be ignored.

Amtrak reorganized itself in 1995. Management has been decentralized into three "business units:" Northeast, Intercity, and Western, to increase accountability and responsiveness. Unfortunately, service was cut at that time in response to a fiscal crisis. These cuts are controversial, as rail advocates feel there were more constructive alternatives. To forestall cuts in short-distance services, many states increased payments to support services under section 403(b) of Amtrak's enabling law.

Amtrak has its own official WWW site, with fare information and online reservations available. E-mail about the official site can be sent to webmaster@amtrak.com.

Click here to find out more about our project and the dozens of volunteers who have helped it.

If you have a comment or question about Amtrak service, write to:

  Amtrak Office of Customer Relations
  Washington Union Station
  60 Massachusetts Ave. NE
  Washington, DC  20002

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Matthew Mitchell
Delaware Valley Association of Rail Passengers
PO Box 7505, Philadelphia, PA 19101
(215) 673-6445, message box 3
mail@dvarp.org
WWW: http://dvarp.org

4 May 00 -- JBF