Amtrak Breaks Holiday Travel Record, Readies for Contentious Congressional Hearing

[marmar]

The Wednesday before Thanksgiving was the busiest day in the history of Amtrak with a total of 140,691 passengers riding in the 46-state network. Over the full Thanksgiving holiday weekend Amtrak carried 737,537 passengers, up 1.9 percent over last year, the previous record for passenger rail travel volume.

This happened despite a switching problem that shut down train traffic in Penn Station on the day before Thanksgiving for over an hour on some routes. At one point so many waiting passengers were trying to crowd into one of America’s busiest (but by no means not roomiest) rail stations that they were forced to wait outside the building.

Nonetheless the ridership record is an impressive feat considering the water deluge that flooded four of Amtrak’s six New York area tunnels, stopping service for days, costing the rail network $60 million in lost revenue and badly damaging electrical components, like switches. Amtrak has already asked Congress for $276 million to upgrade facilities to enhance resilience in the face of future storms.

As we reported, the tunnels in and around New York City are 102 years old, and though this is the first time they flooded, some of the electrical equipment in the area is antiquated legacy stock inherited from before Amtrak incorporated in the 1970s making it hard to repair and replace. All the more reason it is impressive that service was restored and capacity added for the record ticket sales over Thanksgiving. .................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://transportationnation.org/2012/12/10/amtrak-breaks-holiday-travel-record-readies-for-contentious-congressional-hearing/

[BlueStreak]

1. I just drove 1000 miles the past 2 days

because there was no rail option, and bus service is sketchy. I had too much baggage to consider flying.

I was astonished by how much road construction there has been in the past decade. I drove through St. Louis, for example, and there was concrete everywhere. Kansas City, the same thing.

Imagine where we would be if we simply said that 10% of our gas tax must be invested in public transportation systems.

That doesn't have to be anti-car. For example, you can cross the English Channel by car. You simply drive your car onto a train and then enjoy the ride in the comfort of a train lounge. At your destination, you drive off the train and are on your way. This would be a perfectly sensible way for people to take trips of 200-1000 miles.