Amtrak was very late last night:
I wasn't on the 3pm train from Portland to Bellingham, but I heard horror stories last night. Apparently, somewhere just north of Portland, there was an equipment failure of some kind that resulted in the train returning. Passengers had to wait for at least three hours for another train to take them northbound - I'm not sure, but they may even have been later getting into Seattle than the evening service!
We don't have any spare equipment on Amtrak Cascades - any time there's a difficulty, there's nothing available to take its place without waiting for another train that was in service earlier that day. We need to improve this service by buying a spare train.
posted by Ben Schiendelman @ 8:50 AM
4 comments
4 Comments:
Haha - I wouldn't say the guise, but I'd certainly be interested in extending Cascades to Eastern Washington if we can. That's a lot of track upgrades, though. Is there an existing right-of-way you prefer? Can it be speed-competitive with driving?
Why do you ride Amtrak? It uses evil oil in the form of diesel.
I highly doubt the chances of Amtrak purchasing a new set (which would costs a lot of $$$!). Honestly, though, Amtrak could not even afford to fix up a multitude of its current equipment (Some Superliner cars operated on long-distance trains in the midwest have broken a/c systems, lighting systems and lots others! Some Amfleet I/II cars also leaks when it rains and as well, on all types of equipments, broken toilets and AC outlets are the norm!) If Amtrak could not even spare funds to fix its current fleet of passenger cars, what are the chances of them purchasing new equipment?
anonymous:
Amtrak wouldn't be purchasing the new sets - WSDOT would. They already own most of the Amtrak Cascades sets.
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