AndyPatterson

Sort of a puff piece on the Auto Train, with no acknowledgment of problems with delays, or the reduced food service in Coach (unless that recently changed), but interesting to see that it gets such a lengthy treatment in the Wash Post:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/histo...orton-sanford/

ohmark

Thanks; but behind paywall.

Longboater

I was on the auto train on December 22 LOR-SFA moving a car down to my parents condo in Southwest Florida. Train arrived early in SFA. My only issue with the train is the beds used in the private rooms. Not very easy to fall asleep with the motion and the fact they are still very hard.

danib62

I got you a paywall free link: https://wapo.st/4bYSFd8

Maglev

I almost didn't make it past the second sentence : "Three of (Amtrak's routes) are profitable." No Amtrak route is profitable. The Northeast Regional, Acela, and Auto Train come nowhere near covering the infrastructure expenses related to their operation, let alone operating expenses. Does anybody really believe that Amtrak's profits are going to pay for a new tunnel under the Hudson River?

danib62

Under that kind of thought process than there probably isn’t a single profitable airline either. Probably very few profitable trucking companies as well.

Longboater

Correct. Actually, I believe this article is wrong to begin with if considering fare box recovery as the metric of profitability. Only the long-distance trains, with the exception of the Palmetto and aforementioned Auto Train, do not meet the 100% farebox recovery. When combing all of the state-supported routes, their farebox recovery is at around 100%. Northeast Regional and Acela blow past both of them easily and why it was considered in the Bush Administration to separate the Northeast Regional and Acela from the rest of the rail network and fully privatise them. (That includes WAS-Virginia service too, which also does well above 100% fare box recovery.)

physioprof

Nothing is profitable without enormous govt investment in infrastructure & operating systems.

zdcatc12

Correct. There are articles that cover this every few years in Trains magazine. None of the routes are profitable. It is all in how they twist the numbers.

ohmark

Thanks, thoughtful of you.
Thought the article was largely a puff piece without an honest appraisal of the pluses and minuses.

I've taken the Auto Train about 10 times total in both regular bedrooms and family bedrooms. Liked it until 5-6 years ago when Amtrak cut costs resulting in reduced onboard service and amenities. Usually one or two delays caused generally by freight railroads. On-time or early arrivals happened, but were rare. Decent food in the diner, but cost cuts there also adversely impacted the experience. Eventually the charm mostly wore off resulting in the twice a year migration being made mostly via Delta. One thing that always surprised me was the high cost of bedrooms, particularly the regular and family bedroom. One-way prices 5-10 years ago for regular and family bedrooms for 2 people and car were generally in the $1,200-$1,400 range in season (i.e., southbound in fall and winter, northbound in spring and summer.) Roomettes were about half that price, and coach considerably less.
Still, am glad Amtrak offers this service needed by many people and that they are considering adding Chicago to Florida service (non-Auto Train). Wish they would figure out a way to add Detroit as a northern gateway and St. Petersburg/Tampa in the south to the new service under consideration.