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Waiting on a Train: The Embattled Future of Passenger Rail Service A Year Spent Riding Across America
During the tumultuous year of 2008—when gas prices reached $4 a gallon, Amtrak set ridership records, and a commuter train collided with a freight train in California—journalist James McCommons spent a year on America’s trains, talking to the people who ride and work the rails throughout much of the Amtrak system. Organized around these rail journeys, Waiting on a Train is equal parts travel narrative, personal memoir, and investigative journalism. Readers meet the historians, railroad executives, transportation officials, politicians, government regulators, railroad lobbyists, and passenger-rail advocates who are rallying around a simple Why has the greatest railroad nation in the world turned its back on the very form of transportation that made modern life and mobility possible? Distrust of railroads in the nineteenth century, overregulation in the twentieth, and heavy government subsidies for airports and roads have left the country with a skeletal intercity passenger-rail system. Amtrak has endured for decades, and yet failed to prosper owing to a lack of political and financial support and an uneasy relationship with the big, remaining railroads. While riding the rails, McCommons explores how the country may move passenger rail forward in America—and what role government should play in creating and funding mass-transportation systems. Against the backdrop of the nation’s stimulus program, he explores what it will take to build high-speed trains and transportation networks, and when the promise of rail will be realized in America.
304 pages, Paperback
First published November 6, 2009
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October 21, 2015
I read this while on the train from Washington to Cary. It seemed apropos.
I never rode an Amtrak train before moving to Washington; they never went anywhere I wanted to go or, if they did, I was unaware of it. But my grandparents lived in North Carolina, and while everyone else I knew who had relatives in North Carolina (and sometimes it seemed like everyone had relatives in North Carolina) drove to visit them . . . I don't drive. It didn't take me more than one or two trips to work out that at (then) $74 round trip, the train was more economical than flying would ever be. I got on my first train in 2005 and never looked back.
At the time, the Durham train station was a disaster, the Raleigh train station a dump, and the Cary train station not yet served by all the lines that serve it now. Things have improved a lot since then, thanks to heavy North Carolina investment in rail (which McCommons covers). Durham was renovated in 2008, Cary in 2011, and Raleigh is currently on track to be completely rebuilt by 2017. That's good, because with the rise of intercity bus alternatives to old, slow Greyhound, Amtrak has competition. Rail fares are up to $106 round-trip, but for as little as $5, I can take a round-trip bus from DC to Durham--in an hour less time.
Sometimes I even do. But I still favor the train--for its broad, cushy seats; bathrooms with real sinks; snack and lounge cars; and better scenery. It's strange and hard to explain until you've experienced it, but what you see outside a train window isn't the same as what you can see from the window of a car (and as a permanent passenger, I've spent a lot of time staring out the window onto the highway). The logic to the placement of rails and roads is different, McCommons explains, and so you see landscapes--human and natural--that you see nowhere else.
I'm not a railfan (a "foamer") in the classic sense. My boyfriend can tell you all about makes and models and consists and the history of the tracks; all I can tell you is that the train gets me where I need to go, when I need to get there. (More or less. Take Amtrak once or twice and you'll soon gain a fine appreciation for the definition of "Amtrak on-time.") It spares me the havoc of airport lines and security checkpoints, and gives me a chance to talk to people I never meet day to day.
But before this book, I'd never given much thought to why the train in America works the way it does--the reasons behind its slow crawls, somewhat inexplicable routing, and lack (despite ample evidence of the benefits as demonstrated by other countries) of motivation for system-wide expansion. In an ambling, non-linear narrative (much like trying to get from point A to point B via Amtrak), McCommons explores the economic and political history of rail and provides glimpses into the joys (and resigned sorrows) of modern American rail travel. It shouldn't work, but it does--again, rather like Amtrak itself.
Waiting on a Train has been sitting on my shelf since 2010, and part of me thinks it's a shame I didn't read it sooner. Certainly it would have been a more uplifting read if I'd gotten to it before Walker killed the Milwaukee to Madison high-speed line and the rest of Wisconsin's rail dreams. (When I got to the Wisconsin chapter, my expression got so pained that my seat mate inquired if something was wrong.) 2009 was a uniquely optimistic point in the history of American rail, with Obama just come into office, gas prices soaring, and plans for new rail lines springing up like mushrooms.
And so it's interesting, from a historical perspective, to read the book five years later, to see what dreams were and weren't fulfilled. (Although the foreword, with its dire predictions about the immediacy of peak oil, is particularly dated and can probably be skipped.) It makes me want to go back through the news archives, to check in on every project mentioned and see what the status is. Rail is, as McCommons notes over and over, a long-term investment; five years is long enough to change the political landscape considerably, but not long enough to get a high-speed line up and running. Which is the problem. Political will waxes and wanes, and in the meantime trains keep running, the tracks growing steadily more congested, the cars more crowded.
But I hope McCommons is right. I hope the golden age of trains is slowly trickling in. Millennial, the paper keeps telling me, favor transit-centric development; I am not alone in my disdain for cars. America is a car-centric culture, but as McCommons notes, that's a relatively recent development in its own way, not an inevitable law of nature. Maybe it's finally time for things to shift away.
Somewhere outside Raleigh, our train got stuck behind a freighter--or perhaps a fallen tree. The chatter between the conductors was unclear. We were halfway across an at-grade crossing, and as we sat there the lines of cars stopped on either side of us grew longer, headlights stretching away until they faded into the night. One small hitch in a system that lacks redundancy, and no one was going anywhere. It was a microcosm of our future transit woes: rail and road traffic, as McCommons makes clear, are both part of the same system, and any transportation policy that focuses on one to the exclusion of the other can't provide for our growing need to move people and freight across the country.
We pulled into Cary an hour behind schedule--Amtrak on time. My friend was waiting. As we drove out of the parking lot, my phone buzzed with a text message from my parents.
"Did you make it on time?"
"No, but I made it."
That's the nature of passenger rail today: reliable only if you set your expectations appropriately. But McCommons argues, convincingly, that it doesn't need to be that way, that if freight companies, Amtrak, and all levels of government work together, we can have a functional rail system again.
I never rode an Amtrak train before moving to Washington; they never went anywhere I wanted to go or, if they did, I was unaware of it. But my grandparents lived in North Carolina, and while everyone else I knew who had relatives in North Carolina (and sometimes it seemed like everyone had relatives in North Carolina) drove to visit them . . . I don't drive. It didn't take me more than one or two trips to work out that at (then) $74 round trip, the train was more economical than flying would ever be. I got on my first train in 2005 and never looked back.
At the time, the Durham train station was a disaster, the Raleigh train station a dump, and the Cary train station not yet served by all the lines that serve it now. Things have improved a lot since then, thanks to heavy North Carolina investment in rail (which McCommons covers). Durham was renovated in 2008, Cary in 2011, and Raleigh is currently on track to be completely rebuilt by 2017. That's good, because with the rise of intercity bus alternatives to old, slow Greyhound, Amtrak has competition. Rail fares are up to $106 round-trip, but for as little as $5, I can take a round-trip bus from DC to Durham--in an hour less time.
Sometimes I even do. But I still favor the train--for its broad, cushy seats; bathrooms with real sinks; snack and lounge cars; and better scenery. It's strange and hard to explain until you've experienced it, but what you see outside a train window isn't the same as what you can see from the window of a car (and as a permanent passenger, I've spent a lot of time staring out the window onto the highway). The logic to the placement of rails and roads is different, McCommons explains, and so you see landscapes--human and natural--that you see nowhere else.
I'm not a railfan (a "foamer") in the classic sense. My boyfriend can tell you all about makes and models and consists and the history of the tracks; all I can tell you is that the train gets me where I need to go, when I need to get there. (More or less. Take Amtrak once or twice and you'll soon gain a fine appreciation for the definition of "Amtrak on-time.") It spares me the havoc of airport lines and security checkpoints, and gives me a chance to talk to people I never meet day to day.
But before this book, I'd never given much thought to why the train in America works the way it does--the reasons behind its slow crawls, somewhat inexplicable routing, and lack (despite ample evidence of the benefits as demonstrated by other countries) of motivation for system-wide expansion. In an ambling, non-linear narrative (much like trying to get from point A to point B via Amtrak), McCommons explores the economic and political history of rail and provides glimpses into the joys (and resigned sorrows) of modern American rail travel. It shouldn't work, but it does--again, rather like Amtrak itself.
Waiting on a Train has been sitting on my shelf since 2010, and part of me thinks it's a shame I didn't read it sooner. Certainly it would have been a more uplifting read if I'd gotten to it before Walker killed the Milwaukee to Madison high-speed line and the rest of Wisconsin's rail dreams. (When I got to the Wisconsin chapter, my expression got so pained that my seat mate inquired if something was wrong.) 2009 was a uniquely optimistic point in the history of American rail, with Obama just come into office, gas prices soaring, and plans for new rail lines springing up like mushrooms.
And so it's interesting, from a historical perspective, to read the book five years later, to see what dreams were and weren't fulfilled. (Although the foreword, with its dire predictions about the immediacy of peak oil, is particularly dated and can probably be skipped.) It makes me want to go back through the news archives, to check in on every project mentioned and see what the status is. Rail is, as McCommons notes over and over, a long-term investment; five years is long enough to change the political landscape considerably, but not long enough to get a high-speed line up and running. Which is the problem. Political will waxes and wanes, and in the meantime trains keep running, the tracks growing steadily more congested, the cars more crowded.
But I hope McCommons is right. I hope the golden age of trains is slowly trickling in. Millennial, the paper keeps telling me, favor transit-centric development; I am not alone in my disdain for cars. America is a car-centric culture, but as McCommons notes, that's a relatively recent development in its own way, not an inevitable law of nature. Maybe it's finally time for things to shift away.
Somewhere outside Raleigh, our train got stuck behind a freighter--or perhaps a fallen tree. The chatter between the conductors was unclear. We were halfway across an at-grade crossing, and as we sat there the lines of cars stopped on either side of us grew longer, headlights stretching away until they faded into the night. One small hitch in a system that lacks redundancy, and no one was going anywhere. It was a microcosm of our future transit woes: rail and road traffic, as McCommons makes clear, are both part of the same system, and any transportation policy that focuses on one to the exclusion of the other can't provide for our growing need to move people and freight across the country.
We pulled into Cary an hour behind schedule--Amtrak on time. My friend was waiting. As we drove out of the parking lot, my phone buzzed with a text message from my parents.
"Did you make it on time?"
"No, but I made it."
That's the nature of passenger rail today: reliable only if you set your expectations appropriately. But McCommons argues, convincingly, that it doesn't need to be that way, that if freight companies, Amtrak, and all levels of government work together, we can have a functional rail system again.
May 5, 2014
Fittingly, I read this book on a long train journey westward, across the US and then Eastward across Canada. The author tells of his experiences on Amtrak trains as well as filling us in on the history and current challenges the railroad faces. Many executive types involved in railroading are interviewed. It gets a little tedious because they all tell a similar story. Passenger rail in America is a neglected form of mass transit. We are farther away than ever from European and Japanese speedy "bullet" trains. I would have enjoyed the book more if the author had given the reader a closeri look at the folks who are riding Amtrak; their reasons for choosing it and their reactions to the service. Incidentally,I like to travel rail,but I'm not a "foamer"; a term coined to denote those overly zealous railroad fans. The last part of my recent odyssey was traveled on Via Rail Canada with a sleeper across Canada and elegant meals served in style in the dining car. The Canadians have forever spoiled me....
April 17, 2015
Apart from some relatively dated observations written at the height of the 2008 financial crisis, McCommons' interesting book combines a travelogue of his own rail journeys across the entire Amtrak system with a history of American passenger rail service since Amtrak's creation in the 1970s. As a railfan myself (though not quite a 'foamer', to use the slang term for train junkies who delight in details of engine numbers and timetables), I was by turns enlightened and saddened by reading more about the shabby treatment that Amtrak has received from both the government and the major freight railroads in terms of track space and operational funding. Small wonder that politicians talk about "investing in" highways but "subsidising" railroads, demanding that Amtrak be profitable (which no other country really demands of its passenger rail services) while starving it of the support that it needs to actually improve services and be viable in key regions where it could supplement or even replace air travel. The handful of people who seem to have long-term visions for passenger rail don't seem to survive in the current political environment -- not surprising, but nonetheless depressing.
McCommons' Amtrak travel tales are as much a part of the book as his analysis, and he makes good use of his interviews with his fellow passengers to supplement his arguments. The only aspect that I wish he'd touched upon more is the social history of American passenger rail, the race and class connections that still shape how many people perceive train travel. He does mention his own family connections with the railroads, but I felt that Waiting on a Train would have benefited from a slightly deeper look at why the importance of Amtrak's survival isn't purely about economic and environmental considerations. (Books like Rising from the Rails and The Harvey Girls have examined the effects of the railroads on African Americans and women, for instance; even if McCommons is not writing a social history of Amtrak, a little more background along these lines would have been nice to read.)
McCommons' Amtrak travel tales are as much a part of the book as his analysis, and he makes good use of his interviews with his fellow passengers to supplement his arguments. The only aspect that I wish he'd touched upon more is the social history of American passenger rail, the race and class connections that still shape how many people perceive train travel. He does mention his own family connections with the railroads, but I felt that Waiting on a Train would have benefited from a slightly deeper look at why the importance of Amtrak's survival isn't purely about economic and environmental considerations. (Books like Rising from the Rails and The Harvey Girls have examined the effects of the railroads on African Americans and women, for instance; even if McCommons is not writing a social history of Amtrak, a little more background along these lines would have been nice to read.)
March 27, 2015
Waiting on a Train is a great look at the mysteries behind America's past, present, and hopefully future of passenger rail. Jim McCommons, a professor at NMU who has to undergo the indignity of riding the Greyhound 300 miles from Marquette to the nearest train station (Milwaukee), meets and interviews the movers and shakers trying to advance the cause of passenger railroading in this country. He travels the long-distance and regional trains too, from the ones that work (Amtrak California) to the ones that don't (the Cardinal.) I was bothered a tiny bit by minor mischaracterizations of railroads and history, but that's just the foamer in me. Definitely worth a read even if you don't support government funding of Amtrak and its ilk, because McCommons is a thorough writer and no dreamer.
January 21, 2018
I really enjoyed reading about all the bureaucracy that limits America's passenger rail service. If you, like me, have ever wondered why we can't have the efficient, pleasant, inexpensive, reliable train service of Europe, this book gives you a pretty good idea.
February 23, 2016
During 2008, a year when gas prices rose to record heights and the economy nosedived, James McCommons spent the year riding Amtrak around the country while speaking to railroad experts about the future of passenger rail services. As he takes various trains, he writes about his experiences traveling and his interviews. Mixed into the text is a brief the history of railroading in America. For a nation that has the most efficient freight system in the world, our passenger system is leaves much to be desired. McCommons describes what happened with passenger rail service in the United States and how we ended up with the spotty system we currently have.
Amtrak was formed at a time when the entire rail system in the United States was nearing a collapse. Railroads were expected to provide passenger service as well as haul freight as a result of the generous land grants and money they’d received to built the roads, but they wanted to get out of the passenger business. In order to shed this responsibility, Amtrak was formed. Each railroad contributed equipment and gave Amtrak running rights on its track. Amtrak did receive some of its own track, the “Northeast Corridor,†which was tracks own by the bankrupt Penn Central which had been formed into another quasiâ€â€government corporation, Conrail. At the time, the Penn Central bankruptcy was the largest ever and Congress felt it had to act or it leave much of the northeast without any rail service. In the late 60s, both freight and passenger trains were in trouble.
McCommons explores in detail how the railroads became such a mess. In the 19th Century, the government gave land and money and other incentives to the railroads to encourage them to connect the country. In some ways, railroads can be credited with created the “United States†as steel connected communities across the nation. But as the 19th Century came to an end, the brutal and often monopolistic practices of railroads caused them to be one of the most hated businesses in the nation. During the Progressive Era, starting with Teddy Roosevelt, railroads were highly regulated. As the nation entered the 20th Century, railroads had few friends to help them against the threat of other forms of transportation that were being subsidized. Furthermore, railroads were barred from having any connection with bus services, which was seen as a competition to rail travel, not a complimentary service. Railroads came out of the Second World War with high hopes for passenger service, but the interstate and air travel quickly diminished their hopes. (109-111)
Amtrak, according to McCommons research, was designed to fail. Although sold as a way to make passenger rail profitable, such an idea was a myth. Once Amtrak was created, railroads didn’t have to worry about providing passenger service, and if it failed the railroads would be off the hook.
As McCommons points out, the “farebox†doesn’t pay the cost of operating any of the railroads we’re envious of around the world. Unfortunately, we’ve been sold the line that passenger rail can pay for itself and the debate over such trains in the United States is framed by Congress who sees itself as “subsidizing†Amtrak, while they “invest†in highways and airports. (247) Obviously, such terminology puts passenger trains at a great disadvantage to other forms of transportation.
As he travels the country, McCommons visits with passenger rail advocates and industrial leaders of all but one of the Class 1 railroads in the country. Only Union Pacific refused to meet with him and Union Pacific comes across in this book as being anti-passenger rail. Yet, McCommons was surprised at the response he had from the other railroads who strive to work with Amtrak in providing passenger service. As Amtrak only owns a portion of its track, it has to depend on other railroads for space on their tracks. Norfolk Southern has even pondered the idea of getting back into the rail business. (221) CSX, which has the most passenger service on its system, proposed in 2008 to the US Department of Transportation “Corridors to the Future†Program, a north-south transportation corridor that would run along I-95 with dedicated freight and passenger lines to help remove congestion from the freeway. The Bush-era Department of Transportation only funded highway projects! (254) The Bush family looks anti-passenger rail in this book. George W. Bush tried to kill Amtrak funding throughout his administration and his family is well tied with Southwest Airlines, whose president bragged that he killed a proposed highspeed rail corridor that would tied together Texas three major metropolitan areas. In Florida, Jed Bush also killed a project that would link that state together with high speed rail.
Although McCommons points out the failure of passenger rail in this country, he also highlights several areas where it is successful. He points to corridors which successfully links population areas together and notes that trains can compete with airlines in travel of less than 500 miles. Many of these corridors have developed (Northeast, California, North Carolina, Chicago-Milwaukee, etc). McCommons suggests that for passenger trains to make a comeback, they will need of a nationwide strategy for rail service (that’s not based on nostalgia) and money. It will require new tracks as current tracks are near capacity (CSX noted that if railroads took just 10% of long-haul trucking off the freeways, it would gridlock the rail system). (268)
I recommend this book. Of course, I’m sort of a foamer when it comes to train travel (read the book to learn what a foamer is). Not to brag, but I have ridden all the trains he rode with the exception of the lines in New England. To read some of my train adventures, check out my blog at www.sagecoveredhills.blogspot.com
Amtrak was formed at a time when the entire rail system in the United States was nearing a collapse. Railroads were expected to provide passenger service as well as haul freight as a result of the generous land grants and money they’d received to built the roads, but they wanted to get out of the passenger business. In order to shed this responsibility, Amtrak was formed. Each railroad contributed equipment and gave Amtrak running rights on its track. Amtrak did receive some of its own track, the “Northeast Corridor,†which was tracks own by the bankrupt Penn Central which had been formed into another quasiâ€â€government corporation, Conrail. At the time, the Penn Central bankruptcy was the largest ever and Congress felt it had to act or it leave much of the northeast without any rail service. In the late 60s, both freight and passenger trains were in trouble.
McCommons explores in detail how the railroads became such a mess. In the 19th Century, the government gave land and money and other incentives to the railroads to encourage them to connect the country. In some ways, railroads can be credited with created the “United States†as steel connected communities across the nation. But as the 19th Century came to an end, the brutal and often monopolistic practices of railroads caused them to be one of the most hated businesses in the nation. During the Progressive Era, starting with Teddy Roosevelt, railroads were highly regulated. As the nation entered the 20th Century, railroads had few friends to help them against the threat of other forms of transportation that were being subsidized. Furthermore, railroads were barred from having any connection with bus services, which was seen as a competition to rail travel, not a complimentary service. Railroads came out of the Second World War with high hopes for passenger service, but the interstate and air travel quickly diminished their hopes. (109-111)
Amtrak, according to McCommons research, was designed to fail. Although sold as a way to make passenger rail profitable, such an idea was a myth. Once Amtrak was created, railroads didn’t have to worry about providing passenger service, and if it failed the railroads would be off the hook.
As McCommons points out, the “farebox†doesn’t pay the cost of operating any of the railroads we’re envious of around the world. Unfortunately, we’ve been sold the line that passenger rail can pay for itself and the debate over such trains in the United States is framed by Congress who sees itself as “subsidizing†Amtrak, while they “invest†in highways and airports. (247) Obviously, such terminology puts passenger trains at a great disadvantage to other forms of transportation.
As he travels the country, McCommons visits with passenger rail advocates and industrial leaders of all but one of the Class 1 railroads in the country. Only Union Pacific refused to meet with him and Union Pacific comes across in this book as being anti-passenger rail. Yet, McCommons was surprised at the response he had from the other railroads who strive to work with Amtrak in providing passenger service. As Amtrak only owns a portion of its track, it has to depend on other railroads for space on their tracks. Norfolk Southern has even pondered the idea of getting back into the rail business. (221) CSX, which has the most passenger service on its system, proposed in 2008 to the US Department of Transportation “Corridors to the Future†Program, a north-south transportation corridor that would run along I-95 with dedicated freight and passenger lines to help remove congestion from the freeway. The Bush-era Department of Transportation only funded highway projects! (254) The Bush family looks anti-passenger rail in this book. George W. Bush tried to kill Amtrak funding throughout his administration and his family is well tied with Southwest Airlines, whose president bragged that he killed a proposed highspeed rail corridor that would tied together Texas three major metropolitan areas. In Florida, Jed Bush also killed a project that would link that state together with high speed rail.
Although McCommons points out the failure of passenger rail in this country, he also highlights several areas where it is successful. He points to corridors which successfully links population areas together and notes that trains can compete with airlines in travel of less than 500 miles. Many of these corridors have developed (Northeast, California, North Carolina, Chicago-Milwaukee, etc). McCommons suggests that for passenger trains to make a comeback, they will need of a nationwide strategy for rail service (that’s not based on nostalgia) and money. It will require new tracks as current tracks are near capacity (CSX noted that if railroads took just 10% of long-haul trucking off the freeways, it would gridlock the rail system). (268)
I recommend this book. Of course, I’m sort of a foamer when it comes to train travel (read the book to learn what a foamer is). Not to brag, but I have ridden all the trains he rode with the exception of the lines in New England. To read some of my train adventures, check out my blog at www.sagecoveredhills.blogspot.com
January 30, 2016
You leave the Pennsylvania Station 'bout a quarter to four,
Read a magazine and then you're in Baltimore!
Dinner in the diner, nothing could be finer
Than to have your ham and eggs in Carolina!
("The Chattanooga Choo-Choo", Henry Warden & Mack Gordon)
Since 2000, U.S. gasoline prices have more than doubled Not coincidentally, since 2000, ridership aboard the country's only nation-wide passenger rail service, Amtrak, has risen 49%. In 2008, in the middle of an as-yet-unbroken sting of nine consecutive record-breaking years, James McCommons traveled the length of Amtrak's many varied routes to gauge the state of the nation's passenger rails. In the wake of an ostensibly transit-friendly president being elected, and in anticipation of some stimulus money being applied toward improving rail infrastructure, such a journey seemed timely. Chatter about rails is on the rise, and in Waiting on a Train, McCommons offers a sober -- sometimes bleak, sometimes hopeful -- evaluation of the passenger rail services in America, and advice on how restore a largely abandoned service.
There was a time when railroads were the default means of extensive travel for most Americans, every city and town of consequence linked in a network that covered the continent. A casual glance at the Amtrak map now reveals how drastically the situation for passenger rail has declined: although the northeastern U.S., Chicago, and west coast are seemingly well-covered, the majority of the nation receives scant services, and some states none at all. Throughout his yearlong journey, McCommons explains how this came to be: public distrust of the railroads as large, corporate entities, coupled with enthusiastic popular and governmental support for the automobile and airports relegated them to the sidelines, where stifling, archaic regulations drove them into moribundity until they sloughed off the need for passenger service and focused on freight. Passenger service became the exclusive domain of Amtrak, a queer public-private corporation that was given access to the freight's rails...or was supposed to have been.
As McCommon's account shows, passenger service is very much the "red-headed stepchild" of American railroading. Although the rail companies, now purely freight-haulers, are obligated to let Amtrak use their lines, freight is given priority more often than not. Time and again, McCommon's ride is driven into the sidings to allow freight trains to pass them. ("Make way for the cheap crap for Wal-Mart!" said one conductor, disgusted. European passengers were utterly aghast at the concept.) With demand for both freight and passenger services on the rise, limited infrastructure is a worsening impediment to expansion. Not only did railroad companies throw away hundreds of miles of lines in the 1970s in a leanness effort, but many current lines were built for an older generation of slower engines, and their curve ratios can't take speedier modern trains...and especially not the bullet trains which some rail advocates seem to think is the only kind of rail it is possible to enjoy. But the greatest problem is the scantness of the network itself, which a recent article from The Atlantic demonstrates nicely.
The good news is, despite of the weaknesses of the system, in spite of the work that needs to be done, the situation can’t help but improve. A new generation of officials and service professionals are running Amtrak these days, and they’re not former freight employees who regard passengers as problems to be endured. Even if President Obama conforms to the longstanding Democrat tradition of giving trains lipservice and then ignoring them, states are beginning to take their rail systems into their own hands – and while that’s almost just as well, because local officials know their needs better. Ultimately, though, McCommons believes restoring passenger rail service will require a substantial investment from the federal government, because the revival of passenger rail will depend on a network that serves the many, that reaches a multitude of destinations – not just one limited to parts of the coasts and Chicago. Forget profitability, McCommons writes; accept that passenger railroads are an investment in the future, a foundation to build around and not a revenue-producer by themselves. Unfortunately, that’s an argument we hear from the highways, too, and these days making investments without some idea of the returns isn’t going to sell well. What will sell well is the fact that since heavily subsidized highways and airports also don’t generate profits , we’re better off with the transportation option that loses the least money – trains. Future rises in oil prices will help, as well.
Waiting on a Train is part travelogue, part citizen-advocacy, but a travel tale wherein our guide gives more attention to the means of transportation than the landscape – except when he combines them by reminiscing about how lovely the Rockies looked from the dome-covered observation cars of old. For Americans with an interest in reviving passenger rail in the United States, Waiting on a Train is a solid beginning, sizing up the system’s current strengths and weaknesses and at the same time giving rail romantics like myself an appreciation for the practicalities of rail transportation; it is a lesson in railroad logistics.
November 2, 2017
A clear-eyed view of how passenger rail could fit into our national transportation scheme. McCommons dispenses with the railfan's rose-colored glasses and focuses on where various passenger and high speed rail programs have worked and why without acting as if they are a panacea or silver bullet for transportation issues.
A must read for anyone who wants to have an intelligent conversation about transportation solutions in the 21st Century.
A must read for anyone who wants to have an intelligent conversation about transportation solutions in the 21st Century.
December 19, 2019
Informative and interesting deep dive into the past, present, and future of Amtrak and passenger rail service in the US. Told as a cross-country journey on the nation's trains, the book highlights interviews and key decisions that impacted the passenger rail system we have (or don't have) today. I enjoyed the book and learned quite a bit along the way.
April 4, 2020
If you have ever found yourself wondering "why doesn't the US have better passenger trains?", this is the book that reveals the full answer.
'Waiting on a Train' offers a comprehensive analysis to explain why we have the system that we do, woven into a memorable storytelling of the author's rail travels throughout the country. Open this book the next time you ride the rails!
'Waiting on a Train' offers a comprehensive analysis to explain why we have the system that we do, woven into a memorable storytelling of the author's rail travels throughout the country. Open this book the next time you ride the rails!
May 20, 2017
Interesting topic but delivery was too repetitive. Also didn't need his comments about which women were attractive or fat etc.
December 4, 2022
3.5 / 5
July 22, 2023
A good overview of the problems with American passenger rail, if a little outdated
March 16, 2019
An enjoyable (if appropriately slow) read about Amtrak–where it came from and what it would take to make it better. Published in 2009, I found that I wanted updates to all the statistics and proposed plans referenced in the book.
August 18, 2019
this is a great read about the passenger rail industry in the US.......a bit outdated now(2009)but it explains the reasons and the frustrations of why Amtrak has failed but also has some successes too......author takes you on a personal train journey as well........
December 19, 2015
I found out about this book, and its author, from a podcast episode of the "David Feldman Show" earlier this year. I soon learned that I'm a "foamer" - a train fan. So I immediately downloaded this book to my Kindle to be able to read - preferably while on a train.
Since I'm an ex-pat American living in France, my train experience is so completely different from what the typical American train traveller experiences via Amtrak. I won't go into the various and sundry differences that I experience taking Thalys, the SNCF, or the ICE here in Europe (I've even taken the overnight train from Paris to Prague, with my own private sleeper cabin, and was harshly awaken at an ungodly hour by the Czech border police in the middle of the night to inspect my passport while sleeping in my cozy couchette).
The premise of this book, already a bit dated since it was published in 2009 due to the infrastructure investment that Congress authorized in that brief, shining moment when Obama/Biden had a Democratic Congress, is what is it like to ride the major, inter-city train lines in America on Amtrak, as well as the regional rail lines that are usually operated by Amtrak as well. He took a year (2008/9) to ride the various routes, and gave fairly detailed critiques of what it was like. Usually, it sounded as various kinds of awful.
I had taken the Los Angeles to Seattle route back in 2000 (with my best friend, in a couchette), and found the experience enjoyable and pleasant. But, on the whole, the Amtrak experience sounds horrible - especially when compared to European standards.
The author also interviewed all of the major players in the train industry (both freight and passenger), which I found interesting. The only minor critique I have of the book is that the book left me angry (as an American) that so little is expected, and so little is done by the government, to improve train service and safety. I'm ashamed that Amtrak is basically a third-world service provider, and the lack of interconnectivity between trains and local transit is shameful. I wish that things will change, but I know they won't. Which is one of the many reasons while I chose to move to Europe in the first place, but I digress.
Since I'm an ex-pat American living in France, my train experience is so completely different from what the typical American train traveller experiences via Amtrak. I won't go into the various and sundry differences that I experience taking Thalys, the SNCF, or the ICE here in Europe (I've even taken the overnight train from Paris to Prague, with my own private sleeper cabin, and was harshly awaken at an ungodly hour by the Czech border police in the middle of the night to inspect my passport while sleeping in my cozy couchette).
The premise of this book, already a bit dated since it was published in 2009 due to the infrastructure investment that Congress authorized in that brief, shining moment when Obama/Biden had a Democratic Congress, is what is it like to ride the major, inter-city train lines in America on Amtrak, as well as the regional rail lines that are usually operated by Amtrak as well. He took a year (2008/9) to ride the various routes, and gave fairly detailed critiques of what it was like. Usually, it sounded as various kinds of awful.
I had taken the Los Angeles to Seattle route back in 2000 (with my best friend, in a couchette), and found the experience enjoyable and pleasant. But, on the whole, the Amtrak experience sounds horrible - especially when compared to European standards.
The author also interviewed all of the major players in the train industry (both freight and passenger), which I found interesting. The only minor critique I have of the book is that the book left me angry (as an American) that so little is expected, and so little is done by the government, to improve train service and safety. I'm ashamed that Amtrak is basically a third-world service provider, and the lack of interconnectivity between trains and local transit is shameful. I wish that things will change, but I know they won't. Which is one of the many reasons while I chose to move to Europe in the first place, but I digress.
January 3, 2015
McCommons spins a good story while explaining all the geeky details surrounding Amtrak and America's failure to have quality passenger rail service. The structure of the book, riding through different regions as McCommons interviews people, gives it a shape that works with the topic, while the descriptions of the travel and the people he meets riding the rails capture the experience of passenger rail for those who have never ridden it.
I found the section on Boston, Dukakis and the MBTA system as it intersects with Amtrak particularly interesting, as my hometown has grown and developed because of MBTA commuter rail. Growing up in a location where rail was a viable alternative probably predisposes me to preferring that mode of travel even before you factor in the increasing cattle car feel of airplanes.
McCommons talks a lot about railfans, or foamers, especially early on as he describes the challenges he had getting interviews with some officials who thought that's what he was interested in. If you are a railfan, know that this is primarily a book about passenger rail as a viable transportation option in the U.S. McCommons wrote for people who might never have traveled on a train, or those who do for commuting or other travel because it's the best option, rather than because they care about every detail of the equipment in the consist.
The book was researched in 2008 and published in 2009, a time when passenger rail got its first real boost in decades through stimulus funding for rail projects, including high-speed rail. For all the problems McCommons finds in passenger rail in the U.S., there's a lot of hope that over the next twenty years, this country could move toward having truly viable intercity passenger rail beyond the few corridors where it currently exists.
Whether you like trains, hate the other transportation options, are interested in economic development or just like learning more about an interesting topic, you'll enjoy Waiting on A Train. And after you finish, you'll probably start thinking about ways passenger rail could improve your city or region if done properly.
I found the section on Boston, Dukakis and the MBTA system as it intersects with Amtrak particularly interesting, as my hometown has grown and developed because of MBTA commuter rail. Growing up in a location where rail was a viable alternative probably predisposes me to preferring that mode of travel even before you factor in the increasing cattle car feel of airplanes.
McCommons talks a lot about railfans, or foamers, especially early on as he describes the challenges he had getting interviews with some officials who thought that's what he was interested in. If you are a railfan, know that this is primarily a book about passenger rail as a viable transportation option in the U.S. McCommons wrote for people who might never have traveled on a train, or those who do for commuting or other travel because it's the best option, rather than because they care about every detail of the equipment in the consist.
The book was researched in 2008 and published in 2009, a time when passenger rail got its first real boost in decades through stimulus funding for rail projects, including high-speed rail. For all the problems McCommons finds in passenger rail in the U.S., there's a lot of hope that over the next twenty years, this country could move toward having truly viable intercity passenger rail beyond the few corridors where it currently exists.
Whether you like trains, hate the other transportation options, are interested in economic development or just like learning more about an interesting topic, you'll enjoy Waiting on A Train. And after you finish, you'll probably start thinking about ways passenger rail could improve your city or region if done properly.
July 24, 2010
By now, you have a pretty good idea what types of books I read. I read young adult, fantasy, sci fi, horse racing books, animal books, the occasional literary fic, even less occasional thriller or mystery. So...WTF, right? Well, let me start out by saying I'm no foamer/trainspotter. But I have been converted to the utter deliciousness of the train as a mode of transport from living on the Northeast Corridor. It's my mode of choice from D.C. to NYC, and I've taken it to Boston, which is a lovely, lovely ride in the fall, going along the little seaport towns as it does. My uncle was a locomotive engineer, and I'm sure he'd say this is in our blood (well, vehicles of some sort are: I have a father who was a pilot, another uncle who was a trucker, and a cousin who raced cars). At any rate, I picked this up not because I'm prescient and topical, 'cause I had no idea this was on the radar these days. I got it 'cause it was on several of the Best Books of 2009 lists and it seemed like an interesting read.
It is. It is really two books in one. The first is a tour of how Amtrak came to be, what the issues are surrounding it, what states are doing about passenger rail service, and what the future of Amtrak or other rail projects, even high-speed rail, are in this country. The other part of the book is a travelogue, and utterly charming. The guy is pro-trains, so this is not an "objective" look by any means, but it was one I resonated with after having experienced rides on the now defunct Metroliner (oh, how I loved that train) and the Acela (and the Northeast Regional--the "bus," as it were, connecting this corridor) and seeing how easy, convenient, comfortable (you can get up and walk, really walk) and low impact the train is compared to flying or driving. Easy for a Northeasterner who lives on the corridor, not so easy for most other places. Read this book if you're at all interested in this topic. It's fascinating.
Rated: A
It is. It is really two books in one. The first is a tour of how Amtrak came to be, what the issues are surrounding it, what states are doing about passenger rail service, and what the future of Amtrak or other rail projects, even high-speed rail, are in this country. The other part of the book is a travelogue, and utterly charming. The guy is pro-trains, so this is not an "objective" look by any means, but it was one I resonated with after having experienced rides on the now defunct Metroliner (oh, how I loved that train) and the Acela (and the Northeast Regional--the "bus," as it were, connecting this corridor) and seeing how easy, convenient, comfortable (you can get up and walk, really walk) and low impact the train is compared to flying or driving. Easy for a Northeasterner who lives on the corridor, not so easy for most other places. Read this book if you're at all interested in this topic. It's fascinating.
Rated: A
May 26, 2010
Author James McCommons intertwines several different threads in this book. The primary thread is a travelogue describing a year of trips on Amtrak to all four corners of the United States. During the course of these travels, he meets and interviews many people who work in the rail industry (both for Amtrak and the freight railroads), rail advocacy groups, and various state and city agencies that are actively supporting local rail transit. Through these interviews, and other exposition, McCommons discusses the current state of long-distance passenger rail travel in the United States, how it got to be this way, and various trends that might lead to a sunnier future for passenger rail.
Like McCommons, I like traveling by rail. Living most of my life in New York City and Boston, I have traveled extensively in Amtrak's northeast corridor, and have made other trips to Charlottesville, VA, Savannah, GA, between San Francisco and Denver, and (when I was less then a year old) cross-country from New York to California. I am sympathetic to his hopes for a revival of rail travel in the U.S., and this makes it hard for me to dispassionately evaluate the case he makes for it.
There is a lot of interest in the book, but by end it started to get a bit repetitious, as the trips all started to sound the same---generic descriptions of scenery, various passengers the author meets in the dining car, and meetings with still more insiders from the rail industry. Definitely worthwhile, but maybe not for somebody who doesn't already have an interest in passenger rail travel in the United States.
Like McCommons, I like traveling by rail. Living most of my life in New York City and Boston, I have traveled extensively in Amtrak's northeast corridor, and have made other trips to Charlottesville, VA, Savannah, GA, between San Francisco and Denver, and (when I was less then a year old) cross-country from New York to California. I am sympathetic to his hopes for a revival of rail travel in the U.S., and this makes it hard for me to dispassionately evaluate the case he makes for it.
There is a lot of interest in the book, but by end it started to get a bit repetitious, as the trips all started to sound the same---generic descriptions of scenery, various passengers the author meets in the dining car, and meetings with still more insiders from the rail industry. Definitely worthwhile, but maybe not for somebody who doesn't already have an interest in passenger rail travel in the United States.
November 5, 2014
This is a very enjoyable and eye-opening book. I enjoyed imagining the picture McCommons painted of fellow passengers, government and industry leaders, and landscapes in the land of the free and the home of the brave. His observations and descriptions are poetic and insightful. His interviews are skillful (no surprise with his journalism background) in gaining the information he seeks, yet also revealing of the personalities.
What I particularly found helpful is the intertwining of history, technology, and political reality. He delineates how we came to arrive at the semi-broken and variegated passenger train system we have today, what can be done to fix it, and what it will take to do so. The author is an enthusiastic realist, talking with other enthusiastic realists, but is no mere foamer. He explains, from a technical and industry standpoint, why American railroads (or Amtrak, either)cannot run bullet trains on existing freight tracks. Yet, he also points out what speed increases beyond 100 mph are possible, and how and where these increases might be accomplished, both from a technical, political, and financial standpoint. Regarding bullet trains, he reports where and how Americans might replicate the Japanese experience.
McCommons addresses varying train technology, footprints, politics, including the creation of Amtrak, and the customer experiences and improvements along the way. He clearly enjoys riding the rails, notes where problems and success exist, and hopes for a better tomorrow for American railroading.
What I particularly found helpful is the intertwining of history, technology, and political reality. He delineates how we came to arrive at the semi-broken and variegated passenger train system we have today, what can be done to fix it, and what it will take to do so. The author is an enthusiastic realist, talking with other enthusiastic realists, but is no mere foamer. He explains, from a technical and industry standpoint, why American railroads (or Amtrak, either)cannot run bullet trains on existing freight tracks. Yet, he also points out what speed increases beyond 100 mph are possible, and how and where these increases might be accomplished, both from a technical, political, and financial standpoint. Regarding bullet trains, he reports where and how Americans might replicate the Japanese experience.
McCommons addresses varying train technology, footprints, politics, including the creation of Amtrak, and the customer experiences and improvements along the way. He clearly enjoys riding the rails, notes where problems and success exist, and hopes for a better tomorrow for American railroading.
March 7, 2016
This extraordinary work was timely, written as the author crisscrossed America by train to see the state of the U.S. rail network in 2008 and early 2009. He knew it was at a tipping point in many ways: the last days of cheap auto travel, the renewed need for efficient passenger - and freight - service, the convergence of mindsets in government (local, state and Federal), in the railroad industry, in that of the public. It was a year of a new administration ready to reconsider the role of passenger service.
The author is a journalist, and it shows: he interviewed a cross-section of the riding public, and comes up with considerable human interest. He also interviews many of the key figures in public transit, passenger rail, and the freight railroads, and gets some candid talk about how passenger service came to this point, and where it can go. His narrative moves back and forth with him but it builds a coherent picture; with a less-skilled writer this could have been confusing but the reader, following him, gets a growing knowledge of the potential, and the need, for better rail service.
He's not a "railfan" in the traditional sense, though he meets them in his travels and understands their love of the train and of its history. Rather, he is an advocate for a future rail system that will take up the slack as automobile, truck and airline traffic run into trouble. He shows us just how far behind Europe and East Asia we've fallen in this crucial technology, and where in America the new systems, in smaller scale, are taking shape.
Strongly recommend.
The author is a journalist, and it shows: he interviewed a cross-section of the riding public, and comes up with considerable human interest. He also interviews many of the key figures in public transit, passenger rail, and the freight railroads, and gets some candid talk about how passenger service came to this point, and where it can go. His narrative moves back and forth with him but it builds a coherent picture; with a less-skilled writer this could have been confusing but the reader, following him, gets a growing knowledge of the potential, and the need, for better rail service.
He's not a "railfan" in the traditional sense, though he meets them in his travels and understands their love of the train and of its history. Rather, he is an advocate for a future rail system that will take up the slack as automobile, truck and airline traffic run into trouble. He shows us just how far behind Europe and East Asia we've fallen in this crucial technology, and where in America the new systems, in smaller scale, are taking shape.
Strongly recommend.
January 3, 2011
Anyboody who's experienced traveling on a train in Europe or Japan or even heard about these services, and then compared what they have to Amtrak, has always wondered, "Why don't we have a better rail system?" Using a series of train trips as a background and featuring interviews with people who know someonthing about the past and present of trains in America, "Waiting On A Train" tries to answer that questions, and does a pretty good job.
To really understand where passenger rail in America is now and to really work on how we're going to get anywhere, we have to understand how we got where we are and the good and bad of our current situation; James McCommons does a pretty good job of explaining the decisions and ploitics that got us to the status quo. A few folks McCommons talks to offers some ideas as far as where we can go from here and make rail a viable alternative again, but his main message is that rail has to be part of a number of options available all working together, and we've got to put forth a level of commitment and , yes, money to make American passenger rail a good option. McCommons leaves the reader with some hope that we may be on the verge of making rail part of our transportation network again - maybe if a few more people read this book, it'll happen.
To really understand where passenger rail in America is now and to really work on how we're going to get anywhere, we have to understand how we got where we are and the good and bad of our current situation; James McCommons does a pretty good job of explaining the decisions and ploitics that got us to the status quo. A few folks McCommons talks to offers some ideas as far as where we can go from here and make rail a viable alternative again, but his main message is that rail has to be part of a number of options available all working together, and we've got to put forth a level of commitment and , yes, money to make American passenger rail a good option. McCommons leaves the reader with some hope that we may be on the verge of making rail part of our transportation network again - maybe if a few more people read this book, it'll happen.
April 22, 2014
Writers have been hopping on trains and mining their experiences probably since well before Paul Theroux caught the Patagonian Express.
At first glance, that’s what I thought we had here, but McCommons is after something different. His book is a serious examination of intercity passenger rail service in America, largely in pursuit of an answer to the question of ‘Why is it so lousy?’
This is an issue in which I have a lot of interest and I consider myself fairly well informed. So I can vouch for the thorough way McCommons goes about it and the results he achieved. His train rides take him to meet people who are in a good position to explain why things are the way they are.
Along the way, he meets and talks to fellow Amtrak passengers — yes, just like in many other books! — but it’s more than a trope, but rather a good way of coloring in the human side of what could otherwise be overly abstract policy questions about transportation.
All in all a thorough, well-written and recommended book. My only mistake was picking it up several years after it was written, so that some of the information was out of date — most obviously the chapter about what were at the time promising initiatives in Wisconsin, which were reversed after the election of Gov. Walker there.
At first glance, that’s what I thought we had here, but McCommons is after something different. His book is a serious examination of intercity passenger rail service in America, largely in pursuit of an answer to the question of ‘Why is it so lousy?’
This is an issue in which I have a lot of interest and I consider myself fairly well informed. So I can vouch for the thorough way McCommons goes about it and the results he achieved. His train rides take him to meet people who are in a good position to explain why things are the way they are.
Along the way, he meets and talks to fellow Amtrak passengers — yes, just like in many other books! — but it’s more than a trope, but rather a good way of coloring in the human side of what could otherwise be overly abstract policy questions about transportation.
All in all a thorough, well-written and recommended book. My only mistake was picking it up several years after it was written, so that some of the information was out of date — most obviously the chapter about what were at the time promising initiatives in Wisconsin, which were reversed after the election of Gov. Walker there.
October 30, 2015
My 2 favorite parts of this book:
1. 'The country should raise gas taxes, not just as a mechanism for funding tail and transit but to lower demand for gasoline and highway travel, [Ross] Capon said. When the price of gas rises-as it did dramatically in 2008-there is no corresponding rise in taxes collected. All the money from the inflated prices ends up with the oil companies and foreign governments. It doesn't go toward improving transportation.
2. 'Pat Simmons, the [North Carolina] state's rail chief, came into the transportation department's rail division in the 1990s. "I was told. We're going to buy trains, buy a railroad, and fix up stations. Would you like to come along and help?" Simmons had majored in marine biology and done survey work in the Gulf of Mexico, but didn't know much about railroads. "However," he said, "I was trained to observe facts, ask questions, and figure out solutions-and that has served me well."
An excellent book. I can't speak highly enough about it!!
1. 'The country should raise gas taxes, not just as a mechanism for funding tail and transit but to lower demand for gasoline and highway travel, [Ross] Capon said. When the price of gas rises-as it did dramatically in 2008-there is no corresponding rise in taxes collected. All the money from the inflated prices ends up with the oil companies and foreign governments. It doesn't go toward improving transportation.
2. 'Pat Simmons, the [North Carolina] state's rail chief, came into the transportation department's rail division in the 1990s. "I was told. We're going to buy trains, buy a railroad, and fix up stations. Would you like to come along and help?" Simmons had majored in marine biology and done survey work in the Gulf of Mexico, but didn't know much about railroads. "However," he said, "I was trained to observe facts, ask questions, and figure out solutions-and that has served me well."
An excellent book. I can't speak highly enough about it!!
July 5, 2011
I picked up this book think that it would give some insight into [the disaster that is] Amtrak considering I would love to be able to have alternative to flying long distances. I read 80% of it. I skipped some of the end chapters so that I could right to the East Coast part because I getting tired of the narrative.
As other reviewers have said, the book is really a narrative of the author's trip around the US by train. The policy issues are sprinkled throughout using events that happened on the trip and people who the author interviews as examples of failed and successful policies, management, maintenance, etc. It does illustrate well the disjointed system that currently exists in the US. Thus, some localities/states/regions have fairly good service while others are struggling to keep what they have or build new systems. The narrative is well written but I would like to see some sort of boiling down of what is working and what is not and how to make the US train system better.
As other reviewers have said, the book is really a narrative of the author's trip around the US by train. The policy issues are sprinkled throughout using events that happened on the trip and people who the author interviews as examples of failed and successful policies, management, maintenance, etc. It does illustrate well the disjointed system that currently exists in the US. Thus, some localities/states/regions have fairly good service while others are struggling to keep what they have or build new systems. The narrative is well written but I would like to see some sort of boiling down of what is working and what is not and how to make the US train system better.
August 19, 2022
An interesting book about the history of passenger rail in the US and it's relationship to the freight railroads in 2008. The best parts of the book are the stories McCommons tells from his long haul trips on Amtrak. I soon got lost among the acronyms and names in the filler chapters between the long haul stories, but they do a great job illustrating the potentials and pitfalls; success and failures of passenger rail. The worst part of the book is the forward which is only barely related to the rest of the book. Since I just finished The Big Roads by Earl Swift, I could relate to much of the comparisons between road and rail. I'd be interested to see an update - maybe in a magazine or newspaper article - written by this same author 5 years from now.
March 30, 2015
A look at passenger rail in the U.S., both historically and in the present day. The latter picture is a bit grim, and McCommons makes his steady way through the years and regions to find the reasons why this mode of travel has lost riders, glamour, and funding.
If you're a rail fan, I think this might have more resonance with you; for me it was informative and a little curious, like looking through a window at some other world. I liked the anecdotes sprinkled throughout -- riding a train is a surprisingly social act -- and appreciated the thoroughness with which the author interviewed various local authorities. Unfortunately, I came away with a better idea of the problems facing the industry than the possible solutions.
Read if you're already wondering about the subject; the slow, quiet pacing, although appropriate, may not spark new interest.
If you're a rail fan, I think this might have more resonance with you; for me it was informative and a little curious, like looking through a window at some other world. I liked the anecdotes sprinkled throughout -- riding a train is a surprisingly social act -- and appreciated the thoroughness with which the author interviewed various local authorities. Unfortunately, I came away with a better idea of the problems facing the industry than the possible solutions.
Read if you're already wondering about the subject; the slow, quiet pacing, although appropriate, may not spark new interest.
February 3, 2010
Excellent overview of the state of passenger rail in the US. Illuminated lots of things about how the system works: the relationship between Amtrak & the freight companies, the role of state departments of transportation, how the heck Amtrak even came to be. Yes, we have a pathetic system (if you can call it that), but there are some signs of hope.
Also, and I did not know this: in most cases ownership and use rights of Rail-to-Trail trails remains with the freight railroads that once used them, or to the companies that bought them up. In theory, a company could simply decide to rebuild and start running trains in those places without even needing permits or hearings! Crazy, if unlikely to happen.
Also, and I did not know this: in most cases ownership and use rights of Rail-to-Trail trails remains with the freight railroads that once used them, or to the companies that bought them up. In theory, a company could simply decide to rebuild and start running trains in those places without even needing permits or hearings! Crazy, if unlikely to happen.
March 5, 2011
I think my favorite part about this book was the fact that it was written at all, and that it embodies a noble goal doggedly pursued by its author. It's a very important book, I think, possibly a game-changer, though only time will tell.
My beef with it, if you could call it that, is that I dove in expecting more travelogue and less political explication. That's important stuff, to be sure, and I finally came to the conclusion that it's what the book is really about, anyway. It's not about a guy riding the rails for the hell of it. It's not about a set of "experiences," like most travel narratives are. It's a rather dry book about national transportation policy. And that's fine, it's just not as fun as it could've been.
My beef with it, if you could call it that, is that I dove in expecting more travelogue and less political explication. That's important stuff, to be sure, and I finally came to the conclusion that it's what the book is really about, anyway. It's not about a guy riding the rails for the hell of it. It's not about a set of "experiences," like most travel narratives are. It's a rather dry book about national transportation policy. And that's fine, it's just not as fun as it could've been.
July 19, 2013
One could look at the Amtrak service map to try to get a sense of the system's breadth and function, but this book provides a more complete presentation of the system's real usage. The stories' refrains come with the same regularity as a train schedule- and in fact, a few never really amount to a quick descriptions of a route frequency, owner, service, on-time performance and popularity. Which are probably the main things you would wonder about any single Amtrak line.
Reading this book provided a greater sense of just how disparate Amtrak service across the country, and in doing so helps to prove what Amtrak itself proves- How to, and how not to, run an effective passenger train service.
Reading this book provided a greater sense of just how disparate Amtrak service across the country, and in doing so helps to prove what Amtrak itself proves- How to, and how not to, run an effective passenger train service.
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