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Here is another way of looking at the data from the December MPR that makes the route profitability tables more transparent. Route RPS Fare Revenue Costs Implied Contribution per Passenger Mile Ethan Allen $0.90 $0.61 $1.20 -24.9 Vermonter $1.90 $1.20 $2.20 -12.6 Maple Leaf $5.50 $5.22 $7.10 -7.2 D...

... the Northeast Corridor - the only market in which there is unquestioned need for rail passenger service ... Are you announcing a tri-directional extension of the Corridor through Virginia and North Carolina? After all, given the cost recovery figures of Lynchburg (in the black), Newport News (a...

Another way to think about pent-up demand is to look at the cost/revenue reports in a recent post in "Amtrak Success Stories". To me, "pent-up demand" implies enough demand to pay for a significant amount of the costs. Very few even of the existing routes meet that standard. On t...

It's even less than Opinion. It's a letter to the editor. Columns at most papers are subjected to some nominal fact-checking, and consideration of credibility of source, whereas letters to the editor aren't.

Anyone interested in writing a quick, gentle reply to the paper correcting the errors?

I do not find this the least bit amusing. Transportation problems are very serious in this country. This stuff is: TRASH!!!!! TRASH!!!!! TRASH!!!!! Noel Weaver It's not an anti-Amtrak joke. What's funny is that it's an idea which follows the essential logic of the political situation - that Preside...

More service interruptions for construction north of Springfield to Lincoln this month. The track work, starting Nov. 15 north of Springfield, will require Amtrak Lincoln Service trains to begin and end in Bloomington-Normal through Nov. 23 and from Nov. 30 through Dec. 10, Amtrak officials said. C...

Funding has rolled in for service between Iowa City, IA, the Quad Cities and Chicago, with trains starting to run sometime in 2015! http://qctimes.com/news/local/article_ca36f2b2-e065-11df-8f4d-001cc4c03286.html 2015??!! How incompetent have we become? Five years to build, what, two stations (Molin...

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20101012/NEWS01/101012117/Music-City-Star-ridership-up-41-percent Ridership continues to grow 41% over 2 years Ridership grows to 866 trips per day some days last month over 1,000 trips (500 riders/day) Oh, c'mon. Upthread, I reported the Oct. 2008 numbers - 850/da...

If the Illinois residents in question can afford the higher out-of-state tuition in Iowa, they most likely can also afford automobiles. On this point, I must say that the student parking situation for U of Iowa students is abysmal at best. Students who live on campus pay several hundred dollars per...

From the article: >There still is plenty of work to do before construction begins, officials say. >Some property must be acquired near Wyanet, Ill., and environmental and design work remains to be done. >However, Nicholson said, some construction on stations and near Wyanet is expected to begin in 2...

In addition to the Iowa and Detroit lines mentioned here, I see the Connecticut thread bumping up. Does anyone have a link to an overarching description of what was announced today? How much money? Under what rubric? What are all the projects included? I'd also love to hear an update on last year's ...

This week's National Corridors newsletter: http://nationalcorridors.org/df2/df10252010.shtml#AmtrakRidershipClimbs carries a piece mentioning that revenue is up by more than 9% this year. That's clearly more than inflation, and I feel like this has been true for a couple years. What I'm wondering is...

Funding has rolled in for service between Iowa City, IA, the Quad Cities and Chicago, with trains starting to run sometime in 2015! http://qctimes.com/news/local/article_ca36f2b2-e065-11df-8f4d-001cc4c03286.html An announcement from Durbin and Harkin. I wonder where Grassley stands on it these days...

I'm glad ridership increased since last year, but keep in mind the deep trough River Rider numbers had gone into. They have a lot to do just to get back to the numbers from 2001. I don't know that there's reason to cheer yet. A sigh of relief, sure.

There's something wrong with the August and Sept. city numbers in the IDOT report linked a couple posts above. For instance, the Chicago numbers for August are over 500,000 -- 140,000 higher than any other months. And then the Sept. Chicago numbers are back down in the normal range. I'm not sure wha...