Anderson - Business Week "Sitdown"

[Gilbert B Norman]

I'm not certain how.much new ground has been broken, but for a publication owned by a possible Presidential candidate, you sit down:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features ... e=url_link

Fair Use:

The Crescent is one of Amtrak’s tardiest trains. Southbound, it leaves New York’s Pennsylvania Station every day at 2:15 p.m. Around 9 the next morning it pulls into Atlanta, where many passengers either depart or step off for a long-awaited cigarette. It ambles through some hypnotically beautiful Alabama countryside and somnolent Mississippi towns before arriving in New Orleans, according to the schedule, at 7:32 p.m. Almost three-quarters of the time, however, the Crescent is late, often by two hours or more. Last year, Amtrak lost $39 million on the line, which comes as no surprise. How many people want to take such an unreliable train?

The people I spoke with in the dining car all had stories about the Crescent’s delays and why they endured them. A semiretired cotton company executive from Montgomery, Ala., was a train lover and just happy to be aboard. “I enjoy it,” he said, “even when it’s late.” We ate dinner with an Atlanta dentist returning from a wedding in New York. Normally he would have flown, but he’d had knee surgery and couldn’t sit still for several hours on a plane.

Quotations such as above suggest to the reader that the LD's are largely used by people with special circumstances and not by those who simply want reliable transportation from Atlanta to Birmingham, i.e. A to B.

[eolesen]

Yup. And that's why they are such an easy target. It's no longer essential transportation, despite the arguing of advocacy groups. It's subsidized fantasy travel for raifans, and a less stressful option for those who are opposed to air or car travel.

[Matt Johnson]

If you read to the very end, Anderson suggests replacing trains with small driverless vans. Uh, ok.

[Greg Moore]

Funny thing is... I used to rely on the Crescent for travel to ATL from NYP.
It was generally close enough to OT on the SB leg to be reasonable and NB, often times it would make up time or even get ahead of schedule north of WAS.

Last time around though it was hours late, made up a little between ATL and WAS, and then lost like 90 more minutes between WAS and NYP which shocked me. I was VERY annoyed.

Combine that with the downgrade in the dining car service, it's doubtful I'll ride it again.

[Suburban Station]

Funny thing is... I used to rely on the Crescent for travel to ATL from NYP.
It was generally close enough to OT on the SB leg to be reasonable and NB, often times it would make up time or even get ahead of schedule north of WAS.

Last time around though it was hours late, made up a little between ATL and WAS, and then lost like 90 more minutes between WAS and NYP which shocked me. I was VERY annoyed.

Combine that with the downgrade in the dining car service, it's doubtful I'll ride it again.

It is very often horrendously late south of atl and has been for a few years