Greentime Episode #10 - Our Wedding, Amtrak, and Questions About Offsets
Thanks so much for your patience while we get back on track! We got married on June 3 and we’ve been recovering from it ever since, but we finally got episode #10 done.
In this episode, aside from showing wedding pictures, Rhett shares his experiences in using Amtrak to travel around the state of Florida. Taking the train rather than driving is often touted as an excellent green choice in travel, but what happens when you try to make the green choice might surprise you.
Resources for this episode:
- Amtrak fare and schedule finder
- Wikipedia entry for Amtrak (Amy corrects a mistake in Rhett’s commentary)
Remember, if you have any knowledge or personal experience with buying carbon offsets for travel or tourism, please let us know so that we can try to make an informed choice about our honeymoon.
Formats available: Quicktime (.mov)
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Catherine said,
June 13, 2007 @ 7:00 am
Just to offer a slightly different perspective on Amtrak - I just had a fabulous experience with them going from NYC - Hartford, CT. I found it a relaxing, comfortable, affordable and fairly efficient way to travel. I say fairly efficient - because I too experienced some unexplained delays due to traffic ahead of us on the rails. However, in my case, they explained each time what the delay was and gave us time estimates of when we’d get going.
I was going to post in my blog about how I’m totally doing Amtrak more often (which I am). Because going short distances to places like Boston, DC or Connecticut via train sounds lovely compared to driving or flying. And assuming I don’t have a tight schedule to make - I have no problems with the trip taking a little longer than advertised. That means more time to read or watch DVDs.
Rhett said,
June 13, 2007 @ 12:01 pm
Catherine,
Thanks for providing a more positive perspective. Do you remember which train line you were on? I’ve heard that Amtrak service in the Northeast US is actually quite nice, especially on the handful of rails Amtrak really does own. Service may be variable, too, but it’s really sad that on the Silver Star, which is a “hero train” of Amtrak, I didn’t get delay updates. I always try things twice, so I’ll probably try the train one more time and possibly invest in a dayroom and bring Amy, if she’ll brave the train with me after this bad experience.
And “a little longer” is fine with me, too. 4:47 is “a little longer” than an intense car ride to Tampa from here, but I start getting pretty antsy after a few hours anyway (I don’t deal well with long plane flights, either). What is frustrating is having people who are waiting on you at the destination and not being able to properly update them. The destination station didn’t post delay notices, either. Such things should be very commonplace, and if they were, I’d consider the service level of Amtrak quite reasonable.
I truly wish that we had short distances to take like you do, too. We do, somewhat, in the tri-county area, and there is a regionally run train for that, but to get to Orlando or Tampa requires 3:00 or 4:30 by car or 4:45 by train (to either). Since the train runs only once a day, too, and it runs at 9:30 AM, we can’t make a proper weekend out of any trip involving the train.
I’m also not sure what to do for secondary travel when I get to a station. Neither the Tampa nor the Ft. Lauderdale stations offer car rental at the station, and neither have taxis at the ready, either. I really want to make train riding work for me, but there are still so many questions and concerns.
Gene Shinai said,
June 13, 2007 @ 5:26 pm
Hey Rett & Amy,
Congrats on your wedding! Like the other poster, my experience has been very positive. However, your experience does not surprise me. About three years ago, The Bush Admin had decided to only fund fairly profitable lines such as those on the coasts. Anything that was not all that profitable was thrown to the wind. Though your statement that Amtrak has to use the freight lines, puts the new commuter line they’re building from Beaverton to wilsonville in a bit of a new light. You see, the new commuter line will be sharing tracks with Amtrak.
Enjoy your honeymoon,
-Gene
Bob Kincaid said,
June 13, 2007 @ 8:38 pm
Rhett & Amy,
Gene (above) turned me on to your v-cast. Nice work, and I really appreciate your green commitment.
I myself just returned from a train ride about a fifth of the way across the country. The train was my idea, for reasons similar to your own. It seemed the more environmentally friendly alternative to flying, not to mention the “everyone’s a criminal” treatment one gets in an airport.
My experience and that of my business partner was, in a word, abysmal. AmTrak was an hour late picking us up, three hours late arriving (throwing our business meeting into chaos), an hour and fifteen minutes late departing and four hours late arriving home. Our sleeper car’s suspension was shot, so that every time we passed a crossing, it was like having one’s spine compressed when the suspension slapped the axles.
On the other hand, upon inquiry, the conductor was more than happy to tell me what our delay status was.
I also noted that sleeper car passengers are treated with somewhat greater courtesy than coach passengers, a fact I find entirely unacceptable.
The heart of the problem lies in the relationship with the freight companies, which you described quite succinctly and correctly. Let me add that I don’t think the rail rental scheme is actually to AmTrak’s benefit. Consider the nature of the creation and support of AmTrak. The freight companies have AmTrak over a barrell and can charge exorbitant rents for rails which aren’t truly designed for passenger travel. Perhaps they were sufficient at mid-20th century, but they certainly aren’t anymore. The difference one finds in rides in the NE corridor, where AmTrak owns some rails, is evidence of this fact.
It should also be noted that all along our trip, we ran parallel to abandoned rail lines. While the rails are no good, the right-of-ways certainly still exist in sufficient number to provide beginning infrastructure for building a viable passenger rail system. As it stands, AmTrak is in the same position as any renter: setting fire to money every month in order to maintain its position. No ownership, no down payment, nothing. Just more and more taxpayer money going down the corporate rabbit hole of CSX, Burlington Northern, Union Pacific and the like. The words “corporate welfare” come to mind.
At this point, it might be beneficial to note that I also learned that while AmTrak is supposed to get priority on its routes, the nature of the agreement is such that if a given train falls behind by so much as a minute, all bets are off. In our particular trip, both on the way out and coming back, we had to pull over to a siding for over an hour to LET FREIGHT PASS. That means that AmTrak’s agreement with the freight companies stipulates that freight is more important than people, a philosophy I find quite appalling.
From a green perspective, after breathing some truly disgusting diesel fumes at the stations (and taking a few days to clear it all out of my sinuses- ick), I had to remind myself that those diesel engines could easily run on biofuel and smell like nothing so much as a giant french fry cooker. That should be a stark reminder to us that rail really is America’s green mode of travel in the future.
Finally, it’s also worth noting that America’s rail system (both freight and passenger) is operating at 105% of capacity. The train we were on was packed, with not a seat to spare. That means that rail travel is important to America. It’s a pity it’s not more important to our elected representatives.
I’ll be giving rail another try. The trip itself wasn’t nearly as bad as the circumstances surrounding it. Because I politely registered my displeasure with AmTrak’s performance, they’re sending me a voucher good for enough to take my entire family, round-trip, from here in WV to DC. What a great way to instill some civic knowledge in children I hope will be fit to lead our country in the future.
This is America. We can make the trains run on time if the corporatists who are lining their pockets with our rail subsidy dollars (read: corporate welfare) will get out of the way and let the public work for the public good.
I hope you won’t give up on rail, but, instead, like me, will work to fulfill its promise as an integral and green part of America’s transportation future.
Rhett & Amy, congrats on your wedding and I hope you’re having a fantastic honeymoon in Costa Rica. Visit us here in WV sometime for a green holiday riding the wild whitewaters of the New River Gorge on the oldest river short of the Nile or climbing the mult-million year old cliff faces that form the Gorge or hiking and riding the trails that criss-cross the old mining camps in the region. If you come once, you;ll come again and again. Do try to see if before the Mountain Top Removal coal companies blow it all away.
If you’d like to learn about the single most un-green activity in America today, have a look, and urge your friends to have a look at www.crmw.net, www.ohvec.org and www.ilovemountains.org. There IS a war going on, but not the one in Iraq. We Appalachian people are under attack by the carbon industry. Some 3 million pounds of explosives are used on the oldest mountains in the world every day.
Peace.
Rhett said,
June 14, 2007 @ 1:50 pm
Bob,
So nice of you to join us! I really appreciate such well-organized thoughts on this matter. I believe very strongly in passenger rail as a concept, but I sadly fear that it’s incapable of providing good nationwide service in its current state. I think the very interesting thing here is that, both here and on private blogs where I’ve talked about AmTrak, I see the divide between the NE corridor users and the rest of us. It’s enough to make me want to go hopping around the NE by train should I get a chance to travel there just so I can see it.
I’m not so sure about the idea of CSX or Union Pacific having AmTrak in a vulnerable position, though. It’s my understanding, and perhaps I misread this in my reading up on the “business model” and formation of AmTrak, but I thought part of the point of having the government serving as the directors of AmTrak was that it could coerce freight companies into accepting unreasonably cheap rents for track use, which is a reason for the “let freight through” priority system. I will definitely say, though, that the idea of looking at AmTrak rents in terms of corporate welfare is an interesting one.
I’m also amazed that you were riding a packed train. On the Silver Star in Florida, on a Friday, I could pick my seat anywhere, put my luggage in the seat next to me, and probably organize a game of roller hockey in the car. But, Florida is a place where every city is separated by hours of empty road, so people may not see the train as a good choice. The Silver Service route also runs in a funny route through Florida, which makes our northernmost city, Jacksonville, quite prohibitively far away.
I don’t want to give up on rail, no, and I will probably even give the ride to Tampa or Orlando another try, and I’ll shell out the pittance to get a dayroom in the sleeping car next time. I’m not so sure about further hauls. We considered a train ride to NYC, which takes almost a full day. After we priced the sleeping room, it was significantly more expensive than air travel, and of course I have my concerns about whether or not we’d actually get to NYC within the 24 hours mentioned. The FT. Lauderdale to Tampa leg of Silver Service is just the beginning, and we were nearly an hour behind already.
What do you think that we can do to help rail achieve its promise? I’d enjoy making this a part of my political perspective.
Also, thanks for the links. I’ve heard about mountaintop removal before, but I’ve not read about it extensively. Of course, I am no fan of coal and actually believe we should not be running through our coal supply in such a cavalier fashion. I see that stuff as a fuel of last resort, almost like the strategic oil reserve.
Keep Appalacia beautiful. You sound like the sort that knows how to take up a banner and stick with it.
Sara said,
June 15, 2007 @ 5:40 am
Congrats on your nuptials!!
I used to ride Amtrak between college in southern VA and Washington DC and I always enjoyed it, but it definitely takes a LONG time to go the same distance. Too bad we don’t have a train system like Europe’s.
Bob Kincaid said,
June 22, 2007 @ 5:18 am
Rhett,
Thanks for your reflections on my remarks, and thanks again to my good friend Gene, Chief News Ninja at the Head-On Radio Network (The H.O.R.N.), America’s Liberal Voice, for pointing me to your response. I love dialogues like this!
In answer to your question, a viable, modern passenger rail system can actually be the lynchpin to a rejuvenation of America’s industrial base, with an entire infrastructure devoted to the creation of nationwide rail linked to community systems. Obviously, the labor involved in such an undertaking would be monumental. More jobs would probably be created than there are persons to fill them. Assuming that the project paid what’s called “prevailing wage,” it would solve a lot of the so-called “illegal alien” problem by providing long-term secure employment. Some estimates have gone as high as 4 million new jobs being created by the construction phase alone.
It would also provide the impetus for developing more “green” industrial production methods, if such a mandate was included in the enabling legislation. The technological boost for developing high-speed long distance passenger rail would be on a par with the technology boost we got from our attempt to reach the moon. Since the freight companies have abandoned the field, it would leave the government free via We, the People, to develop this system outside traditional capitalist models based on the profit motive. It could be researched by scientisits motivated by science and engineered by engineers driven by quality concerns, as opposed to the persistent and frequently counter-productive drive for profit.
We could foster research into bio-diesel-powered train engines for areas of track where the system wasn’t strictly non-emissions electric.
Solar panel research and improvements could power the passenger cars. Solar heated water could provide the basic amenities for lavatories and galleys.
From my perspective atop a plateau in the Appalachians, Rhett, such a push would make great good sense, especially in light of my own Congressman’s persistent call to storm forard on what’s currently called “coal liquefaction,” a process pioneered by the Nazis (really, no kidding) in order to produce kerosene for jet fuel. We need, of course, a full scale analysis if which is greener: a national passenger rail system run on electricity and green diesel or a national air fleet running coal oil. I frankly am not certain, although I suspect I know the answer.
One thing does, however, remain certain: NOT pondering these things is the surest way to make sure we don’t go forward.
Thanks!
Vanessa said,
August 19, 2007 @ 1:56 pm
Hey there! That is a CRAZY Amtrak story! We had some issues with them on this cycling trip in Oregon recently because they wouldn’t put any bikes on board, even though they originally said we could… in the end I found a way to carpool from Eugene to Portland. Still, calling at 1:30 in the morning is a whole other can of worms… totally unnecessary.
P.S. Love your cat. Totally steals the show every time.