Waste of money

Amtrak is about to spend $2 billion on Generation 2 highspeed trainsets. Why? The trainsets they are replacing never accomplished what they were designed to do and, by Jim Cameron’s admission in his Sept. 30 commentary, Generation 2 will not either. Here are quotes from his commentary: “While Acela can hit a top speed of 150 mph, it does so on only 34 of the 457 miles between D.C. and Boston.” What good is that given that those 34 miles are not consecutive?

“The trains have been running for almost 20 years and they’re too small, carrying just 304 passengers per trip.” Amfleet Regional equipment is 40 years old and still in service and can be increased to carry far more than 304 passengers.

“But its 20 daily runs are highly popular, especially with business travelers on expense accounts (the fares are roughly double usual coach fares).” Travelers on expense accounts do not care about cost. Why would the average person want to pay double when the end result is the same?

“They’ll be capable of speeds of 220 mph but will probably never achieve those rates, given the old roadbed and signal system.” So here we have a train, Acela Gen1, which did not perform as advertised, about to be replaced by Acela Gen 2, which cannot attain any of the goals that it is designed for at a cost to the taxpayers of $2 billion when comparable results can be achieved by the present (Amfleet coaches plus locomotive) fleet at half of the price to the traveling public.

The 457mile trip midtown to midtown from Boston to Washington on Amtrak can be accomplished with markedly less hassle than the airlines. This market can be wrested from the airlines, but given Amtrak’s inept management it is quite possible they will drop the ball on this also.

So, what is the point of spending these taxpayer dollars for no discernible improvement?

Joe McMahon Retired Amtrak engineer Bethany