The Privatization of Amtrac!

[amicus]

The Privatization of Amtrac!


I watched a rather lengthy hearing of the House Transportation and Infrastructure sub-committee on CSPAN2 late last night. The subject was, “Future of Amtrac”

I was appalled at the rude, browbeating and disgraceful behavior of three House Democrats:

Rep. Jerrold Nabler D New York
Rep. Corrine Brown D Florida
Rep. Dom Menendez D New Jersey

The general issue at hand was the unprofitability of Amtrac, the quasi government corporation that manages passenger railroad traffic in America.

The Corporation has lost 200 million dollars a year for the past four years and Congress has failed to fund the Corporation in legislation currently pending.

The current conflict was brought a head by the firing of Amtrac President and CEO, David Gunn, by the board of directors at Amtrac.

The issue at hand, is seemingly a ‘study’ to detach the profitable Northeastern Corridor of Amtrac service from the rest of the rail system and outsource management to the private sector at no cost to government.

Underlying issues concern the Democrat positions of support high cost Union labor employees of the Railroad Union and the desire of the left to mimic European nations in subsidizing mass transit high speed rail transportation systems.

What was disgraceful was the openly brash and demeaning attitude of the above mention Representatives in using the committee investigation to castigate the Bush administration and the Republican desire to deregulate and privatize government subsidized programs throughout government in general.

As with another committee hearing and investigation I mentioned recently, concerning Oil pricing and energy production, this hearing received no observable media coverage on the day following the hearing.

It is perhaps important to know that a war is being waged, in the trenches, of both the House and Senate, as Democrats in Congress continue to resist, on many fronts, the continuing Republican attempt to minimize government involvement in the private market place.

It is painful to watch the frothy mouthed Democrats rant and rave with a complete lack of civility that one might expect to see in Congress, and Republicans quietly suffer the umbrage of undisciplined rapaciousness.

On this issue with customer complaints about poor service, poor food, unclean rail cars and facilities and a failure to meet time tables; in addition to the inability of Amtrac to even contract with other government agencies to provide ‘on time, scheduled, affordable alternative transportation…’

The complaints roll off the back of the dogmatic Democrats who seek only to protect their Labor base and attempt to maintain a stranglehold on inner city and inner state means of transportation.

We need about 20 more years of a Republican Presidency and Majority in both the House and Senate to clean the stench of the Democrats away.


Amicus….

 

[Louise Brown]

Though the dozen times or so I've ridden Amtrak (Milwaukee, Chicago, St. Louis, La Crosse, and Ann Arbor) have actually been somewhat enjoyable, no business deserves to stay in business if they can't make a profit.

Now if they'd only privatize public schools (dumping ineffective unions and unqualified school board members)!

A girl can dream, though....



Long live capitalism!

 

[amicus]

Though the dozen times or so I've ridden Amtrak (Milwaukee, Chicago, St. Louis, La Crosse, and Ann Arbor) have actually been somewhat enjoyable, no business deserves to stay in business if they can't make a profit.

Now if they'd only privatize public schools (dumping ineffective unions and unqualified school board members)!

A girl can dream, though....



Long live capitalism!

"Oh, my..." said the old man in Logan's Run.....a gal after my own heart!

I have not ridden Amtrac in many years, and my experience, way back when, was not a bad one either. But panel members who testified said that customer complaints about filthy conditions, poor food, poor scheduling and few on time arrivals seemed authentic.

Now if they'd only privatize public schools (dumping ineffective unions and unqualified school board members)!

I totally agree...ya wanna go out fer dinner?

chuckles....amicus....

 

[Lord DragonsWing]

I've rode Amtrack and never had a problem. I never considered the trains I rode as dirty. The staff was polite and very helpful.
But, Amtrack is a losing proposition. While the European railways make a profit and expand their technology, our public railway loses money. More Americans would rather fly than take a rail. We're a fast food society modeled after McDonalds with quick meals and trips.
I feel that is about to change with the baby boomers. Most of us are slowing from work and enjoying life. We're going back to nature with hikes, fishing trips and slower commutes to enjoy our mornings and trips.
Will that make Amtrac profitable? I doubt it. It's always been a pain in our rail system. Open the rail market up to competition. Let others compete and offer more for the consumers. Then, and only then will Amtrack be competitive in a world market.
Otherwise, I'll take a Eur Rail pass.

 

[elsol]

Now if they'd only privatize public schools (dumping ineffective unions and unqualified school board members)!

You mean GET RID of public schools... let's not be deceptive now.

Sincerely,
ElSol

 

[Huckleman2000]

The Privatization of Amtrac!


I watched a rather lengthy hearing of the House Transportation and Infrastructure sub-committee on CSPAN2 late last night. The subject was, “Future of Amtrac”

I was appalled at the rude, browbeating and disgraceful behavior of three House Democrats:

Rep. Jerrold Nabler D New York
Rep. Corrine Brown D Florida
Rep. Dom Menendez D New Jersey

The general issue at hand was the unprofitability of Amtrac, the quasi government corporation that manages passenger railroad traffic in America.

The Corporation has lost 200 million dollars a year for the past four years and Congress has failed to fund the Corporation in legislation currently pending.
[snip]
The issue at hand, is seemingly a ‘study’ to detach the profitable Northeastern Corridor of Amtrac service from the rest of the rail system and outsource management to the private sector at no cost to government.
[snip]

Amicus….

If the Northeastern corridor is profitable, why would you want to privatize that? Doesn't the profitability mean less government spending elsewhere?
Do you think that a private company beholden to shareholders instead of taxpayers would be profitable or provide comparable services? Amtrack isn't the only rail transport operating in the Northeast - There's Metro North and NJT operating on the same rails, and presumably cooperating to provide efficient regional and local service.

I'm not familiar with all the particulars about how the rail services in the NE corridor are run, but there appear to be efficiencies that would be difficult to duplicate in an entirely privatized system. And I know that riding Metro North or Amtrak is a much better experience than flying Southwest.

 

[amicus]

Well said, DragonsWing....

I too have been influenced by both European and Japanese high speed rail systems, but I also know both are heavily subsidized by government.

There is the contention by many, that government subsidies for both Airlines and Federal Highway programs, are the only reason they exist to the extent they do and that a National Railway service must be subsidized by government if it is to compete and succeed.

But I am also influenced by free market methodology and by Ayn Rand's book, Atlas Shrugged, which was based on railroad transportation and government intervention.

I have also studied the history of the development of transcontinental rail systems in the United States and cannot evade the corruption that occured, both in the private and public sector.

I hate to even think that people will be people and must be regulated and controlled in whatever enterprise the endeavor.

I see no answer, no rational answer as to how to facilitate high speed rail service in the United States with the existing rules, regulations, restrictions and labor union requirements.

In the current Amtrack situation, labor costs consume 103 percent of income of the system. Thus it operates at a huge loss, of which labor unions salary and benefits play a huge role.

And before someone tags me with capitalist pig and anti union tags, a business, a corporation, simply must pay its own way or it cannot exist. And if it does continue to exist, as does the US Post Office system, it degenerates and must be continually supported by more and more public funds.

amicus...

 

[amicus]

If the Northeastern corridor is profitable, why would you want to privatize that? Doesn't the profitability mean less government spending elsewhere?
Do you think that a private company beholden to shareholders instead of taxpayers would be profitable or provide comparable services? Amtrack isn't the only rail transport operating in the Northeast - There's Metro North and NJT operating on the same rails, and presumably cooperating to provide efficient regional and local service.

I'm not familiar with all the particulars about how the rail services in the NE corridor are run, but there appear to be efficiencies that would be difficult to duplicate in an entirely privatized system. And I know that riding Metro North or Amtrak is a much better experience than flying Southwest.

Huckleman....I am not an expert either, nor fully familiar with the total problem, I just watched a program as democrats really trashed the effort to find a way to make Amtrack profitable.

The History of railroads in the United States is an amazing tale of both private and public greed and corruption; of speculation and venture capital, of land grabs and city franchises, one would have to be a full time student to grasp the entirety; and I am not that.

It was said during the committee hearing that the intent of the Bush administration was to sell off the profitable Northeastern sector to private market operators and then turn the rest of the system over to the States to fund as they chose as the Federal Government would withdraw completely from the railroad business.

I do not know if that is the intent or not, administration officials denied that assertion.

It is often said that nothing is 'cut and dried' or black and white...but mostly greys and compromises. But I see, in the various sources I observe, a continuing battle between those who wish a command, socialist economy and those who wish a free market place.

Many advocate a compromise between the two, with government as an active player in the market place to provide regulatory influence. I reject that, out of hand.

thanks for your comments...


amicus...

 

[amicus]

Incidentally, the CSPAN2 broadcast of the above mentioned hearing is now being rebroadcast. 2am EDT, Thursday, November 17, 2005...


amicus...

 

[Colleen Thomas]

The railraods in this nation were developed by Private concerns. those concerns sold out their passenger lines to the government when the passenger lines ceased to be cost effective. Ifprivate concerns want to take over, I have no problem with that. So long as they are contractually obligated to provide service and keep rates within reason. And so long as the government isn't still pumping tons of funds into maintaining the rails for them.

 

[amicus]

Point well taken Colleen. If memory serves, the government, around the turn of the century (19/20th) with nationalization, anti trust laws extreme regulation and support of union labor demands, were part of the mix of ingredients that eventually destroyed passenger service on the railroads and made it unprofitable.

There were also hugh financial corruptions within government, state and federal and within the railroad corporations themselves.

Although I am fundamentally a free market advocate, I have no particular axe to grind on this issue aside from my opinion that cross country transportation by high speed rail service would be a great benefit to the traveling public and the market place in general.

Thanks for the comment...


amicus...

 

[dr_mabeuse]

I'm all for trains. I'm all for privatization of Amtrack if that will give train travel and service a boost.

I'm old enough that I can still remember riding a train from Chicago to Miami when I was a little kid: the dining car, the sleepers. Trains are sexy in a way that airplanes will never be.

 

[dr_mabeuse]

Point well taken Colleen. If memory serves, the government, around the turn of the century (19/20th) with nationalization, anti trust laws extreme regulation and support of union labor demands, were part of the mix of ingredients that eventually destroyed passenger service on the railroads and made it unprofitable.

There were also hugh financial corruptions within government, state and federal and within the railroad corporations themselves.

Although I am fundamentally a free market advocate, I have no particular axe to grind on this issue aside from my opinion that cross country transportation by high speed rail service would be a great benefit to the traveling public and the market place in general.

Thanks for the comment...


amicus...

It was the airplane that killed passenger rail. Simple as that.

 

[amicus]

Well, Mab, yes and no...high speed passenger rail in areas of highway congestion, such as the 'beltway' in the intensely populated northeastern area would be highly beneficial.

So too would it be in metropolitan locations in other areas, simply as an alternative to automobile and inner city mass transit.

And yes, the pastoral environment of a train whistling through the countryside brings back fond memories for me also. Perhaps it is to be no more, but I am reminded of a scene from "Lost in Translation" and a few other films of high speed rail in Japan, so that perhaps a way will be found to make long distance rail travel a possibility again someday.

amicus...

 

[elsol]

*cough*
*cough*

My girlfriend just bought a $73 dollar round-trip ticket from Florida to the 'NorthEast' corridor.

Let's see... 1 hour to the airport, 2 hours in the air, 1 hour from airport to destination.

Versus... 1 hour to the train station, 12 hours on the train, 1 hour from train station to destination.

It's not a difficult equation on the profitability of a rail system as far as passenger trains go.

Freight is a different thing.

Sincerely,
ElSol

 

[Colleen Thomas]

*cough*
*cough*

My girlfriend just bought a $73 dollar round-trip ticket from Florida to the 'NorthEast' corridor.

Let's see... 1 hour to the airport, 2 hours in the air, 1 hour from airport to destination.

Versus... 1 hour to the train station, 12 hours on the train, 1 hour from train station to destination.

It's not a difficult equation on the profitability of a rail system as far as passenger trains go.

Freight is a different thing.

Sincerely,
ElSol

I'd much rather take the train than fly. But I would much rather drive it than take an form of public transport. If I worked in the city however, I'd be a metr north riding fool.

If you give me the option of taking metro north to grand central and Am track on to boston, or fighting my way into JFK and out of Logan, I'll take the train. A couple of extra hours reading a book in peace and quite is worth skipping several hours of security checks and trafic.

Passenger rail service is feasible when the travel time between two points is not significantly different. Yes air is faster, but when you add in the costs of longterm parking, the hassles of security, the nightmare of air tracel in uncertain weather etc.etc. the train looks very good.

In the Northeast, the distances involved make it feasible to operate profitably. As distance increases, that changes. My trip home is a good example. It's 9 hours or so by air, including traffic, security clearance and layovers. 21 hours by car. Three days by rail. Since my time with my folks is limited as is, I'm not willing to spend six days on travel when I can spend two.

One thing that may factor into the equation here soon is gas prices. Modern diesel/electrics are very fuel efficient. So it may become economically fasibile to privatize rail travel again as the added cost for convience may become exorbitant.

 

[SlickTony]

Funny Someone Should Mention Amtrak

...as my 16YO son is experiencing it for the first time. He had an invite from his uncle and aunt in Pompano Beach to spend the week around Thanksgiving with them, and since at the time the invite was issued, gas was still sky-high, plus my husband couldn't get the time off and he didn't want me making that long drive from Jacksonville, and we couldn't afford to put him on a plane either, we looked at train fares and they seemed very attractive. So we bought him a ticket.

I drove him to the train station this morning. His train was supposed to take off at 9:48. The first thing we found out was that it was a projected two hours behind schedule. This was an awkward chunk of time. Not quite enough to be worth taking him home. Besides, I'd have had to take off too much time from work. So I left him there. He had a backpack full of entertainment--CD player and CDs, GameBoy and games--and I'd given him some money.

We have one of these cell phone plans where mobile-to-mobile is free, and none of us ever seems to come to the end of our minutes, so we get in touch frequently. The first call from him was to tell me that his CD player had run out of juice. We have a buttload of batteries in the house as I write--I don't know why he didn't think to take any of them along, considering what power-sucks CD players are.

Are all Amtrak stations like the one we have in Jacksonville? This one is the only one I've seen. You'd think there would be some kind of little kiosk at the station itself--even if it charged captive-market, convenience store prices, it'd be better than nothing. There are no stores of any description nearby where he could perhaps have gone to buy some batteries. The station is out in the middle of nowhere, in a neighborhood partly industrial and mostly bad; suffice it to say it's not the kind of area you want your attractive, unworldly, very WASP-y teenaged son wandering around loose in, even if he does have a black belt in Taekwondo. Why do these conditions prevail? I'm going to write Amtrak and the DOT and complain. Is it too much to ask that a train station be somewhere near civilization, near places you can buy stuff?

At least he could play games. His dad and I talked to him at intervals throughout the day. The train finally arrived at 1:00--mind you, this was the train that was SUPPOSED to take off at 9:48. And then there was another delay before the train even got out of Duval County. Some freight train needing repair was on the track his train needed to be on. I got home from work about 6:00, and we went out for dinner. My husband told me our son had called from Palatka.

It is now 11:04, EST, and he is in West Palm Beach, where hopefully, he'll connect with his uncle. Had everything gone like it was supposed to, he'd have gotten there at 5something and he'd have been eating dinner with his kinfolk. As it is, he has not even reached his destination yet.

No wonder the Italians succumbed to fascism. It's what European countries seem to get when they demand a government that will ensure that the trains run on time. Maybe that's why rail service in America sucks so badly.

 

[Alex756]

Are all Amtrak stations like the one we have in Jacksonville? This one is the only one I've seen. You'd think there would be some kind of little kiosk at the station itself--even if it charged captive-market, convenience store prices, it'd be better than nothing. There are no stores of any description nearby where he could perhaps have gone to buy some batteries. The station is out in the middle of nowhere, in a neighborhood partly industrial and mostly bad; suffice it to say it's not the kind of area you want your attractive, unworldly, very WASP-y teenaged son wandering around loose in, even if he does have a black belt in Taekwondo. Why do these conditions prevail? I'm going to write Amtrak and the DOT and complain. Is it too much to ask that a train station be somewhere near civilization, near places you can buy stuff?

Yes most are in my experience.

I rode the train once. I count it as the most horrible trip in my life. Now if I were some coddeled traveler this might be no biggie, BUT I am not. I did a 12 hour bus trip once on a school band trip in unsafe crowded conditions, as in 3 busses went to Canada, One broke down there so 3 packed busses of kids and instruments went onto 2 busses, it was so crowded the boarder guys didn't even bother.

But my train trip was horrid. it started at station #1. it was suposed to be station 1 to station 2, switch trains, station 3 aka destination. #1 train would be delated 2 days. YEP 2 days. So the found busses and bussed us to station 1a, 5 hours away. So now I am in another station, no food in sight of course. thank god I packed like the starving school kid I was, so that train is 2 hours late, but it does arrive, get to original station 2. RUN like crazy to make the new train. Train moves 20 feet. stop, sit, technical problem, sit sit sit sit sit. Switch trains, this one actually made it out of the station.

Arrived 5 hours late. at my destination, 5 hours before my first class of the semester.
NEVER again. I will take the BUS! cause it worked a heck of alot better, we even stopped for food, how novel.

Time bus was late, same trip? NEGATIVE 20 minutes. yep we got there 20 minutes early.

Amtrak never again.

metro, heck yeah, thats every 20/30 minutes no big whoop a train shows up.

~Alex

 

[SlickTony]

Wow, Alex, sounds like your train ride was even worse than my son's.

I've ridden on trains before, but not in America; I was in Iran at the time. There, people come onto the trains with bundles of food, even though there is a dining car. But then, they know what they're getting.

One of the most interesting parts of riding a Middle Eastern train is the toilet, which is the kind that's set in the floor and you have to squat over. In people's houses, the most modern of these toilets actually flush (why they couldn't go ahead and put in real ones where you can sit in comfort, I don't know). On the train, you push a lever type pedal, not unlike the one that pops the top on a kitchen can, and you can see the track rushing down below you. You lose anything down that john and it is G-O-N-E, that spells GONE.

A few years later I saw a documentary on the Orient Express. It had just been shut down, IIRC. I was amazed to see that the trains on this line, the subject of romance and mystery, were very like the ones on which I rode from Abadan to Tehran, or Mashad, or Kermanshah, although I suppose the O.E. had a throne you could actually sit on.

It is now 11:43. My son is in Deerfield Beach, which was the ultimate destination of the train, and he's still waiting on his uncle.

 

[amicus]

This more of a 'bump' than anything else....

For those of you who enjoy 'history' for history's sake and do not have an agenda, the history of 'railroads' in America, is most illuminating.

As all know, I am a free market advocate and will not belabor the point, but it would be interesting to see what the market place could do, if the the government moved out of the railroad business altogether.

People stand in long lines at the Post Office, and the DMV, because they have to, it is a government monopoly. People get pissed at the Airport if they have to wait and will not tolerate long lines even at McDonalds or the Surpermarket, they look for other alternatives.

The free market place is is the deciding factor, if people don't like your service, they don't use it.

If rail transportation is ever to be attractive those providing it must meet the demands of the public...


amicus...

 

[dr_mabeuse]

The history of the railroads in America is a story of industry and government working hand-in-glove to get the track laid. The government ceded huge tracts of land to the RR's for right of way, and even gave them land for townships to build along the rail lines.

This is especially true of the trancontinental rail road, where the gov rightly figured that it was essential to settling and consolidatiing the Western US.

In my experience, Amtrack was terrible, a little taste of the worst of what the Soviet Union must have been like. At the same time, looking at rail roads during their heyday provides some of the worst cases of monopolistic abuse and exploitation in the history of capitalism. The cost of laying rail is prohibitive, and so there was little competition. If you were a farmer who wanted to get his grain to market, you had no choice but to pay what the RR demanded. The railroads had the farmers by the balls and they squeezed hard. Famers went bankrupt, grain prices soared, and the nation's food supply was put at risk.

The result was the organization of farmers into the first agricultural labor union: the Grange. The Grange argued that since the rail roads served the public interest, they were subject to government regulation, and they began to put pressure on lawmakers to control the RR's abuses. Government finally agreed, and the first government control of businesses came out of this struggle in the 1880's.

That proved to be the model for Trust-busting in general and the break-up of the huge industrial monopolies. So all this government control that Ami's so enamored of all came out of the abuses of the rail road barons.

Lots of sources. Here's two:

http://cse.stanford.edu/class/cs201/projects-95-96/corporate-monopolies/development_rrmon.html

http://www.socialstudieshelp.com/Lesson_46_Notes.htm

 

[oggbashan]

.

A few years later I saw a documentary on the Orient Express. It had just been shut down, IIRC. I was amazed to see that the trains on this line, the subject of romance and mystery, were very like the ones on which I rode from Abadan to Tehran, or Mashad, or Kermanshah, although I suppose the O.E. had a throne you could actually sit on.
...

I rode with a group on the Orient Express in the early 1960s from Belgium to Zagreb. We had sleeper cars and arrived in Munich (Munchen) at 6.30 am. Somehow the train had been separated during the night and each half travelled by different routes to Munich. Half our party were in one part that arrived at 6.30 am. The other half arrived at 7.30 am and the train was reconnected.

The group leader was in the other half with all the group's money and our passports. I was the only one in our part that had any knowledge of German. Somehow I managed to find out what had happened to the rest of the train, when it would arrive, change some of my emergency US dollars for marks, order breakfast and calm everyone else down.

The train was civilised and composed mainly of Pullman cars. The toilets were similar except that there was a water flush - that also ended on the track. The dining cars had uniformed attendants, table linen, napkins, finger bowls, silver plated cutlery and monogrammed plates. The food was comparable to a good European hotel and served professionally.

In Zagreb we changed to a local train. The seats were wooden slats, most of the windows either didn't open or were permanently open. The toilet flushed by pouring water from a gas can. The gas cans were refilled at every major station. There was no dining car. Food and hot drinks were sold by vendors at most stations. The vendors would happily accept any hard currency, Dollars, Pounds, Marks, Austrian Schillings although that was illegal, and the prices were very cheap. At junctions the train would wait for half an hour for passengers to descend and eat.

At our final station we caught a local bus to our hotel. There were eighteen of us in the group. The flat fare for any distance was 2 dinars so the total fare was 36 dinars. The smallest Yugoslav note we had with us was 5,000 dinars and no one could give us change. We eventually paid our fare by swapping 10 UK cigarettes for 50 dinars with another passenger. We woz robbed! The true exchange rate should have been 1 cigarette for 100 dinars.

Back to topic:

The UK railway system was nationalised after WWII. Under government control the necessary investment to repair wartime damage and modernise was not forthcoming in sufficient quantities. In the 1960s many routes were closed because they were uneconomic to run. So they were, but they fed passengers and freight into the major routes and that wasn't factored into the decision making.

The Thatcher government sold off the railways to private enterprise, still with an on-going government subsidy. The track went to one company; the train operation to several others. Several disastrous accidents in the 1990s revealed that the track and infrastructure were not being maintained and replaced/improved as they should be. The track-owning company went into liquidation and the shareholders lost everything they had invested. It is still argued that the current government caused the liquidation.

More people travel by rail in the UK now than at any time yet it can be an unpleasant, crowded and expensive experience. Some express routes are very civilised. The local and commuter routes? They're another story.

Travel to Europe on the fast route through the Channel Tunnel is nearly as fast from city centre to city centre as travelling by air and far more comfortable. I am fortunate that I can drive to Ashford International Station, park my car at cheaper than airport rates, and catch a Eurostar train. I have more legroom than almost any airline seat, a view (except through the Tunnel), a restaurant car, the ability to walk about the train whenever I want and I get to my destination faster than I would if I were to drive to a London Airport.

The fast electric train, particularly in France, runs mainly on nuclear power so doesn't generate greenhouse gases.

Og

 

[SlickTony]

That proved to be the model for Trust-busting in general and the break-up of the huge industrial monopolies. So all this government control that Ami's so enamored of all came out of the abuses of the rail road barons.

I've said it before: socialism will never entirely die, not as long as there are so-called capitalists who won't behave themselves.

I also submit that we have very little pure capitalism, and the nearest thing to it that we're likely to see is our local dope dealers. I'd always thought that businesses were supposed to operate independently of the government; not writing the government's laws for them in such a way as to perpetuate themselves and shut out competition.

 

[Liar]

*cough*
*cough*

My girlfriend just bought a $73 dollar round-trip ticket from Florida to the 'NorthEast' corridor.

Let's see... 1 hour to the airport, 2 hours in the air, 1 hour from airport to destination.

Versus... 1 hour to the train station, 12 hours on the train, 1 hour from train station to destination.

It's not a difficult equation on the profitability of a rail system as far as passenger trains go.

Freight is a different thing.

Sincerely,
ElSol

I have...

1. 3 hours to the airport.
2. Plus at least one hour for check-in and all that jazz.
3. Small seats, claustrophobic toilets and crappy snacks in plastic packages.
4. Checkout, baggage claim hell and so on.
5. 1 hour from the airport to my destination address.

1. 5 minutes to the train station.
2. Plus 5 minutes to get a ticket. Then I walk on.
3. Kickass comfort, lots of space, top service and serving.¨
4. I grab my bag and walk off, right in the middle of the destination town.
5. I have a ten minute walk to my destination address.

I really don't care if the air-time is much less than the rail-time. Trains are so much less stress.

 

[LadyJeanne]

I've flown over 14,000 miles in the past few weeks, with another 5,000 to go before November is up. Getting through securtiy is excruciatingly stressful and may one day drive me to violence. I loathe those so-called security people who feel the need to paw through my bag, touching everything, just because their inexperience leads them to think I'm hiding explosives in my high heels.

I'd be willing to give up an extra hour or two of my life to travel by train if I wouldn't be harassed by self-important 'screeners'. Trains never go where I need them to go, though.