Still more news for your Monday morning:
— Four people who were aboard a special Amtrak train that hit a trash truck in a fatal 2018 accident have sued the truck driver, trash company, Buckingham Branch Railroad, and an Amtrak crew member, the Charlottesville, Va., Daily Progress reports. Those four — Andrew Bruot, Leonard Condron, Frank Cottone, and Andrew Ripetta — filed suit in January seeking $750,000 in compensatory damages, plus $350,000 in punitive damages from truck driver Dana Naylor. A fifth, Leonard Claytor, is suing only the trash company and Naylor, seeking $72,500 in damages. The train carrying Republican members of Congress to a retreat in West Virginia derailed near Charlottesville, after hitting the truck at a grade crossing, killing one person aboard the truck [see “Amtrak special for members of Congress strikes truck in Virginia,” Trains News Wire, Jan. 31, 2018]; Naylor was later acquitted of involuntary manslaughter [see “Truck driver found not guilty in 2018 fatal accident with Congressional Amtrak charter,” Trains News Wire, March 4, 2019]. These suits join three others filed previously.
— Missoula County, Mont., has created a draft resolution calling for the restoration of passenger rail service in southern Montana, and is now seeking other counties willing to form a regional rail authority for that purpose. KPAX-TV reports that Missoula County Commissioner Dave Strohmaier will take the resolution to the Montana Association of Counties this week, seeking partners; at least one other county must join before the regional authority can be established. The train would follow the former route of Amtrak’s North Coast Hiawatha, serving Billings, Livingston, Bozeman, Helena, and Missoula, among other cities.
— A Florida company wants to build a Maglev pod transportation system in the Tampa Bay area, the Orlando Weekly reports. A Clearwater, Fla., councilman has asked for a “resolution of encouragement and assistance” for skyTran Inc., which says it would build the solar-powered system with no tax dollars.
Very laughable proposals. Dreaming for a return of the “good olde days”. Crayonistas one and all.
Meanwhile, as there are discussions of a second passenger train service between Chicago and Seattle/Portland, there remains a complete void in passenger train services between Roanoke, Virginia and Memphis, Tennessee through the Tennessee Valley; and a western route from Memphis, through northeast Texas to Houston in the Gulf coast area of southeast Texas.
This new train would operate on the most direct rail route between New York and Houston via Washington, Roanoke, Knoxville, Chattanooga, Huntsville (Alabama), Memphis, Little Rock, Longview (Texas), Palestine, and The Woodlands. The route would retrace those of the ‘Tennessean’ between New York and Memphis and the Memphis section of the original ‘Texas Eagle’ between Memphis and Houston.
Equipment would be similar to the consists of the ‘Crescent’ and ‘Silver Meteor’. The train could operate combined with an existing Amtrak Regional train between New York and Washington or Roanoke. Schedules would closely follow those of Southern Railway’s ‘Birmingham Special’ between Washington and Chattanooga, Train Numbers 35 & 36 between Chattanooga and Memphis, and Missouri Pacific’s ‘Texas Eagle’ between Memphis and Houston.
So far, I am apparently the only person with this concept. Not even the Southern Rail Commission has come forward while there focus is on connecting New Orleans and Mobile 145 miles apart.
The linked news article regarding the Montana passenger train is unclear. Are they proposing moving the Empire Builder to the southern route, a second section between Snowden and Sandpoint, Idaho, or a completely new train between Chicago and Seattle? Of those, only the second section, where the Empire Builder splits in two at the mentioned endpoints, is in any way practical, although minimally.
Though I’m sure it would be an economic endeavor of monumental scope, I would love to see passenger service back on the former NP through Montana. I rode the North Coast Hiawatha from Chicago to Seattle in June of 1976, my first transcontinental rail adventure, and recall sitting in one of the Vista Domes while the train rolled along parallel to the Yellowstone River.. With the exception of GN’s route along the southern boundary of Glacier National Park, it is my humble opinion that the NP is the more scenic route across Montana.
Umm….the article is quite clear on where the Southern Montana train would run, stating: “The line would originate in Chicago and travel to Spokane, where passengers could choose between Portland and Seattle. It could serve as an economic boon to the cities and towns along the route.”
Mr. Strohmaier (the Missoula County Commissioner) has made it clear that his proposal would in no way affect the Empire Builder, and he acknowledges the importance of the Empire Builder staying on its current route.
I, for one, actually believe the investment cost would be close to the $1 billion cited in the 2009 North Coast Hiawatha study, considering there is currently no equipment, no usable stations (on the new route), and the railroads would likely demand infrastructure improvements. It’s a tough sell, but Strohmaier is frustrated with the lack of help at the state level, and more than anything, he is hoping that some kind of coalition of counties might at least influence the process. After all, Washington State is studying new service between Seattle and the Tri-Cities and possible on to Spokane, and many in Minnesota are promoting that the second Chicago-Twin Cities train (should it materialize) actually continue to Fargo. It’s still a long way across North Dakota and Montana, but any kind of support helps. There is also a large contingent of support for a restored Pioneer in Eastern Oregon, so at the very least showing that there is interest for long distance trains in areas where there is currently no passenger train service can only help the very concept of a national network.
As for the Interstate Highway and air service replacing rail passenger service in Southern Montana, this is true. But things have changed a lot in 40 years (since the train disappeared). In 1979, Northwest Airlines operated two or three daily flights from the Minneapolis/St. Paul to Seattle/Tacoma making stops all across North Dakota and Montana. For instance, from Billings, one could fly direct (not necessarily nonstop, but direct) twice daily to Bismarck, Belgrade/Bozeman, Helena, Butte, Missoula, and Spokane. Entities like Frontier airlines sometimes also offered service such as Missoula-Billings as part of a Missoula-Denver route. This was all before the current “hub-and-spoke” setup we have today. But in 2020, the only places in Montana one can fly direct from Billings are those receiving Essential Air Service subsidies: Havre, Glasgow, Wolf Point, Sidney, and Glendive. Besides those places, there is NO intrastate air service within Montana. Not only that, one cannot fly direct from anywhere in Montana to any of the four states and three Canadian provinces; nor can a direct flight be taken from anywhere in Montana to Spokane, Washington, a relatively important area destination. The airport in Belgrade (Montana’s busiest) touts its new flights to places like Los Angeles and Newark, but they’ve failed in getting anything local. This is a nationwide problem.
In 1979, Greyhound operated 3 or 4 buses daily across Montana on Interstates 94 and 90 serving 38 communities. Today, Jefferson Lines operates 2 daily buses west of Billings on I-90 and two east of Billings, one each on I-90 and I-94. But instead of 38 stops, there are only six! As pathetic as this is, it’s actually better than other places. I-84 through Eastern Oregon had a level of bus service similar to that in Southern Montana in 1979 when the Pioneer was axed in 1997, but now there is only one bus each way each day. On I-80 between Reno and Salt Lake City, Greyhound will indeed sell you a ticket to Winnemucca and Elko, but its on a bus first to Reno or Salt Lake City, and then to destination on Amtrak’s California Zephyr.
Indeed, all the available other transportation in 1979 exacerbated the apathy with regard to Amtrak service, but the reality is that well over a generation has passed since the passenger trains have disappeared, and so has much of the other service. In other words, it’s to the point now that a lot of people are unaware of what was once available and simply accept that which is. But that doesn’t change that passenger trains are safer and more comfortable than driving, and that anything other than long-distance air service doesn’t exist.
HaHa…the Milwaukee had, in some opinions, the most scenic route and timing, followed by the NP. The GN, based upon personal experience, was dull.
The only objectively accurate way to gauge the commercial prospects, costs and revenues for a restored service of this nature is to put the concept out to a public competitive solicitation of proposals. Leaving it up to the brain trust at NRPC is doomed to failure.
I suspect that air service is funded in part at least by the federal essential air svc program (us, taxpayers).
Arthur:
I agree that the former NP route is more scenic, BUT Interstate 90 and air service took care of NP passenger service. The northern route X-GN is much better for business because US 2 is a two lane highway and there is no scheduled bus service along that route.
Ed Burns
Retired NP-BN, BNSF clerk from Northtown (Minneapolis)