Originally Posted by Roody
Well if there's anything less reliable than Greyhound, it's Amtrack. I read somewhere that 80 % of the trains are delayed.
I arrived in Houstin and checked in to my motel. I just got the status on the Amtrak I would have taken. It departed on time and so far is predicted to arrive on time.
I have a much better understanding now of what the deal is with Amtrak. Amtrak seems to run reliably in the Northeast, where it owns and controls some of its own rails. Everywhere else, Amtrak runs on rails owned and controlled by companies such as Illinois Central or Union Pacific which have come to see themselves as exclusively freight carriers. What we have outside the Northeast is a passenger line that is dispatched by the controlling railroads as if it were just another train carrying coal, sulfuric acid, or plastic furniture from China.
I guess the thinking by passenger rail supporters is that it's important to keep Amtrak alive so that we'll have some base on which to rebuild passenger rail service if the need arises. From what I saw, there are quite a number of passengers who are willing and able to work around the scheduling issues. Amtrak is definitely not the choice for a person who has to work with time constraints. I guess we had a thread discussing Amtrak issues not too long ago.