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Image of Delaware U.S. Sen. Biden via Giphy)
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Good evening,You have to give Scott Spencer an “A” for effort. The co-founder of Wilmington-based passenger rail start-up AmeriStarRail continues to make a case for Amtrak using its Acela high-speed trains for lower-cost coach as well as first and business class service.
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Spencer argues that limiting Acela to luxury service amounts to discrimination against passengers who can’t afford a trip on the higher speed trains that stop in Wilmington.AmeriStarRail wants to operate Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor route, with all-Acela trains and more stops along the I-95 corridor between DC. and Boston.
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There are other bells and whistles include a trolley that would run from downtown Wilmington to the Riverfront and stations in the New York City area and Baltimore that would ease delay-prone bottlenecks. AmeriStar claims low-cost changes to the corridor routes and stations would ease congestion and cut costs.
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So far Spencer has made no headway with the federally owned railroad system that employs about 1,000 in Delaware. Last month, he sent a letter to Amtrak champion President Joe Biden outlining a plan to use private financing to make the Northeast Corridor an all-Acela route, with new regional trains moving to other routes.
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| AmeriStarRail’s proposals deserve consideration, especially when it comes to strategies that could save money that could be plowed back into the corridor, which is loaded with century-old bridges and tunnels. |
Still, it is hard to image that Amtrak brass, armed with billions of dollars of infrastructure funding from Congress and the White House will pay attention. Badly needed investments in new Acela trains and other improvements are coming on line and looking at other options would be akin to a panic stop by an Acela train.
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One reason for listening comes from Amtrak’s less than perfect record in planning. Last year, the railroad’s Inspector General’s report took issue with the costly purchase of an office building in Wilmington.based on flawed planning and assumptions on whether dispatching and other personnel from other sites should be consolidated. It also appears that the building appears to be unsuited for some Amtrak operations.
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Another Inspector General’s office also issued a report last month that found the design for a new generation of non-Acela trains that can operate on electric lines or diesel power were not always a good fit with servicing sites. It turns out that Amtrak did not run the train designs by staff who might have flagged those flaws. The result was delays and in all likelihood added costs.
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| Those shortcomings would seem to give Spencer ant AmeriStarRail an argument for Biden suggesting a closer look at Northeast Corridor plans. But it is hard to imagine that “Amtrak Joe” would be inclined to jump into the process. He has a few other irons in the fire. – Doug Rainey, chief content officer. |
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