I don't need to have a GPS tell me I'm in the tunnel! There is no more information in using the GPS repeater than just knowing you lost sight of the sats as you entered the tunnel. In fact, the repeaters might interfere with the GPS signal at the edges of the tunnel slightly reducing the precision of the fix as the train enters the tunnel.
-- Rick C Viewed the eclipse at Wintercrest Farms, on the centerline of totality since 1998
My understanding is this is an expensive service. If you are going on vacation you are better off either driving or renting a car when you get there.
-- Rick C Viewed the eclipse at Wintercrest Farms, on the centerline of totality since 1998
Probably depends on how long you're staying, car rentals ain't cheap anymore particularly if you want to drive anything nice. Minimum $30/day for a subcompact in a metro area, plus fees.
The Auto Train is one of Amtrak's consistently most popular services year round, and one of the most profitable, too. They were looking at doing a second route from Chicago -> Phoenix but not sure if anything came of it
And trains take miles to accelerate and brake.
-- John Larkin Highland Technology, Inc picosecond timing precision measurement jlarkin att highlandtechnology dott com http://www.highlandtechnology.com
Are they profitable?
-- John Larkin Highland Technology, Inc picosecond timing precision measurement jlarkin att highlandtechnology dott com http://www.highlandtechnology.com
Uh, you do realize being sold out is not the same thing as making a profit... yes? I haven't heard much about Amtrak in years, so maybe they are turning a profit now. They are an odd duck of a railroad owning tracks in some areas and not in others.
I see there was another accident yesterday in Washington state, 3 dead. Considering that is not really much worse than the typical commuter accident, it would seem surviving a rail accident is much more likely than a car crash. They say the train was doing 80 in a 30 zone with no PTC but even so some system on the train put on the brakes according to what I read.
-- Rick C Viewed the eclipse at Wintercrest Farms, on the centerline of totality since 1998
You do this a lot. You say things you can't support. I looked at prices on the autotrain and the only info I could find was a Post article. They paid $573 one way. I wasn't initially able to book anything on the Amtrak site. Then I found this less than flattering review
which indicated the actual station in Orlando is Sanford and I was able to get a price from Amtrak, $920 round trip for two and one car. Airfare is very inexpensive and this would pay for a lot of car rental. My understanding is the auto train is mostly snow birds.
-- Rick C Viewed the eclipse at Wintercrest Farms, on the centerline of totality since 1998
They don't do that math for you; the figures they release for public consumption aren't "direct cost" per route vs. revenue figures, they're aggregates that include the entire overhead of running the whole system _and_ supporting all the obviously money-losing routes. And I don't think it shows what they get in state and local transit subsidies, either. Additionally, the management is heavily biased against long-distance routes, so what you'll see on a spreadsheet is that every route over 500 miles is a big money-loser. Their figures even show the Auto Train as a money-loser, which is nonsense.
If you ballpark direct cost vs revenue figures then it looks like all the New York -> Florida routes run at a moderate profit, and the California route runs at a small loss.
Like, such a big money-loser they were studying starting another route. Make it up in volume, I guess!
Oh, okay, some guy on the Internet didn't like it. Not big surprise, bitchin' is what those review sites are made for.
Yes, there is no shortage of bitchin', especially by you. Did you read the complaints? No, you would rather speculate on what runs are profitable and which aren't.
-- Rick C Viewed the eclipse at Wintercrest Farms, on the centerline of totality since 1998
Amtrak runs around 50 cents per passenger-mile. Airlines run around 10 cents.
-- John Larkin Highland Technology, Inc picosecond timing precision measurement jlarkin att highlandtechnology dott com http://www.highlandtechnology.com
2013 data: Amtrack : 35.4 Airline : 14.2
Train food is better, and the sightseeing/get-up-and-stretch prospects are worthwhile. Boats are even more pleasant. Slow down if you want to enjoy the trip!
Or get it over with and enjoy your life.
I went to France once on the QE2. It was fairly boring. Cruise ships look dreadful to me, sort of Las Vegas with disasters.
-- John Larkin Highland Technology, Inc picosecond timing precision measurement jlarkin att highlandtechnology dott com http://www.highlandtechnology.com
Ya, some of his major complaints seem to be that you have to wait for your automobile to be loaded and unloaded from a train that hauls a couple hundred automobiles which have to be loaded and unloaded, that a train that terminates in Orlando not Ft. Lauderdale leaves you kinda far from Ft. Lauderdale, and that the train speeds up and slows down.
?????
Trains can be great. My ex and I used to take our kids from Vancouver to Toronto every Xmas on the Canadian back in the late 80s and early 90s. Had a roomette with dinning car access and the dome car on the rear. Wonderful way to travel!
John :-#)#
Airlines also get billions of dollars in fuel subsid^H^H^H^H freedom-vouchers from evil taxes that in a just world they wouldn't have to pay.
Just so; I can't think of anything worse, with the possible exception of living in a "gated community" in Florida or Arizona, or anywhere in the UK "Costa Geriatricas".
But the Greek island-hopping ferries are a wonderful way to travel. Timetables are a work of fiction, of course :)
Long distance train travel can be remarkably civilised, provided you aren't limited to a "If it is Tuesday it must be Belgium" type of holiday.
Imagine being with a crowd of 2000 people significantly less classy than you'd encounter in the average Vegas strip casino on a Saturday night but you're in the middle of the ocean and can't get away. Also only a
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