July 19, 2019 - Opinion - Charles Florio -
I live in Longview Texas about 25 miles east of Tyler and 120 miles east of Dallas. Longview and Tyler (Mineola) are about 100,000 population each. My wife and I travel on the train to Fort Worth to visit our younger son and his family and to Austin to visit our older son and his family. Fort Worth is about 158 train miles and Austin is about 360 train miles. Many passengers are bused from the Longview's inter-model station east to Shreveport Louisiana and south to Houston (America's second largest city) and Galveston.
Longview spent millions to build its inter-modal station. I see passengers on the train who are going to Chicago, San Antonio, and Los Angeles. The Texas Eagle is RARELY on time. The Eagle formerly made considerable revenue. Since Amtrak President Richard Anderson and his neophytes took over Amtrak, the Eagle makes less revenue. I get the feeling that he wants the long distance network to fail. Union Pacific knows Anderson is not an advocate of the Eagle so the train recently has a worse on-time performance record.
American Airlines serves Longview and Tyler. These cities PAY AA to serve their cities. Both cities spent millions to build wonderful terminals. Why is Amtrak expected to make a profit from users when AA makes a profit at the expense of the taxpayers of Longview and Tyler?
User fees by drivers pay 50 percent of the cost of building and maintaining highways. The other 50 percent comes from general tax revenue. I ask again, why is Amtrak expected to make a profit and highway users are subsidized by general revenue from the taxpayers?
Anderson reduced services of Delta Airlines passengers to help make greater profits for Delta stockholders. Now he wants to do away with the long distance network at the expense of the poor, the elderly, the blind, etc., who ride the train to life events and for medical treatment.
Texas' population is about 25 million - soon to be the most populated state if Californians keep moving to Texas.
Only lawyers have benefited from decades of litigation of Amtrak's dismal on-time performance record.
I wrote my congressman, Louie Gohmert several years ago about the poor on time performance of the Texas Eagle. His transportation aide said, "you will receive a reply to your letter." I DID NOT.
I live in Longview Texas about 25 miles east of Tyler and 120 miles east of Dallas. Longview and Tyler (Mineola) are about 100,000 population each. My wife and I travel on the train to Fort Worth to visit our younger son and his family and to Austin to visit our older son and his family. Fort Worth is about 158 train miles and Austin is about 360 train miles. Many passengers are bused from the Longview's inter-model station east to Shreveport Louisiana and south to Houston (America's second largest city) and Galveston.
Longview spent millions to build its inter-modal station. I see passengers on the train who are going to Chicago, San Antonio, and Los Angeles. The Texas Eagle is RARELY on time. The Eagle formerly made considerable revenue. Since Amtrak President Richard Anderson and his neophytes took over Amtrak, the Eagle makes less revenue. I get the feeling that he wants the long distance network to fail. Union Pacific knows Anderson is not an advocate of the Eagle so the train recently has a worse on-time performance record.
American Airlines serves Longview and Tyler. These cities PAY AA to serve their cities. Both cities spent millions to build wonderful terminals. Why is Amtrak expected to make a profit from users when AA makes a profit at the expense of the taxpayers of Longview and Tyler?
User fees by drivers pay 50 percent of the cost of building and maintaining highways. The other 50 percent comes from general tax revenue. I ask again, why is Amtrak expected to make a profit and highway users are subsidized by general revenue from the taxpayers?
Anderson reduced services of Delta Airlines passengers to help make greater profits for Delta stockholders. Now he wants to do away with the long distance network at the expense of the poor, the elderly, the blind, etc., who ride the train to life events and for medical treatment.
Texas' population is about 25 million - soon to be the most populated state if Californians keep moving to Texas.
Only lawyers have benefited from decades of litigation of Amtrak's dismal on-time performance record.
I wrote my congressman, Louie Gohmert several years ago about the poor on time performance of the Texas Eagle. His transportation aide said, "you will receive a reply to your letter." I DID NOT.