I live in Cambridge (across the river from and on the same subway system as Boston). In theory Amtrak should be able to attract my business for trips to NYC. Prior to COVID, about twice as often I flew to NYC as took rail. The times I took rail, the train literally never arrived on time at either end of the journey. We’d sit for an hour waiting for some track or switch problem to be fixed. Or we’d sit for a few 15 minute stretches for no apparent or announced reason.
If I could count on the arrival time, I could use the train for business meetings near the train station. Since I can’t, I fly in and Uber over which, even if it takes longer per the published timetable, has less tail-risk of being late.
No one needs hourly rail service between city pairs (as the article implicitly calls for) while the variability is -10 to +150 minutes.
Looking for a Nov 15-19 trip to NYC, Amtrak is $306 on Acela and I could plan to start working around lunch on Monday and work a full day on Friday if I was willing to arrive home around midnight. On Delta, waking up around the same time, I could reliably attend a 9AM meeting on Monday and working the same full day Friday, get home in time to say good night to my kids. That would cost $157 plus two Ubers. That’s with spotting Amtrak the advantage of a meeting walking distance from Penn Station and riding on the crown jewel of the Amtrak network: Northeast corridor Acela.
If I could count on the arrival time, I could use the train for business meetings near the train station. Since I can’t, I fly in and Uber over which, even if it takes longer per the published timetable, has less tail-risk of being late.
No one needs hourly rail service between city pairs (as the article implicitly calls for) while the variability is -10 to +150 minutes.
Looking for a Nov 15-19 trip to NYC, Amtrak is $306 on Acela and I could plan to start working around lunch on Monday and work a full day on Friday if I was willing to arrive home around midnight. On Delta, waking up around the same time, I could reliably attend a 9AM meeting on Monday and working the same full day Friday, get home in time to say good night to my kids. That would cost $157 plus two Ubers. That’s with spotting Amtrak the advantage of a meeting walking distance from Penn Station and riding on the crown jewel of the Amtrak network: Northeast corridor Acela.