CNW Group is a Canadian news service (Canada NewsWire) that sounds like it should be a railroad. (It's not.) Their April 18 article reports the addition of enough equipment to add an extra 21-car trainset to the VIA Rail Canadian. The addition will give the thrice-weekly train a total of four trainsets. Hallelujah!
Imagine Amtrak taking a step like this.
Amtrak wouldn't know where to find the equipment. While the Amtrak board professes to be in a money-saving mode, they would prefer to have the extra crew costs associated with panic turn-around times and schedule recovery.
Horrors! A politically Conservative blogger is telling us all to look to Canada for an example!
You bet! (Sorry for one too many exclamation points here!)
Here's something else in the article. The Canadian is popular (they use the word legendary) for its "on-board fine dining, accommodations and attention par excellence." It operates full throughout he tourist seasons and it is one of the best patronized rail routes on VIA.
The last paragraph of the article spells out VIA's mandate. If you have read the previous post on this blog, you know what we think should be done with Amtrak's mandate.
Note to Amtrak Board: Buy more railcars including diners and sleepers, run your trains on schedule with equipment in good repair, put elegant meals before your patrons and give them a good night's sleep. The customers will come to the rails. © 2006 - C. A. Turek - mistertrains@gmail.com
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