Barbara Richardson, Executive Vice-President, National Railroad Passenger Corp
On May 1 Amtrak celebrated its 30th birthday. Passenger rail has come a long way since the troubled days of the late 1960s and early 1970s which led to its creation. So perhaps more importantly, today we are celebrating the growing popularity of Acela Express. The first true high-speed train in the western hemisphere is paving the way for the expansion of high-speed rail service throughout the USA.
It is intriguing that it is not only the big things about Acela Express that get noticed, like speed, ride quality or more comfortable seats, but the little things too. One reporter for a New England newspaper penned with praise how the 'heather blue upholstery and gray-blue accent' matched the on-board staff's uniforms.
That elicits a smile because it was calculated. It is also indicative of how Amtrak designed not just the train but the entire Acela brand, which includes the conventional Acela Regional trains. We benchmarked the design on surveys of more than 20000 travellers across the northeastern USA, as well as from input from our own employees.
We knew that simply introducing a shiny new train that fitted neatly into our operating parameters would not sell in an increasingly competitive business world. Today we operate a service that meets or exceeds both our customers' and our employees' expectations.
In what I believe are prescient words, Amtrak's President & CEO George Warrington has said many times that Acela Express will revolutionise travel in the USA, and become the catalyst for high-speed rail expansion in other corridors. Amtrak is working actively to accomplish this through partnerships with many states. The success of Acela Express can only make that job easier.
Since the first service was launched on December 11 2000 serving major cities between Boston, New York and Washington, more than 82000 people have ridden Acela Express. The service has been attracting strong ridership and exceeding revenue targets.
As forecast, the greatest demand has been on the north end between Boston and New York where trip times have been reduced from around 5h to less than 3h 30min. Ridership on individual trips has begun to rival Amtrak's premium and profitable 200 km/h Metroliner service between New York and Washington DC, which is gradually being phased out and replaced by Acela Express.
Full service this year
By the end of this year, Amtrak will have accepted delivery of all 20 Acela Express trainsets. This will enable us to run a full weekday schedule of 19 trains each way between Washington and New York. There will be 10 each way between Boston and New York, with nine of those running through to Washington.
Weekend services were launched on April 29, and will be expanded to match demand. While Acela Express is primarily marketed as a train for business travellers, our research has shown great potential in the weekend leisure market, given the travel trends in the Northeast.
We are confident about the long-term prognosis, because the key attributes that customers want are already in place or will be soon. For instance, the frequency of premium service offers scheduling flexibility and convenience. While this has been possible for many years on the south end, it is a whole new travel option on the north end of the corridor.
Other keys to success are reliability and value for money, with on-time performance the yardstick. Many US airports are stretched to breaking point, particularly in the Northeast. While the northeastern air shuttles' on-time performance hovers around 70%, Acela Express is currently achieving 95% based on the same 15 min arrival threshold. Value for money covers not only convenience and reliability, but also customer amenities. And that's where Acela Express beats the plane easily.
While most people fixate on Acela Express's 240 km/h top speed, with some newspapers incorrectly dubbing it a 'bullet train', it is the train's customer amenities that will ultimately help it achieve financial and transport success.
Large windows bathe each coach with sunlight. Gone are the corrugated metal bathrooms our customers dislike so much, replaced with beige plum interiors. Audio and video entertainment is available. Menu selections in the pub-style café cars are upscale, and we even offer beer on tap.
Building on the Metroliner service that dates back to Penn Central days, our sales force has been aggressively enlisting corporate business accounts - even going after companies that had previously travelled solely on our airline competitors. We are that confident. With a reliable hourly service and complementing amenities that productive business travellers need, such as electrical outlets for laptop computers and 32 conference tables dispersed throughout the train, we will give the airlines a real run for their money.
Between New York and Washington Amtrak already commands nearly 50% of the rail-air market. With the introduction of premium service north of New York, Amtrak aims to capture significant portion of that market as well.
Spreading the message
There is no doubt that, as Acela Express gains in popularity, high-speed rail will become a more relevant and ultimately tangible solution in other congested urban corridors. Government officials and business leaders from many states have already made enquiries about the project.
Amtrak is now working with 36 states to introduce high-speed trains. But unlike Acela Express, these would be diesel powered, and operate on upgraded tracks owned by the freight railroads. We make no bones about it. Amtrak wants to position itself to be the operator of choice for those future high-speed routes.
The demand for high-speed rail service is being driven at the grassroots level, not only to relieve congested roads and airports, but also to drive economic prosperity. However, it cannot be accomplished without a stronger federal role. In January, shortly after the new Congress convened, more than half of the US Senate, led by Senators Joe Biden of Delaware, Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas, John Kerry of Massachusetts, Majority Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota and Minority Leader Trent Lott of Mississippi (three Democrats and two Republicans), introduced the High-Speed Rail Investment Act of 2001.
A similar bill was passed by the House of Representatives last year but stalled in the Senate just before the adjournment of Congress. If enacted into law, the bill would permit Amtrak to raise $12bn over the next 10 years by issuing bonds. But rather than Amtrak paying interest, bondholders would receive tax credits from the federal government.
With nearly 60 Senate co-sponsors and the support of a diverse number of civic coalitions, such as the National Governors Association, US Conference of Mayors, National Conference of State Legislatures and the National League of Cities, there is broad bipartisan support in Washington.
Investing in infrastructure
Funding from the bond bill would spur more than the development of 11 high-speed rail corridors. It would also enable Amtrak to fund much-needed investment on the south end of the Northeast Corridor, bringing the prospect of a 2h Acela Express service between New York and Washington.
In a report to Congress, Amtrak has identified the need for $12bn in capital investment for the south end of the corridor over the next 20 to 25 years. Since the genesis of the high-speed programme in 1993, Amtrak and the federal government have already contributed $1·6bn to rebuild the infrastructure and install electrification between New Haven, Connecticut and Boston.
Capital investment in the US passenger rail network has been woefully inadequate, especially compared to Europe and Japan. One could easily argue that the federal government has neglected it. With the level of infrastructure funding envisaged in the bill, Amtrak would be able to provide faster, more reliable service.
Funding is needed for many infrastructure works along the corridor, including the replacement of numerous bridges, a new tunnel under Baltimore, and improvements to the East River and Hudson River tunnels in New York. In addition, the Pennsylvania Railroad catenary that dates back to the early 1930s would be overhauled with constant-tension wires, new substations and frequency converters. New signalling would be installed, together with the Advanced Civil Speed Enforcement System to permit 240 km/h operation south of New York. New high-speed crossovers are also required.
Infrastructure and signalling improvements outside the Northeast would allow trains to operate at 145 km/h or more on routes where speeds are now limited to 125 km/h by the lack of cab signalling.
State funding match
Throughout the rest of the country, the funds would be used to supplement money currently proposed at the state level for improving passenger rail services. This would provide the 20% funding match from the states required by the bill, potentially unlocking four times as much in federal funding. California alone plans to devote more than $10bn over the next 20 years to reduce congestion by improving its passenger rail network with more frequent and faster service.
Plans for high-speed rail have been revived in Florida and are taking shape in the Midwest and elsewhere. The 11 federally-designated high-speed corridors receive federal assistance - seed money - enabling them to work with Amtrak and the freight railroads, who own the tracks, in drawing up their initial plans. However, the federal support is not nearly enough to fund any actual infrastructure works or new rolling stock.
Some states or regions are further along than others. Nine states are represented in the Midwest Regional Rail Initiative, which plans to develop 175 km/h services on 11 corridors totalling 4825 route-km. This 'hub and spoke' network radiating from Chicago would serve major cities such as Detroit, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, St. Louis, Kansas City, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Omaha, Des Moines and Indianapolis. An engineering study estimated that $4·1bn would be needed in infrastructure investment over 10 years to complete the project.
Amtrak and the state of Wisconsin are moving forward to identify necessary infrastructure works. In Illinois, some $220m of the $350m needed is already in hand. This spring, Amtrak, the Federal Railroad Administration and the state of Michigan completed testing of the Harmon Incremental Train Control System that will permit 175 km/h operation between Chicago and Detroit in the near future. As part of the incremental approach, Amtrak, Wisconsin and Illinois issued a request for proposals last year for a fleet of high-speed tilting diesel trains to be delivered by the end of 2003.
On the Cascade Corridor between Seattle, Washington, and Portland, Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest, the states, Amtrak, and BNSF have jointly committed more than $500m since 1993. This has reduced journey times from 4h to 3 1/2 h, with a goal of 2h 30min. Two-year old Talgo trains with passive tilt now ply the route, and state officials also envisage faster services to Vancouver, British Columbia, and Eugene, Oregon.
In the Southeast, Virginia and North Carolina have drawn up a $1·2bn programme covering routes from Washington through Richmond to Charlotte. Work has progressed in both states but most aggressively in NC, where the state has already introduced a twice-daily service between Charlotte and Raleigh.
Amtrak is leading the assessment of equipment for the two states and plans to initiate the procurement process shortly. One option is a hybrid diesel-electric train which could run through onto the Northeast Corridor. Eventually, the high-speed service would be extended south through South Carolina and Georgia, becoming the bridge connecting the Northeast to Florida.
In New York state, the 200 km/h Rohr Turboliners built in the 1970s are being refurbished and returned to service on the New York - Albany - Buffalo Empire Corridor in a $125m state-funded programme. With future infrastructure upgrades, this will enable a 2h journey time between New York City and the state capital. On the Keystone Corridor in Pennsylvania, work is under way to cut journey times between Philadelphia and Harrisburg from 2h to 90min, including the reintroduction of electric operation. Initial engineering and planning studies are also under way in the Gulf Coast states of Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas.
Towards a master plan
In the long term, Amtrak's master plan envisages that these embryonic high-speed rail corridors would be linked to form a national network. Much like the interstate highway system but on a smaller scale, a high-speed network would help preserve and grow economic prosperity. Capital investment in this rail network would not only benefit the country's businesses, it would also have a direct benefit for the freight services that would continue to share the tracks.
Furthermore, a network of high-speed trains would relieve the growing burden of congested highways and airports. Mirroring developments in Europe, the airlines could get out of the short-haul business, freeing up scarce airport slots for more profitable long-haul flights. The inauguration of Acela Express has already spurred discussions with Continental Airlines, which is one of Amtrak's marketing partners.
With growing transport and travel industry interest and increasing grass-roots support for high-speed rail, all that is needed is action from Congress to create a truly balanced transport network from coast to coast. The continued triumph of Acela Express will help make that happen.
