TrainBlog by Marcel Marchon

David Gunn, former Amtrak CEO, gave a talk about “The Future of Rail Transportation in America” as part of a forum at University of Delaware. Here are some interesting quotes:

“We are losing mobility for freight and passenger service in this country at a fairly alarming rate,” Gunn said. “All you have to do is look at the statistics. Demand is growing and the physical plant is inadequate, whether you are talking about highway, rail, or even air.”

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“We are hitting some really important physical and environmental walls as far as what we can do,” Gunn said. “If you look at the highway network, particularly in urban areas, it is full. You can’t solve problems like this as you did in former years by adding lanes.”

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Fixing Amtrak Gunn said that while there is arguably a lot wrong with Amtrak, there also is a lot right with the system. “Amtrak was not set up to promote passenger rail service in this country. It was set up to save the freight rail system from going bankrupt and destroying the railroads,” Gunn said. “Something went wrong. What went wrong was that passengers started to come back and governments from states like California said, ‘We need this thing.’”

Among the changes that are needed to improve the rail system in America are reform of the Railway Labor Act and empowering states with money and decision-making ability to address their individual transportation situations, Gunn said.

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“When you are talking about creating operating efficiency, you had better include changing work rules or you are never going to get away with it,” Gunn said.

[Transit troubles ahead, ex-Amtrak head warns]