So some fancy schmancy group says that Fort Wayne International Airport may be at risk for losing some air service.
I say...who cares! There is a little government run railway called AMTRAK. In fact, AMTRAK is experiencing record ridership this year. I'm so glad I can drive my Hummer down to Baker Street Station and take the train up to Chicago. Its so much easier then waiting for HOURS in the long security lines at Fort Wayne International. And the parking situation at FWA....HORRIBLE. With AMTRAK I can be dropped off in beautiful downtown Chicago.
**UPDATE**
Apparently AMTRAK left the city several years ago. The nearest station is located in Waterloo Indiana.
In all seriousness, there is no reason why Fort Wayne shouldn't have an AMTRAK station. We are located between several major cities, it makes all the sense in the world to have a stop here. Granted, our government has long neglected rail infastructure in most places besides the East Coast. It's too bad that it took a serious energy crisis to get people thinking about rail travel again.
Reccomended Reading:
H.R. 6003 (Yes, Mark Souder voted for this)
Midwest High Speed Rail Association
Old Pictures of Baker Street Station (From robertpence.com)
Interview with AMTRAK CEO
8 comments:
Trains are a good way to move freight and people nostalgic for a bygone era. Buses offer more flexibility- bus companies can adjust routes to accommodate changing demand.
Park:
This city USED to have great mass transit in AND out of the city...and they pissed it all away.
Ain't that ALWAYS the way things go?
B.G.
Fort Wayne lost Amtrak service when the freight companies decided to move off of the old Penn Central line that goes through FW. This would have left Amtrak as the only train service on that line which means that Amtrak would have had to pay for all of the line's maintenance rather than sharing the cost with freight companies. Therefore, Amtrak moved service to a line where it could share the maintenance with the freight companies. There were concerted efforts taken by the City of Fort Wayne and also Lima, Ohio, at the time but to no avail.
The Penn Central line IS the line slated for high speed rail if such ever comes to fruition. This was the culmination of a lot of work by both volunteers and city officials in the early 2000's. High Speed Rail is a national initiative and therefore isn't something that Fort Wayne or any other city can do by itself.
Wouldn't it be great to be able to get on a train and make a trip to Chicago to catch a ball game? Would sure beat sitting here in Fort Wayne wishing there was something to do other then sit in a smoke free bar.
First of all if you wanted to take the train from Waterloo to San Fran this summer and have a sleeping room then you will not be going. The train is booked until late August. The only available seats is coach. Which means you set in a given seat for the entire trip. I wonder why they do not add more cars but maybe they don't have them.
I remember back in about 1958 my parents took my brother and me to Chicago via a train. It was so cool as we watched out the windows and was passing every car on the road.
Keep in mind part of the reason the long haul trains died was they could not keep schedules and people missed connecting trains. Gosh, does that sound like our air industry today?
For you who want to enjoy a fun trip is go to South Bend and take the Lake Shore Train right into Chicago. It is like under 12 bucks each way. You can connect to "L" with a short walk and be dropped right off near ballpark.
Parson's right. You put high speed rail in Fort Wayne and folks will hop on that train to Indy or Chicago and spend their entertainment dollars there.
Personally, I like the idea of high-speed rail. But it has to be profitable to be economically viable. So let the private sector handle the financial risks.
what happened to the cfw zingers!!!! I miss those/
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