Italy

Even the Acela comes up very short.

@Vinny DeAngelis posted:

Even the Acela comes up very short.

When acela was in it's infancy i rode it from providence ri to newark penn.  I thought it was top notch then but if my next 2 italian trips match the first, amtrak has a lot to learn.  Rolling stock, infrastructure, staff attitudes all need improvement.

We rode Freccia Rossa this summer from Rome to Bologna. Beautiful. Then we rode Acela from Metropark to Boston. While nice it was out done by the Freccia Rossa.in time, cleaner faster. More pleasant staff.

@necrails posted:

When acela was in it's infancy i rode it from providence ri to newark penn.  I thought it was top notch then but if my next 2 italian trips match the first, amtrak has a lot to learn.  Rolling stock, infrastructure, staff attitudes all need improvement.

Sure, Amtrak could use improvement, but what they need first is adequate funding. Amtrak has been operating on a shoestring for decades, suffering from underfunding. In Europe, and everywhere else in the world (India, Russia, China, Japan to name some), the railroads are subsidized by the governments. In the U.S., Congress thinks Amtrak needs to be self-supporting. As everyone else in the world figured out long ago, for a national rail system this is not possible.

As has been discussed numerous times on the Forum in the past, airlines and trucks and cars all receive government subsidies. Airports are built largely with government funding, FAA is operated largely with government funding, roads are built and maintained largely with government funding, airlines have received untold millions in government bailouts and funding, etc. etc. Amtrak has been the red-headed stepchild.

Under the current administration, Amtrak is finally receiving some significant funding, and there are improvements and expansion plans underway, but this takes time. And who knows how long this will last? Ultimately, the only way to improve Amtrak is to vote for those who will support it.

I noticed there are several different carriers here.  Are they independent,  subsidized,  or some combination? 

Fellow Forumites, particularly those interested in Amtrak:

Please excuse an important interruption, but the following reminder needs to be said.

Every time one of these threads gets started it eventually gets deleted by the moderators, because it becomes overtly political, and usually turns into a heated discussion on why Amtrak, and by association it's owner, the federal government, is an unfixable disaster. Every single time.

In the 8 years I've been following Amtrak here in 'Real Trains' I cannot recall that this has never not happened.

Remember that the moderators have frequently posted that politics are to be avoided at all costs.

Many of us are tired of good threads carrying important information being deleted, and all that good info being lost.

Keep your comments to Amtrak, and not the politics of Amtrak, and we'll be fine.

If you find that in your mind the two topics are inseparable please just hold your comments so that the rest of us might benefit from the discussion, both immediately and long into the future (by insuring that this thread doesn't get deleted).

Thanks to those who've posted so far for keeping things on track, and just as importantly, for your patience.

End of rant.

We now return you to your regularly-scheduled programming.

Mike

Second leg, Florence to Rome.  Both terminals crazy busy, lot's of trains, pulled out of florence side by side with another high speed train.  Two observations,  little if any freight cars seen during the journey but we were on the high speed line.  A noticeable lack of litter trackside.  Either the people here are less likely to toss stuff wherever or there is an active effort to maintain the ROW.

@necrails posted:

Second leg, Florence to Rome.  Both terminals crazy busy, lot's of trains, pulled out of florence side by side with another high speed train.  Two observations,  little if any freight cars seen during the journey but we were on the high speed line.  A noticeable lack of litter trackside.  Either the people here are less likely to toss stuff wherever or there is an active effort to maintain the ROW.

That’s the major difference between Europe and the USA, passenger trains have priority over freight.

All the time the USA has the freight over passenger concept then i don’t see how an effective and efficient passenger service can evolved.

The fundamental purpose of USA trains is to move freight, for Europe it is passengers.

I can't recall where (may have been Trains magazine), but I recently read a columnist who felt that Italy had the best trains in Europe.  I haven't ridden any Italian trains but earlier this year I rode the trains in Japan (everything from the Shinkansen to local trains) and I did feel that the Shinkansen was ahead of the French TGVs (which I have ridden regularly) and the TGVs are way ahead of the Acela Express.  I have not yet ridden the Brightline in Florida which looks promising from what I have seen and read.

I rode trains all over Europe this summer. Italy was pretty good. I have no complaints and the high speed was smooth. Travelling from Edinburgh to London on LNER was top notch. All the trains in Switzerland were excellent too.

Bob

A year ago during our trip to Italy. We rode the Italo high speed trainset from Rome to Florence. Later we rode the ItalRail high speed set from Florence to Venice. Both rides we excellent. The cars we clean, the ride was very smooth. The fares were very reasonable. About $54 for the two of us for each leg.

The high speed set makes each trip in about 2½ hours. Compared to over 4 hours for regular service.

Someone asked about the companies. ItalRail is the national carrier. Italo is a private provider.

My son and daughter-in-law recently did the train from Rome to Florence....it does look like fun!

Peter

Off to Umbria on trenitalia, report to follow.  For a train guy this has been fun.  Been all over the NEC, this has been entirely different.  One major contrast, staff.  On the palmetto we were to in no uncertain terms mess up the toilet and we would be locked out for the duration of the trip.  Staff here had no such attitude.   You can look past many things if train staff acts like your business is valued.  I did write to amtrak about this, 3 months later, not even an acknowledgement it was received.   Oh well.  Caio