Aboard the camaraderie express; Downeaster to Maine is fastest-growing rail route

[Eugene]

Source: Boston Globe

Aboard the camaraderie express
Downeaster to Maine is fastest-growing rail route

By Noah Bierman
Globe Staff / November 8, 2008

-snip-

The Downeaster between Boston and Portland,
America's fastest-growing intercity train route, is part
neighborhood bar, part rolling office park. For many
who rely on the train regularly, it is both. There is,
after all, a lot of time to kill, 2 1/2 hours from the
first stop to the last. Some get off in Haverhill, many
stay until Exeter, and a few go all the way to Dover,
Wells, or Saco as part of commutes that can last as
long as six hours a day, enough time to fly
to Iceland.

-snip-

Higher gas prices, the train's added service, and
several promotions aimed at travelers going to baseball
games or seeking medical treatment in Boston encouraged
the train's pace-setting growth spurt, a 36.7 percent
increase in the year that ended Sept. 30, more than
any other Amtrak route in the country.

On average, ridership on Amtrak's 26 short-distance
routes like the Downeaster grew by 17.5 percent for the
year, more vigorously than long-distance routes, which
grew by 10.3 percent.

The Maine and New Hampshire residents who commute
to work on the Downeaster, about a third of the train's
passengers, say that what keeps them coming, even as
gas prices decline, is the ability to work on laptops
or to hang out in the dining car with train friends,
instead of fighting traffic across some of the region's
most congested roads.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/11/08/aboard_the_camaraderie_express

[nxylas]

1. I think this hits on why the Reaganite right is so anti-public transportation

They seek a dog-eat-dog world where everyone is an atomized individual nakedly pursuing their own self-interest at the expense of their neighbor. Anything that promotes a sense of community is a threat to that vision.

[Vogon_Glory]

2. The Downeasters Are Good Trains

Amtrak's Downeasters are good trains. I had the privilege of riding on one from Portland to Boston last month. They're comfortable, they have leg room, and if boarding is more of a hassle than it was forty-plus years ago before the boogeymen of tort suits and terrorism, it's still far less hassle than air travel has become. I hope that the powers-that-be can find ways to extend service to Bangor.

I regret that they can't run trains a bit faster. I suspect that Guilford/PanAm (the guys who actually own the tracks) has something to do with that.

I am coming to believe that the best way to get on-time and frequent conventional rail passenger service is for the passenger train operator to own the tracks and right-of-way and to control dispatching.

This may mark me as an elitist, but I do hope for one thing--a return of checked baggage service.