Amtrak Train 14, the Coast Starlight, at Albany Station Thursday, about two hours late after a collision with a car at Ellingson Road.
Train service has been further reduced, but new automated signs are being installed. That about sums up the latest from Albany Station.
The latest service reduction came at the start of this week, when Amtrak cut back the daily Coast Starlight trains between Seattle and Los Angeles to three times a week because of a decline in travel caused by the Covid-19 epidemic.
As of now, the northbound Train 14 comes through Albany on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. The southbound Train 11 stops on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. On Fridays Albany doesn’t see the Coast Starlight at all.
Early in the Covid crisis, Oregon reduced the schedule of the Amtrak Cascades trains and buses between Portland and Eugene. At Albany Station now there’s only one Cascades train a day in each direction, heading north in the morning and coming back at night.
I happened to be at the station Thursday afternoon, inquiring about the schedule cutback and the new signs I had heard about, when Train 14 pulled in about 3:30. Normally it comes through a little after 1. On Thursday, though, the train had hit a car on the Ellingson Road crossing south of town. The driver was killed.
What about those signs, the kind that have been in use for some time at the stations in Eugene and Salem? Well, they offer information about when trains are scheduled, and they announce arrivals via a pubic address system. Amtrak is putting them in, and judging by the construction activity they’ll be installed at the station’s four corners.
The announcements will be automatic based on the timetable, as I understand it, but an agent can override the automated system when conditions make this necessary.
Does this move toward automation signal an intent by Amtrak to stop staffing Albany Station? No, I was told, at least not at this time.
That’s a consolation of sorts. If the station was fully automated, the waiting room presumably would have to be closed. This would be rough on people waiting for trains when the winter weather gets bad, especially when trains are an hour or two late. (hh)
The orange markers show where preparations have started for the new signs at Albany Station.
Many thanks to the PRC for all they have given us.
Have you read the perfectly titled book –
“Romance of the Rails: Why the Passenger Trains We Love Are Not the Transportation We Need”
It was written by Oregonian and OSU grad Randal O’Toole.
The Golden Age ended 100 years ago. But some (perhaps you) still insist that we return to it. Such an incredible waste of public funds….
Randal O’Toole has at least one good side. He supports congestion pricing. I thought it was just greenies and lefties like me.
“””Congestion pricing is the best and may be the only way to end the fuel, time, and dollars wasted in traffic, and free-market advocates should support such pricing to solve local traffic problems.”””
https://www.cato.org/blog/solution-congestion
“The Golden Age ended 100 years ago.” I suspect it lasted longer than that. How about the 1930s? Also, I remember moving by train from New York to Miami in 1954 — probably still part of the golden age with two rival railroad lines through Florida. The tracks of one of them now make up the only privately owned and run intercity passenger trains in the U.S.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brightline
OTOH, some countries embrace trains & future technologies. Europe & Japan come to mind. Recent news article: https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/fehmarnbelt-tunnel-denmark-germany-spc-intl/index.html.