The official tumblr of amtrak

[The official tumblr of amtrak]

purpletyn asked:

hello Amtrak can you kick Michigan’s ass and force them to build the coast to coast rail ^-^

amtrak-official answered:

Why would Michigan be in the way of any NYC-San Francisco Rail project?

[amtrak-official]

Given I can’t see the executive summary and full plans due to link rot, I think the project is dead, we could always still hope for A2TC though which has a chance of receiving state grants in the 2024 budget

[The official tumblr of amtrak]

meridianowl asked:

what improvements do you think Amtrak Cascades route could make to improve ridership?
what knock-on effects could the transit organizations along the route try to work towards?

amtrak-official answered:

It has decent speed but I would say doing speed improvements to get Seattle-Portland down to 2 and a half hours, expanding the Sounder commuter trains or the Link to reach more of the Seattle area like Redmond and South hill, expanding the MAX in Portland to reach more suburbs like Oregon City and Sherwood are the 2 things most important to raising ridership. Also getting a High Speed Express line on the Cascades would be good, but yeah those are my suggestions.

[amtrak-official]

@gaytona It is going to be such a good thing for both Cascades Ridership and Link Ridership when it is finished!!

[The official tumblr of amtrak]

[amtrak-official]

Track speeds and freight companies are the biggest thing keeping us from having night trains between major cities so you can go to sleep at 8 in Chicago and wake up the next morning in Austin, New Orleans or New York

[amtrak-official]

For example, The City of New Orleans comes close to being a Night Train but it runs a full 19 hours, meaning if you leave Chicago at 8 pm, you would still arrive at 3 pm in New Orleans the next day. If the train were sped up to last about 10-14 hours it could easily become a real alternative to flying. Luckily with this example, There should be some infrastructure improvements as grade separation projects happen and the already funded New Orleans to Baton Rouge train increases speeds in that area, as there is a bridge that moves at literally 10 mph over a lake in Louisiana. Nothing to lower speeds by 5 hours but it is a start

[amtrak-official]

@man-and-atom Yeah, if we were able, securing funds for additional express routes between major cities would also be a massive way to increase ridership for amtrak as the new time could easily help encourage people to choose Rail over Driving. For example with the Texas Eagle an express service could be just Chicago-STL-Little Rock-Dallas-Austin-San Antonio with no intermediate stops

[The official tumblr of amtrak]

Okay, outdoor art is pretty cool, let’s rate some of it, images will be provided below

Best Outdoor art installation

The Bean (Chicago)

The Sphere (NYC)

Cupids Span (San Francisco)

Levitated Mass (LA)

This Fuckin Cardinal Statue (Louisville)

The Embrace (Boston)

Big Bear (Denver)

METALmorphosis (Charlotte)

Freedom (Philly)

See Results

[The official tumblr of amtrak]

[amtrak-official]

Give me a demographic and I'll make an ad for them, if I can figure out how

[amtrak-official]

@eggmaam-the-cat America despite its apparences is more livable and European than tourists may think at first glance dear Italian, they have a rail network with more kilometers of rail than Italy and it is only slightly more expensive than its European counter part. If you want to keep that nice and efficient lifestyle while traveling abroad, why not try amrrak

[amtrak-official]

There was a train in Demon slayer, don’t you want to be like the demonslayer guy, you should ride the train. Trains are designed to be very kawaii!

[amtrak-official]

The Cafe Car sometimes has cake and we have wifi so you can look at dragons, plus everyone is to busy doing their own shit so they won't ask stupid questions. Also you can listen to old men tell you their life stories

[amtrak-official]

Car drivers hate Sheakepear and Beowolf, I saw one run a copy of Macbeth over with a Ford, don’t be like them, take the Train to Boston instead

[amtrak-official]

Dinosaurs are great Beasts and so are Trains. If you like to look at beasts fo to the train station, Plus Dinosaur Train was popular for a reason, the two naturally mesh together well. Trains and Dinosaurs are both awesome why should they fight when they can join forces, buy an Amtrak ticket today!

[amtrak-official]

Did you know trains have windows and trees can be seem through them! With Amtrak you can take a vacation and still get to experience you field of expertise. The trees of America are rustling with excitement for your visit, come see a tree today. Ride the Amtrak

[amtrak-official]

Give me 120 billion dollars or Bill Clinton Dies tomorrow

[amtrak-official]

Amtrak is a state run corperation, addionally we are consistently rated as a good place to work, pay well, and will negotiate with unions. Put your money where you mouth is and stop buy from the car companies killing us, buy from the kind of company you have been advocating for. Buy from Amtrak!

[amtrak-official]

We have wifi, you masochists can code on the train, just go to the bay area and get off. Ride amtrak, the Conductors are encouraged to not murder you by our executives.

[amtrak-official]

On Amtrak you can stretch, walk, run and jump. Stay Moving and Flexible while on the Move. And with a flexible schedule you can travel the country, Travel with Amtrak the most movement filled form of transit

[amtrak-official]

With Amtrak you can still be a hateful punchable murderous asshole who spends free time harassing innocent people while going to New York. Even if you are not welcome onto his train, we are required to let you ride it by law.

[amtrak-official]

I know you sluts are going to ride the train either way. We offer Chicago to Portland service, how about you take it

[amtrak-official]

Please do a show on my train it would be so amazing, I'll do anything

[amtrak-official]

@nevermore-yt The immortal machine longs for companionship, the old ways are dying out and a new world is in the first steps of its life, the spores of the last great being shall usher in this new age, if you agree to join of course

[The official tumblr of amtrak]

[amtrak-official]

Things I think are cool and we deserve more of:

• Public Parks
• Public Libraries
• Public Pools
• Trains
• Public Housing
• Publicly owned Utilities
• Public Transit

If your city has all 7 in large amounts, it's a good city

[amtrak-official]

@snapplefacts3 yes, but I am counting it under public transit in this post

[The official tumblr of amtrak]

[amtrak-official]

A Texas judge is calling on the Amtrak Texas Central project to include Austin. On a Dallas-Houston Line.

[amtrak-official]

Here is what he is proposing they do

[amtrak-official]

Not at all, it’s actually a good idea, I just think we should focus on the initial route before adding onto it

[The official tumblr of amtrak]

[amtrak-official]

My ideal street layout, wide sidewalk, wide bike lanes, and a 2 lane road that only allows streetcars on it. Yes I know this a bad drawing, I made it in a hurry

[eaglehorn]

Are those (black circles w/ small things) supposed to be eg cafe chairs?

If so, they’re posing an accessibility issue due to blocking the sidewalks. Recommend your street layout allow for outdoor seating without blocking sidewalks.

[kithpendragon]

Agreed. The foundation is sound, but there needs to be plenty of space to walk by seating without getting run over by a bike. Seating that hugs the walls of the nearby structure, and open storefronts that let people and services flow seamlessly between the commercial spaces and the sidewalks would be an improvement here.

[amtrak-official]

I actually shrunk the seating to make there be more space for pedestrians

[rainybasketballpeachclod]

If the tracked area is for trams/streetcars only, may I recommend that you make it green track?

Not only does it add much needed greenery to public spaces, but it also reduces heat at street level, reduces the running noise of trams and dramatically improves water drainage at street level. It even goes as far as reducing the damage to the tracks caused by the material expanding and buckling in high heat by simply keeping the rails cooler and better displacing heat.

It doesn't even have to be grass! Different species of plant, local species or hardier, low-maintenance species can be used, and furthermore, it tends to reduce maintenance costs of the tracks, as soil is easier to dig up than concrete or tarmac, and so the tracks can be accessed and worked on easier.

Obviously, if you want the street to be able to accept buses along with trams/streetcars, or other rubber-tyred vehicles, then a hard surface is necessary, but if it's light rail only, then green track gets my vote.

[amtrak-official]

Already made the edit, I hope you enjoy the green tracks and their flowers. This image is very green

[amtrak-official]

Redoing the color of the bike path to make the street less fucking green

[adler11]

I love the idea of green tracks, but in this case they are not a good choice:

You still need the possibility for rubber based vehicles like Fire Cars or Ambulances to pass the streets.

You can't just put them on tracks because they need to be as mobile as possible to allow maximum efficency.

[amtrak-official]

Okay removing the grass due to firecodes

[aitotsakirimori]

Urbanism pride flag lol

we still need green so maybe put flowerpots in the middle of the sidewalk? Like rectangular ones that only take up maybe a fifth of the sidewalk width, and their intermittent, maybe one between every other set of trees.

[amtrak-official]

The street planters have come in

[ciceronian]

Honestly if you want some good green space you should consider bioswales between the bike facilities and the "street", which would help replace some of the lost drainage/filtration function from de-greening the track

[amtrak-official]

The bios have been swaled

[amtrak-official]

ALT

@puddlebrigade Okay the tables have been moved and reduced to be more accessible and some planters have been moved

[amtrak-official]

ALT

@professionalchaoticdumbass Green is back in fashion

[The official tumblr of amtrak]

[amtrak-official]

My ideal street layout, wide sidewalk, wide bike lanes, and a 2 lane road that only allows streetcars on it. Yes I know this a bad drawing, I made it in a hurry

[eaglehorn]

Are those (black circles w/ small things) supposed to be eg cafe chairs?

If so, they’re posing an accessibility issue due to blocking the sidewalks. Recommend your street layout allow for outdoor seating without blocking sidewalks.

[kithpendragon]

Agreed. The foundation is sound, but there needs to be plenty of space to walk by seating without getting run over by a bike. Seating that hugs the walls of the nearby structure, and open storefronts that let people and services flow seamlessly between the commercial spaces and the sidewalks would be an improvement here.

[amtrak-official]

I actually shrunk the seating to make there be more space for pedestrians

[rainybasketballpeachclod]

If the tracked area is for trams/streetcars only, may I recommend that you make it green track?

Not only does it add much needed greenery to public spaces, but it also reduces heat at street level, reduces the running noise of trams and dramatically improves water drainage at street level. It even goes as far as reducing the damage to the tracks caused by the material expanding and buckling in high heat by simply keeping the rails cooler and better displacing heat.

It doesn't even have to be grass! Different species of plant, local species or hardier, low-maintenance species can be used, and furthermore, it tends to reduce maintenance costs of the tracks, as soil is easier to dig up than concrete or tarmac, and so the tracks can be accessed and worked on easier.

Obviously, if you want the street to be able to accept buses along with trams/streetcars, or other rubber-tyred vehicles, then a hard surface is necessary, but if it's light rail only, then green track gets my vote.

[amtrak-official]

Already made the edit, I hope you enjoy the green tracks and their flowers. This image is very green

[amtrak-official]

Redoing the color of the bike path to make the street less fucking green

[adler11]

I love the idea of green tracks, but in this case they are not a good choice:

You still need the possibility for rubber based vehicles like Fire Cars or Ambulances to pass the streets.

You can't just put them on tracks because they need to be as mobile as possible to allow maximum efficency.

[amtrak-official]

Okay removing the grass due to firecodes

[aitotsakirimori]

Urbanism pride flag lol

we still need green so maybe put flowerpots in the middle of the sidewalk? Like rectangular ones that only take up maybe a fifth of the sidewalk width, and their intermittent, maybe one between every other set of trees.

[amtrak-official]

The street planters have come in

[ciceronian]

Honestly if you want some good green space you should consider bioswales between the bike facilities and the "street", which would help replace some of the lost drainage/filtration function from de-greening the track

[amtrak-official]

The bios have been swaled

[amtrak-official]

ALT

@puddlebrigade Okay the tables have been moved and reduced to be more accessible and some planters have been moved

[The official tumblr of amtrak]

veluciraptor42 asked:

I want a direct NYC to Boston (it can stop in providence but shouldn’t have a lot of stops) this would make my life so much better do you think it could ever happen? It could be so much faster and nicer then driving I want it so so bad

amtrak-official answered:

Acela Service, NYC-Stamford-New Haven-Providence-Boston, it’s fast, it’s direct and she’s iconic

[amtrak-official]

ALT

@veluciraptor42 When the train arrives in hell(Connecticut), get out, throw some rocks at buildings, and then get back on the train and leave