Why Does Houston's Amtrak Station Look So Bad?

[citykid09]

Photo from: 20sGirl

Why Does Houston's Amtrak Station Look So Bad?, Will they ever Build a better one?

[tw2ntyse7en]

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[Lowbrow]

It is no wonder that amtrak is a failing prospect here in Texas. To get to anywhere in Texas from Houston you have to go through San Antonio. Which would be fine if I was heading to El Paso but not when I'm going to AUSTIN (/boogle) or Dallas. I could drive to Dallas and back and to dallas again and back before my train would get there.... like 18 hours or something (with layover).

Makes me sad. My family has a tradition of being conductors on the Long Island Railroad and I can't even take a train to see my family on holidays.

[DaTrain]

Where Minute Maid Park is today, what was Union Station like back in those days? Was it a train station long ago?

[london0868]

Our station looks so bad because there are only two trains a day. One going eastbound and one going westbound. It would not make sense to build a nice station for so few trains. If the state of Texas would get its act together a build a state-wide rail sytstem that connected all of the major and secondary cities, there would be more of need for a much better system.

Years ago, I took the train from Houston to Chicago which was wonderful, but they have discontinued that service. Now, a train goes from LA to Jacksonville and we just happen to be in the middle.

[Subdude]

Where Minute Maid Park is today, what was Union Station like back in those days?  Was it a train station long ago?

I think it was a train station until the 1970s or so. The tracks ran in the back where the field is now.

[HoustoniaNYC]

SWA is to blame for killing the preposed revitalization of rail in Texas. Imagine being able to go from Dowtown to downtown S.A., Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth with a few stops in between and not needing a car to get to and from the airport (which is often a nightmare) much less not dealing with airport security and such.

The rail networks of Europe and the Northeast, in particular the one here in the NYC metro area should be envied. It's a wonderful way to get around and an incredibly efficient way to move massive amounts of commuters.

But hey, we got the best highways in the nation (as we should, because more money on highways than education, but I digress) and they're almost never crowded with traffic, especially when they've been expanded to 50 lanes wide.

[bachanon]

rail, as a travel/commuting option, needs a new image. perhaps taking business models like SWA (no frills, casual) and then repackaging rail as the environmentally smart, easy, laid back, hassle free, cheap, quick way to travel would reinvigorate rail travel in texas. we need a new and profitable private rail industry in texas. maybe we should start by proposing a regional terminal and inviting proposals from private rail entities around the world to compete for our rail right of ways with incentive packages from the city, county, state and/or federal governments. isn't that what we do with our international airport? would continental airlines be based here if we didn't "provide incentives" for them?

a carrot before the horse pulls the wagon carrying the people.

me thinks we need a big carrot for a big horse (or two).

[tony]

Amtrak is in such bad shape financially - they might never build a new station. The problem is that they flourish in the northeast, but have wilted in the west. No one out here takes the train the way people do in the NE. We'll probably never get to have a Central Station either    The closest thing to that it looks like is the Greyhound station downtown

After 9/11 - the government gave the airlines that multibillion dollar bail-out. Amtrak asked for the same and to my knowledge recieved nothing. Even the federal government is guilty of the same as our local governements when it comes to rail.

Glen

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Here's a story:

In October of 2003 I was invited along with 75 other Texans to attend an Economics convention in New Orleans. The Fed rented a club car from Amtrak and bought us all tickets as a gift, figuring that the novelty of arriving in New Orleans by train would be an incentive to participate.

Amtrak asked us not to meet at the statiion in Houston as it could not accomodate 75 people and that its parking lot could not handle more than a few cars. The Fed made the decision for us to meet at Hobby Airport and to transport us by bus downtown--a fateful decision as it turned out.

After we had boarded the buses, the person in charge called Amtrak to alert them of our imminent arrival and was informed that Amtrak was experiencing a 5 hour delay in El Paso so we could not come.

We met at an airport to take a train and arrived in New Orleans by bus.

[tw2ntyse7en]

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[Lowbrow]

Classic story. My condolences.

Kind of off-topic but one xmas I flew from Columbia, SC to LAX, drove up to San Fran, drove back to LA, flew to Dallas, talked someone into driving me to San Antonio, then drove up to Waco, took the greyhound to Denver, drove to Boulder, then to Colorado Springs, CO, flew to Atlanta, took their train to the greyhound station and took the bus back to Columbia SC. All in about 9 days. That was my planes, trains, and automobiles trip.

On that note I think our train station looks like some dustbowl town's greyhound station.

[tw2ntyse7en]

...

[debmartin]

last year for the holidays my two sons and i traveled to niagra falls, canada and thought riding amtrak would be interesting. there was a special rail pass for $500 each, good for 30 days travel between the two countries - the price more than tripled after i reserved a sleeping car but it was a necessity. my sister was dropping us off and we thought we would miss the train because we could not find the station - after she drove off we were informed that due to a derailment in columbus texas the train was delayed at least 8 hours. we checked our bags and played around downtown until they called my cellphone and told me we could be re-routed through new orleans instead of jacksonville and leave around 5pm. the sleeping cars were awesome, but inspired cabin fever at times, but it worked out as my kids are teenagers and tended to stay up all night in the club car watching movies and playing on the computer. we also took plenty of music and dvd's and my older son spent most of the trip shooting video's and taking photos.

the ride was rough and the train pulled over too many times to count while freight trains crawled past. the biggest surprise was the dining car - when you buy a sleeping car all meals are included and my younger son ordered the most expensive steak for quite a few meals. it was a little weird eating while the dishes shook and the food bounced around - also they "seat" incomplete parties together so my family of 3 usually got paired with the one couple on board trying to have a romantic getaway that i'm sure did not include teenage boys. i nearly ran out of cash, as i forgot about needing to tip the sleeping car attendant and waiters, bartender, snack bar worker and red-caps who help with the luggage.

crossing the canadian border took hours, as the polite officers quizzed each person on board about their intentions - one couple were taken off the train for bringing pornographic material as it seems they were headed for a "sex" show in toronto to promote her video. we didn't need passports so all we had to show were our id's and birth certificates. coming home we were diverted through chicago after someone jumped in front of the train at a station in some small town. we were stopped for over 12 hours and even the FBI came on board to make sure it was a suicide and nothing more. one thing became apparent, amtrak never takes their schedule seriously and they are constantly re-routing passengers - the chicago route came through san antonio and it put us over our 30 day travel limit and i had to pay $175 to get us home. when i found out that from san antonio it would take over 8 hours i yelled until i got a sleeper car. i figured with the average delays the 8 hours could easily turn into 12 and it was their fault my travel was over the limited days. i must say if you persist you can easily negotiate with the right person at amtrak.

overall it was a great experience if you have no time constraints but for business travel amtrak would not be feasible. our station is an embarrasment but the station in new orleans was grand. chicago's was seedy but ample with a great v.i.p. room and of course in new york we landed in penn station to catch the long island railroad for a sidetrip. up north amtrak enjoys a co-existence with other commuter trains, like the one we found in baltimore for another side trip.

another very annoying thing is that the schedules always run behind and you end up in cities with screwed up layovers. sometimes we had a few hours that turned overnight like the night we stayed in penn station due to bad weather. a hotel would have been too expensive for a few hours but all night fighting off the bums was draining. at 6am the nypd showed up and arrested anyone without a valid ticket, which frightened my younger son because i had his ticket and he was getting donuts. based on that experience we grabbed a taxi to a nearby hotel a few times, and once amtrak called us and woke us up in the middle of the night to be "re-routed", although they paid for the taxi. too bad the trains have died out down here, but i understand why people usually fly or drive. my kids and i were looking at photos from last christmas and re-living our adventure, and this year we've opted for the beach house in galveston. it's quiet here and i've promised to close my laptop hours ago, and i hope all of you enjoy happy holidays.

debmartin

[ssullivan]

Wow, deb, what an adventure! A good friend of mine bought one of the US/Canadian rail passes a little over a year ago and headed west from Houston, then up the west coast, to Canada, and east across Canada coming back to Houston via New York and New Orleans. He had nothing but positive comments about it, although he only had sleeper compartments in Canada and chose to sleep in his seat on the Amtrak segments.

I think Amtrak is a lot better on the east and west coasts and Midwest than it is here. Unfortunately the Sunset Limited is plagued with tons of delays. I've heard that it almost never arrives and departs Houston on schedule in either direction. Service would be a lot better if the tracks were in better shape and Amtrak's service in this part of the country wasn't held up by all the freight traffic.

I've never taken Amtrak but this summer had two wonderful experiences on the Alaska Railroad's passenger trains, from Fairbanks to Denali NP and then Denali south to Anchorage. It's definitely the best way to travel up there. The trains are spotlessly clean, the staff is extremely friendly and helpful, and the cars are very comfortable. On both trips I was assigned to a restored vintage rail car from the 1940s that still had all of its original art deco light fixtures and seats with more leg room than I've ever had in even a first class airline seat. And the food was quite good and reasonably priced. Out of three meals, I was twice placed with a stranger and both times had an interesting conversation and enjoyed meeting someone new. I've talked to some people who've taken trips on both Amtrak and the Alaska Railroad, and from what I've heard the Alaska Railroad is consistently wonderful, while Amtrak can be hit or miss, especially on some routes. My experience was so good that I left wishing that we had rail service on that level down here becuase I've definitely choose it over driving when time wasn't a big issue.

[editor]

Amtrak is in such bad shape financially - they might never build a new station. The problem is that they flourish in the northeast, but have wilted in the west. No one out here takes the train the way people do in the NE. We'll probably never get to have a Central Station either    The closest thing to that it looks like is the Greyhound station downtown

After 9/11 - the government gave the airlines that multibillion dollar bail-out. Amtrak asked for the same and to my knowledge recieved nothing. Even the federal government is guilty of the same as our local governements when it comes to rail.

Glen

It's also important to note that other states view rail transportation differently than Texas. For example, taking Amtrak from Chicago to Milwaukee is $20 each way. To Saint Louis, Indianapolis, Detroit, and Springfield are all under $25 each way. It's not because there are so many people riding the rails that it makes financial sense (except maybe Milwaukee). It's because the state of Illinois subsidizes these routes for Amtrak because the state doesn't want to build more clogged highways snaking across the state's soybean fields.

[Lowbrow]

Very cool story, Deb, thanks.

I just returned from my xmas vacation in spain and I loved the rail. Of course we had dedicated passenger train tracks and the trains were usually running 200 km/hr with very few stops. 5 hours from Barcelona to Madrid with one stop about midway, 2 pull overs to allow other passenger trains to pass the other way, 2 meals, a movie and seats big enough for 2 people (2 people smaller than me).

The schedule they keep was impeceble. I actually missed a train by 2 minutes and had to fly one leg to keep to my itinerary. 2 minutes that ended up costing about $700 including the hotel for that night. Ouch.

ps. the Madrid Station is beautiful. It doesnt show any of the aftermath of the terrorist bombings from earlier this year. The locals say there is a slightly greater military presence there now but nothing more than you would really expect in any international way-point.

[Hunter]

After 911 my Brother in law was called back to active duty. He secured a place on base for his family to live in. Well I volunteered to drive my Sisters car over and she decided to take the train with her 2 kids. She thought that it would be fun to take a rail trip to California. I would drive her car over and meet at the base to give it to her. It was suppose to be a 2-day trip by rail and I had 5 days to drive there. (WHY rush) Well the day came and I dropped her and the kids off at the station. I helped them on to the train and watched it leave the station. I go tin the car and took off. 4 days later I arrived in San Diego and she arrived the next day. Amtrak had so many delays and problems that it took them 5 days to reach California. She will not ride them ever again. For less money she could have flown and arrived the same day.

[davy_jones_locker]

Canada's VIA rail trains are really nice. The commuter line between Windsor and Toronto (TO) is uneventful, punctual, and there is a heavenly blue sky with white clouds painted on the ceiling of every car!

Every American should have at least one Amtrak adventure, though ... Amtrak is a very strange beast. As a young 'un I was dragged on many miles of Amtrak'd lines, thanks to my mother's fear of flying, through all parts except the deep south/south central. It's succeeded in changing its image in Southern California - the trains running between San Diego and Los Angeles are beautiful, clean and spacious, and actually classier than the Metrolink commuter trains, which aren't so slobby. And the Krispy Kreme donuts are a big hit with passengers. They manage to attract business travellers and tourists; it may actually be profitable. Unfortunately they just don't know who their customer in the rest of the West is anymore - is it the person who's trying to save money, or the retiree or tourist who wants to see the country at a leisurely pace? They try to do both on the longer lines and fail miserably.

It's pretty crappy trying to sleep in the coach seats, but they also allow a chance to get to know some of the other passengers. I don't know if they still do this, but as recently as 2002 they had packets describing the sights on the Coast Starlight (Portland-LA), and in the 1980s and 1990s the Southwest Chief (Chicago-LA) used to bring guides on board the observation car, to narrate parts of the journey, with expertise in either Native American culture or the desert environment.

Chicago's train station is usually considered an architectural gem, particularly the large waiting room (I've added an image to the bottom). I travelled through there a lot through the 1980s and 1990s, and hazarding that if it came off as seedy, rather than bustling, you might have arrived either on a weekend or after hours, as there's not much going on at that time of day.

During the week there are tons of commuter trains, and more downtown workers visiting the shops and eateries, and the Art Institute's collection and other museums are within walking distance. A lot of the major Amtrak stations are like that, like Washington, LA, Boston, San Diego - the bottom level or one section is rundown, but another section has art deco or classical design, access to commuter lines, shops and businesses.

Amtrak could improve their image simply by improving the last few miles of trainyards and their tributaries in most localities. It's hard to get excited about a city when you hear the conductor announce the last stop - you look up and it looks like you're entering a Superfund site.

Chicago's trainyards look especially awful and the Amtrak entrance makes me think of the oppressed worker scenes from "Metropolis"; the last miles going into LA's Union Station overlook the graffitied aquaducts. Actually, it's where "Grease" and many other TV shows and movies have filmed (most recently "Boomtown"), and LA's old City Hall (aka the "Dragnet" headquarters and home to "Superman's" Daily Planet on TV) is nearby, but it tends to freak out tourists.

[Perimeter285]

I realize Amtrak's system delays are the main reason people won't ride the train, but I've seen a lot of the other stations along the Sunset Limited route, and Houston's is by far the worst. Even tiny towns in Louisiana and Mississippi have nicer stations than ours. It makes it that much worse to know that they bulldozed the grand old Southern Pacific station to build the current concrete bunker shoebox. If their goal was to make train travel as unappealing as possible to Houstonians, then they surely succeeded!

It would be nice for someone to take up the cause of building a new station, which would be yet another asset for downtown and a point of pride for our city. People might even consider using Amtrak if they didn't have to wait in a building that makes the Greyhound bus station look luxurious.

[ricco67]

I'm not entirely sure, but as train travel decreased, the old union station was put out of commission (I remember seeing trains come in and out of the place in my youth) and the current station was made to replace it (never made much sense to me). As long as Amtrak is given low priority on the tracks, which make it consistently behind schedule in Texas, the ridership potential will never be realized.

[cnote]

revitalization of rail in Texas (and really all public transportation) will take a major 180 from politicians and business...all starting with a change made in the lifestyles of the people...which really hasn't caught on yet, though the high gas prices are helping. I know my park and ride is more and more crowded every day now.

I still hope that the $1.1 billion TxDot accounting error will turn into a blessing in disguise for commuter rail on 290.

Oh yeah, and I forgot the main ingredient...MONEY....

[ricco67]

What P&R do you take and how much has it grown?

[editor]

revitalization of rail in Texas (and really all public transportation) will take a major 180 from politicians and business...all starting with a change made in the lifestyles of the people...which really hasn't caught on yet, though the high gas prices are helping. I know my park and ride is more and more crowded every day now.

It's an invisible battle for the future of transportation in Texas:

Campaign donations from auto dealers and construction companies versus rising gas prices.

It's interesting to see that as gas gets more expensive, more people are asking why their elected leaders aren't doing anything to help ease the pain (mass transit).

As much as I root for rail, and ride Amtrak probably once or twice a month, I still think the auto dealers, manufacturers, and construction companies will win.

[cnote]

What P&R do you take and how much has it grown?

Cypress P&R or the 217 line. Don't really have any statistics to say how much it has grown, but when I started riding in August I got my pick of the seats, now people stand on my bus everyday. Also, Metro is apparently re-allocating more busses from other lines this year to keep up with the demand for the 217. I will try to find some solid stats from Metro and post....

As much as I root for rail, and ride Amtrak probably once or twice a month, I still think the auto dealers, manufacturers, and construction companies will win.

Money talks and BS walks....and even as I drive a fuel efficient sedan 2 miles to the P&R, my wife still tools around town in a large SUV, and she isn't going to stop for gas prices...although she may think twice about certain trips...

Like I said, it will take a dramatic change in people's lifestyle and a willingness to sacrifice...people in the suburbs want to change in their heads, but not when the rubber meets the road...

[editor]

Cypress P&R or the 217 line. Don't really have any statistics to say how much it has grown, but when I started riding in August I got my pick of the seats, now people stand on my bus everyday. Also, Metro is apparently re-allocating more busses from other lines this year to keep up with the demand for the 217. I will try to find some solid stats from Metro and post....

Money talks and BS walks....and even as I drive a fuel efficient sedan 2 miles to the P&R, my wife still tools around town in a large SUV, and she isn't going to stop for gas prices...although she may think twice about certain trips...

Like I said, it will take a dramatic change in people's lifestyle and a willingness to sacrifice...people in the suburbs want to change in their heads, but not when the rubber meets the road...

It's really a golden opportunity for the exburbs to throw a spanner in the hub-and-spoke commuting that dominates most cities. All they need to do is attract four or five large companies to fill an office park, and it'll be fairly easy to get a number of the locals to commute six miles there rather than 30 miles to a downtown.

Sugarland and The Woodlands are great examples of this for the rest of the country. From what I've read, Katy and the others are working hard toward this, though with some resistance from old-timer locals who don't want to see their sleepy towns turned into business centers.

In my mind, I prefer the hub-and-spoke that goes along with a strong urban core. But then, this might be a good compromise. Anything is better than the resource consuming sprawl situation we've gotten ourselves into.

[ssullivan]

Hey now, Houston's Amtrak station could be worse. It could be a bare concrete slab like Beaumont's.

And yes, Amtrak could stand for lots of improvement, but it's not going to happen with the current atmosphere within the Federal Government. I'd love to have a great intercity rail network in the US, but I don't see it happening as long as the Feds keep Amtrak barely operational, and Amtrak is at the mercy of the freight railroads on most of its routes.

I've taken the Sunset Limited from New Orleans to LA before. It's not a bad trip, if you're not in a hurry and have no sort of deadline for getting to your destination. We ran fairly on schedule for the first 30 hours of the 48 hour trip, but were seriously behind schedule by the second morning. Our arrival into LA was about 8 hours late. Service on the line was acceptable, but I'd much rather have higher speed electric trains running on dedicated tracks like I've ridden many times in Europe. Trip times would be cut to a point where more people would consider taking rail, and schedules would be more reliable. But there are so many forces conspiring against rail transit in the US that I don't see this happening in most of the country.

[TheNiche]

From a previous discussion:

Consider this: $14 billion in air subsidy divided by 770.8 million passenger enplanements. That's $18.16 per passenger. Amtrak gets $1.3 billion supporting ridership of 2.3 million, or $565.22 per passenger.

I don't know about anybody else, but it seems like they could do a whole lot more good by ceasing to fund an anachronism.

The numbers I provided above were calculated from data provided by the writer of an editorial arguing for greater funding towards inter-city rail in the United States.

As far as I'm concerned, there are many better uses for Amtrak funding, whether among other kinds of rail, other kinds of non-rail transportation, other kinds of non-transportation projects, or perhaps even just as a return to taxpayers.

[HtownWxBoy]

Won't Amtrak move to the Intermodal Transit Center once it's built?

[musicman]

Won't Amtrak move to the Intermodal Transit Center once it's built?

not sure the intermodal is guaranteed yet. they have an easily accessible location now and IMO moving wouldn't help that situation.

[wxman]

Yeah, my grandfather and I left Houston on the Sunset Limited. Went to New Orleans and caught the Accel to NYC. From there we caught the Lake Shore Limited to Chicago and then caught the City of New Orleans to...you guessed it...New Orleans. Then caught the Sunset Limited back to Houston. It was a three week trip. It was awesome. If your in a hurry, that ain't the way to travel.

Also, just for the record, there is only one train every other day in Houston. One going east bound and one going west bound. The train we caught was delayed 6 hours with no air in the station in JUNE!