(The following story by Thomas Olson appeared on the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review website on September 10.)
PITTSBURGH, Pa. — Before Yankee Stadium gets torn down, the Gentile boys visited New York last weekend. Instead of flying, they chose to ride the rails.
“This is our first time taking the train,” said Tony Gentile, 47, of St. Clairsville, Ohio, as he and his sons in Yankees caps boarded Amtrak at the Downtown station.
High gasoline prices and high airfares pointed the Gentiles to Amtrak.
That’s why ridership on the passenger train service has climbed dramatically in recent months, experts say. More than 2.75 million people boarded in July — the most of any month in Amtrak’s 37-year history, according to its latest figures.
Three round-trip airfares to New York would have cost Gentile about $420 on either US Airways or Southwest Airlines. His Amtrak ticket cost $126 — and his boys, Anthony Jr. and Angelo, who are both younger than 12, rode for free.
The trip from Pittsburgh to New York takes 9 1/2 hours on the train, compared with 90 minutes in the air. But commuting to the airport in Findlay, to the airport and security check-ins lengthen the total travel time considerably.
Amtrak can sure use the increased revenue. It lost $1.12 billion in the year ended Sept. 30, 2007, after a $1.07 billion loss the year before. Those losses were incurred despite Amtrak receiving about $1.3 billion in federal subsidies in each year.
“There aren’t any national rail systems in the world that generate a profit, and they are all subsidized,” said Amtrak spokeswoman Karina Romero.
Amtrak can’t handle many more passengers without buying more locomotives and cars.
“We are at capacity,” said Chuck McHugh, Pittsburgh station manager for Amtrak. “It’s really strained.”
In Pittsburgh, 15,581 passengers got on and off trains in July, a 14.5 percent jump from the year earlier.
Amtrak is on pace to exceed year-ago passenger levels of 126,076 by nearly 20 percent.
Amtrak operates one train a day between New York and Pittsburgh, and one between Washington and Chicago, which stops in Pittsburgh.
“The primary reason for Amtrak’s (passenger) increase is gasoline costs, especially for long-distance trips,” said Frank Koppelman, professor of civil engineering and transportation at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill.
“And with airport security delays, you must check in much sooner,” he said. “So short trips of a couple hundred miles are becoming more reasonable for taking the train because you don’t have those kinds of delays.”
Fewer flight choices are another reason. Since 2007, about 100 cities have lost air service completely, said the Air Transport Association. In Pittsburgh, US Airways — which remains the airport’s dominant carrier — has slashed daily departures to about 65, down by more than 500 since 2000.
Even Southwest, the only major airline making money nowadays, is trimming one of its seven Pittsburgh-Philadelphia flights on Nov. 2, and one of five Pittsburgh-Chicago flights on Jan. 11.
“The monetary cost (of flying) is only one part of it,” Koppelman said. “There’s also the time cost and the hassle factor.”
Bin Cheyney took Amtrak to Manhattan with her daughter, Sarah, 4, after visiting family in Pittsburgh last weekend.
“Taking the train is easier for my daughter because she can eat or walk around or watch a movie,” Cheyney said of her daughter. “She likes the sweet rolls. I usually get a sandwich.”
Haley Houston, 18, an art-education student at Seton Hill University, Greensburg, was among those aboard Amtrak for the first time last weekend. The Carlisle resident said she found the train more convenient than flying, particularly with the hassles of airport security lines.
“You don’t have to go through security searches,” Houston said. “And with the plane, I couldn’t have taken a fish,” she said, pointing down at a water bottle containing her pet Betta fish.