(The following story by Jonathon Braden appeared on the Omaha World-Herald website on August 4.)
OMAHA, Neb. — Thirty minutes before the scheduled boarding time of Amtrak’s California Zephyr, no one waited in the small train station at 1003 S. Ninth St.
The dozens of black, cushioned seats in the lobby were empty.
That’s because the Zephyr, Amtrak’s only route that chugs through Omaha, was running almost six hours late. Most of the train’s passengers had called ahead to check on its status.
“I wish it was a little more on time,” Albert Williams said about 10:45 one recent morning as he waited for the Zephyr — which was scheduled to board at 6:15 a.m. “It’s not often that they’re exactly on time.”
The Zephyr, which was prompt for just 29 percent of its routes in the 12-month period through May, did improve its punctuality to 36 percent in June.
Even with its persistent time problems, thousands more people have chosen the route in the past year. They joined millions across the nation who were attracted by train travel’s simplicity — dining, reading or enjoying the sights — and sometimes the savings of rail travel instead of hopping in a car or boarding a plane.
Minus a washed-out June in Iowa, about 20,000 more people rode the Zephyr from October to May compared with last year, or about 10 percent more.
Nationwide, Amtrak has seen about a 10 percent increase for the same time period, or 1.8 million more riders.
The millions choosing Amtrak still represent only about 0.1 percent of all travel in the United States, according to federal statistics.
As ridership has increased, both houses of Congress have passed similar bills for $14.9 billion in additional Amtrak funding. Congress still has to hammer out a final version of the bill, which should have enough votes to survive a threatened veto.
“We’re at an important step,” said Marc Magliari, Amtrak spokesman.
Rider surveys, Magliari said, have shown that the majority of people choosing Amtrak do so to avoid paying high gasoline prices.
Gay Filler and her son, Joe Filler Jr., recently waited in the Omaha station lobby at 11:15 a.m. The two were headed to Rochester, N.Y., to visit family. It was their first time riding the train long distance, and they did so to avoid surging fuel prices.
“It was either that or not travel,” Gay Filler said.
Her husband, Joe Filler Sr., who waited with them, said the 24-hour train ride to Rochester was about half the cost of the four-hour flight to western New York.
The family also contemplated going by car. But once they factored in the costs of food and lodging, they decided there was no savings in hitting the highway.
If Jean Hamman had it her way, she’d drive from Mount Pleasant, Iowa, to Fremont, Neb., every time she visited her grandson and his five children.
But, she said, traveling by car is more expensive.
The round-trip train ride to Omaha from Mount Pleasant cost less than $100. Her son drives from Fremont to pick her
up at Omaha’s Amtrak station.
In a car, it’s almost 600 miles round trip to Omaha from Mount Pleasant. At $4 a gallon for gas in a vehicle that gets 25 miles per gallon, that’s $96, though that figure doesn’t include wear-andtear on the car. Hamman said she figured driving would cost her 60 cents a mile.
Still, Hamman will drive when she visits her son again in September or October.
“Well, I really like to come by car,” she said.
August Conwell, 18, would have been flying home to Rochester, N.Y., if fuel prices were lower.
But his parents weren’t about to pay for a flight. So Conwell found himself waiting for the delayed Zephyr.
He took a Greyhound bus to Omaha from New York. But after not getting a seat on two buses in Cleveland and waiting 12 hours in Chicago on the trip to Omaha, he decided to take the train home.
For Williams, who would like to see a more punctual train system, high gasoline costs are a secondary reason for his Amtrak riding.
“I feel less stressed riding on the train,” Williams said. “I have flown before, but only when I have to.”
Williams, 58, has been riding the train three or four times a year for about the last 20 years.
But even he has to fly or drive sometimes.
“It’s hard to take the train when you have saws,” said Williams, who works as a carpenter. “If I’ve got the time, I’ll take the train. Got to slow down some time.”