(The Star-Telegram posted the following story by Gordon Dickson on its website on September 20.)
ABOARD THE TEXAS EAGLE — Bill Hettinger hasn’t set foot on an airplane since before his divorce 15 years ago.
He has hated flying since 1957, when an Army pal’s helicopter crashed during training at Fort Jackson, S.C. For years, Hettinger flew as a last resort. Now, he has the luxury of time and sees no reason to ever leave the ground again, unless it’s aboard a train crossing a trestle.
“I take Amtrak everywhere I go,” he says. “Everything I need is here. I’m single. I’ve got no kids that I know of. I’m semi-retired. I can see the country.”
Soon, he could be seeing a lot less of it.
One rainy weekend this month, Hettinger was among 210 passengers aboard Amtrak’s Texas Eagle, one of several long-distance trains that will almost certainly be eliminated if Congress follows through on plans to cut federal funding.
David Gunn, president and chief executive of Amtrak, wants a minimum $1.8 billion to continue the current level of service in 2004.
“The vast majority of Americans believe there should be a national passenger network,” he said in an interview. “The amount it takes to fund this is not a lot of money in the scheme of things.”
But the House Appropriations Committee, which contains many critics of Amtrak, has approved only the $900 million proposed by the Bush administration.
A Senate committee has approved $1.35 billion. The precise amount will probably be decided by a House-Senate conference committee this month or in early October.
Many critics see no reason to continue spending taxpayers’ money on a passenger rail service that depends on aging equipment running on tracks owned by freight railroads. Supporters say that the nation needs alternatives to automobiles and airplane travel, and that it’s unfair for the federal government to spend billions subsidizing highways and aviation while expecting passenger rail service to be self-sufficient.
If the Texas Eagle shuts down, more than 220,000 riders in Texas alone would have to find other ways to travel, and dozens of employees could lose their jobs.
Thousands of workers are threatening to walk off the job Oct. 3 in a one-day protest of a lack of funding.
The Texas Eagle has ferried passengers from Texas to Chicago for 55 years. About a fourth of the passengers are train aficionados who ride the rails for nostalgia’s sake, according to a recent Amtrak survey. Another fourth, like Hettinger, are afraid to fly.
But others – senior citizens, college students, young families — take the train because they’re on a budget or want to see America from a different vantage point.
All those types of passengers were represented aboard the Texas Eagle when it left Fort Worth’s Intermodal Transportation Center one Sunday afternoon.
The northbound Texas Eagle departed on time at 3:20 p.m., headed for Chicago.
Next stop, Longview
Raindrops patter against the Texas Eagle’s scratched windows. It’s the day before Labor Day, and the train has already stopped at Fort Worth, Dallas and Mineola in East Texas. The next stop is Longview.
Emily Powers, an Arlington resident heading to Smith College in Northampton, Mass., boarded in Dallas for a one-way coach fare of $166. She’ll change trains in Chicago.
Powers, 19, is traveling alone. A 6-year-old boy jumps into the seat, bouncing with zeal, as if to introduce himself. Powers senses that he has run out of ways to pass the time, so she entertains him. Plucking a passenger safety manual from the pocket of her seat, she begins reading aloud.
“Only designated windows may be used for emergency exits,” Powers recites cheerfully. The boy beams with approval while his mother is preoccupied with his baby sister in the next row.
As Powers flips the manual’s laminated page, the boy follows along with his index finger. He touches the colorful pictures in the guidebook – cartoonlike images of people calmly escaping from a rail car.
“Do not stand near live wires,” Powers reads. “Do not stand on the tracks.”
The train rocks rhythmically, sometimes jarring passengers as it crosses worn tracks so bumpy they seem like leftovers from the age of steam.
Amtrak doesn’t own any track outside of the Northeast Corridor, which serves Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York and Boston.
The Texas Eagle runs mostly on tracks owned by the Union Pacific railroad, and in many places the tracks carry a tremendous amount of freight traffic and are badly in need of repair.
“The nation’s freight railroads are in trouble, and Amtrak’s problems are the canary in a coal mine,” Amtrak spokesman Cliff Black says. “They’re carrying more traffic than ever before on a constricted system of railroad tracks.”
Powers and the boy have become accustomed to the rocking motion. They don’t pay much attention to a train attendant’s curt announcement.
“Attention passengers: We have had several complaints about uncontrolled children running through the train. This is to stop immediately.”
1,000-mile journey
The Texas Eagle travels through the state twice a day – north to Chicago and south to San Antonio. Half the train’s 26 stops on the 1,000-mile-long route are in Texas. The train, which is on time only about one of every five trips, is pulled by a 1990s General Electric diesel locomotive.
Behind the engine are a baggage car, two sleeper cars, three coaches, a dining car and a double-decker lounge car. The lounge has a sightseeing area on its upper deck, and a snack bar on the lower deck.
Passengers can move around freely, but the locomotive and baggage car are off-limits. The sleeper cars are for first-class passengers only.
The most scenic portion of the trip is probably in Arkansas. But the train usually passes through The Natural State in the middle of the night, when most passengers are trying to sleep.
On this night, many adults have reclined their seats, and are spooned around their young children, using coats to keep warm.
First-time riders learn quickly that it’s best to pack their own pillows and blankets. For those who forget, Amtrak offers a limited number of free pillows and souvenir blankets for $8.
Weary traveler
On Monday morning, the train leaves St. Louis and heads north into the Missouri countryside.
Amy Lambert, her husband and 18-month-old son are sitting in the lounge car, waiting for the dining car to open.
The Lamberts boarded the train in Tucson, Ariz., for a 61-hour trip to Holland, Mich., where the family is relocating. They chose to ride rather than fly because they’re on a budget and because they carried a lot of luggage. The ticket agent in Tucson allowed them to check more bags than the normal limit.
They bought coach tickets. But two days into the journey, they wish they had splurged on a sleeping car, each of which has a shower.
“Just three minutes to wash my hair. That’s it. That’s all I ask,” Lambert says.
Lambert moved to the lounge car after she lost patience with the snoring passenger sitting next to her in coach. A Chip and Dale movie is playing on a pair of Panasonic televisions, one at each end of the car. “Property of Amtrak” is crudely scratched into the paneling of both TVs.
No movie schedule is supplied. On this trip, the shows alternate between Disney’s Chip ‘N Dale cartoons and the movie Holes, and Steve Martin’s Bringing Down the House. Generally, each movie is shown once per day.
Most of the time, the screens are blank. There is no DirecTV, no Weather Channel, no CNN.
As the train rolls closer to Illinois, an attendant announces: “Attention passengers. Food and beverages are not allowed in the smoking area. Several cups and other pieces of trash have been left in there. If this continues, I will close the smoking area and you will not be allowed to smoke on the train.”
Lambert says some passengers are complaining that they’re being treated like children by Amtrak employees. But she is more bothered by the lack of a place to take a shower.
“I am now seriously convinced that, no matter how much flying costs, it’s worth the money,” Lambert says.
Low morale
Amtrak officials acknowledge that they’ve had complaints about rude employees.
But follow-up is difficult because passengers often cannot provide employees’ full names or information about when and where the incident occurred, they say.
“The business of offering on-board service on a train is different from other places where people get customer service,” Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari says. “Generally, our people are on duty for long hours and many miles. That in no way excuses the behavior that doesn’t meet our standards, but it’s a challenging environment.”
Part of the issue may be low employee morale because of Amtrak’s chronic financial problems, said Ed Witkind, executive director of the AFL-CIO’s Transportation Trade Department. The organization includes several labor unions that represent Amtrak workers.
“When you have a group of workers who have been treated the way these workers have been treated for so long, I think it reaches a boiling point,” Witkind said.
“This is about workers who have held together a company for years and continued to beg for everything they earned. Employee morale is at an all-time low. If you were employed at Amtrak and all you heard or read in the newspapers was that the company is trying to survive, it’s hard to imagine the employees feeling secure.”
Smokes and whiskey
Hettinger, who frequently rides Amtrak because he hates flying, lives in Champaign, Ill.
A couple of hours before the train arrives at his stop – Bloomington-Normal, Ill. – Hettinger is passing the time in the smoking area.
Some of Amtrak’s long-distance trains prohibit tobacco use, but the Texas Eagle allows smoking in the lower level of a specially designated coach car.
Cigars, pipes, food and beverages are not allowed, and passengers are asked to limit their stay to 15 minutes. But attendants are usually willing to look the other way if passengers are not making a mess or bothering others.
The smoking area seats about 16 people. At one end of the room, a self-described “full-size model” returning from an Ebony Fashion Fair exchanges pleasantries with a widow from Lansing, Mich. At the other end, a young couple is debating rock ‘n’ roll musical acts with a pair of bikers returning from a Harley-Davidson rally in Wisconsin.
Hettinger takes a drag from a cigarette and tells the other travelers he’s surprised the Texas Eagle is running on time, considering its reputation for tardiness. He boarded the train nearly 24 hours earlier in Austin, where he attended an Army buddy’s wedding.
“I’m saturated with beer and whiskey,” Hettinger says, describing his weekend adventure as he nurses a plastic water bottle containing an adult beverage.
A handful of other passengers in the smoking car nod approvingly, including several who have smuggled in Bud Lights to quench their own thirsts.
Picking up speed
The train continues racing north through rural Illinois, screaming past fields of withering corn and crumpled remnants of highway asphalt.
It’s a smoother ride than the rest of the route, primarily because the state of Illinois has invested millions of dollars upgrading old tracks. Nonetheless, they are still owned by Union Pacific and see heavy use by freight trains, which can lead to delays.
In Illinois, the train runs parallel to old Route 66, now just a frontage road next to Interstate 55. The train nears its maximum speed of 79 mph, faster than the traffic moving on the highway outside.
Under President Bush’s proposal, states would be required to further subsidize passenger rail. Amtrak would be broken into regional segments, focusing on short-distance corridors where there is large demand for trains.
For example, the St. Louis-to-Chicago portion of the Texas Eagle might be a candidate for a short-distance corridor. But to save the entire long-distance line, Texas, Arkansas and Missouri might be expected to determine how to pay for the portion from San Antonio to St. Louis.
The Texas Eagle lost $38 million in 2001, according to the Amtrak Reform Council, which was appointed by Congress to monitor the rail service.
U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, is critical of the administration’s plan and is leading a campaign that calls for the federal government to invest $4 in Amtrak’s long-distance lines for every $1 spent on the Northeast Corridor, which has traditionally received a larger proportion of the funding.
“We are really trying to give Amtrak a real chance to succeed,” she says. “I think there’s room for Amtrak to be a healthy alternative without taking away from aviation or highways, and certainly we could stand to alleviate some of the stress on the highway system as well.”
Chicago to Fort Worth
The train arrives at Union Station in Chicago on time – 2:25 p.m. Monday.
Two million people a year pass through the doors of Union Station, which is Amtrak’s fourth busiest overall and the busiest station outside the Northeast.
If the Texas Eagle shuts down, Chicago’s station would probably continue to be a hub of activity for passengers on short routes.
The next day, the Texas Eagle heads back to Fort Worth – the southbound train leaves Chicago’s Union Station on a sunny Tuesday afternoon on time at 3:20.
Approaching Springfield, Ill., Abraham Lincoln’s hometown, dinner is being prepared in the dining car. Among the day’s specials is Delmonico steak with potatoes and vegetables. It’s a $19 entree for passengers in coach; meals are included in the fare paid by first-class travelers.
Dining car attendant Eddie Martin Jr. picks up a microphone and announces that dinner is ready in a loud, deep voice. He punctuates syllables in a style reminiscent of old movies in which conductors yelled out the familiar “alll aboarrrd!”
“Attention passengers. Anyone with a 6 o’clock reservation, puhhhh-leeease come to the dining car. Anyone with a 7:30 reservation, puhhhh-leeease WAIT!”
Most of the people in the dining car are dressed casually. Businessman Dean Chandler of Temple stands out as he emerges from his room in the adjacent sleeper car wearing a crisp, white dress shirt and a blue silk tie.
“I always change clothes for dinner. I just enjoy it,” Chandler says as he takes a seat in the dining area. Chandler is returning to Texas after one of his regular visits to his mother in Chicago.
Each of the tables seats four people, and the dining car attendant decides who sits where. Passengers often share their tables with strangers.
Train lovers such as Chandler say dinner conversations are often among the most enjoyable experiences of a trip.
Meals are prepared fresh by a two-person Amtrak staff working in a tiny kitchen in the lower level of the dining car. A dumbwaiter carries plates to the upper deck.
Chandler, a former physical chemistry professor at Williams College in Williamstown, Mass., moved to Temple several years ago and runs his own electronics consulting business. He works on a laptop in his sleeping compartment, which is about as wide and a little longer than a toilet stall.
Each sleeping compartment has two seats and a checkerboard-size table that folds out from the wall. The chairs fold out to make the bed, a chore that is usually handled by an attendant. If needed, an upper-bunk bed can be pulled down from the wall.
The cost of staying in a sleeping car varies. On this trip from Chicago to Fort Worth, the cost for a sleeper was quoted at about $370, compared with $200 for a coach seat. Those fares were available with less than a week’s notice.
Two adults can sleep in a room if they don’t mind cramped quarters. Some rooms are larger and can hold up to four people.
Most first-class passengers on this trip are traveling alone.
A major benefit of sleeping cars is that passengers can close the sliding door, ensuring privacy. A large window offers a view of the passing countryside.
Sleeping cars also offer a place to plug in electronics. Most Amtrak coach seats don’t offer electrical outlets.
For passengers traveling first-class, Amtrak “is like a cruise ship with 100 people on it,” Chandler says.
The Texas Eagle routinely sells out during the summer, says Bill Pollard, chairman of the Texas Eagle Marketing and Performance Organization, a volunteer group that tracks the route’s revenue.
Generally, a sold-out train holds about 250 people, he said. There are 225 coach seats and up to 43 spaces in the sleeping cars, but sleeping cars are considered sold out even if there’s just one occupant in a two-person room.
A lack of marketing and additional seats are the Texas Eagle’s biggest problems, says Pollard, a Little Rock, Ark., dentist.
“There is just an untapped market out there,” he says. “Sleepers are consistently sold out. The way you sell out a train is to put more seats on a train so you can sell more tickets. You will see Amtrak advertising very rarely. After 9-11, we had a lot of demand for seats, but we had no equipment [extra cars] to put on. The trains were full.”
Behind schedule
By midnight, the Texas Eagle is racing through southern Missouri, approaching the Arkansas border. Most of the passengers are asleep.
When they begin to awake about 6 a.m., they discover that the train has fallen about two hours behind schedule. During the night, the Texas Eagle was repeatedly slowed or stopped by freight train congestion, an attendant explains.
The train was due in Arkadelphia, Ark., at 5:50 a.m. but didn’t arrive until closer to 8.
Next is Texarkana, where the train station is outside a prison yard. Passengers are separated from the property by a tall, barbed-wire fence. The train stops astride the state line, with the locomotive resting in Texas and the coaches in Arkansas.
In contrast to Texarkana, some stations along the route – Marshall, Longview and Mineola – have been renovated in recent years.
In Mineola, city leaders have used the Texas Eagle to attract tourists to restaurants and antique shops.
“The Eagle has been a slam-bang success,” former Mayor Celia Boswell says. “We don’t want to give this thing up.”
In 1997, 13 Texas cities, including Fort Worth, banded together to save the Texas Eagle, which Amtrak officials had planned to shut down as part of a cost-cutting effort.
Those cities persuaded the Legislature to loan Amtrak $5.6 million to keep the route going – a debt that Amtrak repaid early. Had Amtrak defaulted, the cities would have been responsible for paying the debt, Boswell says.
Working on the Eagle
At any given time, there are about 11 employees aboard the Texas Eagle.
Amtrak recently eliminated the employees’ dormitory car in a cost-cutting move. Attendants now share a sleeper car with passengers, separated from the paying customers by a blue curtain.
“You’ve got to have some privacy,” Martin, the car attendant, says.
Gunn, Amtrak’s president, says the elimination of the dormitory car was necessary so the Texas Eagle could be pulled by one locomotive, rather than two.
If the Texas Eagle is eliminated, some of the employees could lose their jobs.
“We feel the workers who have been running this railroad every day feel they have run out of string. There’s no more duct tape left to keep this going,” says Charles Moneypenny, director of the Transport Workers Union’s Railroad Division, which represents about 2,000 workers, including the train attendants.
The union is among six organizations planning the work stoppage next month to protest a lack of federal funding. About 8,000 of Amtrak’s 21,000 employees are expected to participate, including engineers, Moneypenny says.
“We don’t think the public really knows how dire this situation is,” he says. “I think the feeling among some [politicians] is, let’s kill Amtrak and see what comes out of the ruins. We don’t think that’s right.”
The conductors and engineers, who are charged with the safe operation of the train, change in Fort Worth, Marshall, Little Rock and St. Louis. Federal regulations limit how long they can be on duty — 12 hours for a crew with two engineers, six hours for a crew with one engineer.
The rest of the crew members – the chef, the assistant chef and attendants – live in Chicago and work the train all the way to Fort Worth.
In Fort Worth, they spend the night and take the next day off – mandatory down time. The following day, they board the northbound Texas Eagle to work the trip back to Chicago.
Back in Fort Worth
The Texas Eagle is nearing Dallas’ Union Station. The train has made up considerable time by traveling at or near full speed.
The train also made up time by cutting station stops to one or two minutes instead of the more leisurely five to 10. When the Texas Eagle arrives in Dallas, it’s only 45 minutes behind schedule.
The train soon pulls out for the one-hour trip to Fort Worth. But less than two miles out of the Dallas station, it is again forced to stop on a side track.
An attendant announces:
“Attention passengers. We are being delayed by a Union Pacific engine with a mechanical problem up ahead. As soon as they get it out of the way, we’ll be on our way.”
The train sits for more than an hour. When it arrives at Fort Worth’s Intermodal Transportation Center, the train is two hours, five minutes late.
Most of the passengers don’t seem to mind. After a long trip aboard the Texas Eagle, the minutes and hours have fused together anyway.
But those worrying about the Texas Eagle’s future may wonder how many more hours remain.