Oddly enough, I was just on a conference call and the topic of Amtrak travel came up. These were both business and leisure travelers based in the Northeast and I-95 corridor and not a single person had anything good to say about their experience with Amtrak.

It's half comical to watch the Trainorders passenger forum come unhinged over Richard Anderson on a daily basis, and probably a good thing I'm not a member there anymore to wade into any of the arguments.

But the bottom line is, these people represent a sampling of the typical traveling public, not rail enthusiasts. I think in our own hobby world we see people ferociously protecting Amtrak and citing its massive benefits to the communities it serves. We see passenger rail advocates viewing people who don't support passenger rail as a bunch of uninformed hicks who don't know what's good for them. It definitely can make you feel like a bunch of people are ready to run out and fight for Amtrak at any moment with picks, axes, and torches. But I would venture to say the percentage of the U.S. population truly falling into this mindset has a 0. in front of it.

I wish Richard Anderson all the luck in the world trying to transform Amtrak into a usable product that the majority of Americans will view as a viable mode of transportation. There will be a lot of pain as a number of things are tried in search of what works, and what doesn't. But I would maintain in a world where a lot of people sit around tapping their foot wishing the microwave would cook their lunch faster, he has an uphill battle with the general traveling population.

Mike Derrick