On The Train Again

The Empire Builder was pulled by two sleek new Siemens Charger engines when it arrived in Williston. Behind, the new red, white and blue engine in the photo above are two of the almost thirty year old GE Genesis engines being replaced as Amtrak finally gets some funding. Creative Commons, Wikimedia

On the 22nd, we boarded the Amtrak again headed westward toward Portland, Oregon. Rolling out from Williston, the flat expanse of the Hi-line stretches out for about ten hours. I thought I would do more reading, but found myself in a meditative half slumber, exhausted from the preceding weeks of teaching. There is a spare, philosophical quality to the Hi-line whether driving or taking the train that makes it a favorite route. The interminably, long, straight path, with very little human habitation, lends itself to thinking about the land and the sky. Aboard the train, it is akin to a "land cruise" across an undulating sea of grass. With no wifi and very spotty phone service for much of the trip, it allows for a perfect sort of "unhooking" that is needed from time to time.

 Unlike our trip in 2022, the train was nearly full, with barely an open seat. The observation lounge, where I like to spend time watching the landscape go by, was full of families eating and playing games. There was almost a festival atmosphere that pervaded the train and people were friendly. It is good to see the train so full, but it wasn't nearly as relaxing as the half full trains we have taken before.

The new Siemens Charger engines are still pulling the forty plus year old double decker Superliner cars which will begin to be replaced under new federal funding. While the ageless aluminum on the exterior looks good, the interiors are dated and worn in places. Anyone who has taken trains in Europe or Asia would marvel at the incongruity of the worn circa 1980 interiors of  railcars in the world's richest nation. A recent bill by anti-conservative Republicans would slash Amtrak funding for something that should be a conservative touchstone. There is nothing more conservative than railroads, but the word conservative has lost its attachment to reality in our present. In my view, improving rail is a nod both to one positive aspect of the past and toward more environmentally sustainable and democratic transportation.

We were asleep when the two engines split the train with one half going to Seattle and the other to Portland. I make a mental note that next time we could go straight on to Seattle and take the Amtrak Cascades train down to Oregon City for about thirty bucks. It would be a good way to see that part of the country we haven't yet seen. Next time hopefully.

Somehow, it always feels like we are getting more for our money by riding the train as opposed to flying. It is much more relaxing. The experience could be described as a moving hotel or a long, thin cruise ship, inexorably moving toward a destination while offering great views and relaxation. There is something cool about being able to eat in the dining car, a literal moving restaurant, or to shop the little convenience store and watch the world go by outside.

Upon awakening, we found ourselves cruising the north side of the Columbia Gorge where the views never get boring, arriving a few hours later in Portland. At Portland's Union Station, while we were waiting in the grand space for our ride, a man from a regional rail group  AORTA came and spoke to me about the future dream of rail expansion on the west coast. He told me how the station had been like many other such stations under threat at one time. He expounded on the inequality of overly subsidized roads and under subsidized rail hampering development. Rail transit is small d democratic transit and it is one place I think we would do well to go back in time a bit. As I sit watching football on Christmas Eve, every other commercial is for a cognitively dissonant, planet killing large truck or SUV, so it it is easy to see why rail always struggles. We are in the age of cognitive dissonance. 

Portland's Union Station, like most surviving main stations from the golden age of rail, is an architectural gem. Creative Commons License, Wikimedia Commons