Ecolog:
I don't doubt McNeeley's experience, and maybe it's gotten worse in the 14
years since I took my last train ride. I got the small sleeping (2 chairs,
two bunks) "room" for the two legs of my circular route from San Diego CA to
San Francisco CA, to Lassen NP (CA), to Reno NV, to Salt Lake City UT, to
Grand Junction CO, to Aspen CO, to New Orleans LA, to Tucson AZ, to Phoenix
AZ, to San Diego CA. The train legs were San Diego-San Francisco and New
Orleans LA-Tucson AZ, and I enjoyed both. I do remember waiting on sidings
for freight (this used to be the other way around--freights had to give way
to passenger trains, and is an outrage, but this is what corporate disregard
for the public interest and bureaucrat-run trains gets you.
I found this much more relaxing than the flying legs (Reno-Salt Lake City,
Salt Lake City-Grand Junction, Grand Junction--New Orleans, and Phoenix-San
Diego). The other three legs were by rented car.
I'll still take the train next time (if there is one), but then I'm in no
hurry. I would take the vouchers. I love to fly, but as J. Frank Dobie once
said of travel by airline, "It's not traveling, it's just being
transported."
WT
----- Original Message -----
From: "David L. McNeely" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Sunday, April 28, 2013 5:27 AM
Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] Take the Train to ESA Minneapolis
To get to Minneapolis from my home in Oklahoma via train, I would have to
take an Oklahoma City to Fort Worth (220 miles south) train, then from
Fort Worth to Chicago, wait almost 24 hours to get the next train west,
and finally get a train to Minneapolis, arriving 50 hours after leaving
home. Minneapolis is 500 miles north of Okalhoma City, a long day's
drive.
I returned from Portland ESA meeting several years ago via train part way.
The leg from Portland to LA was fine. After the train left LA 5 hours
late, then hit a truck on the track in LA, then had repeated delays along
the route east, then simply stopped at a siding for five hours near
Deming, NM because the crew had to be changed (it had used up its alloted
work time for the day, a new crew had to be brought from El Paso), we
finally made it to El Paso 12 hours late. Then those of us going to Fort
Worth were put on a bus because we would not make our connections in San
Antonio if we went via the normal train route to San Antonio. Well, we
arrived in Fort Worth 16 hours late. I cashed in my ticket, rented a car,
and drove home to Oklahoma.
When I contacted Amtrak customer service to let them know the level of my
satisfaction with the trip, I was offered vouchers for future Amtrak use
to mitigate the mess. Really, do you think I wanted vouchers?
Besides that, I had been bumped from my first class accomodation in LA
because of overbooking. I later learned that the previous train had been
cancelled and all the passengers from that one had been delayed and booked
onto my train. So they were 24 hours late just from that. When my first
class service was cancelled, I was given a hand written paper to give to
the staff on the train letting them know that I could could have acces to
the shower, and that my dining car privilege would be honored. One of the
crew looked at it and said, "What is this? It looks like you are trying
to make your own service upgrade."
Until we have decent train service in this country, I will never ride the
train again.
David McNeely
---- Jonathon J Donald <[email protected]> wrote:
I like the idea of taking a train to the ESA meeting, and train travel in
general, but coming from the West coast, it would take almost 60 hours on
Amtrak!
If only we had a high speed rail line linking the eastern and western
US...
Jonathon Donald
Masters candidate, Geography
University of Nevada, Reno
-----Original Message-----
From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Reinmann, Andrew, Brett
Sent: Friday, April 26, 2013 10:22 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [ECOLOG-L] Take the Train to ESA Minneapolis
Hello EcoLoggers,
To those of you heading to the 98th ESA conference in Minneapolis, are
you interested in reducing the environmental footprint of this year's
conference? Have you considered changing the mode of transportation you
use to get there? One of the largest environmental footprints of national
conferences is the mode of transportation its attendees take, which is
often air travel. While it may be the quickest form of transportation,
flying is also the most environmentally detrimental.
I propose that we, as members of the world's largest professional society
of ecologists, make a formal attempt to shrink the environmental impact
of this meeting by choosing alternative means of transportation. One
viable option is train travel. I am a PhD candidate at Boston University
and have taken the train to ESA meetings for the past few years. I have
effectively used the longer travel time to work (think presentation
preparation!). Although this may not be a feasible option for everyone,
if you do have the flexibility to allow for this more environmentally
responsible (and fun) alternative I urge you to do so. Traveling by train
could also provide more opportunities to network if attendees coordinate
their schedules.
Organizing this as a group would strengthen ESA's commitment to
sustainability and stewardship while furthering ESA's ability to be a
leader and role model for other scientific societies. If just 100 of us
travel half-way across the country via train instead of flying we will
mitigate climate change to the same extent as taking 15 cars out of
commission for a whole year! This provides us with the opportunity to
present our research at a national conference while exemplifying part of
the solution to the ecological problems that confront our planet.
Please contact me ([email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>) if you are
interested in taking the train to ESA or simply have questions about this
mode of transportation. I will help attendees coordinate their plans so
they can travel with other attendees. Knowing where everyone is traveling
from will also allow me to calculate the cumulative reduction in our
carbon emissions.
Thanks!
-Andy Reinmann
--
Andy Reinmann
Ph.D. Candidate
Biology Department
Boston University
5 Cummington St
Boston, MA 02215
--
David McNeely
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