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The network's fares are time-based rather than distance or segment-based. Tickets are available for unlimited travel over the course of 2.5 hours, one day, one month, or one year. Hop's fare capping system prevents riders from being charged more than the cost of a day pass during one day, or the cost of a monthly pass in the course of a month. This allows riders the benefits of a day or a monthly pass without the upfront cost, or the need to purchase one in advance.
The card be reloaded online, over the phone, or with the Hop app using a credit or debit card. It can also be reloaded using a credit card or cash anywhere it can be purchased. Hop cards do not expire (except honored citizen cards, which must be renewed every two years). Once a loaded pass expires it can be reloaded with a new one. TriMet has said it projects a card will last 10 years.
On May 21, 2019 TriMet announced that Hop could be added to Google Pay and Apple Pay by using the Hop Fastpass app on either Android or iOS. Hop was the first transit card in North America to launch availability in both Google Pay and Apple Wallet. Virtual Hop cards are functionally identical to their physical counterparts, allowing for the same fare capping rules, and allowing riders to purchase concession fares. Hop also allows riders to convert physical cards onto either mobile payment system.
While paper tickets and passes are still in use, TriMet has stated that it plans to phase them out in favor of Hop.
List of major cities in U.S. lacking inter-city rail service
In addition, the following cities are not directly served by inter-city rail service, but have a rail station within 30 miles of the city.
Other cities are not served directly due to inconvenient water barriers:
Amtrak provides no service to Mexico. From 1973 to 1981 Amtrak operated the "Inter-American," which allowed for transfers between Laredo, Texas and Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas for connecting service with the Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México. The closest Amtrak service to Mexico may be found at stations along the western portion of the "Sunset Limited" and southwestern portion of the "Texas Eagle" in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California; as well as the "Pacific Surfliner" service to Union Station in San Diego.
Phoenix, Arizona is served via Thruway Motorcoach from the "Southwest Chief" at Flagstaff, Arizona. In addition, as of 2017, there is Thruway Motorcoach service between Phoenix and Maricopa, Arizona, a town about 30 miles (48km) south of Phoenix, to connect with the "Sunset Limited", where the train makes stops three times a week. Phoenix lost direct service in June 1996 after Southern Pacific (now part of the Union Pacific) threatened to abandon the line from Yuma.
Amtrak has studied rail lines formerly canceled that could renew service to some cities. Cities involved include Boise, Mobile, Tallahassee, the Quad Cities (four adjoining cities in northwest Illinois and southeastern Iowa), Billings, and Wichita. Proposals for high-speed rail could also restore service for several cities. Other services Amtrak could restore include the "Pioneer" (serving Chicago-Denver-Seattle via the "California Zephyr"), the "Black Hawk" (Chicago-Dubuque, eastern Iowa), the "North Coast Hiawatha" (serving Chicago-Fargo-Seattle via the "Montana Rail Link"), the "Montrealer" (Extension of the "Vermonter" from St. Albans, VT to Montreal, QC), and the New Orleans-Orlando segment of the "Sunset Limited".
A Zephyrette was a hostess on the "California Zephyr" between 1949 and 1970, while the train was jointly operated by the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad, the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad, and the Western Pacific Railroad. The position was the brainchild of Velma McPeek, the Burlington's Supervisor of Passenger Train Services, and was part of an effort to attract families to rail travel and accommodate their needs. Zephyrettes first appeared on the "Denver Zephyr" in 1936, and shortly thereafter on the "Twin Cities Zephyr", but the position was discontinued during World War II. Zephyrettes resumed service after the war in 1949, but only on the "California Zephyr".
To qualify, a prospective Zephyrette had to fulfill a variety of criteria, from being single and either a college graduate or a registered nurse to being between 24 and 28 years old and between and tall. Once employed, Zephyrettes were expected to conduct themselves with "dignity and poise" and also refrain from smoking or drinking while in uniform, among other requirements. Somewhat akin to an air line stewardess, the roles played by a Zephyrette were many, from hostess and tour guide to first aid responder and babysitter.
The Zephyrettes became lasting symbols of the "California Zephyr", wearing distinctive uniforms and appearing in both promotional literature and magazine advertisements, and they would remain a constant presence on the train until it was discontinued on March 22, 1970. A number married other railroad employees or former passengers, and one even had the honor of christening Amtrak's inaugural "California Zephyr" on July 17, 1983.
The position of Zephyrette was predated by other pioneering positions open to women in the American railroad industry. The "Harvey Girls" had been employed by Harvey Houses along the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway since the 1880s, although they were not part of the railroad's on-board crew. In August 1935, the Union Pacific Railroad began its groundbreaking employment of "nurse-stewardesses" aboard passenger trains when it hired Florette Welp. In order to qualify, women interested in the position had to be registered nurses between the ages of 21 and 24.
The name "Zephyrette" is derived from the "Zephyr" trains run by the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad, beginning with the revolutionary streamlined, stainless steel, diesel-powered "Pioneer Zephyr" that debuted in 1934. After the "Pioneer Zephyr" made its historic dawn-to-dusk run from Denver to Chicago in May 1934, coinciding with the Century of Progress International Exposition, the Burlington decided to implement an overnight "Denver Zephyr" between the two cities in 1936.
Burlington management also arrived at the conclusion that the future of passenger rail travel would be largely dependent on successfully attracting families and accommodating their needs, not just serving businessmen. Desiring to put a woman in a management position to help achieve this goal, the Burlington hired Velma McPeek, a former schoolteacher and manager of a department store tea room, as its new Supervisor of Passenger Train Services. One of McPeek's first initiatives was to create a corps of hostesses who would serve as liaisons between a train's passengers and the conductor while endeavoring to make themselves "helpful and generally agreeable with the passengers". It was this corps of hostesses who would become the Zephyrettes.
In order to qualify, prospective Zephyrettes originally had to be single, either college graduates or trained as registered nurses, between 24 and 28 years of age, between and tall, and of "good character with a pleasing personality". Some of these criteria were eventually relaxed, however, as Jane Smith was hired at age 23 in 1958 and Cathy Moran had not finished college when hired in 1969. Smith was initially recruited by American Airlines as a stewardess, but did not enjoy flying. The original class of Zephyrettes completed a 30-day training course prior to beginning their duties, while all subsequently hired employees received only on-the-job training from an experienced Zephyrette.
Once employed, Zephyrettes were required to conduct themselves with "dignity and poise", refrain from smoking or drinking while in uniform, and avoid fraternizing with passengers while they were drinking. Perhaps not coincidentally, Zephyrette Julie Ann Lyman observed that her greatest cravings upon disembarking the train in San Francisco, aside from a bath (the train had no bathing facilities), were for a cigarette and a glass of wine. Zephyrettes were also forbidden to receive tips from passengers, although they were permitted to accept cards and gifts. McPeek, who was affectionately referred to as "Mama" McPeek by many Zephyrettes, was quite protective of them and did not hesitate to write them letters of advice and encouragement; she was especially concerned about the effects of gossip on the Zephyrettes.
The original, pre-World War II Zephyrette uniforms differed seasonally: during winter, they consisted of gray suits with red, silk-lined capes, while in the summer they were lightweight white silk suits paired with navy blouses. The resumption of Zephyrette service on the "California Zephyr" in 1949 came with an entirely new uniform, which consisted of two-piece teal blue suits worn with military-style hats, monogrammed white blouses, and "Zephyr" pins. Over the years, these uniforms gradually evolved: the skirts became shorter, the design of the hats changed, and the monograms disappeared altogether.
In 1963, Gordon collaborated with tailor Ralph Helperin to completely redesign the uniforms, giving them a more modern appearance, complete with a brighter shade of blue. Later in the 1960s, the uniforms were changed to brown. In 1970, the last year of operation for the "California Zephyr", Moran wore airline-inspired dresses, one blue with a white stripe down the side and the other green with a similar orange stripe, that she believes would have become the regular uniform had the train continued for another year.
The Zephyrettes became symbols of the "California Zephyr", and appeared in both the train's promotional literature and a few magazine advertisements. They remained a constant presence on the train until the very end, on March 22, 1970, when the final "California Zephyr" completed its last trip at Chicago Union Station. While the average tenure of employment for a Zephyrette was only one and a half years, many made lasting connections on the train, and some married other railroad employees or former passengers. Moran married a brakeman who also served on the "California Zephyr", Ernie von Ibsch, after he initially asked her out on a date the very night the train was discontinued.
On July 17, 1983, former Zephyrette Beulah Bauman was chosen to christen Amtrak's "California Zephyr" before it departed Denver Union Station on its inaugural journey. Furthermore, in 2011, a group of former Zephyrettes held their first reunion in San Francisco. In 2013, approximately 20 attended a second Zephyrette reunion in Glenwood Springs, Colorado, where they visited the Glenwood Springs Railway Museum inside the city's Amtrak station.
The US Standard Light Rail Vehicle (SLRV) was a light rail vehicle (LRV) built by Boeing Vertol in the 1970s. The Urban Mass Transportation Administration (UMTA) of the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) promoted it as a standardized vehicle for U.S. cities. Part of a series of defense conversion projects in the waning days of the Vietnam War, the SLRV was seen as both a replacement for older PCC streetcars in many cities and as a catalyst for cities to construct new light rail systems. The US SLRV was marketed as and is popularly known as the Boeing LRV or SLRV, and should not be confused with their prior lunar roving vehicles for NASA.
The SLRV was purchased by the public transportation operators of Boston and San Francisco; in service by 1976, the US SLRV proved to be unreliable and scrapping started as early as 1987, but the SLRV were not completely replaced in both systems until 2007. Although the SLRV itself was not successful due to poor reliability, it did set the general size and configuration for succeeding LRVs in the United States.
Düwag had built the car prototype as a demonstrator for the Hanover Stadtbahn in 1970; in June 1971 MBTA ordered two more prototype "Hanover" cars, to be partially paid using a grant from UMTA. However, under the Nixon administration's "New Economic Policy" introduced that fall, UMTA was not allowed to fund the grant. That policy, codified as "Buy America" in Title IV of the Surface Transportation Assistance Act of 1978, stated that UMTA could not fund any grants exceeding $500,000 for transit vehicles that were produced outside the United States unless an exception was approved by the Secretary of Transportation. Instead, Boston (MBTA) was directed to join with San Francisco (Muni) and Philadelphia (SEPTA) to design a new streetcar that could meet the needs of all three cities.
In late 1974, the first new SLRV was operated on a short test track at the Boeing plant. The first demonstrator model was produced in 1975 and was intended to be an early Muni car, and ran tests in Boston for 11 weeks. Three cars (two in the Muni configuration, and one in the MBTA configuration) were shipped to the Transportation Test Center in Pueblo, Colorado in fall 1975 under a contract awarded to Boeing Vertol for engineering testing. MBTA received its first car for testing in September 1976, two years behind schedule. This first car was delivered with trolley poles in addition to the pantograph, as the MBTA was still in the process of reconfiguring its overhead lines to accommodate the latter.
The US SLRV design also influenced the early design of the Canadian Light Rail Vehicle.
Before they were delivered, Boeing claimed the US SLRV would be reliable and virtually maintenance-free. From their earliest days of service, however, the SLRVs proved to be a major financial and mechanical nightmare. After the initial three months of service, the MBTA was forced to halt all light rail service on April 16, 1977 for nine or ten days due to equipment unavailability. The MBTA was unable to retire their PCCs; instead, MBTA instituted a PCC rebuilding program to augment the SLRV fleet and maintain Green Line service. In San Francisco, the problems with the SLRVs led to the Muni Metro not reaching its full potential until 1982.
According to the original design specification, the goals for mean time between failures were set at 1400 hours or for the propulsion and auxiliary electric systems, which assumes average operating speeds of ; 1500 hours or for door and step systems; and 4000 hours or for the friction brakes. In comparison, for 1982, Muni SLRVs were breaking down an average of every (40 hours at operating speeds); reliability rose to (120–133 hours) between failures by 1988, but this was still a failure rate almost 15× the frequency of the (1890 hours) MTBF for the Siemens–Duewag U2 used in the San Diego Trolley system.
In Boston, the MBTA was accepting new cars from Boeing-Vertol, but the cars were falling out of service faster than the MBTA's maintenance staff could repair them. In addition, the MBTA could not acquire replacement parts fast enough to repair the disabled SLRVs. In a desperate effort to keep as many SLRVs operating as possible, MBTA set aside 35 disabled cars to be cannibalized for replacement parts.
By 1980, Boeing was no longer marketing the SLRV. In 1983 the last SLRVs at Boeing-Vertol's facility were delivered when the MBTA accepted nine remaining cars (#3535–3543) from the group of 40 that MBTA had previously rejected. MBTA also took delivery of five cannibalized "shells" in 1983; these had been delivered to MBTA in the 1970s, but were subsequently returned to Boeing in 1979. The title for these five cars reverted to Boeing because MBTA did not respond promptly under the terms of the 1979 settlement, and had been scrapped to supply parts in the meantime. The five "shells" were scrapped in 1988.
The articulated section allows up to 16° of rotation in the horizontal plane, 3° of vertical sag (center section lower than ends), and 4.3° of vertical crest (center section higher than ends), which permits the SLRV to traverse curves as sharp as inside radius, travel through valleys with a vertical curvature of , and crest hills with a vertical curvature of .
The SLRV rolls on lightweight Acousta Flex composite resilient wheels in diameter; these wheels use aluminum hubs separated from the steel rims/tires by a silicone rubber cushion. The cushion is thick and is injected in the threaded space between the rim and hub; the design was developed by Standard Steel and BART in the 1960s. The resilient wheels reduce squeal when negotiating tight curves. Interior noise was claimed to be 65 dB. The design of the trucks is adapted from the Japanese Shinkansen trains. The trucks are equipped with rubber chevron springs and pneumatic suspension, which automatically adjusts to maintain floor height with varying loads. Damping is accomplished by both hydraulic (lateral) and pneumatic (vertical) means.
The car body shells and truck frames were built by Tokyu Car Corporation in Yokohama and the motors provided by Garrett, with assembly at the Boeing plant in Ridley Park, Pennsylvania. After production was ended by Boeing, Tokyu Car Corporation built light rail cars for Buffalo Metro Rail which externally resemble the SLRV, but without articulation.
While Boston and San Francisco bought their cars at the same time and they appear identical externally, the cars have differences:
Professor Seymour Melman partially blamed the use of a longtime defense contractor. Boeing Vertol's customary client (US Department of Defense) was relatively budget insensitive, more tolerant of cost overruns, and had sufficient funding and workforce to conduct complex maintenance, all contrary to the needs and abilities of a municipal transit agency. The design team primarily had experience in aerospace design, not rail vehicles, did not make a serious effort to gain that experience, and did not design for ease of maintenance. In some cases, portions of the SLRV had to be disassembled by acetylene torch to access components.
Boeing marketed the SLRV as a system and took the role of an integrator, subcontracting the design and fabrication of major components to external suppliers from places as far as Germany, Japan, and the United Kingdom. This approach created uncertainty in component delivery dates and essentially precluded prototype testing in favor of meeting contracted schedule milestones, turning MBTA and Muni into, effectively, beta testers for the SLRV. Because no prototype testing was conducted prior to vehicle delivery, the appropriate identification and stock levels of spare parts could not be established before delivery, and MBTA was forced to cannibalize SLRVs for parts to maintain fleet availability during the early years of operation.
Other specific problems with the SLRV include but are not limited to:
The problems of the SLRV quickly led their purchasers to look for replacements and supplements to their fleet. Despite improvements, the SLRVs were still proving to be problematic throughout the 1980s, and both cities decided that Boeing cars would not be part of the long-term future of either transit system. The Federal Transportation Administration took an unprecedented step and reduced the economic life of the Boeing SLRV to 15 years (from "at least 25 years" for trolleys procured using federal assistance), allowing MBTA and Muni to retire the SLRVs early and pursue procurement of replacements by the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Although the SLRV itself was beset by reliability issues and was not successful, Gregory Thompson credits it with making cities aware of light rail transit and defining a modern light rail vehicle. The successor vehicles in Boston (Kinki Sharyo Type 7) and San Francisco (Breda LRV2/3) closely follow the specifications and performance of the SLRV.
After the MBTA terminated their contract with Boeing-Vertol, they were free to make their own modifications to the cars. Several systems were upgraded or improved. Slowly but surely, cannibalized cars were brought into the MBTA shops to be prepped for service.
The MBTA also started "splicing together" damaged cars. Cars 3454 and 3478 had been involved in a high-speed, rear-end collision. The two ends of the cars that made contact were severely damaged. The MBTA's maintenance crews brought the two cars into the shops, and later car 3478 (consisting of 3478A and 3454B) returned to active duty. Car 3454 (consisting of the damaged 3454A and 3478B) was pushed out into the dead storage yard for future disposition. The experience gained in this type of repair laid the ground for several other such cars being returned to revenue service. Eventually, the MBTA's maintenance staff got the active fleet to around 114 cars in the early 1980s.
Muni began developing plans to procure replacements for the Boeing SLRVs in 1989. A contract was signed with Italian manufacturer Breda Costruzioni Ferroviarie on December 4, 1991, with an initial order of 35 cars and options for 20 more. San Francisco began retiring their Boeing SLRVs in 1995 after the first of their replacements (designated "LRV2") arrived from Breda. The newer Breda cars are more like what Muni wanted for its Muni Metro back in the early 1970s, before the design of the Boeing SLRV.
At the end of 2001, Muni retired the last of their Boeing SLRVs after the LRV2s had proven to have improved reliability on the Muni Metro system.
Three US SLRVs have been saved in museums:
Two others remained stored on Muni property for several years after retirement of the last cars from service, car 1320 at Geneva Division and car 1264 at the streetcar yard at Market and Duboce near the U.S. Mint (but later also moved to Geneva). These two cars remained stored until being scrapped in April 2016. Another ex-Muni car (1271) is used as an office trailer at a Bay Area scrapyard.
The Seashore Trolley Museum had inquired about acquiring MBTA 3444, which was equipped with the plug door, for their collection, but did not take it because the car was not in operating condition and Seashore wanted an operating example. 3444 was missing several essential components, including one of the trucks, and was heavily rusted. 3444 was later scrapped in 2005 and Seashore instead acquired rehabilitated car 3424, which was moved to the museum from MBTA's Riverside Yard on July 9, 2009.
Seashore Trolley Museum is also considering acquiring unrehabbed car 3417, currently a part of the MBTA work fleet, for the collection.
In 2002, Manchester was the host city of the Commonwealth Games. Many of the venues used for the games were served by Metrolink, a regional light rail network which first opened in 1992. With capacity problems foreseen and thus requiring a short term solution, the Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive approached Muni about the possibility of buying redundant Boeing SLRVs. Two were purchased for $250 each for initial evaluation and shipped to England.
Upon arrival in England in January 2002, 1226 was sent to Derby Litchurch Lane Works for assessment by Her Majesty's Railway Inspectorate to ensure it met UK safety standards, while 1326 was delivered directly to Metrolink's Queens Road Depot. Muni cars 1214, 1219, 1220, 1221, 1234, 1249, 1268, 1288, 1305, 1308, 1312 and 1327 were stored in the US pending the sale.
Investigations concluded it was not economic to modify them for service in Manchester. The vehicle in Manchester was scrapped once the project was cancelled, while the vehicle in Derby was stored until 2016, at which point it too was broken up.
The MBTA still owns 3 decommissioned SLRV work cars:
ex-MBTA cars 3468, 3480, 3485, 3499, 3514 and 3520 were sold to the US Government and moved to the Transportation Technology Center in Pueblo, Colorado, for testing with real-life scenarios.
Wendell Cox is an American urban policy analyst and academic, known as a leading proponent of the use of the private car over rail projects. He is the principal and sole owner of Wendell Cox Consultancy/Demographia, based in the St. Louis metropolitan region and editor of three web sites, "Demographia", "The Public Purpose" and "Urban Tours by Rental Car". Cox is a fellow of numerous conservative think tanks and a frequent op-ed commenter in conservative US and UK newspapers.
Cox generally opposes planning policies aimed at increasing rail service and density, while favoring planning policies that reinforce and serve the existing transportation and building infrastructure. He believes that existing transportation and building infrastructure reflect what people prefer, while his opponents argue that his positions are based more on a belief that road transport and low density are inherently superior.
Cox was appointed to three terms on the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission by Mayor Tom Bradley, and during his 1977 to 1985 service, he was the only member of the Commission who was not an elected official. His amendment to the 1980 Proposition A transit tax measure provided all of the local funding for Los Angeles urban rail projects, including the Blue Line light rail and the Red Line subway. Additional local funding was not obtained until a later 1990 referendum. Nonetheless, he often opposes urban rail systems because he claims that they have not reduced traffic congestion, which he claims is the principal justification that has been used for their construction.
He was appointed by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich to fill the unexpired term of former New Jersey governor Christine Todd Whitman on the Amtrak Reform Council and served from 1999 until the Council issued its final recommendations in 2002. He is vice president of CODATU, an international organization dedicated to improving urban transport in developing world urban areas.CODATU: Agir pour une mobilité soutenable dans les villes en développement \| CODATU est une association de droit français qui anime un réseau international d'expertise sur les transports et la mobilité dans les villes des pays en développement He was also a member of the steering committee of the International Conference on Competition and Ownership in Land Passenger Transport, which held its 10th conference in Australia in 2007.
Cox is a visiting fellow at the Heritage Foundation, a senior fellow at the Heartland Institute, senior fellow for urban policy at the Independence Institute (Denver) and holds similar titles in a number of additional conservative think tanks.
He has an MBA from Pepperdine University and a BA in Government from California State University, Los Angeles.
Cox has also emerged as an opponent of smart growth, especially urban growth boundaries, impact fees, and large lot zoning, claiming they have a tendency to raise housing prices artificially and suppress economic growth.
He has authored studies for conservative think tanks such as the Cato Institute, Heartland Institute, Heritage Foundation, and the Reason Foundation, and for industry groups such as the American Highway Users Alliance, a lobbying and advocacy group for automobile-based industries.
He has also criticized land use policies in the Portland, Oregon area, noting that the area expanded its urban growth boundary to its intended 2040 area 38 years early due to political pressure and that housing prices have escalated substantially relative to incomes.
Demographia is also publisher of the a comprehensive listing of urban area (agglomeration) population and densities. The 6th edition published in 2010 includes all agglomerations with 500,000 or more population.
Cox believes that the goal of public transportation systems should be to provide mobility to those who do not have access to a car, not to reduce traffic congestion. As such he believes that agencies should seek to obtain maximum value for every dollar of taxes and fees expended, using whatever transportation choices maximize ridership. He believes that competitive approaches (principally competitive contracting and competitive tendering) are most effective in this regard.
Cox's transport site "The Public Purpose" claims it is not opposed to urban rail, but many of Cox's opponents strongly disagree. It instead argues that it is opposed to waste. The site claims that it would cost less to lease every new light-rail rider a luxury car than to build light-rail projects themselves; this has entered the planning lexicon as the "Jaguar Argument." He has suggested a correlation between personal mobility and income. He says public transportation does a "good job of getting people downtown and serving the low-income poor moving around the core, but it can't do any more than that." In response, representatives of the Sierra Club have called Wendell Cox an "itinerant anti-public transportation gun-for-hire."
His more recent transport activities oppose the claim that road congestion reduction is obtained from improving urban mass transit. Among other things, he claims his aim is to improve urban mobility through performance programs that obtain the greatest reduction in travel-delay hours for the public funding available. Cox claims to be "'pro-choice' with respect to urban development," and asserts that "people should be allowed to live and work where they like," consistent with the Lone Mountain Compact, of which he was a signatory.
Cox has completed projects and made presentations in the United States, Canada, Western Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. He has served as a visiting professor at the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers in Paris, France. He has lectured in numerous locations, such as the University of Sydney, the University of Toronto, the University of Paris and the Institute of Economic Affairs (London). He participated in a debate on land use and transport with Oregon Congressman Earl Blumenauer at a national RailVolution conference in 2001, and debated Andres Duany on land use policy at the first American Dream Conference in 2002.
His commentaries have appeared in numerous publications, such as the "Daily Telegraph" (London), the "National Post" (Canada), the "Washington Post", the "Wall Street Journal", the "Los Angeles Times", the "Washington Times", "La Stampa" (Turin) and the "Australian Financial Review".
The National Journal has twice honored his Public Purpose website as "one of the Internet's best transport sites".
Cox's consultancy has worked for bus companies as well as for President George W. Bush's transition team.
List of railroads eligible to participate in the formation of Amtrak
On May 1, 1971, there were 26 railroads in the United States that were eligible to participate in the formation of Amtrak. Twenty chose to join Amtrak in 1971, and one more eventually joined in 1979. Of the remaining five, four ultimately discontinued their services, while one was taken over by a state agency.
Twenty railroads opted to participate. Each contributed rolling stock, equipment, and financial capital to the new government-sponsored entity. In return, the railroads received the right to discontinue intercity passenger rail services; most received tax breaks, while some received common stock in Amtrak. The four railroads that accepted stock were the Burlington Northern Railroad, the Grand Trunk Western Railroad, the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad ("Milwaukee Road"), and Penn Central. Because Amtrak discontinued many passenger rail routes when it commenced operations, some of the participating railroads did not host successor passenger rail service. The twenty participating railroads were:
There were six railroads "eligible" to participate in the formation of Amtrak that declined to spin off their passenger rail services. The intercity passenger operations of those six railroads eventually were absorbed by Amtrak or another governmental entity, or discontinued. The six non-participating railroads and disposition of their routes were as follows:
A few major railroads with operations in the United States were not eligible to participate in the formation of Amtrak:
Pullman porters were men hired to work on the railroads as porters on sleeping cars. Starting shortly after the American Civil War, George Pullman sought out former slaves to work on his sleeper cars. Their job was to carry passenger's baggage, shine shoes, set up and maintain the sleeping berths, and serve passengers. Pullman porters served American railroads from the late 1860s until the Pullman Company ceased operations on December 31, 1968, though some sleeping-car porters continued working on cars operated by the railroads themselves and, beginning in 1971, Amtrak. The term "porter" has been superseded in modern American usage by "sleeping car attendant", with the former term being considered "somewhat derogatory".
Until the 1960s, Pullman porters were exclusively black, and have been widely credited with contributing to the development of the black middle class in America. Under the leadership of A. Philip Randolph, Pullman porters formed the first all-black union, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters in 1925. Formation of the union was instrumental in the advancement of the Civil Rights Movement. Porters worked under the supervision of a Pullman conductor (distinct from the railroad's own conductor in overall charge of the train), who was invariably white.
In addition to sleeping cars, Pullman also provided parlor cars and dining cars used by some railroads that did not operate their own; the dining cars were typically staffed with African-American cooks and waiters, under the supervision of a white steward: "With the advent of the dining car, it was no longer possible to have the conductor and porters do double duty: a dining car required a trained staff ... depending on the train and the sophistication of the meals, a staff could consist of a dozen men."
Pullman also employed African-American maids on deluxe trains to care for women's needs, especially women with children; in 1926, Pullman employed about 200 maids and over 10,000 porters. Maids assisted ladies with bathing, gave manicures and dressed hair, sewed and pressed clothing, shined shoes, and helped care for children. The Central of Georgia Railroad continued using this service as a selling point in their advertisements for the "Nancy Hanks" well into the 1950s.
From the very start, porters were featured in Pullman's ads promoting his new sleeper service. Initially, they were one of the features that most clearly distinguished his carriages from those of competitors, but eventually nearly all would follow his lead, hiring African-Americans as porters, cooks, waiters and Red Caps (railway station porters). According to the Museum of the American Railroad:
Porters were not paid a livable wage and needed to rely on tips to earn enough to make a living. Walter Biggs, son of a Pullman porter, spoke of memories of being a Pullman porter as told to him by his father:
The number of porters employed by railroads declined as sleeping car service dwindled in the 1960s as passenger numbers dwindled due to competition from auto and air travel, and sleeping car services were discontinued on many trains. By 1969, the ranks of the Pullman sleeping car porters had declined to 325 men with an average age of 63.
A porter was expected to greet passengers, carry baggage, make up the sleeping berths, serve food and drinks brought from the dining car, shine shoes, and keep the cars tidy. He needed to be available night and day to wait on the passengers. He was expected to always smile; thus the porters often called the job, ironically, "miles of smiles".
According to historian Greg LeRoy, "A Pullman Porter was really kind of a glorified hotel maid and bellhop in what Pullman called a hotel on wheels. The Pullman Company just thought of the porters as a piece of equipment, just like another button on a panelthe same as a light switch or a fan switch." Porters worked 400 hours a month or 11,000 miles, sometimes as much as 20 hours at a stretch. They were expected to arrive at work several hours early to prepare their car, on their own time; they were charged whenever their passengers stole a towel or a water pitcher. On overnight trips, they were allocated only three to four hours of sleepand that was deducted from their pay.
"It didn't pay a livable wage, but they made a living with the tips that they got, because the salary was nothing," says Lyn Hughes, founder of the A. Philip Randolph Pullman Porter Museum. The porters were expected to pay for their own meals and uniforms and the company required them to pay for the shoe polish used to shine passengers' shoes daily. There was little job security, and the Pullman Company inspectors were known for suspending porters for trivial reasons.
According to Larry Tye, who authored "Rising from the Rails: The Pullman Porters and the Making of the Black Middle Class", George Pullman was aware that as former chattel slaves, the men he hired had already received the perfect training and "knew just how to take care of any whim that a customer had". Tye further explained that Pullman was aware that there was never a question that a traveler would be embarrassed by running into one of the porters and having them remember something they had done during their trip that they did not want their wife or husband, perhaps, to know about.
Black historian and journalist Thomas Fleming began his career as a bellhop and then spent five years as a cook for the Southern Pacific Railroad. Fleming was the co-founder and executive editor of Northern California's largest weekly African-American newspaper, the "Sun-Reporter". In a weekly series of articles entitled "Reflections on Black History", he wrote of the contradictions in the life of a Pullman porter:
The Order of Sleeping Car Conductors was organized on February 20, 1918, in Kansas City, Missouri. Members had to be white males; because the order did not admit black people, A. Philip Randolph began organizing the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. Using the motto "Fight or Be Slaves", on August 25, 1925, 500 porters met in Harlem and decided to make an effort to organize. Under Randolph's leadership the first black union, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, was formed and slowly working conditions and salaries improved.
By forming the first black labor union, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, Pullman porters also laid the groundwork for the Civil Rights Movement, which began in the 1950s. Union organizer and former Pullman porter E. D. Nixon played a crucial role in organizing the landmark Montgomery bus boycott in Alabama in 1955. It was he who bailed Rosa Parks out of jail after she refused to move on the bus, and who selected her as the figure to build the boycott around.
By the 1960s, between the decline of the passenger rail system and the cultural shifts in American society, the Pullman porters' contribution became obscured, becoming for some in the African-American community a symbol of subservience to white cultural and economic domination.
The Pullman Company went out of business in 1969, and the railroads no longer followed the practice of hiring only black men as porters. In 1978, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters merged with the larger Brotherhood of Railway and Airline Clerks.
The black community looked up to Pullman porters and many people credit them as significant contributors to the development of America's black middle class. Black historian and civil-rights activist Timuel Black observed in a 2013 interview:
In the late 19th century, Pullman porters were among the only people in their communities to travel extensively. Consequently, they became a conduit of new information and ideas from the wider world to their communities. Many Pullman porters supported community projects, including schools, and saved rigorously to ensure that their children were able to obtain an education and thus better employment. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall and former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown were descendants of Pullman porters. Marshall was also a porter himself, as were Malcolm X and the photojournalist Gordon Parks.
In 1995, Lyn Hughes founded the A. Philip Randolph Pullman Porter Museum to celebrate both the life of A. Philip Randolph and the role of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and other African-Americans in the U.S. labor movement. Located in South Side, Chicago and housed in one of the original rowhouses built by George Pullman to house workers, it is part of the U.S. Department of the Interior's Pullman National Historic Landmark District. The museum houses a collection of artifacts and documents related to the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. Additionally, in 2001, the museum began compiling a national registry of black railroad employees who worked for the railroad from the late 1800s to 1969.
In 2008, Amtrak, in partnership with the A. Philip Randolph Museum, honored Pullman porters in Chicago. Museum founder Lyn Hughes spoke at the event saying, "It's significant when an organization like Amtrak takes the time to honor those who contributed directly to its own history. It's also very appropriate as it's the culmination of the effort to create the Pullman Porter Registry. We started the Registry with Amtrak and now we're coming full circle with its completion and the honoring of these great African American men." Hughes is also author of "An Anthology of Respect: The Pullman Porter National Historic Registry".
In 2009, as part of Black History Month, Amtrak honored Pullman porters in Oakland, California. An AARP journalist writes, "They were dignified men who did undignified labor. They made beds and cleaned toilets. They shined shoes, dusted jackets, cooked meals and washed dishes in cramped and rolling quarters." Amtrak invited five retired members of The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters to speak at the event. The eldest of the five, Lee Gibson, age 98, spoke of his journey to the event (by rail) saying, "It was nice. I got the service I used to give." He spoke of his years as porter with fondness saying, It was a wonderful life."
The Amtrak Police Department (APD) is a railroad police agency and security organization that acts as the law enforcement arm of Amtrak (the National Railroad Passenger Corporation), the government-owned passenger train system in the United States. It is headquartered at Union Station in Washington, D.C., and as of 2019 has a force of 452 sworn police officers, most of whom are stationed within the Northeast Corridor, Amtrak's busiest route.
This quasi-federal agency has primary jurisdiction on Amtrak stations nationwide, trains, rights-of-way, maintenance facilities, and crimes committed against Amtrak, its employees, or its passengers.
Since 1979, most Amtrak police officers are trained at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers (FLETC) although some recruits may be certified through a local police academy.
Created by Congress, Amtrak's enabling legislation under the Rail Passenger Service Act of 1970, now codified starting at 49 U.S.C. 24101, established the authority for Amtrak to have its own police force. The statutory authority was unique at the time and included interstate police powers. The Amtrak rail police law, now found at 49 U.S.C. 24305 (e), states as follows:

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