• Extensive, near-ubiquitous coverage – When traveling through Europe, you rarely need to consider whether a particular location is served by convenient rail service – nearly all destinations are.
• Frequent service throughout the day – As with geographic coverage, frequency of service creates loyalty among riders.  In Europe, you don’t need to build your day around the train schedule; the trains are designed to accommodate yours.
• Convenient connections to local transit – If you are traveling without a car, the last thing you want is to be deposited at a train station without any convenient means to get into town.  Most European train stations leave you within walking distance of downtown, and all provide access to mass transit.
• State-of-the-art ticketing and train status information – The convenience that we have come to expect in booking air travel is also offered by European rail systems.  In addition, reliable information about arriving and departing trains is consistently available.
• Train stations as destinations – When you arrive at the train station in a large European city, you feel like you have arrived somewhere special.  Train stations are still important nodes in the fabric of European cities, and as such radiate palpable energy as you arrive. 

This list is not intended to, once again, extol the virtues of European rail, but to highlight the elements necessary to build widespread appeal of rail travel in the U.S.  Unfortunately, the prospects for a complete overhaul of the decrepit U.S. system are slim. Yet there are still improvements to be made.  Modernizing the customer experience would be a big first step.  For some reason, Amtrak still adheres to antiquated check-in procedures, including on-site ticketing and manual seat assignments.  As a result, when we boarded in Portland, various lines snaked throughout the train station as people waited first for tickets and then for seat assignments.  The station has one kiosk for electronic ticketing but you still have to wait in line for a seat assignment.  European systems, like most airlines, allow for advance ticketing, including seat assignments for a fee.  Amtrak, though, seems truly out of sync with its European counterparts; the majority of European train travel is handled without seat assignments.  A company looking to squeeze as much inefficiency out of it operations should follow the example of Southwest Airlines, and do away with seat assignments without an extra fee.

The second set of improvements is a tad bit more substantive: the installation of high speed rail on Amtrak’s bread and butter train corridors.  The Boston – New York – Washingon corridor is already served by Acela.  This service needs to be extended to other logical metropolitan corridors to avoid the needless delays that make arrival times seem arbitrary.   The opportunity in this corridor is intriguing – the three options for traveling between Portland and Seattle are roughly a tossup, with a commuter flight the winner in a perfect world of no delays.  Due to the distant location of both airports and the likelihood of delays in the real world, the car often becomes the default option for travelers looking for a reliable arrival.  If Amtrak could reduce its 3 ½ hour trip by an hour, which high speed rail would accomplish, the train could become the predominant mode of transport between the two cities.

What’s sad is that all things considered, travel by train is quite pleasurable.  Compared to car or air travel, trains offer more comfort and amenities, and are more likely to place you downtown upon your arrival.  We are fortunate here in the Northwest that both Seattle and Portland have chosen to restore historic downtown stations that provide convenient access to business and shopping districts.  In fact, our door-to-door trip here included direct bus routes from our house to the Portland’s Union Station, and from Seattle’s King Street Station to my sister’s house in the suburb of Kirkland.  Cities like Chicago, Boston, New York and Washington all have centrally-located stations as well.

The lament about the sad state of our rail network compared to Europe is a common refrain.  Given the differences in distance and the relative dispersion of our population, I’m not sure the comparisons are fair.  But that doesn’t mean that the standards of service and performance for Amtrak should be lowered.  We should expect convenient, comfortable rail service and an operator that makes every effort to compete for our business.  Because that's really what this is – a competition.  And so far, Amtrak comes in a distant third.