Slow train coming

This summer, I took the train to Philadelphia. My seat was roomy, the bathrooms were convenient and you can't beat the view.

The only downside? It took five hours to travel the 90 miles from Richmond to D.C.

During the trip, I overheard a conductor telling one irate passenger that CSX owns the rail lines on which Amtrak travels in Virginia, and that corporation, not Amtrak, sets speed limits, which are lower in the summertime.

Today I had to go to Washington for a meeting and didn't want to take the Chinatown bus, which gets back to Richmond pretty late. So I bit the bullet and got a train ticket. This morning's train wasn't too bad by Amtrak standards, just 15 minutes late, but tonight I didn't get back home until nearly an hour past the scheduled time.

Which got me thinking. A few years ago, airlines started incorporating regular delays into their schedules, which had the happy effect of making passengers feel like they were getting in early when things went smoother than usual. So, for example, afternoon flights from LaGuardia (once among the worst offenders) dropped way down on the government's list of frequently delayed flights—because the airlines were more realistic about when passengers would actually arrive.

So why doesn't Amtrak, whose on-time percentage in Virginia must hover around 50 percent, factor persistent delays into its schedules? I'm guessing it's because a three-hour trip to Washington doesn't seem like much of an alternative to driving, or taking the bus, or if you're really milking your expense account, flying. But I like taking the train, and I'd probably do it more if I had some realistic idea of when to ask the missus to pick me up. (She was S-T-E-A-M-E-D after waiting an hour in the parking lot of the Staples Mill station with Junior asleep in the back.)

Amtrak may not have a lot of control over its destiny these days, but something tells me it could probably work out schedules that are more than wishful thinking. That's assuming, of course, that its employees could find a few spare hours here and there to work on the problem.