English 
English Welcome
on East Filters
Looking for auto parts? Please click below.
Our products
Racor Fuel filter/Water Separator
Oil water separator parts
Sakura Filters Equivalent
Fuel filter accessory
Top Searches
Oil filter
Fuel filter
Air filter
Oil water separator
Fuel water separator
Racor
Volvo
Caterpillar
Benz
Perkins
Scania
Komatsu
MAN
HINO
Iveco
TOYOTA
Gas prices drive riders to Amtrak
'There was a breaking point for the traveler, and we're at it,' Cody said. 'We've charted a correlation between fuel prices and the increase in rail travel.'
Gains in Amtrak ridership would have been even greater, officials said, but tickets are selling out -- especially for weekend trips. The trend is forcing riders to switch their trips to weekdays, most notably Mondays and Thursdays.
'The 'soft' days aren't so soft anymore,' said Marc Magliari, media relations manager for Amtrak..
Amtrak would like to increase capacity to handle the spike in demand, but there a couple of problems: The company doesn't have enough usable cars in the fleet, and the freight company-owned tracks Amtrak uses would need to be upgraded to accommodate additional routes.
Magliari said Amtrak has gone hat-in-hand to Congress seeking funding to refurbish idle train cars. That money has not been forthcoming, but Congress is growing more sympathetic as ridership demand continues to rise, he said.
'Nationally, ridership is up 11.3 percent (from October to July). We set a record at 25.8 million riders last year, and we're already at 23.7 million this year. We're certain to break that record,' Magliari said.
Amtrak owns 100 miles of track in Michigan between Kalamazoo and the Indiana border. But freight companies, which also have seen an uptick in business, own the rest of the track in the state.
'To get permission from the freight companies to add routes, there would have to be infrastructure improvements -- and that's a big capital expense,' Cody said.
Amtrak finances the three daily Pontiac-to-Chicago routes called the Wolverine Line. But the state finances the once-daily Blue Water Line (Port Huron to Chicago) and the Pere Marquette Line (Grand Rapids to Chicago). Maintenance of those two routes will cost taxpayers about $6.1 million this year, even though ticket revenues are up, Cody said.
Rising fuel costs also have bumped up train ticket fares by 3 percent over the last month and a half, Magliari said. He said fuel makes up about 11 percent of Amtrak's cost of doing business.
'That's up from 7 percent of our costs. But it's still a much smaller percentage than aviation or automobile travel,' he said.
Gains in Amtrak ridership would have been even greater, officials said, but tickets are selling out -- especially for weekend trips. The trend is forcing riders to switch their trips to weekdays, most notably Mondays and Thursdays.
'The 'soft' days aren't so soft anymore,' said Marc Magliari, media relations manager for Amtrak..
Amtrak would like to increase capacity to handle the spike in demand, but there a couple of problems: The company doesn't have enough usable cars in the fleet, and the freight company-owned tracks Amtrak uses would need to be upgraded to accommodate additional routes.
Magliari said Amtrak has gone hat-in-hand to Congress seeking funding to refurbish idle train cars. That money has not been forthcoming, but Congress is growing more sympathetic as ridership demand continues to rise, he said.
'Nationally, ridership is up 11.3 percent (from October to July). We set a record at 25.8 million riders last year, and we're already at 23.7 million this year. We're certain to break that record,' Magliari said.
Amtrak owns 100 miles of track in Michigan between Kalamazoo and the Indiana border. But freight companies, which also have seen an uptick in business, own the rest of the track in the state.
'To get permission from the freight companies to add routes, there would have to be infrastructure improvements -- and that's a big capital expense,' Cody said.
Amtrak finances the three daily Pontiac-to-Chicago routes called the Wolverine Line. But the state finances the once-daily Blue Water Line (Port Huron to Chicago) and the Pere Marquette Line (Grand Rapids to Chicago). Maintenance of those two routes will cost taxpayers about $6.1 million this year, even though ticket revenues are up, Cody said.
Rising fuel costs also have bumped up train ticket fares by 3 percent over the last month and a half, Magliari said. He said fuel makes up about 11 percent of Amtrak's cost of doing business.
'That's up from 7 percent of our costs. But it's still a much smaller percentage than aviation or automobile travel,' he said.
