On September 25, SeaPort Airlines published a full page press release/advertisement in “businesswire” https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260925894015/en/Billions-in-New-Trains-Same-Slow-Route-Boeing-Field-Air-Service-SeaPort-Airlines-is-Making-New-Amtrak-Trains-Obsolete
The headline tells the intended story: “Billions in New Trains, Same Slow Route: Boeing Field Air Service SeaPort Airlines is Making New Amtrak Trains Obsolete.”
The ad includes a table comparison of facts selected to prove the point.
Corporations are required to generate the greatest possible shareholder value. They need not consider anything else, other than certain safety and equal accommodation regulations. They are not required to consider the public interest, so this approach is not unexpected.
The picture is not the same when comparing beyond the facts selected to prove the point.
The information selected for the advertising and the additional relevant information are shown in the following table.
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What SeaPort left out |
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Amtrak Cascades Airo |
SeaPort Airlines |
|
Cost of Vehicle – equipment |
$25 million per Airo trainset |
Abt
$3 million per aircraft |
|
Passenger capacity per vehicle |
300+ seats per trainset |
9 seats per aircraft |
|
Cost of vehicle per seat |
$78,864 |
$333,333 |
|
Fuel Use per trip |
Abt 400-425 gallons of diesel |
Abt 55 gallons of jet fuel |
|
Fuel Use Per Trip Per Passenger |
1 Gallon |
6 Gallons |
|
Trips Per Day |
6 each way – 7 days |
9 each way – Weekdays |
|
Seats Per Day |
1902 each way |
81 each way |
|
Seattle-Portland Travel Time |
About 3 hours 30 minutes |
About 1 hour |
|
Seattle Location |
King Street Station 1.2 miles |
Boeing Field – 6 miles from center of
business district |
|
Portland Location |
Portland Union Station 0.6 miles |
Portland International Airport – 21 miles
from center of business district |
|
Typical One Way
Ticket Price |
$60 |
$219 |
|
Typical One Way
Ticket Price |
$27-$68 |
|
|
Publicly Funded Operating Costs |
$60+ million per year |
$0 |
|
Publicly Funded Infrastructure Cost |
Constructed with private capital. $600,million in 2010 for improvements to private
infrastructure to support frequency – Invested infrastructure is taxed on
construction and thereafter subject to property tax |
Constructed with public funds. Subsequent
improvements with public funds. Ongoing – Port of Portland, Port of Seattle,
Federal Aviation Administration – Infrastructure is tax-free |
|
Parking |
Off-site, Paid - $32 per day |
On-Site, Free |
|
Parking Capacity |
|
Less than one Cascades train at overage of
1.5 passengers per car |
|
Public Transit within 500 feet of entrance –
Seattle |
Link, Sound Transit Bus, Metro |
None |
|
Public Transit within 500 feet of entrance –
Portland |
MAX, Tri Met bus |
None |
|
Parking at actual destination |
$1-8 per hour for public lots and street.
Not needed when using transit |
$2-$7 per hour for public lots and street. |
|
Rental car to reach actual destination |
|
$80-$200 |
The cost per trainset/airplane and the seating capacity are better understood when extended to the cost of each per seat. The Airo trainset is about $79,000 per seat. The airplane is about $333,000 per seat.
The way the fuel quantities are represented presents the appearance that the airplane is much more efficient, only 55 gallons per trip. However, when shown in the context of fuel per passenger, it is clear that the airplane uses six times as much fuel per passenger as the train.
The service level is important when comparing transportation modes for effectiveness. The Cascades service has six trains per day each way, seven days per week. The SeaPort website shows nine planes per day each way, with fewer on weekends. Although the air service provides three trips per day more than the Amtrak Cascades (Cascades) service, the Cascades service provides 1902 seats per day in each direction. The airplane provides 81.
Travel time can be misleading. Seattle-Portland Cascades travel time is 3 hours 25 minutes rather than about 3 hours 30 minutes. The travel time end points are at the edge of the business district. In Seattle, King Street Station is 1.2 miles from the center of the business district. Portland Union Station is 0.6 miles from the center of the business district. Boeing Field is 6 miles from the center of the business district. Portland International Airport (PDX) is 21 miles from the business district.
That difference makes the parking cost comparison important. The Seattle and Portland Amtrak stations are served by light rail and several bus routes, all stopping within 500 feet of the station entrance. Neither airport has public transportation within 500 feet of the terminal (SeaPort uses a separate terminal at PDX, distant from the main passenger terminal).
A train passenger can easily use low cost public transportation to the business district and widely throughout the metropolitan area. The air passengers can easily drive to the airport and park for free. However, at the destination end of the trip, there is the $80-$200 cost of car rental and the $2-$7 per hour parking fees.
In an attempt to reduce the apparent cost advantage of the train, the high end of a typical range of rail fares has been selected. A recently selected range of Seattle – Portland Cascades fares is a range of S27-$68. At that, the $159 difference between train and air fare is striking.
The last direct comparison is operating subsidy. The table shows over $60 million annually in operating subsidy for rail service and none for air. The cost and source of funds for infrastructure are not considered. Rail infrastructure has been constructed with private capital. The infrastructure and property are taxed. The public has invested $600 million for infrastructure in the past 16 years. That investment becomes part of the host railroad property and is taxed as such. The airports that SeaPort Airlines uses were constructed and subsequently improved with public funds. The airline and airports are recipients of continual financial support by the Port of Portland, King County, and the Federal Aviation Administration. Fees paid by the airlines do not fully cover the cost.
Passenger train subsidy is related to service level. The Long Range Plan for Amtrak Cascades (LRP), last updated by Washington State Department of Transportation in 2006 demonstrates that the fully developed service will require almost no subsidy.
The service level depicted in the LRP depends upon 2 hour 30 minute travel time between Seattle and Portland, which the Airo trains can readily accomplish given infrastructure configured to accommodate the required speed. Federal and State governments have invested massive amounts of funding for roadway improvements in the past 100 years, while the railroad alignment between Seattle and Portland is generally as it has existed since 1908. Between DuPont and Nisqually, the Cascades trains operate at 30-42 mph on the “new route” that was constructed in 1914 to replace the 1890 alignment.
The presented facts don’t demonstrate that the Cascades Airo trainsets are obsolete. They demonstrate that SeaPort Airlines serves a niche market and is not effective transportation.
When public interest is considered, including the elements of fuel availability, environmental impact, and climate change, Washington’s new Airo trains are not obsolete. They are a long overdue improvement.
Thomas White
VTD Rail Consulting / Climate Rail Alliance