Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, August 21, 1994 TAG: 9408190065
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: F-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The discussion makes a good backdrop for a look at a place that has parlayed its railroad into a tourist experience:
Alaska.
The Alaska Railroad moves almost a half-million passengers a year - nearly equal to the state's population. Except the bulk of these travelers aren't from Alaska; when Alaskans need to get somewhere, they usually fly.
"Primarily, it is not a transportation railroad," said Dick Knapp, vice president for marketing and sales for Alaska Railroad Corp. "People ride for a travel experience."
The stations serving the train aren't fancy, and there is no major museum. The bright blue and yellow trains are the attraction.
The rail riders are tourists from all over the world in no hurry to reach a destination. And that's good, because it takes almost 12 hours to get from Anchorage to Fairbanks (350 miles).
A couple of weeks ago, I took the train on the daylong trip from Anchorage to Denali National Park, which is a stopover or jumping-off point for most tourists. I settled into the seat section that had a table, intending to work on my travel journal and catch up on some reading. But the distractions were too many.
There was the competition to see who could spot the first wildlife; the winner got a 1993 Alaska Railroad pen. There was the family photo album belonging to my car's guide, a young woman who had trained at her own expense to compete for the summer job that lasted 14 hours a day. The albums some of the guides had prepared were filled with snapshots of growing up in Alaska.
The pace slows aboard a train. I had plenty of time to see moose and caribou, and snap pictures of the scenery, which included Mount McKinley making one of its rare appearances because it generally is shrouded in fog.
Riding a train is a train experience.
Passengers on the Alaska Railroad moved to and from sitting car to dome-top sightseeing car to dining car. Many also spent time riding in the vestibules between cars, to smoke or take photographs or in the case of a couple of honeymooners, to neck in private.
Occasionally, tourists on the train were the subject of interest for other tourists parked with cameras ready at each junction of rail and road.
The Alaska Railroad, completed in 1923, was a losing business when it was bought by the state from the federal government in 1985. The deal was for $22.3 million and included 665 miles of tracks, 38,000 acres of land and 1,545 units of rolling stock.
Knapp said the state didn't want the railroad to operate like a bureaucracy, so it set up a public corporation to own and operate it and hopefully turn a profit.
The railroad has three sources of income - freight, real estate and passengers. The first two pay the bills, he said. For example, ARR carries coal from the Nenana River coalfields to the tippler used to load ships in Seward.
ARR also makes money leasing the land and buildings it owns near its tracks throughout the system, Knapp said.
Passenger service was only fully developed on the route in 1990. The passenger operation still must be subsidized, but income from tickets is now only between $300,000 and $350,000 under expenses, where the gap used to be in the millions. Knapp said passenger travel ought to be profitable in three to four years.
Passenger service got a boost in the past few years through a tie-in with cruise ships. Ship passengers traveling into the interior can make part of the journey by rail on special "cruise" cars that can be added to - and taken off of - the regular Alaska Railroad train.
The railroad offers a variety of packages in addition to the cruise-ship deal. For example, a passenger could take a bus ride from Anchorage to Seward, then a cruise on the bay and return to Anchorage by rail.
The passenger service is beefed up from mid-May through mid-September, the heavy tourist season, and then is scaled back to fit the lower demand.
Now I know Roanoke is not Alaska, even though you might be surprised at the similarities between Anchorage and Roanoke. Certainly Roanoke's railroad heritage is as strong as any area's. The idea of using it to lure and entertain visitors has been advanced by many thoughtful people through the years.
No question, though, the project needs to involve a working train.
by CNB