Comeback in the Coaches

Super de luxe coaches designed in the best Hollywood tradition, with coach sleepers for overnight runs. . . . Lower fares than ever (maybe as low as 1-c- a mile, 50-c- a night for coach sleeping berths). . . . Speeds up to 100 m.p.h. . . . Special cars to carry vacationers' automobiles along at rates cheaper than driving.

These are the post-war dreams of railroadmen now that they are making more money than they ever dared hope to make on passenger service. They know that the local accommodation business is lost forever to busses and automobiles, and they are glad to lose it. They expect airplanes to take away most of the long-distance Pullman travel. But they figure they can make big money on fast, low-cost, long-distance coach travel.

The few de luxe coach trains already running prove it. For example New York Central's New York-Chicago Pacemaker averages 500 passengers in twelve to 15 cars nightly. So does the Pennsylvania's Trail Blazer. Both should gross better than $5-6,000 a trip on a direct out-of-pocket cost for wages, fuel, cleaning, etc. of over $1,000.

Even with their old equipment the railroads will this year roll up to an impressive 50 billion passenger-miles, some 70% more than last year, an astonishing 35% greater than the previous peak in 1921 (see graph) --there will be 400,000,000 fewer passengers than in 1921 but the average passenger is now riding almost three times as far. Moreover, since Pearl Harbor 6,584,422 troops (more than three times as many as in the corresponding months of World War I) have taken train trips. If these wartime habits persist at all, long-distance de luxe coach travel will be a cornerstone of the railroad business.

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