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A proposed (by me, a nobody) 47 hour schedule from Chicago to Miami via Washington and Raleigh, assumes two hours at WAS to facilitate better departures at WAS, assist timekeeping, and allow for inspections (1,000 mile and daily?). Obviously improves utilization, and is only 8 hours longer than...

You’re in decent shape between the Zoo and Richmond/Westmoreland (the Eastern end). I would grab the El to Girard, wait for one up to Port Richmond, take it to Indiana, get off, walk over to Thompson, and grab a kielbasa cheesesteak that Gaul’s. Or grab a regular cheesesteak at Joes right under...

I think the art is still there. It’s a question of priorities. As an industry the railroads have simply put their efforts into embargoing branch lines, ripping up multiple track mains, and chasing records for the longest train in history. If the Class I’s really wanted things to run well, they...

The next area I’d like to raise for consideration is schedule. 30 has arrived after 14:35 25 times in the last year, about 7% of the time. This will be no trouble. The other direction however is a mess 92 has departed Washington after 16:05 162 times in the last year, 44% of the time. This will...

Do we have any indication what the consist might be? Currently the Star is: 2 Diesel Locomotives (8?) 4 Amfleet II coaches- 240 seats (16) 1 Cafe (4) 1 Dining Car (4) 2 Viewliner Sleepers 24-4-2-0 (8) 1 Baggage (4) The Capitol seems to be: 2 Diesel Locomotives (6) 1 Viewliner Baggage (3) 2...

The purchase was part of a fool’s errand to worsen the ratio of peak to off peak trains that would have hurt SEPTA financially and in terms of its efficacy as a carrier. The densest (in terms of station spacing) commuter railroad in the country had no good reason to buy the heaviest locomotive...

It became official that Hitachi has won the contract to build 200, with options for 40 additional, rail cars for service on SEPTA’s Market Frankford Line (The El). These cars, designated M5, will replace the extant M4 cars built by Adtranz just before 2000. The M4’s are lemons, to the point...

More info about the Borealis. Ridership now estimated at 232,000 for the year. There was allegedly a surplus the first month. It is unclear to me whether month means first 30 days (I.E. 18,500 May 21?-June 20) or the calendar month of June. I think the later. We’ll need to wait for official...

I have a friend in the company who said this is a stumper. No catenary problem, allegedly no substation problem. At least a few hours ago they couldn’t figure out what was wrong. Usually it is fairly obvious.

So @west point made the observation that once 176 was expanded to Lynchburg ridership held steady on the Crescent, but passenger miles increased. This indicated that sellouts and price pressure at the top of the corridor were present, and once the NER diverted some of that traffic up top latent...

The May Monthly Performance Report has been out for a little while. Again these are monthly, not YTD figures. The following routes are between 95%-100% of April 2019 ridership (NB: this month begins comparison with 2019 figures to better follow the twelve months pre-COVID). Three routes are...

I am considering taking an intercity bus from NYC-MTR in light of the “recent troubles” with the Adirondack. There are three carriers Greyhound, Flix, and Adirondack Trailways. I was hoping someone might be able to advise me on which to chose and why. My gut is Trailways, but I’d love to hear...

There are two major theories I know: one suggests the Class I’s eventually add that time into their plan for how to dispatch the train, and the other suggests that the padding makes it harder to be precise in operating the train in relation to everything else rolling along on a particular day...

Lengthening the schedule rarely actually results in a appreciable improvement on OTP. E.g. The Sunset, Crescent, even commuter rail systems.

SEPTA’s Silverliner IV’s are roughly equivalent to the Arrow III but older, faster (I think), and operate over the NEC also. Wires do not get torn down with any regularity. I like the maintenance theory.

With the caveat that what the railroad did was wrong… What exactly happens now? That track is the only apparent rail access to the refinery. Would the tribe rather have 300 and some odd tanker trucks float through every day? Is that economically viable? Does the refinery cut production?

No, properly speaking, the 15 passes through Port Richmond, east of Kensington, and then right into Fishtown. The 3 and the 5 are the major north-south routes through Kensington. Frankford and Aramingo Avenues form the boundary. I use the 15 specifically to avoid Kensington.

Correct. I understand it is physically double tracked, so is Columbus. The problem there is only one track currently serves the station, leading to a large block that is effectively single track for passenger trains, causing cascading delays if something enters that territory even a bit off...

Could it be a problem similar to what is happening in Columbus, WI with the Borealis? There is no platform (as far as I know) on the mainline farthest from the station. Does this artificially create single tracking conditions?

It’s impossible to know for sure. A lot of the five year likely is. The losses vs last year would be difficult to attribute to equipment, as equipment shortages have eased in 2024. The best thing to do is probably look for proportionality between seat miles and passenger miles, but Amtrak...