Search results

A single supplier increases costs because of decreased competition. The railroads always spread their orders around while standardizing components. Being wedded to one supplier isn’t good.

Amtrak doesn’t like to do that. That’s a major reason Talgo hasn’t been considered. The Talgo’s require a service contract. I would speculate that if a service contract is included, you are no longer able to defer maintenance when budgets are tight. I would disagree with the last part. You have...

Have a great trip! I would walk it, but understand the concern. I can also be a risk taker when it comes to that kind of thing, so take my advice with a grain of salt.

I am convinced that hot pots and the like are not allowed. It might seem like a reasonable option, but it’s not for a variety of reasons including tripping breakers, etc. Amtrak could have a hot water kettle, but they don’t. The cafe car will support reasonable requests. I have considered a hot...

The UP’s City of Kansas City, the successor to the City of St Louis, was not “long gone”, KC to Denver service on UP lasted to Amtrak day.

Totally agree about the Sunset. The desert is spectacular. The small towns are very unique and representative of the Southwest.

Even in the ‘60’s and ‘70’s where I grew up, two lane roads were the norm. I remember flats; nobody drove a car without knowing how to change a tire. Small town downtowns prospered and you could stop at a nice cafe. Then bypasses came in and killed the small towns. The railroad was a luxurious...

I’ve always had great crews on the Eagle, and I haven’t seen any problem with Chicago based crews in general. That sounds like a sweeping generalization that’s unsupported. The Eagle is no more of an orphan than the City of New Orleans or the Capitol. It’s just the Texas folks are way more vocal.

The Eagle gets a lot of attention, and that’s not bad, but the City of New Orleans should also get a similar amount of attention. In any event, rerouting the through cars to the Sunset via Midland would make a lot of sense. Make Fort Worth into a hub. Extend the Heartland Flyer to San Antonio...

An option would be to make Union Station a through station with a new terminal built near O’Hare. All trains would stop at Union but continue on to a new, intercity passenger terminal at O’Hare. I suppose most people would still board at CUS, and it wouldn’t make sense running nearly empty...

The comments are great. I’ll just add, all trains need to be daily at minimum. The Venture cars need better seats and the new cafes need a seating area with tables that aren’t used by the crew for a break room/office.

The mattresses are fine. You’ll never make everyone happy.

That is true. I’m not that old. I rode Amtrak’s Empire Builder from 1994 to 2017 when I lived there, but I did ride some of the last Milwaukee Road trains as a small child and the early Amtrak Empire Builder several times. But it’s good to note that at least four railroads operated Chicago -...

The easiest thing to do would be; one, use landscaping and other mitigation measures to address the sand problems; and two, provide security at train arrivals and departures. In addition, consideration could be given to a shuttle into PS to meet the train. Indio is a ways away. There are other...

Agreed. They seem to want to provide mediocre service to very poor people who have no options, and thus will bear the ridiculously poor service.

The Milwaukee Road trains had good ridership up to Amtrak. This area has many substantial communities with no other public transportation options, or limited options. I lived in Baraboo for many years and used the Empire Builder to go to Milwaukee and Chicago. The Wisconsin Dells are frequently...

Megabus was a mega mess, but so is most transportation in the U.S. Deregulation simply doesn’t work. Private companies cherry pick a few routes (or run ridiculously long trains and haul a small percentage of the freight) in search of big profits leaving the country stranded.

That’s a much better idea than the El Paso to LA flight. Good thinking!

If I understand this, you would fly from El Paso to LA? You’re missing the best scenery on the Sunset in New Mexico and Arizona. There’s no way I would do that. No diner on the Eagle. Schlep your stuff from the El Paso station to the airport, fly to LA. I get stressed just thinking about it...

These trains will depress ridership by 20-30% or more. There isn’t a lot of reason to ride the train with uncomfortable seats and no/poor food and beverage service. A nice lounge with decent food and comfortable seats would bring in riders in droves. But of course, this doesn’t take a marketing...