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Agreed. Had them on the Zephyr. Big time upgrade. Probably had them on the Starlight as well, but MTZ-LAX is Daylight service - so got pillows but no blankets…

They run fiber optic lines along rail lines all the time - you could run a transmission line for cellular service along the right of way. Then trees/tunnels/etc. have no impact on the availability of signal. Of course, as long as private companies own the rail infrastructure (not to mention...

I think the only chance of expanded long distance service is through expanded corridor services, which could ultimately lead to some expanded frequencies (i.e. Cardinal & LSL) and potential new connections (i.e. Chicago to Atlanta via Louisville/Nashville & Denver to Albuquerque). Step 1 to...

Over the last week - I’ve been on the Zephyr with two different dining crews. The first (CHI-DEN) was dynamic and energetic and very attentive. Also happened to be very young. The food was presented very close to what you see in the publicity photos. It was still Amtrak with some warts, but...

It would also be nice if the towel rack were used as say… a towel rack. Instead, its current function seems to be that of a micro dust collector.

It’s not a comparere’s my complete review of the shower with a bunch of pictures: https://www.amtraktrains.com/threads/sleeper-9712-wow.78537/post-885978 …and here’s a sketch of the inside of the shower with dimensions.

Now that you mention it, there were at least 4 coach plus the BC car.

Crawfordsville IN (Cardinal flag stop) is getting a new platform - it is well under construction. Have no idea what features it will have. I have to believe it will be ADA compliant. I will be curious as to what small shelter they end up with. The current shelter is a thoroughly rusted-out...

Doh! Homer Simpson moment on my part 😁

Three (3) Coach plus the Business/Cafe. It was the Wolverine that arrives in CHI around 2pm.

If the other corridor routes become popular, I could see IND-STL emerging as a gateway connection to the west, kind of like a NAS-ATL gateway to the south.

From what I read they did take networking into account and claimed increased connections would have a huge impact on ridership overall. They just didn’t identify the CLE-COL-CIN corridor as a “pillar”. That doesn’t mean it isn’t important.

Every single seat on my Wolverine train to CHI was full today. They really need more capacity big time on this line. And I know the lounge cars won’t be ready when they finally deploy the new Siemens cars, but I will say the Amfleet BC/lounge I rode today was pretty decently refreshed.

…and on this evening’s (10/16) Cardinal #50 they were using a VLII as a crew dorm. I guess that frees up a few rooms in the VLI for revenue service - and from what I could tell our VLI was pretty full leaving CHI. Now if they would just permanently allocate this car and another VLII for the...

Fair enough - we don't with certainty know the situation nor exactly what happened yet. It's pretty frustrating - seems like building rail passenger equipment here in the states is cursed. I'd say "It's not rocket science", but it seems like rockets are being built these days with fewer issues...

Let’s hope they get their act together. Because despite cranking out the new Midwest cars pretty quickly - evidently lead in the plumbing has sidelined every single one of them with no obvious end in sight. And I don’t want to hear from any Siemens apologists - they are one of the largest...

My brother is a public school superintendent in Battle Creek, and he told me that he received some sort of a heads up from Amtrak (for the awareness of bus drivers, I suppose) that Amtrak trains were scheduled for an upcoming speed increase this fall.

I agree with JIS that funding Amtrak for a study probably is kicking the can down the road. However, if it did get us closer to efficient transportation to Canada - a very popular destination - it would most certainly be infrastructure.

I agree it sucks that prices are so high these days for travel. But let’s face it - I think we all saw it coming. Demand is high from ALL Americans, hardly just the wealthy. And we’re all paying the price for Amtrak having such a small inventory of available capacity. Your bogeyman of the...

From what I’ve read, it’s maybe $16B for intercity rail. Best case scenario is the ConnectUS plan. Don’t get too excited.