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All seats being reserved, reinforced with real-time displays, should end the nonsense of trainloads of passengers standing in line for an hour before train time, like Southwest Airlines, before A, B, C boarding groups. This will be a huge improvement.

Does anyone know the frequency of service? The reference to "4 to 7 days per week is ominous.

A single, slow daily Chicago-Florida trip on single-track lines shared with significant amounts of freight, on routes that miss key population centers, is not what we need. The FRA SE Regional Rail Plan proposed Orlando-Jacksonville-Atlanta-Chattanooga-Nashville-Louisville service and their...

I assume that when Mr. Chessler discussed an upcoming "design" effort he was talking about more than reupholstering

FRA's SW Regional Plan showed that LA-PHX would justify HSR. Obviously, UP would not allow it to be constructed adjacent to its tracks without a barrier wall. Between PHX and Coachella new construction would likely be in the I-10 corridor. This would bypass the old, out of service, line west of...

Yes, that's my point. Amtrak has waited for years after delivery of the last VL2 sleeper to even start design of the VL1 program, allowing them to keep fares extraordinarily high, hurting riders and thrawting the will of Congress. The overhaul should have been designed before completion of...

Would an alternative to a tunnel be to move the railroad to the the I-5 alignment (probably with a major portion on structure)? In combination with the Del Mar tunnel this would make most of the LA-SD route double-track, unlocking a lot of capacity.

A major frustration is that the additional VL sleepers (VL2) have not been deployed to increase single level sleeper capacity, as was the stated plan. Per this week's RPA Amtrak webinar only now is Amtrak starting to design an overhaul/modification program for the VL1 sleepers. So we will still...

They certainly did that with Brightline in Florida.

Construction of Brightline West should be pretty fast since structural elements are pretty limited (i.e. no major bridges).

The environmental document for the added portion over Cajon Pass (next to I-15) providing a connection to Metrolink was just published and is out for public comment.

Superliners can run past the CUS mail platforms (as the Empire Builder consist often does, on the way to/from the yard), they just can't board there. In other threads it has been noted that the Superliners may eventually be replaced by single-deck cars since an ADA-compliant double-deck design...

I don't think that the modest improvements proposed by rs9 would attract many riders. There would be a major operating deficit that the Commonwealth would need to cover. Fast, frequent service would be profitable to operate.

The Boston & Albany route was built very early in the Railroad Era. The routing is very circuitous, built that way to minimize the grades while the Mass. Pike accepted substantial grades. I have always thought that, at least, the Worcester (Auburn) to Palmer section should be bypassed with an...

CA HSR has indicated that they plan to use world standard HSR trainsets. But, yes, Acelas could be used for testing, if the timing works out right.

Where can I find the responses to the FRA Request for Expressions of Interest that are being summarized here?

Does anyone remember the Budd "Sleepercoach", with very small single rooms in kind of a staggered, interlocked design. There also a few double rooms in the car. They came out in the 1950s and were sold as a premium form of coach; a first class ticket was not required. About a half dozen...

The word is that they like the Siemens Velaro trains, like DB ICE trains. These could be built at the Sacramento factory.

When long passenger trains were the norm the railroads (especially the Pennsylvania) posted "Location Number" signs along the platforms to facilitate passengers being where they needed to be to board their assigned car before the train came into the station. And they wouldn't even think about...

The Venture cars will replace a chunk of the bi-level equipment on the San Joaquins.