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Interstate 405 in California is the busiest freeway in the US, and among the most congested. There have been talks of building a rail line, but it would only cover the northern half (north of I-10), and so far nothing has come to fruition. Meanwhile, more lanes continue to be built, which...

Well, we could instead make DUS rail elevated (I think it would be less complex than DUS underground and have gentler grades, as well as enable Amtrak to continue using its diesels) This, however will come at the cost of having several buildings south of it be demolished. Also, the bus ramp to...

Also another problem for Neo-Union Station: accessing the maintenance facility. Since Neo-Union Station will be underground, they'll have to build an underground maintenance facility like the LIRR Hudson Yards

Which will cost more? Amtrai buying more locomotives with Scharfenberg couplers (as well as modifying their fleet to have them) or the freight railroads sending their locos to get fitted with Scharfenberg couplers

What has the FRA said about scharfenberg couplers? If they're not prohibited then Amtrak can start buying fleet that has them

Thanksgiving is when Amtrak NEC ridership peaks at its highest for the year, so it could take too much time for Amtrak to add cars to it. Which was why I brought up the Hitachi A-Train/Class 802/Azuma as another contender design for an Amtrak EDMU, as it is not articulated like the FLIRT...

Don't forget the New Haven-Springfield segment of the NEC. Maybe Stadler could also build a varation of the Cityliner/FLIRT for the MNCR and LIRR to replace those P32s and DE30AC/DM30ACs respectively (are third-rail FLIRTs possible?).

They did make a 12-car FLIRT Stadler has made higher-floor FLIRTs for the UK and Scandinavia (which tend to have higher platform heights than the rest of Europe), so they can build a high-floor one adapted to the NEC.

Multiple units offer better acceleration and traction (and also place less wear and tear on the tracks) compared to traditional locomotive-hauled trains. This makes sense for the Northeast Regional due to the many stops it makes. If diesels would make things too complex then Amtrak can replace...

Has Amtrak looked at using DMUs for those two? If so then they can just use the Cityliners (perhaps they can make the lead cars incorporate a baggage component)

The best choice for Amtrak in this situation is going to be EDMUs (Amtrak needs to also solve the engine switch problem). There will ultimately be two contenders (Stadler and Hitachi Rail), though I think Hitachi's A-Train might win out over Stadler's FLIRT because the A-Train is not articulated...

Putting it away from downtown stations will neuter ridership considerably (intercity trains work best when it's downtown-downtown) though. On the other hand, doing Union Station through tracks will involve having to build an underground station (and a couple of other things), which is gonna make...

Call in Virgin Trains USA If they use existing tracks then electrification will be incredibly difficult, if not impossible cuz BNSF and UP would try to block them from electrifying the tracks they own. So they'll have to build new tracks if they ever want to go electric. Also, we're gonna have...

Metra did talk about battery trains but they concluded that they're currently not practical for their services as the demands would require a large amount of battery storage.

I was comparing Matawan-Long Branch to Metro-North's New Haven Line. Aren't the M8s multi-system and can change between 12 kV 60 Hz and 25 kV 60 Hz on the fly? That's what I heard

What's the vertical clearance of the North and East River Tunnels when compared to the Mount Royal Tunnel (a tunnel with very similar height restrictions)? If they're similar enough to Mount Royal Tunnel then converting NY Penn Station to 25 kV 60 Hz could be doable (it would also enable...

Direct message, like private messaging Guess here would be Start A Conversation

Seems I should bring this to the DMs then

REM wants to have the Mount Royal Tunnel all for themselves, meaning no trains from VIA and Exo allowed. Also the only DC voltage France uses is 1500 V DC.

And this will cause serious logistical issues, especiall for VIA Rail's neo-Corridor to link Montreal with Quebec City, lest they merge Lucien L'Allier and Central Station into a new single downtown station (or build a new Mount Royal tunnel)