2016 NARP Meeting News?

[Devil's Advocate]

Someone pointed out that the San Antonio station relocation is not the Sunset station but rather the former MoPac station further west, and that was pointed out here earlier. I think the MoPac station is located just west of W. Commerce St. Devil's Advocate?

The former MoPac station is now managed by VIA Metropolitan Transit and is located at 123 North Medina Street, San Antonio, TX 78207. If you look at Sunset Station on a map and follow Commerce Street west for about two miles you'll find the former MoPac station. I haven't seen anything recently about moving Amtrak in the near future. The old MoPac station is right across from the county jail and the area looks and feels a lot more sketchy to me than Sunset Station, especially late at night and early in the morning when Amtrak is active in San Antonio. It's also hard to see the benefit of moving to a multi-modal station if your trains arrive so late and depart so early that there are few if any buses with which to connect.

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[Bob Dylan]

Chris is correct about the great old Mopac Station being in a sketchy area, especially during the bad calling times of the Eagle and the Sunset.

Also the current Mayor is anti-rail and against any transportation improvements that don't involve roads.

As for moving back to the Sunset Station (ex-SP), the Amtrak Agent told me this weekend that it wasn't going to happen due to the high cost involved. ( the Complex is Investor owned and Rented out for Special Events).

 

[Bob Dylan]

#1 is already in place on the Sunset.

While riding #2 from ELP-AUS this past weekend Coach Only passengers were offered a Served at your Seat Chicken Dinner for $12.

#3,4,and 5 are excellent ideas! The question is who will pay for them?

People told me it was tasty and that it was worth what they paid in comparison to the overpriced Diner and Cafe food.

 

[jis]

Wasn't Benson a stop for the Sunset that was discontinued a while back? So this would be reinstatement of a stop.

#1 is already in place on the Sunset.

While riding #2 from ELP-AUS this past weekend Coach Only passengers were offered a Served at your Seat Chicken Dinner for $12.

#3,4,and 5 are excellent ideas! The question is who will pay for them?

Dunno about 3, but 4 and 5 presumably the passengers will pay for them through slightly higher ticket prices.

I think 3 and 6 would have the same issue as to who pays for setting up and maintaining the assets associated with the stop.

 

[Just-Thinking-51]

5. Los Angeles early boarding for all at 8:00pm on Train 2 including café car

access, plus dining car dinner for sleeping car passengers.

All for the early boarding, access to the cafe good idea.

One thinks LA has better food choices than a dinning car. So I would skip that expense of having the dinning crew report earlier in case anyone want to eat. Cafe car open at the early boarding time would be fine.

 

[Palmetto]

Thanks to the Texans for the great info, and the map! Too bad the station is in a sketchy area. There seems to be parking at it though, the lack of which at the current station was a complaint I voiced on the forum a few months ago.

Does "sketchy" translate into vagrants hanging out? Kinda doubtful, given that there's a law enforcement "residence" across the street!

Or is it simply that the jail is there?

 

[JayPea]

I too am puzzled about the "addition" of Benson as a stop. It is a current stop and so far as I know has always been a stop on the SL route.

 

[Bob Dylan]

I too am puzzled about the "addition" of Benson as a stop. It is a current stop and so far as I know has always been a stop on the SL route.

As has been said, it was a Flagstop for many years on Amtrak. When SP ran the Route it was a Regular stop back when Steam Ruled the Rails and Benson was Booming.

 

[Bob Dylan]

Thanks to the Texans for the great info, and the map! Too bad the station is in a sketchy area. There seems to be parking at it though, the lack of which at the current station was a complaint I voiced on the forum a few months ago.

Does "sketchy" translate into vagrants hanging out? Kinda doubtful, given that there's a law enforcement "residence" across the street!

Or is it simply that the jail is there?

In addition to the jail, it's an Industrial Area that is deserted at night, poorly lighted and San Antonio has real drug and petty crime problems in areas like this.

Also many gangs operate away from the well protected Riverwalk that is not far away from the Station.

Lots of graffiti on the buildings, broken windows and trash along the tracks and the police don't patrol this area at all.

 

[Palmetto]

Here's the answer, then: Flip the schedules by 12 hours!

 

[Carolina Special]

I'm taking the TE to Benson and from next month. It is the closest stop to Sierra Vista, which is where I'm actually going. So the train had better stop at Benson!

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Parking at the station would help, don't you think? It's pretty amazing to me that there isn't any, although someone on here stated they're planning to move the station and have parking at it. Any updates on that?

There is usually some method for securing overnight parking at the current location South of Sunset Station. The specifics can vary but last time I checked you could call Staybridge Suites hotel and reserve a spot in their gated parking area for $10 per night. The available parking is limited so if you didn't reserve ahead of time you risk not having anything when you arrive.

There are some unapproved locations where you can park for a day or two, but I probably wouldn't risk it since third party towing has become an absurdly expensive state sanctioned racket here in Texas. If your car was towed near the start of a one week trip you could find yourself paying thousands in towing fees to get your vehicle back. If your car was towed near the start of a two week vacation the total fees could potentially exceed the value of the vehicle itself. At which point the towing company could petition to take ownership of your vehicle in lieu of the exorbitant fees.

 

[Palmetto]

Yes, I believe the Staybridge Suites is actually the best option, and at $10 per day would be considered a bargain compared to rates in many other places.

 

[neroden]

I too am puzzled about the "addition" of Benson as a stop. It is a current stop and so far as I know has always been a stop on the SL route.

Amtrak is converting many of its flagstops into regular stops, after the ADA regulators pointed out that their flagstop designations made no sense. The ADA exempts flagstops, but it was pointed out that many of the flagstops have someone getting on or off nearly every day, and that that wasn't really the intent of the flagstop exemption. Benson might be one of those which is getting rationalized.

 

[JayPea]

I too am puzzled about the "addition" of Benson as a stop. It is a current stop and so far as I know has always been a stop on the SL route.

Amtrak is converting many of its flagstops into regular stops, after the ADA regulators pointed out that their flagstop designations made no sense. The ADA exempts flagstops, but it was pointed out that many of the flagstops have someone getting on or off nearly every day, and that that wasn't really the intent of the flagstop exemption. Benson might be one of those which is getting rationalized.

That makes all sorts of sense. Thank you!

 

[Gulfwind2]

Is Amtrak converting many of its flagstops in response to the fact that their passenger traffic is generally on par with official (non-flag) stops? Or is it strictly because of blowback from its ADA lawyers?

 

[Just-Thinking-51]

Unknown but lawyers and insurance companies are know to make changes, tragic events are a great force of change.

The aftermath of the sinking of the Titanic. Passengers carrying ship are now required to carry lifeboat capacity equal to the people on board the ship. We don't require them to be tested in anything but flat water, but maybe someday...

 

[neroden]

The flagstop list was really random anyway. There were only 25. After converting the flagstops which have as many passengers as the lower-volume non-flagstops, I think there were just so few flagstops left that Amtrak figured they might as well make them all compliant. Sanderson was called out by the DOJ as an example of a flagstop which should legally qualify as a flagstop, while Slidell was called out as one which shouldn't, but I think Amtrak figured it was simpler to just try to fix all of them.

I suspect that occasional special-event stops like NYS Fairgrounds will still be subject to the flagstop rules.

 

[Gulfwind2]

The flagstop list was really random anyway. There were only 25. After converting the flagstops which have as many passengers as the lower-volume non-flagstops, I think there were just so few flagstops left that Amtrak figured they might as well make them all compliant. Sanderson was called out by the DOJ as an example of a flagstop which should legally qualify as a flagstop, while Slidell was called out as one which shouldn't, but I think Amtrak figured it was simpler to just try to fix all of them.

I suspect that occasional special-event stops like NYS Fairgrounds will still be subject to the flagstop rules.

Fair enough. For a trip-weekly train (especially one that serves places such as Thurmond, WV and Sanderson, TX) I cannot seem to understand why the money would be spent to refit a platform which sees a train less than each day, and then sees a passenger or two on perhaps every other train. I have noticed in my years of riding long distance trains that some places such as Slidell, Hammond, Picayune, and so on, are simply not worth being noted as flag stops because more people today use them since pre-Amtrak days in some cases!