Auto Train service expansion?

[west point]

The equipment situation being what it is do not expect another Auto train route before 2035 and 2040

 

[thefirewarde]

The biggest advantage of the current Auto Train is that it covers the busiest travel corridor in North America of that length, and it can be operated with just two consists and two sets of OBS crew (+ contingency) and four sets of T&E crew (plus contingency). There are very few routes that meet all those criteria. That is what makes this current route unique and also makes it not something that can be used to model any other operation on any other route. And yet it is barely profitable with so much going for it.

Chicago to DC has a runtime of 17 hours and change presently. The Auto Train has a runtime of 17 hours and change as well. You do likely lose an hour or three because the Auto Train is a mixed freight and not a pure passenger train, but you gain time back from moving east from Chicago and you gain time back from skipping all (or, if routed through DC Union Station, maybe all but one) intermediate stops. Operationally, getting the same equipment utilization and staffing as the Florida Auto Train should be possible.


I drove from South Bend to Raleigh last week, and would have happily paid $400 (price for a coach seat and a standard vehicle one way booked for mid October) to not drive all day. There's folks who wouldn't drive 12 hours in one day and save time by taking Amtrak. There's folks who'd buy a through sleeper or a through coach seat to skip a two or three day drive from the Midwest to Florida, too.


I think that serving only the Midwest-Florida market is less viable than serving the Midwest-Florida and Midwest-DC market at the same time.

 

[west point]

I feel sorry for the mid-west driver going to central and lower Florida. The I-75 in Georgia especially the 80 or so miles thru ATL, Tennessee and Florida are no fun either.

 

[railiner]

Plus, I think it's pretty conclusive now that railroads are no longer the all-weather mode. The staffing principles of PSR don't allow enough people to allow railroads to be an all-weather mode.

Sad, but all too true. Not just in train crews, but MOW support as well…

 

[jiml]

I feel sorry for the mid-west driver going to central and lower Florida. The I-75 in Georgia especially the 80 or so miles thru ATL, Tennessee and Florida are no fun either.

Agreed. That's one reason Northwest Florida, via I-65, is so popular with Midwest snowbirds in recent years. Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin, along with Ontario and Manitoba, are the most common license plates. If snowbirds are the target of a Midwest Auto Train, a further-west Florida terminus might be better than Sanford.

 

[Qapla]

Tallahassee would make a good terminus that would have the secondary benefit of possibly connecting JAX and Tallahassee

 

[jis]

Ideally one of the heaviest traffic flows occur on a route from Atlanta to the Orlando area essentially following the I-75 Corridor. *Unfortunately there is nothing south of Valdosta that allows such, so the best one can do is Atlanta - Valdosta - JAX - ORL. That is one of the choices considered by FRA.