Crescent discussion 2023 Q4 - 2024

[trimetbusfan]

#19/14 July cancelled whole route from NYP to NOL. Any ideas?

Equipment is imbalanced right now

 

[jis]

Pr

Equipment is imbalanced right now

Yup. I understand one additional consist is stuck in the south for some reason that I have not followed. Saw a message about one train being short terminated in Atlanta and the consist deadheading to NOL Anyone know what went on leading to this situation?

 

[Jack Kittle]

Yup. I understand one additional consist is stuck in the south for some reason that I have not followed. Saw a message about one train being short terminated in Atlanta and the consist deadheading to NOL Anyone know what went on leading to this situation?

I believe that there was a NS derailment north of ATL.

 

[jis]

I believe that there was a NS derailment north of ATL.

Thanks for the info. That explains why the short termination happened.

 

[Jack Kittle]

U.S. Justice Department filed suit against Norfolk Southern on Tuesday, alleging the railroad has caused delays on Amtrak’s route that passes from New York City through Atlanta to New Orleans - https://www.ajc.com/news/business/u...es-amtrak-delays/WPPTYRYLZZDWLAXT56BYM3JMXQ/#

hopefully not behind paywall - https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/30/...e_code=1._E0.KLOy.ugTpp9RZY1xs&smid=url-share

hopefully not behind paywall - https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/30/...e_code=1._E0.KLOy.ugTpp9RZY1xs&smid=url-share

the Justice Department complaint is attached.

 

[Bzhayes]

I am taking the Crescent for the first time from Birmingham to Trenton and am riding in coach. I am not crazy about dining options on the train so I am wondering if any of the stations we are going through have a long enough stop and service to buy meals/snacks? Is this a bad idea to plan for? I know there are lots of delays on this train which could either mean shorter than expected stops or lots of long stops at stations because Norfolk Southern decided to play nice that day in response to the lawsuit.

 

[Cal H]

Your best bet would be to carry supper on board with you in Birmingham. Atlanta is about a 30 minute stop, but it is close to midnight and there is nothing open and close by. Washington is a longer stop, but I think it’s pretty risky to think you could get in & back out in time to reboard.
We rode the Crescent north in June (ATL-NYP), my morning oatmeal aboard was, in a word, awful - I don’t think but half the called for water was added…
We have both found the cheeseburger to be pretty good, and the salads have been ok too.

 

[Bzhayes]

Thanks Cal! The more I look at the schedule the more I realize what I envisioned is not very feasible. I think your right; my best bet is to bring dinner (and breakfast) on board with me and buy lunch on the train. If we are not too much delayed, we should be able to get dinner when we arrive.

 

[Rasputin]

It certainly would be best to carry a good supply of your own food, including some snacks for breakfast. Getting some food in DC might be feasible or it might not be.

Just to give you a heads up (and not to be discouraging but it probably is) the coach restrooms on the Crescent tend to be rather dreadful the second morning out (which would be the morning of arrival in DC). I would like to think they have improved and maybe they have.

Hope you have a great trip and hope you post a report of your trip.

 

[crescent2]

It's a shame what they've done to dining service on the Crescent and some other LD trains.
It's almost like they want them to fail.

 

[Cal H]

It's a shame what they've done to dining service on the Crescent and some other LD trains.
It's almost like they want them to fail.

This makes me wonder why Amtrak doesn’t just throw in the towel and schedule stops long enough for passengers to get off and actually eat? Maybe a 1-1 1/2 hour stop where there’s a crew change.
Passengers can feel comfortable getting off and walking a block or so. Local growth would occur as there would be at least sandwich shops & fast food/convenience stores that might open in or near the terminal. It would also give Amtrak a spot to freshen up the train a bit before moving on. Amtrak could then stop pretending to care about that whole dining car experience and simply say cafe car for everyone. If you are already in it for the long haul, what’s another few hours if the entire trip is a better experience?

 

[RebelRider]

This makes me wonder why Amtrak doesn’t just throw in the towel and schedule stops long enough for passengers to get off and actually eat? Maybe a 1-1 1/2 hour stop where there’s a crew change.
Passengers can feel comfortable getting off and walking a block or so. Local growth would occur as there would be at least sandwich shops & fast food/convenience stores that might open in or near the terminal. It would also give Amtrak a spot to freshen up the train a bit before moving on. Amtrak could then stop pretending to care about that whole dining car experience and simply say cafe car for everyone. If you are already in it for the long haul, what’s another few hours if the entire trip is a better experience?

Not trying to quash your idea too harshly, but that's a hard no for so, so many reasons.

Longer published schedules will deter ridership more than lack of a dining car.

Longer schedules equals more payroll hours.

Crew change points aren't established around meal times.

There are no Harvey Houses and many locations don't have amenities reasonably walkable that could accommodate up to a few hundred people on a moment's notice. If there are establishments, and the train is really late, would they stay open to accommodate Amtrak passengers? No.

If the train is late, Amtrak would cut the meal stop short to get back on schedule, anyway.

Freight railroads won't allow Amtrak to tie up their track for an extended passenger meal break.

The train isn't going to get a better "freshen up" while stopped vs. the freshen up OBS is supposed to do while moving enroute.

Longer schedules cut into turnaround time. We already see late outbounds due to late inbounds. Now we're either making the on-time origin problem worse or adding sets of equipment to protect the service, equipment Amtrak most certainly does not have idly sitting around.

 

[GaSteve]

Not trying to quash your idea too harshly, but that's a hard no for so, so many reasons.

Longer published schedules will deter ridership more than lack of a dining car.

Longer schedules equals more payroll hours.

Crew change points aren't established around meal times.

There are no Harvey Houses and many locations don't have amenities reasonably walkable that could accommodate up to a few hundred people on a moment's notice. If there are establishments, and the train is really late, would they stay open to accommodate Amtrak passengers? No.

If the train is late, Amtrak would cut the meal stop short to get back on schedule, anyway.

Freight railroads won't allow Amtrak to tie up their track for an extended passenger meal break.

The train isn't going to get a better "freshen up" while stopped vs. the freshen up OBS is supposed to do while moving enroute.

Longer schedules cut into turnaround time. We already see late outbounds due to late inbounds. Now we're either making the on-time origin problem worse or adding sets of equipment to protect the service, equipment Amtrak most certainly does not have idly sitting around.

And some stations do not have places to eat nearby. Look at Charleston SC and Savannah GA for instance.

 

[west point]

Since the DOJ's law suit against NS the Crescent's on time has approached much better. That is especially true for the trains south of ATL. Have not gone to checking all the different station times but have never before seen Anniston <> BHM run below scheduled times.

It may be the RRs might not like SCOTUS overturning Cheveron as DOJ's filing at DC might have a judge saying the RRs have violated the law which the STB has ignored , The STB will not be able to mitigate reasons for delays that NS and even UP have put forward.

Now Amtrak's lack of proper maintenance of rolling stock is going to be more visible. How can Amtrak even start NOL - Mobile service when it is short of operable locos?

 

[TheVig]

On time performance certainly has improved. 20 has been hitting my hometown of CLT, pretty much on time all week. Amazing what can happen sometimes when you exercise your lawful rights.

This is starting to make me wanna go back to booking roomettes, instead of business class on the Carolinian.

 

[Cal]

On the LSL flex food is presented the same way as traditional dining. Is it the same for the Crescsnt?

 

[Jack Kittle]

On the LSL flex food is presented the same way as traditional dining. Is it the same for the Crescsnt?

Not in late June - food was served in Flex packaging.

 

[McLeansvilleAppFan]

On time performance certainly has improved. 20 has been hitting my hometown of CLT, pretty much on time all week. Amazing what can happen sometimes when you exercise your lawful rights.

This is starting to make me wanna go back to booking roomettes, instead of business class on the Carolinian.

The Crescent is so much more a nicer route up to DC. Obviously cost is a consideration but Eastern NC is just sooo flat.

 

[west point]

Another delay for Crescent #10 / 20 at WASH. Took 2:11 to make the engine change.



_ 08/20/24 7:27pm EDT
_ As of 7:17 PM ET Mechanical Issue: Crescent Train 19 which
_ departed New York (NYP) on 8/20 is currently experiencing
_ a delay in Washington (WAS) due to a mechanical issue that
_ crews are currently working to resolve. We are hoping to
_ have additional information within 30 minutes. We sincerely
_ appreciate your patience.
_
_ 08/20/24 8:06pm EDT
_ As of 7:54 PM ET Service Update: Crescent Train 19 which
_ departed New York (NYP) on 8/20 remains delayed in Washington
_ (WAS) due to a mechanical issue. We are estimating a delay
_ of up to 40 minutes while crews add a new engine to the
_ train. We greatly appreciate your continued patience and
_ understanding.
_
_ 08/20/24 8:18pm EDT
_ As of 8:10 PM ET Service Resumption: The new engine has
_ successfully been added to the train and service has resumed.
_ Crescent Train 19 which departed New York (NYP) on 8/20
_ is now currently operating approximately 1 hour and 35 minutes
_ late. We sincerely apologize for the delay.

 

[zephyr17]

Over on Flyertalk, someone posted that they got bumped out of bedroom into a roomette on the Crescent on an upcoming trip in December. The most logical reason for it in my mind is a sleeper car line getting cut.

Anyone know of an upcoming consist change on the Crescent? One thing I thought of is they might be scraping up Viewliners for the third consist required for running a Silver Star/Capitol Limited Miami-Washington-Chicago, as appears likely starting in November.

Whatever the reason, Amtrak equipment planners appear to be up to some old tricks. At least they gave more than a couple weeks notice this time.

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/amt...659-change-bedroom-roomette-crescent-ltd.html

 

[jis]

Crescent is going down to one Sleeper (plus Bag-Dorm of course) in the fall, to be restored to two during various holidays. It has partially to do with the equipment for the 5th consist needed for the Star/Cap and partially to do with more than expected outage of VLIIs due to premature failure of some critical parts apparently. The CAF fiasco continues to cast its shadow. Eventually, once the VLII issues are resolved sometime in early next year Crescent will permanently get its second Sleeper and Star/Cap will get a third Sleeper. For now Meteor is running with two VLIs and 1 VLII due to unavailability of VLIIs. big sigh....

 

[JWM]

Crescent is going down to one Sleeper (plus Bag-Dorm of course) in the fall, to be restored to two during various holidays. It has partially to do with the equipment for the 5th consist needed for the Star/Cap and partially to do with more than expected outage of VLIIs due to premature failure of some critical parts apparently. The CAF fiasco continues to cast its shadow. Eventually, once the VLII issues are resolved sometime in early next year Crescent will permanently get its second Sleeper and Star/Cap will get a third Sleeper. For now Meteor is running with two VLIs and 1 VLII due to unavailability of VLIIs. big sigh....

Hopefully, CAF is out of the picture for future equipment.

 

[Trucker72]

On the Crescent now.
Nice to eat in the diner instead of spending the whole time in our roomette
We were told this is the first day serving the above menu

 

[JWM]

On the Crescent now.
Nice to eat in the diner instead of spending the whole time in our roomette
We were told this is the first day serving the above menu

Total waste of a diner. Get back to traditional dining since you're charging an arm and a leg.

 

[Widfara]

I'm booked on the Crescent in a roomette on October 6th New Orleans to Charlottesville. Yes, it will be nice to go to the diner. Last time, a couple of years ago, there was no choice.