Emp Serv to GCT, LSL NYP Suspended, Other NYP Changes 2018

[cpotisch]

Not sure how long this has been the case, but looking on Arrow, NYG is now an option (and the only one at that) for all Empire Corridor trains this summer.

 

[bratkinson]

One has to ask...how many non-railfan passengers for the Lakeshore Ltd from New York would know to use NYG rather than NYP and ride coach to ALB and switch trains? Only the massacists, I presume.

 

[cpotisch]

One has to ask...how many non-railfan passengers for the Lakeshore Ltd from New York would know to use NYG rather than NYP and ride coach to ALB and switch trains? Only the massacists, I presume.

They sent out emails to notify existing passengers. And now it's impossible to book NYP, so there shouldn't be much confusion going forward.

 

[pennyk]

Last month I made a reservation to travel in mid June from ORL to NYP on the Silver Meteor and from NYP to ALB on the Ethan Allen Express. After the new schedules were loaded into ARROW over the weekend, I was expecting to receive an email or other notification that my itinerary had been changed. As of this morning, I had not received any notification, so I went ahead and called Amtrak. I was re-ticketed from NYG to ALB with same fare, no change to Meteor segment, same reservation number and slightly different departure time on Ethan Allen (5 minutes earlier). I assume that if I had been more patient, I would have received an email or other notification about the change from NYP to NYG.

 

[brianpmcdonnell17]

One has to ask...how many non-railfan passengers for the Lakeshore Ltd from New York would know to use NYG rather than NYP and ride coach to ALB and switch trains? Only the massacists, I presume.

It would be helpful if Amtrak allowed bookings from a city or region, rather than only a specific station. There are many examples of this with the airlines, such as Chicago where if the code CHI (one could also just type the city name and this option appears) is used, flights from Midway and O'Hare both appear. This could help Amtrak passengers in cases such as Boston, New York (temporarily), Buffalo, and Richmond.

 

[Thirdrail7]

I saw the MARC cab car, p32, amfleet and another MARC car on Sunday on a test run past Harlem into GCT -- guess qualifying sessions are getting into full swing

Qualifying is basically done. This was compatibility testing.

A lot has happened since I posted that comment over a month ago. But I give a new member credit for going back and reading through a thread before saying something. Unfortunately, he missed the part about the FL-9 deal failing and the mods to the noses of Amtrak P32s. Since Thirdrail (one of the most reliable members) seemed to confirm that course., I'd bank on it.

They are feverishly working on the door mods while attempting to maintain service. There isn't a ton of cab cars available so I believe they'll use the cab cars on trains without the door mods ahead of the P32 until they have enough completed.

One has to ask...how many non-railfan passengers for the Lakeshore Ltd from New York would know to use NYG rather than NYP and ride coach to ALB and switch trains? Only the massacists, I presume.

It would be helpful if Amtrak allowed bookings from a city or region, rather than only a specific station. There are many examples of this with the airlines, such as Chicago where if the code CHI (one could also just type the city name and this option appears) is used, flights from Midway and O'Hare both appear. This could help Amtrak passengers in cases such as Boston, New York (temporarily), Buffalo, and Richmond.

They new website pretty much allows for this by allowing you to type in cities. Using Richmond to New York without city codes as an example, the drop down menu listed :

Richmond, BC (RBC)

Richmond, CA (RIC)

Richmond, VA - Main Street Station (RVM)

Richmond, VA - Staples Mill Road Station (RVR)

New York yielded:

Select a station.

New York State Fair, NY (NYF)

New York, NY - Grand Central Terminal (NYG)

New York, NY - Penn Station (NYP)

As you can see, it does list the additional stops and their codes.

 

[brianpmcdonnell17]

They new website pretty much allows for this by allowing you to type in cities. Using Richmond to New York without city codes as an example, the drop down menu listed :

Richmond, BC (RBC)

Richmond, CA (RIC)

Richmond, VA - Main Street Station (RVM)

Richmond, VA - Staples Mill Road Station (RVR)

New York yielded:

Select a station.

New York State Fair, NY (NYF)

New York, NY - Grand Central Terminal (NYG)

New York, NY - Penn Station (NYP)

As you can see, it does list the additional stops and their codes.

That's definitely an improvement but it is still not as good as they could make it. I don't know how hard it is to program that type of information into the system, but those who are not familiar with the website may become frustrated or even assume there is no service. For example, someone looking to travel from Boston to Maine may check only South and Back Bay Stations (perhaps they've traveled south on Amtrak before) and give up or at least become frustrated. In a case such as Grand Central this Summer, someone who has travelled on the Empire Corridor before or at least knows that Grand Central is commuter rail only (under normal circumstances) may not think to check it. Another case that could occur is if someone was travelling to Richmond from the south and attempts to book a ticket to Main Street Station, without realizing that they could avoid the transfer entirely by just booking to Staples Mill Road. This is not something that affects me personally, but I know a lot of people who are not experienced rail travellers and/or not talented internet users who may struggle with the current Amtrak system. At present, many of these people likely just book their reservations over the phone, but if the rumored charges for doing so come to be this becomes even more important.

 

[Philly Amtrak Fan]

One has to ask...how many non-railfan passengers for the Lakeshore Ltd from New York would know to use NYG rather than NYP and ride coach to ALB and switch trains? Only the massacists, I presume.

But the question is would passengers going from Chicago to New York care more about going on the Lake Shore Limited or getting off at Penn Station? Either way they are going to have to transfer. If they would rather go to Penn Station, might as well just go via the Capitol Limited.

 

[cpotisch]

They new website pretty much allows for this by allowing you to type in cities. Using Richmond to New York without city codes as an example, the drop down menu listed :

Richmond, BC (RBC)

Richmond, CA (RIC)

Richmond, VA - Main Street Station (RVM)

Richmond, VA - Staples Mill Road Station (RVR)

New York yielded:

Select a station.

New York State Fair, NY (NYF)

New York, NY - Grand Central Terminal (NYG)

New York, NY - Penn Station (NYP)

As you can see, it does list the additional stops and their codes.

For example, someone looking to travel from Boston to Maine may check only South and Back Bay Stations (perhaps they've traveled south on Amtrak before) and give up or at least become frustrated

Fortunately, Arrow does list connections that involve the self transfer from Boston South and Boston North. So for example, if you try to book NYP-POR, it will let you book a connection from NER/Acela to the Downeaster, with a notice at the top of the page that you need to get to Boston North. However, if you just search for BOS-POR, or NYP-BON, it says that there aren't any trains for that itinerary. It would be so easy to just tell the user that you need to book your ticket from the other station, but no.

 

[Thirdrail7]

Maybe, they'll cut doors in the noses of the P32s before this is all over.

did Amtrak not mount all Cab signal and ACSES gear in that nose ??

They actually put all of that PTC stuff in giant box behind the fireman's side seat. Still, even if they cut a door in the nose, it would probably impact something useful....like the controls and dash and there isn't a likely way to build steps.

Is the Park Avenue tunnel still undergoing work on weekends this summer Dutch?

I saw one of the GCT modified units. I guess it was the NEW PTC stuff that was mounted behind the fireman's side. The ACSES and Cab Signal is in the nose, right in the path of the your escape route. I supposed you could use it to hop up to the hatch. They did remove the number light that was in the nose and replaced it with two, reflectorized number decals on each side of the escape hatch.

It isn't for the faint of heart....or the chubby. Hell, not even for the muscular....or tall. Talk about a tight fit.

Oh well. They are starting to make the alterations to some of the third rail shoes. It will be a mad rush next week.

1 week to go!

 

[brianpmcdonnell17]

It appears as though the schedule of the Lake Shore Limited and been adjusted for the summer east of Albany/Rensselaer, with a shorter dwell time there allowing for a later departure from and earlier arrival into Boston.

 

[RPC]

It appears as though the schedule of the Lake Shore Limited and been adjusted for the summer east of Albany/Rensselaer, with a shorter dwell time there allowing for a later departure from and earlier arrival into Boston.

...and I'd guess lunch will no longer be offered leaving Boston.

 

[ainamkartma]

Question: so this summer there will be no direct service from New York City (or its cross-Hudson terminals, I guess) to Chicago. Has that ever been true before since non-stop service began, 150 or so years ago?

Just curious,

Ainamkartma

 

[jis]

Question: so this summer there will be no direct service from New York City (or its cross-Hudson terminals, I guess) to Chicago. Has that ever been true before since non-stop service began, 150 or so years ago?

Just curious,

Ainamkartma

No

 

[railiner]

Question: so this summer there will be no direct service from New York City (or its cross-Hudson terminals, I guess) to Chicago. Has that ever been true before since non-stop service began, 150 or so years ago?

Just curious,

Ainamkartma

I was going to say, the Cardinal will, tri-weekly at least....but then I remembered it is being cut back to Washington.

When you think about it, it is indeed incredible that there will be no thru service between New York and Chicago...

 

[PVD]

NEC to CL is pretty good, just not one seat.

 

[Thirdrail7]

This will aid inspections and leave a protect set.

Empire Service Train 64 Cross-Platform Transfer in Albany

Empire Service Train 64 Cross-Platform Transfer in Albany
Effective May 26 through September 3, 2018

Due to ongoing infrastructure renewal work in and around New York Penn Station, all Empire trains originating and terminating in New York will operate from/to Grand Central Terminal starting May 26. Trains 63 and 69 will operate from Penn Station on May 26 and begin operation from Grand Central Terminal on May 27.

Eastbound Maple Leaf Train 64 will require a daily cross-platform transfer at Albany. Passengers will be required to bring their belongings and walk across the platform to board an adjacent train that will continue to New York. Amtrak employees will be available to help passengers with the transfer, if needed.
Business Class Service SuspendedTrains 63, 64, 238, 245 and 261 will not offer Business Class service from May 26 through September 3. Business Class will resume on Train 64, September 5.

PSN 0518-121

 

[cpotisch]

An Empire Service train with a MARC cab car at Harlem 125th a couple days ago:

 

[Thirdrail7]

Click on the link to see a brief video and pictures of the movable portion of the Spuyten Duyvil bridge being lifted and moved by the worlds largest floating crane.

Video: Amtrak uses massive crane to move railroad bridge

NEW YORK — Amtrak workers used one of the world's largest floating cranes Thursday to move the bridge that provides train access between upstate New York and New York Penn Station.

The passenger railroad service is upgrading the Spuyten Duyvil Bridge, which is a railroad swing bridge that spans the Spuyten Duyvil Creek between Manhattan and the Bronx.

 

[Dutchrailnut]

GCT has no option to dump and service toilets , would you ride a train that has 16 hours of **** in it already?

sending train to sunnyside would require several hours , and at least two crews plus a mn pilot crew.

 

[Seaboard92]

GCT has no option to dump and service toilets , would you ride a train that has 16 hours of **** in it already?

sending train to sunnyside would require several hours , and at least two crews plus a mn pilot crew.

ALB shop has the ability to do it. If the train is lingering like it normally would just dump half going one way and half the other.

 

[cpotisch]

GCT has no option to dump and service toilets , would you ride a train that has 16 hours of **** in it already?

sending train to sunnyside would require several hours , and at least two crews plus a mn pilot crew.

They empty the tanks in Albany and Chicago. Albany is only a few hours down the line, so it's not a big deal.

 

[Dutchrailnut]

do they dump them in Albany in station ? cause LSL is not going into yard in Albany.

 

[jis]

That would be something! Honey Wagons running helter skelter all over crowded platforms trying to do their thing ASAP [emoji51]

 

[Thirdrail7]

The P32s are all modified. The cab cars are returning to MARC.