Yup. I thought I did mention that somewhere in this thread. But thanks for clarifying that again. It makes a huge difference indeed, specially depending on how the relationship between Amtrak and MichDOT evolves...
Of course. However, the context of that comment was that it was implied that because Amtrak owns the line they could run whatever they want on it. That is not true if someone else owns it. They have to give permission and agree on a charge etc. Of course they could decide that the charge is zero and anything can be run. But I would point to the kerfuffle that is going on among MassDOT, Amtrak and the NEC Commission over what MassDOT must pay for MBTA to use the railroad that they own, apparently because both Amtrak and NEC Commission forgot that it is MassDOT that owns the property and not Amtrak, while setting the rates.
Technically that's not quite right either. MDOT owns the line from Kalamazoo to about Ypsilanti. Then it's back to the freight lines.
That's also incorrect. MDOT owns the line from Kalamazoo all the way through Dearborn to a particular junction just west of Detroit. (CP-Townline, which is the junction with the Junction Yard Branch).
So when does it start?
Thanks! That is consistent with the back of the envelope calculation that I had posted earlier in this thread.
Yep. They will also need to shove the departure from Chicago a couple of hours earlier to ensure that the Boston section gets to its destination earlier than some ungodly hour in the middle of the night.
I think being able to take a roomette either way from Metro Detroit to Chicago (and vice versa) might create a supplementary market for this train. Along the obvious play to give these folks (Metro Detroit) a one-seat ride to the East Coast.
In this case, the Junction Yard Track becomes the low-hanging fruit. 50 mph for most of the distance from Dearborn to Toledo is actually perfectly respectable, but 10 mph for 3 miles isn't, and takes 18 minutes. Getting that up from 10 mph to 30 mph would cut *12 minutes* off the trip time, and should be relatively inexpensive.
Lately they appear to have parked two Superliner Sleepers at Union Station, which they are using for housing some of the misconnects.
That would be implementation of the CL PIP. The original plan was for the CL to pick up two Coaches, a Amfleet II Dinette and at least one Sleeper from the Pennsy at PGH. Frankly picking up just a Coach or two as a start while we wait for Sleepers even would be a good start.
That idea has been around for years. All it requires (except for the new sleepers) is a switch at the Pittsburgh station, which must be the toughest engineering job of all times since it has never advanced from the proposal stage.
