NEC overnight and late evening service

[daybeers]

Not as popular as you’d think these days. The majority of stops between NYP and PVD have 3 or 4 people on and off.

Maybe because the lights are left on, announcements are still made, and the schedule is very padded with no option for a cheap sleeper.

Not faulting the employees, just the passenger experience.

It's also the last northbound out of NYC by about an hour.

 

[acelafan]

Hmmmm .... looking into 3rd week of January '24 (19th and 20th), 65/67 don't show up even as a NYC-DC trains, though 66 still shows up as a Roanoke-DC-NYC train. Probably too far ahead in time to assume that this is planned, but still worrisome.

I have found that looking 11 months ahead can have some unusual things in the Amtrak schedule - I think it's too far ahead in time to get worried. But, who knows.

 

[Acela150]

Maybe because the lights are left on, announcements are still made, and the schedule is very padded with no option for a cheap sleeper.

Not faulting the employees, just the passenger experience.

It's also the last northbound out of NYC by about an hour.

All the lights that can be turned off are turned off. The announcements curtail from NYP to PVD. Because of the amount of people that get off at those stops is extremely low. Between WAS-NYP the turn over rate is high enough to justify them.

 

[AmtrakBlue]

 

[JoshP]

Which by means 65/66/67 will only run between NYP to the end points but nothing north of NYP? Now that's bad.

 

[demonizedwater]

Correct, 65/66/67 runs NYC to DC along with wherever in Virginia those trains service.

 

[Cal]

Which by means 65/66/67 will only run between NYP to the end points but nothing north of NYP? Now that's bad.

Hows that so bad? Still serves most of the route...

 

[Fenway]

Hows that so bad? Still serves most of the route...

As someone who has taken 66 home to Boston more times than I can count after an event at MSG this is not good news.

 

[allanorn]

Guess there is no option to run the sleepers nonstop NYP-BOS via ALB, or is that just too long of a detour?

 

[B&Ofan]

That wouldn't work that would be about about 7 1/2 hours (based on the LSL schedule, plus they would have to somehow reverse the train in Albany. Also they would have to reverse direction in Pen station as they arrive on the same direction as they have to depart. I suppose they could drop the electrics in Penn station and put the dual mode on the back to tow to Albany and then put change engines again in Albany. Still it would be a long trip.

 

[B&Ofan]

Does anyone know what projects are being one or how long this outage is planned? (For 65/66/67 to Boston)

 

[AmtrakBlue]

Guess there is no option to run the sleepers nonstop NYP-BOS via ALB, or is that just too long of a detour?

What sleepers?

 

[AmtrakBlue]

Does anyone know what projects are being one or how long this outage is planned? (For 65/66/67 to Boston)

I believe it's to give MTA access to Penn Station. They have to "cut the power" over the Hell's Gate Bridge in order to do the work.

 

[Acela150]

I believe it's to give MTA access to Penn Station. They have to "cut the power" over the Hell's Gate Bridge in order to do the work.

Correct. It's only a short term cut back of 65/66/67.

 

[John Santos]

Correct. It's only a short term cut back of 65/66/67.

It's part of the 5-year Hell Gate infrastructure project. The 1st phase will take one track (or one section of track) out of service between NYP and New Rochelle from March to Sept this year. I think a good guess is they will do the same thing for the other track next year. If they need to turn off the power in both directions to do some of the electrical work, it would make sense to suspend the only trains on the track that run in the middle of the night (i.e. 65/66/67) so they can work an uninterrupted overnight shift. A lot of the work may NOT require turning off the power, so if they are managing things well, 65/66/67 may resume much sooner than September. Who knows? Neither Amtrak nor Metro-North are noted for transparency.

BTW, 66/66/67 were suspended due to Covid and when they resumed, they lost their sleepers. I've taken the 66 (NYP->BOS) a handful of times before they added the sleeper (a year or two before the pandemic suspension), and it is very hard to sleep (or even rest) in the normal NEC day coaches, which lack window shades and leg rests. I was really looking forward to a roomette next time!

Trying to catch a few ZZZ's in the old NYP Amtrak waiting area was also really hard. The last time, only half the waiting area was open at about 11PM when I arrived and about 1AM, they woke everyone up and forced us all to move to the other half of the waiting area. I understand the new Moynihan hall is closed overnight and you still have to wait in the old, dreadful Amtrak NYP waiting area for the Night Owl.

 

[allanorn]

What sleepers?

Uh oh. I thought 66/67 had sleepers from BOS-DC, and VLII if I remember correctly. Think I even saw a recent review on YouTube.

Did I miss a cutback?

 

[jis]

Uh oh. I thought 66/67 had sleepers from BOS-DC, and VLII if I remember correctly. Think I even saw a recent review on YouTube.

Did I miss a cutback?

It had a Sleeper before the pandemic and was a VL 1. That went away together with the train during the pandemic and the did not come back when the train was reinstated.

 

[Cal]

It had a Sleeper before the pandemic and was a VL 1. That went away together with the train during the pandemic and the did not come back when the train was reinstated.

I thought the sleeper was a 2021 addition? Then cut back in 2022.

 

[Bostontoallpoints]

I thought the sleeper was a 2021 addition? Then cut back in 2022.

Yes, the sleeper was a 2021 addition. I rode in it May of 2021.

 

[jis]

Yes, the sleeper was a 2021 addition. I rode in it May of 2021.

Oh OK I recalled wrong. But still IIRC the whole train went away briefly.

 

[Anderson]

Yeah. I remember lamenting the timing of the implementation since it happened exactly when I was not riding trains, and to boot I wasn't in a mood to ride in coach to WAS just to switch seats.

 

[west point]

The only solution might have been a train from BOS to GCT. Leave BOS ?? arrival either before GCT closes *not good ) or after it reopens and departs back to BOS. That is really not possible because Amtrak cannot an afford to base a compatible 3rd rail loco.

 

[railiner]

The only solution might have been a train from BOS to GCT. Leave BOS ?? arrival either before GCT closes *not good ) or after it reopens and departs back to BOS. That is really not possible because Amtrak cannot an afford to base a compatible 3rd rail loco.

Why couldn’t they just add a diesel loco from Boston to NY, if the power overhead was the only issue?

 

[OBS]

Why couldn’t they just add a diesel loco from Boston to NY, if the power overhead was the only issue?

Agreed. This has been done many times over the years...

 

[John819]

Agreed. This has been done many times over the years...

NYC prohibits diesel operation in tunnels, so there would need to be a swap in Sunnyside to an ACS-64 to enter/leave NYP. New York State would probably not allow the P32AC-DMs to be used on a Boston run.