New Amtrak Proposed Routes Map has Dropped

[frequentflyer]

Actually I would do it differently I would bust the Chicago connections completely which some might not like but I have a very good reason for it.

One can if you leave early in the morning from Chicago make it down to Atlanta in day time hours where you are hitting a bunch of major population centers in daylight. You get Indianapolis, Louisville, Nashville, Chattanooga, and Atlanta. Georgia aside from Atlanta, Macon, and Savannah really doesn't have a large amount of population centers. So I would make that long slow 7 hour slog south out of Atlanta to Jacksonville in the middle of the night, and you should land in 91s time slot in Jacksonville. Which gives you some options you can combine 91/92 in with the Chicago train to cut down on 4 crew starts per day, and run it as a combined train. Or you could move 91 to a late night carding out of New York and turn it into the opposite of the Palmetto but for North Carolina to Florida. Which would give a later afternoon departure from Jacksonville. I would almost be tempted to move 91/92 especially 92's timing. It would be nice not to have 80 riding on 92s markers north of Raleigh. So you could get a better spread across the day. 91 isn't really in a bad spot as it is right now but if you shifted it back 8 hours you would open some more intermediate markets up which would be nice.

Can you tell I routinely think about how I would restructure the Amtrak system.

And that's not even the most radical thing I've thought about.

I've thought about proposing a privatization experiment with the Silver Meteor and Lake Shore Limited. My reasoning is my private train would be the independent variable on a route that has a control factor (Silver Star, and Capitol Limited) running on mostly the same route operated by Amtrak. Which would allow a good gauge of one could a private company run the trains at A. a profit, and B. could they entice more riders to ride. Of course there are things I would do differently I would shift the Southbound Meteor 97 back to 7 or 8 PM out of NY, and I would shift eastbound Lake Shore No. 48 to about 5 PM Central. This would allow me to interline the trains and I could cut down from needing 6 sets to needing 5 saving millions in equipment costs. I'm a firm believer in cutting costs where you can squeeze operational efficiencies into the company while still providing a superior soft product which I think Amtrak lacks.

Interesting thought, the only thing would get in the way is the abandoning of lines that freight railroads seems to be doing at a more rapid clip.

 

[frequentflyer]

Although a minority opinion, I still think a Detroit-Florida Auto Train would work, using the existing Sanford terminus to save money. It's less about Detroit specifically than the potential "capture" of a 400-mile radius around it.

I think it would work too, but with the terminal being on the South East side of Chicago, out in the Indiana country land. It would catch more of the upper midwest traffic. Doesn't have to be daily, could be triweekly in the beginning.

 

[Saddleshoes]

After looking over the latest Amtrak wish list, I guess the Peoria Illinois political dream of bringing back the old "Rock Island Rocket" is finally dead.
The Rock Island Rocket has a train that left Peoria in in the morning. It arrived in Chicago about the time that stores were opening for business. The return run left at about 4:00 PM. Peoria folks loved to run into Chicago for a day of shopping back in the day.

From about 1970 until 2010 bringing back the Peoria Rocket was a standard plank on every politician's platform in a 3 county area around Peoria. I guess the finical reality of the situation has finally sunk in for good.

 

[reppin_the_847]

Yeah, that would necessitate the usage again of the track the Wolverine uses. I just wish that the studies conducted on more Northern routes in Michigan hadn’t been wasted. I had a feeling that they really didn’t care about connecting GRR and DET or say DET to Traverse City and the so-called studies were never going to come to fruition. What a joke!

A Grand Rapids to Detroit line would make perfect sense to me as well. Plus all the students & alum with ties to MSU could potentially use it from SE or West Michigan to get to Michigan State / East Lansing right in the middle. I guess we can hope for it some day.

 

[Seaboard92]

Although a minority opinion, I still think a Detroit-Florida Auto Train would work, using the existing Sanford terminus to save money. It's less about Detroit specifically than the potential "capture" of a 400-mile radius around it.

I would argue Toledo might actually make the most sense as you would capture Toronto, Detroit, Cleveland, Columbus, Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, and Chicago. A much better terminal than Louisville actually was.

 

[tim49424]

A Grand Rapids to Detroit line would make perfect sense to me as well. Plus all the students & alum with ties to MSU could potentially use it from SE or West Michigan to get to Michigan State / East Lansing right in the middle. I guess we can hope for it some day.

I‘ve pretty much given up on that happening. The only changes that seem to be happening locally is that they’re hell bent on a Holland to Grand Rapids transit system, probably bus. It makes no sense to me to exclusively put the money into the Chicago to Detroit corridor (I.e. Wolverine/Blue Water) and spend nothing on route expansion to the north.

 

[niemi24s]

Don't forget to include North Bay and Sudbury ON, CA as a potential source of riders within 400 miles (600km) for your relocated Northern terminal for the Auto Train.

 

[Exvalley]

I would argue Toledo might actually make the most sense as you would capture Toronto, Detroit, Cleveland, Columbus, Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, and Chicago. A much better terminal than Louisville actually was.

There would also be a lot of business from Upper Canada.

 

[jiml]

Don't forget to include North Bay and Sudbury ON, CA as a potential source of riders within 400 miles (600km) for your relocated Northern terminal for the Auto Train.

Not a large population base, but people who would be glad to shorten the drive south.

 

[jis]

Don't forget to include North Bay and Sudbury ON, CA as a potential source of riders within 400 miles (600km) for your relocated Northern terminal for the Auto Train.

Churchill is the way to go. There could be a special Polar Bear Car.

 

[jiml]

All kidding aside, if you draw a line between Toronto and Chicago and allow a couple of hours drive either side, that's a lot of people to draw from. No need to go too far afield.

 

[MikeM]

I'm just bummed that the Desert Wind / Pioneer isn't on the list...

 

[reppin_the_847]

I‘ve pretty much given up on that happening. The only changes that seem to be happening locally is that they’re hell bent on a Holland to Grand Rapids transit system, probably bus. It makes no sense to me to exclusively put the money into the Chicago to Detroit corridor (I.e. Wolverine/Blue Water) and spend nothing on route expansion to the north.

In the wake of this ongoing COVID era (and the ability for white collar workers to work "remotely") I believe there has been quite a bit of population growth in areas such as West Michigan (ie. Grand Rapids metro area) and northern Michigan (ie. Traverse City & the numerous other towns up north). Maybe some day this will be taken into consideration when they consider new routes for Michigan.

 

[jis]

I'm just bummed that the Desert Wind / Pioneer isn't on the list...

Wrong list. There are no LD trains on the list AFAICT. I do not understand who exactly Amtrak is trying to impress with the list ... perhaps targeting a bunch of hapless Governors who they want to stick with the operating costs after a few years.

 

[jruff001]

There's still no DFW to Denver service proposed!!!

Maybe because there are no people between Dallas and Denver.

 

[tim49424]

In the wake of this ongoing COVID era (and the ability for white collar workers to work "remotely") I believe there has been quite a bit of population growth in areas such as West Michigan (ie. Grand Rapids metro area) and northern Michigan (ie. Traverse City & the numerous other towns up north). Maybe some day this will be taken into consideration when they consider new routes for Michigan.

I've been all in on a route including TC for a while now. That area of the state is mainly tourists but there has been a good deal of expansion in the area as well. The only Amtrak service in northern Michigan is a Thruway bus, which I find ridiculous. Also, IIRC, Amtrak did studies on a route up north around the same time as the expansion from GRR to Detroit. They were suspended a couple of years ago from what I am told (I talked directly on Facebook with a MDOT representative who informed me as such).

 

[TrackWalker]

 

[Cal]

View attachment 21406

Poor South Dakota!

 

[sttom]

Maybe because there are no people between Dallas and Denver.

A NightJet like service could potentially do well between Denver and DFW. It would also provide a connection south of Pueblo.

 

[Willbridge]

Poor South Dakota!

It never was well-served, but there's a route that might make sense as a coach and cafe car train = KCY - OMA - Sioux Falls - MSP. It connects from Trains 4 and 6 to Train 7 and from Train 8 to Trains 3 and 5, as well as having some local travel. It's not the NEC and it's not even a Gardner corridor. However, it would generate big dollars in long-distance connecting revenue, something that has only interested Amtrak intermittently .

 

[jiml]

View attachment 21412

Not sure where this came from, but I like it!

 

[Ziv]

I like it too, but one of the routes I like best, the one from Livingston MT to Salt Lake City, Vegas and LA doesn't seem to be a route that shows up in the Open Railway Map that someone posted a link to last week. Are there tracks that actually cover that route? It runs off the North Coast Hiawatha route somewhere near Livingston or Bozeman heading south through Wyoming near Rock Springs/Green River. And the addition of the NCH would be phenomenal if it didn't mean cutting service on the Empire Builder to get the rolling stock needed.
The route shown from Portland, Boise, Cheyenne, Denver to Fort Worth looks great, too! I would like to see the Desert Wind come back but a Portland to Fort Worth and maybe on to Houston route would also be outstanding!
Great routes, but it all comes down to Amtrak having enough money over a long enough period to buy enough rolling stock to make great things happen. And it wouldn't take all that long or all that much equipment to make a huge difference, considering how bare the current network is.

Not sure where this came from, but I like it!

 

[jebr]

Wrong list. There are no LD trains on the list AFAICT. I do not understand who exactly Amtrak is trying to impress with the list ... perhaps targeting a bunch of hapless Governors who they want to stick with the operating costs after a few years.

I wonder if it's basically all the "shovel-ready" (or close to it) corridor services that have been studied for years but haven't gotten funding to start operation. The disjointedness and randomness suggests that, since there's no real cohesiveness to it in terms of a national network for additional services.

 

[TrackWalker]

I like it too, but one of the routes I like best, the one from Livingston MT to Salt Lake City, Vegas and LA doesn't seem to be a route that shows up in the Open Railway Map that someone posted a link to last week. Are there tracks that actually cover that route? It runs off the North Coast Hiawatha route somewhere near Livingston or Bozeman heading south through Wyoming near Rock Springs/Green River. And the addition of the NCH would be phenomenal if it didn't mean cutting service on the Empire Builder to get the rolling stock needed...

Drawn on the wrong side of the Idaho border Helena/Butte-Idaho Falls-SLC-LV-LAX

 

[Cal]

I wonder if it's basically all the "shovel-ready" (or close to it) corridor services that have been studied for years but haven't gotten funding to start operation. The disjointedness and randomness suggests that, since there's no real cohesiveness to it in terms of a national network for additional services.

Based on earlier replies, I don't think so