September Surprise from Amtrak

[NY Penn]

Let me guess... Amtrak is getting privatized!

 

[Trogdor]

I'm guessing that "horizon" meant that some of the guesses are in the works for near-future implementation (wi-fi, electronic ticketing), not that the guesses were necessarily close to what the surprise is.

 

[afigg]

I'm guessing that "horizon" meant that some of the guesses are in the works for near-future implementation (wi-fi, electronic ticketing), not that the guesses were necessarily close to what the surprise is.

But we know tha current plans and dates for adding Wi-Fi to the eastern Amfleet I (October) and California (November) corridor trains and E-ticketing (expected launch system wide in February 2012). Amtrak put that in a report that was posted on their website last week. Not that much of a "Surprise!". Expansion of Wi-Fi may be it, but we shall see.

 

[afigg]

I'm running it up the flagpole and seeing who salutes. I've got to wonder...what would the Coast Daylight's timetable look like? The Coast Starlight runs LAX-EMY 10 AM-10 PM NB and 8 AM-9 PM SB...and honestly, though you definitely want daylight on that section of track, I can't see 12-hour LAX-Bay Area service quite meriting two not-very-spaced-out trains per day unless the Coast Daylight will include some kind of fancy "Coach Plus" accommodations...the train. I'm also wondering if "split the train in San Jose" might not make more sense, too.

My understanding is that adding the Coast Daylight is in the California plans, but can't be implemented until they get additional equipment. Don't know if the 40 plus bi-level corridor cars that CA has been funded to purchase are enough to add the Coast Daylight service when the cars are delivered in 3-4 years.

As for the approx 12 hour trip time, if the Coast Daylight is going directly to San Francisco and not Emeryville, would that reduce the trip time by any appreciable amount?

 

[Anderson]

Well, we got one September surprise already...though I don't think it's what Amtrak's marketing had in mind. :help:

 

[Michael061282]

Just from the few times I've been to the left coast and ridden the Starlight from LA, I can say for sure that a Coast Daylight is needed. If they could slot it to leave LA between 8-9 am it would relieve a lot of local traffic between LA & Oakland that clogs up seats and even spills into the sleepers much more then I would have imagined. The market is definitely there.

 

[Anderson]

I guess the question is why it wouldn't make more sense to slip an extra pair of coaches onto the train within that part of CA (say, LAX-Sacramento) than to run a full extra train. As to the spillover into the sleepers...as I understand it, the PPC is doing a lot of that, since it makes for a very classy ride up the coast. The presence of a diner on a 12 to 13 hour trip is also a very good thing, too...there are reasons I wouldn't get caught dead on the Palmetto given the choice between it or a sanely-scheduled Silver, and the lack of a diner is a big part of that.

Of course, the extra frequency is definitely a good thing, and I'll grant that service into downtown SF plus a train that definitely won't get borked by a landslide further north is a good thing. I just wonder how much business it'll actually pull off of the longer services in the region unless Amtrak restricts reservations as well...though the solution of simply locking shorter CS reservations into a higher bucket might be viable.

 

[jis]

My understanding is that adding the Coast Daylight is in the California plans, but can't be implemented until they get additional equipment. Don't know if the 40 plus bi-level corridor cars that CA has been funded to purchase are enough to add the Coast Daylight service when the cars are delivered in 3-4 years.

As for the approx 12 hour trip time, if the Coast Daylight is going directly to San Francisco and not Emeryville, would that reduce the trip time by any appreciable amount?

Incidentally, rumor has it that California has acquired a gaggle of ex-NJT Comet cars, which are essentially Horizon cars with commuter seats, and those have been seen going through Beech Grove. I don't know what they are doing to them there, but rumor has it that these cars are for meeting capacity needs in California in the interim, while the 40 new bi-levels are acquired. I don;t know if this plays into the equation in some way.

 

[Trogdor]

Incidentally, rumor has it that California has acquired a gaggle of ex-NJT Comet cars, which are essentially Horizon cars with commuter seats, and those have been seen going through Beech Grove. I don't know what they are doing to them there, but rumor has it that these cars are for meeting capacity needs in California in the interim, while the 40 new bi-levels are acquired. I don;t know if this plays into the equation in some way.

They are the old Comet IBs, which are the fluted-edge cars (maybe the old Arrows? I'm not too familiar with the nomenclature at NJT), not the Horizon car types.

They are slated to go onto the San Joaquin service next year, but the cars freed up from the San Joaquin are only going to increase capacity elsewhere (longer Capitol Corridor trains), they won't be used to add any new service. They might also help replace some of the Superliners that frequently find their way into California consists.

 

[jis]

Incidentally, rumor has it that California has acquired a gaggle of ex-NJT Comet cars, which are essentially Horizon cars with commuter seats, and those have been seen going through Beech Grove. I don't know what they are doing to them there, but rumor has it that these cars are for meeting capacity needs in California in the interim, while the 40 new bi-levels are acquired. I don;t know if this plays into the equation in some way.

They are the old Comet IBs, which are the fluted-edge cars (maybe the old Arrows? I'm not too familiar with the nomenclature at NJT), not the Horizon car types.

They are slated to go onto the San Joaquin service next year, but the cars freed up from the San Joaquin are only going to increase capacity elsewhere (longer Capitol Corridor trains), they won't be used to add any new service. They might also help replace some of the Superliners that frequently find their way into California consists.

Right you are. They are the so called Comarrows, i.e. converted to trailers from Arrow II EMUs, so they are not like Horizon in looks. But the interior at NJT was similar to Comet Is, and not the later Comets.

 

[had8ley]

No, I haven't forgotten about the crossover track - someone mentioned in a thread here recently that they had conceived a method of doing the switching without it in place.

As far as "racing to make a cutoff window", that decision is made at Cleveland. The few minutes extra only comes into play in the narrow case where the train just barely makes the cutoff at CLE by whatever amount of time the switching takes and would only delay the start of work by the few minutes that it takes. Can't see that being a huge issue.

Agreed...just start the train a few minutes earlier and all the switching time is moot....

 

[had8ley]

Maybe the "BIG" surprise is an Amtrak official working hard at his desk in a glass cage in the middle of Washington Union Station...oh wait, I said the dirty word~ WORK !!! :lol:

 

[afigg]

No, I haven't forgotten about the crossover track - someone mentioned in a thread here recently that they had conceived a method of doing the switching without it in place.

As far as "racing to make a cutoff window", that decision is made at Cleveland. The few minutes extra only comes into play in the narrow case where the train just barely makes the cutoff at CLE by whatever amount of time the switching takes and would only delay the start of work by the few minutes that it takes. Can't see that being a huge issue.

Agreed...just start the train a few minutes earlier and all the switching time is moot....

If you mean in Chicago, the Capitol Limited provides connections from the western LD trains arriving in Chicago. If it were to leave 15 minutes earlier, that would narrow the connection window even more for trains arriving several hours late. With a skeletal LD network, it limits flexibility in scheduling, if they want to have connecting trains. However, this is all moot, because it should be pretty clear from the information posted here about the track changes not having done yet in Pittsburgh and the limits of available Viewliners, that putting sleepers and coaches on the Pennsylvanian to attach to the CL is not going to be the surprise nor happen in the next year.

With the initial Amtrak budget numbers in the House, unless the friends of Amtrak in the House along the Senate & the Administration make a serious effort to fight back to maintain the operational funding amounts at a minimum at current levels, that Amtrak will be forced to eliminate some LD trains. Which would be the unpleasant November or December surprise whenever the FY12 budget is settled on.

 

[Lazy Z]

Just from the few times I've been to the left coast and ridden the Starlight from LA, I can say for sure that a Coast Daylight is needed. If they could slot it to leave LA between 8-9 am it would relieve a lot of local traffic between LA & Oakland that clogs up seats and even spills into the sleepers much more then I would have imagined. The market is definitely there.

It would be nice to arrive in Oakland at a "normal" time..I wanted to go this summer with my daughter, but just couldnt get around the fact that we would arrive close to midnight at a bus stop in San Francisco

 

[jdcnosse]

It's amazing the amount of comments this has gotten on here and on Facebook. 401 likes and 142 comments at the time of writing this. Makes you wonder if Amtrak's marketing team finally figured out a way to get the general public excited about trains. lol

Yes, but this can cut both ways. If you build up expectations like this, you'd better follow it with something worthwhile. Anything less than amazing/interesting/unique at this point will be met with a round of jeers.

Pretty much. lol I know that there was a movie, called Inside (aka The Inside Experience) which used social networking in real time during it's creation (it's more like a short film if you consider movies to be 1.5+ hours), but they split it into 11 days, and released each part of the movie then. A couple days ago they made an advertisement on Facebook about the "full film coming soon," and many people got upset after discovering it really was just all 11 parts put together for those that missed when the "filming" was being taken place.

 

[rdeberti]

Maybe the Minot depot reopening so we have Empire Builder service again

 

[jis]

In addition I have also heard recently from one of the members of the PIP committee that this change is not happening this year. But of course what would such a person know? hboy: Maybe he has not been informed yet that the plans have changed.

 

[Oldsmoboi]

Maybe it's just adding a Viewliner sleeper on the Pennsylvanian to connect with the Capital Limited. A legendary route (The Broadway Limited) returns...

Anyway, I think that is about to happen. Not sure if this is about that...

The trackwork in Pittsburgh hasn't been completed for that.

 

[Casinocim]

They are bringing back the Desert Wind. It's going to come rolling in to the new Plaza Hotel and casino in Vegas. I looked, the ramp and murals are still there!

I did think it odd the ramp is still there, since that whole area has been remodeled.. I like dreaming.

 

[jis]

They are bringing back the Desert Wind. It's going to come rolling in to the new Plaza Hotel and casino in Vegas. I looked, the ramp and murals are still there!

I did think it odd the ramp is still there, since that whole area has been remodeled.. I like dreaming.

GG-1 will go into an incredible state of ecstasy!

 

[SunsetLimited01]

They are bringing back the Desert Wind. It's going to come rolling in to the new Plaza Hotel and casino in Vegas. I looked, the ramp and murals are still there!

I did think it odd the ramp is still there, since that whole area has been remodeled.. I like dreaming.

GG-1 will go into an incredible state of ecstasy!

What is the surprise is an actually GG-1 restored and ready to run? It will be the biggest surprise in railroad history.

 

[MikefromCrete]

Whatever this announcement will be, it's going to be a disappointment to all concerned.

 

[GG-1]

They are bringing back the Desert Wind. It's going to come rolling in to the new Plaza Hotel and casino in Vegas. I looked, the ramp and murals are still there!

I did think it odd the ramp is still there, since that whole area has been remodeled.. I like dreaming.

GG-1 will go into an incredible state of ecstasy!

What is the surprise is an actually GG-1 restored and ready to run? It will be the biggest surprise in railroad history.

And that restored G can take me to my Daughter's house near Fullerton :wub: :giggle: :lol:

Aloha

 

[stlouielady]

Does anyone recognize the landscape??

I think it is a trestle on the Empire Builder route. I can't remember for sure where, but I think it is west of the Glacier National Park station, right east of the Essex station. If that is what it is, it is where the train crosses the Flathead River. I don't really know, I'm just taking a guess. I believe I've seen pictures of it elsewhere.

 

[amtrakwolverine]

I believe it's the cutbank trestle.