Southwest Chief News & Future Operations

[cpotisch]

Rest assured NARP/RPA is on this...

Sign the Southwest Chief Petition!

https://www.railpassengers.org/happening-now/news/blog/add-your-name-to-the-save-the-southwest-chief-petition/

Signed! I'm hoping that this is going to be a bit more affective than any of the vague nonsense petitions on change.org.

 

[bretton88]

Rest assured NARP/RPA is on this...

Sign the Southwest Chief Petition!

https://www.railpassengers.org/happening-now/news/blog/add-your-name-to-the-save-the-southwest-chief-petition/

Signed! I'm hoping that this is going to be a bit more affective than any of the vague nonsense petitions on change.org.

Have change.org petitions ever been effective? I'm not arguing against it (sign away, show support for your causes), I'm just curious because I always hear about petitions with millions of signatures on them that accomplish zilch. Now the RPA petition might be more effective because it's targeted and RPA has Washington connections.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Rest assured NARP/RPA is on this... Sign the Southwest Chief Petition!

https://www.railpassengers.org/happening-now/news/blog/add-your-name-to-the-save-the-southwest-chief-petition/

Signed! I'm hoping that this is going to be a bit more affective than any of the vague nonsense petitions on change.org.

Complaining about the wording of petitions on change.org is a bit like complaining about the wording of an article on Wikipedia. If you know you can do better then you can start your own petition and word it exactly the way you think is best.

Have change.org petitions ever been effective? I'm not arguing against it (sign away, show support for your causes), I'm just curious because I always hear about petitions with millions of signatures on them that accomplish zilch.

Has a major issue or serious problem ever been resolved by nothing more than a bunch of strangers spending ten or fifteen seconds signing a petition? No, of course not. Does that mean petitions are inherently useless? No, not at all. The point of a petition isn't to solve a problem all on its own, that would be ludicrous. The goal of a petition is to generate interest and attention, to join together otherwise disparate people and groups who happen to share a common goal or concern, and to push advocates into action. Even in the best of situations a petition is nothing more than an intermediate step in a much longer and far more involved process toward a meaningful resolution. In all likelihood any battle worth fighting for will include hundreds if not thousands of different petitions. Asking how much each individual petition actually helped is like asking which drop of water finally overwhelmed a damn. They each played their role.

 

[user 14106]

Anderson wasn't hired so "hundreds of people" could tell him "how to run a railroad". He was hired to tell hundreds of railroaders how to run a passenger transportation business. Emphasis on "business". He seems to be doing a good job of it.

It should not be a business. It is an amenity of a civilized country.

Well said. National passenger rail as a conventional business ended on A-Day. Passenger rail as a profit center ended long before that. Amtrak today is no more a profit driven business than I-10 or the FAA.

Agree wholeheartedly. If they attempt to weaponize PTC on segments that have so little traffic that they are exempt they should be called out on it. And I hope people will see hypocrisy when it is used against the LD trains while state supported corridors that also have dark and PTC exempt areas are given a pass. All this with the chief and now rumors about rerouting the CZ due to PTC exempt area while in my area for example you have the Vermonter where the entire portion of the route that is unique to the train is PTC exempt and a decent chunk of that dark and will likely receive a pass because it fits more into Anderson’s vision of the trains he wants to run. And they are going to be ADDING trains to part of that PTC exempt corridor. I am a supporter of corridors and NEC and focusing on building those business lines but only if Amtrak’s National network is kept intact.

 

[cpotisch]

Have change.org petitions ever been effective? I'm not arguing against it (sign away, show support for your causes), I'm just curious because I always hear about petitions with millions of signatures on them that accomplish zilch.

Has a major issue or serious problem ever been resolved by nothing more than a bunch of strangers spending ten or fifteen seconds signing a petition? No, of course not. Does that mean petitions are inherently useless? No, not at all. It simply means that millions of people still don't understand how basic advocacy is supposed to work or which tools are used for which purposes. The point of a petition isn't to solve a problem all on its own, that would be ludicrous. The goal of a petition is to generate attention, to join together otherwise disparate people and groups who happen to share a common goal or concern, and to push advoctes into action. Even in the best of situations a petition is nothing more than an intermediate step in a much longer and far more involved process toward a meaningful resolution. In all likelihood any battle worth fighting for will include hundreds if not thousands of petitions. Asking how much each individual petition actually helped is like asking which drop of water finally overwhelmed a damn. Each and every one of them was necessary to achieve the final result.

I completely agree that petitions, if well implemented, can generate attention and cumulatively, make a difference. However, I'm just of the opinion that change.org is not a very effective venue for protesting Amtrak's decisions and stuff like that. On the other hand, NARP is in my opinion pretty much the only group that can actually apply real pressure towards Amtrak's leadership, and has a pretty good track record of making a difference with this kind of stuff.

 

[Seaboard92]

The thing about petitions is not if they do anything or not because like DA said their value is in the number of people they can connect. Politicians in Washington so look at numbers of people on a regular basis. Even if it's poorly worded the message that hey a million people want this carries some weight.

 

[Just-Thinking-51]

It been report that the SWC is leaving a coach at Kansas City. However it is not a add on coach, it just one less traveling to LAX.

 

[jis]

Those must somehow get back to Chicago, otherwise Kansas City will have quite a collection of Coaches

 

[Just-Thinking-51]

Those must somehow get back to Chicago, otherwise Kansas City will have quite a collection of Coaches

No idea how. As the SWC delay east bound is less than 30 minutes. Arrive 7:24am leave 7:43a. No time to hook on PV so how does Amtrak get those cars back?

 

[TinCan782]

It been report that the SWC is leaving a coach at Kansas City. However it is not a add on coach, it just one less traveling to LAX.

On Trainorders yesterday...

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?4,4598005

 

[user 14106]

This sounds bizarre. I really hope this isn't just a way to artificially generate lower ridership and revenue for the train and worse OTP to fit the desired narrative of the executives that the train isn't worth it.

 

[keelhauled]

Without Boy Scout traffic, seems like there's a good chance that full coach does indeed run empty west of KC. Hopefully they find a home elsewhere for the extra coaches. It'd be three fewer in total I think?

 

[bretton88]

Without Boy Scout traffic, seems like there's a good chance that full coach does indeed run empty west of KC. Hopefully they find a home elsewhere for the extra coaches. It'd be three fewer in total I think?

They're still using the coach for the Chief. Just dropping it at KC overnight.

 

[brianpmcdonnell17]

Without Boy Scout traffic, seems like there's a good chance that full coach does indeed run empty west of KC. Hopefully they find a home elsewhere for the extra coaches. It'd be three fewer in total I think?

They're still using the coach for the Chief. Just dropping it at KC overnight.

Yes, but by only running it to Kansas City only two cars are needed versus the five necessary for the extra car to make a full round trip to Los Angeles.

 

[chrsjrcj]

I believe there is a bit of schedule padding for #4 into Kansas City.

 

[Palmetto]

Theyused to fuel at Argentine Yard. Is that still happening?

 

[Thirdrail7]

Equipment is at a premium. They are trying something to free up equipment. You may see this train (and others) lose a car or two and short turn cars If the facilities can handle the moves,

Some of them can't.

 

[keelhauled]

At Chicago yesterday the Texas Eagle was listed as trains 21, 421, and 321. I take it there is a St. Louis cutoff coach as well?

 

[jis]

At Chicago yesterday the Texas Eagle was listed as trains 21, 421, and 321. I take it there is a St. Louis cutoff coach as well?

St Louis cutoff Coach(es) (aka train 321) on the TE are nothing new or uncommon. We actually picked up two cutoff Coaches at St. Louis on Friday. Since we had two PVs in the back, the operation took a little while longer the usual. But fortunately we had arrived in St. Louis almost a whole hour early.

 

[chrsjrcj]

The Star may be a decent contender to lose a coach north of Jax too

 

[jis]

So we will just ignore the fact that one of its major segments is Raleigh to Washington/New York eh? Not to mention Orlando to north of JAX. I think that is a non-starter.

 

[Thirdrail7]

JAX wouldn't have the crews or time to make such a move, especially with coaches being on the head end. Besides, this is mostly a western and NEC thing.

 

[chrsjrcj]

They have the Carolinian. But I imagine the move is more targeted toward Superliners.

I forgot coaches are on the head end anyway.

 

[chrsjrcj]

Also, my Carolinian comment was tounge in cheek.

 

[jis]

JAX wouldn't have the crews or time to make such a move, especially with coaches being on the head end. Besides, this is mostly a western and NEC thing.

So what is causing this shortage of Superliners? Just old age driven side-lining of equipment at a rate faster than they can be fixed and returned to service? Or is it something else?