Sunset's Schedule

[Daniel]

Now that making the train daily is off the table due to UP's ridiculous funding demands, are there at least discussions on returning the train's schedule to where they were before- late night departure from LA and early morning arrival westbound? Even with a triweekly schedule, at least the times would be better for most of the major cities along the way. The times that Amtrak proposed in its PRIIA report for the Sunset would make a lot of sense.

 

[henryj]

Now that making the train daily is off the table due to UP's ridiculous funding demands, are there at least discussions on returning the train's schedule to where they were before- late night departure from LA and early morning arrival westbound? Even with a triweekly schedule, at least the times would be better for most of the major cities along the way. The times that Amtrak proposed in its PRIIA report for the Sunset would make a lot of sense.

Everything that is recommended in the Amtrak PRIIA report, except daily service, could be done to the existing train running three times a week. That includes the changes in the timetable both directions eliminating the long layovers in San Antonio for the Eagle passengers. The Sunset would continue to carry it's sleeper and transition dorm and pick up the Eagle sleeper and coach in SAS. They could restore the connection to the southbound Starlight and even arrange a bus connection to Phoenix plus all the cosmetic changes they recommended. But..........hey it's Amtrak. And if they made these changes then they would lose the argument for going daily as the whole idea was to free up equipment to put on the Capitol Limited and make for a coach only train east of San Antonio. So rather than innovate, adapt, improve the route they just do nothing. Typical Amtrak. Then remember, the PRIIA's were a congressional mandate. So Amtrak has a way out of making any changes citing the UP's demand for 750 million dollars.

 

[had8ley]

Now that making the train daily is off the table due to UP's ridiculous funding demands, are there at least discussions on returning the train's schedule to where they were before- late night departure from LA and early morning arrival westbound? Even with a triweekly schedule, at least the times would be better for most of the major cities along the way. The times that Amtrak proposed in its PRIIA report for the Sunset would make a lot of sense.

Everything that is recommended in the Amtrak PRIIA report, except daily service, could be done to the existing train running three times a week. That includes the changes in the timetable both directions eliminating the long layovers in San Antonio for the Eagle passengers. The Sunset would continue to carry it's sleeper and transition dorm and pick up the Eagle sleeper and coach in SAS. They could restore the connection to the southbound Starlight and even arrange a bus connection to Phoenix plus all the cosmetic changes they recommended. But..........hey it's Amtrak. And if they made these changes then they would lose the argument for going daily as the whole idea was to free up equipment to put on the Capitol Limited and make for a coach only train east of San Antonio. So rather than innovate, adapt, improve the route they just do nothing. Typical Amtrak. Then remember, the PRIIA's were a congressional mandate. So Amtrak has a way out of making any changes citing the UP's demand for 750 million dollars.

Well put...AMEN !!! I'm fed up with double talk, or half talk, from some Amtrak officials. We are attempting to get Slidell, LA posted as a regular stop. With about 10,000 riders this year it makes no sense to anybody but Amtrak not to do so. The reason~ flag stops do not require anything but an ADA compliant wheel chair lift. We have a 264 foot long broken up platform that requires a double stop both north and south bound. The engine crew between NOL and Meridian, MS is engineer only thus requiring a stop in Slidell to copy track warrants to proceed in either direction. Amtrak's official answer? Train crews can copy track warrants anywhere...but they are leaving out Part B which is in the NS rule book and the Code of Federal Regulations~ the person operating a locomotive CANNOT copy train directives while moving. If there is no second engineer the train must be brought to a stop. I think BP has more integrity than some Amtrak officials.... :help: :help: :help:

 

[Trogdor]

Obviously none of you know what's going on behind the scenes regarding the Sunset Limited.

 

[henryj]

Obviously none of you know what's going on behind the scenes regarding the Sunset Limited.

Well Trogdor, if you do then why don't you clue us in. We report on what we see and hear everyday. If you know something that is contrary to the reports above why not let us know about it. Foamers/railfans will defend Amtrak to the bitter end. Amtrak can do no wrong. I happen to disagree.

 

[had8ley]

Obviously none of you know what's going on behind the scenes regarding the Sunset Limited.

Quite obviously Amtrak doesn't want us to know.....

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Trog's right, we need more open and transparent management when it comes to Amtrak's decision making process. Having to blindly guess at the methods and motivations of a company our government owns makes no sense. Let's open up Amtrak's executive meetings and post them on the web so we can better determine how well our money is being spent. ^_^

 

[trainviews]

Obviously none of you know what's going on behind the scenes regarding the Sunset Limited.

Well Trogdor, if you do then why don't you clue us in. We report on what we see and hear everyday. If you know something that is contrary to the reports above why not let us know about it. Foamers/railfans will defend Amtrak to the bitter end. Amtrak can do no wrong. I happen to disagree.

And I happen to disagree profoundly with the automatic either or. Automatically blaming Amtrak as well as automatically absolving them from any possibility of mismanagement is equally absurd.

From what I've seen of Amtrak it doesn't look like it's always the most efficient operation in the world, but in this case we truly don't know. Yes it might be Amtrak neglecting a route they deem hopeless financially, but it might as well be UP, political considerations or a reasoned priority. Knowing the general hospitality of UP Amtrak must have quite a list of issues to sort out with them on their meetings. Where do you choose to put your pressure in? Or it might be that UP have demanded another ridiculous amount of upgrades to guarantuee OTP if the extreme padding is removed leaving Amtrak with the choice: "if you don't pay up you can go back to the OTP of before as soon as freight traffic picks up again". Or UP might just have given a "no way" in order not to get flak for the OTP on this route also. Amtrak itself might have downprioritized it for the same reason in a choice between the extra operating costs of the current schedule and the risk of a horrible OTP that will scare any passengers gained from a better schedule away again and costing the SSL it's brightest performance indicator to politcally counter it's abysmal fare box recovery. Or it might be incompetence or lack of priority/managent ressouces at either company.

We just don't know...

 

[NY Penn]

Or it might be that UP have demanded another ridiculous amount of upgrades to guarantuee OTP if the extreme padding is removed leaving Amtrak with the choice: "if you don't pay up you can go back to the OTP of before as soon as freight traffic picks up again". Or UP might just have given a "no way" in order not to get flak for the OTP on this route also. Amtrak itself might have downprioritized it for the same reason in a choice between the extra operating costs of the current schedule and the risk of a horrible OTP that will scare any passengers gained from a better schedule away again and costing the SSL it's brightest performance indicator to politcally counter it's abysmal fare box recovery. Or it might be incompetence or lack of priority/managent ressouces at either company.
We just don't know...

If that occurs, all that's really necessary is a complaint to the FRA or whichever agency enforces the law about passenger trains getting priority.

Or maybe I'm just too optimistic about the fact that a law should be enforced, and enforced hard?

 

[saxman]

Actually, I have heard rumor that some people at Amtrak are trying to do just that to the Sunset Limited. In fact, that was a big reason the sleeper was moved to the rear of the Texas Eagle (again), to help with shortening the dwell times in SAS. Instead of a 9 hour layover and a complicated switching move, they can probably shorten it to maybe 2 or 3, which would be awesome.

How long it takes for them to rewrite the schedules with UP might be another story though.

 

[had8ley]

Back in the birth days of Amtrak the Missouri Pacific would get Amtrak to pay for an entire system TT re-print if any Amtrak (first class) trains changed times even by five minutes. This went on for about five of six years until someone, hopefully at Amtrak, came up with the idea of handing out sticker backed pages that were to be put on top of the old schedules. I wonder how much money all those system re-prints cost ???

 

[had8ley]

Trog's right, we need more open and transparent management when it comes to Amtrak's decision making process. Having to blindly guess at the methods and motivations of a company our government owns makes no sense. Let's open up Amtrak's executive meetings and post them on the web so we can better determine how well our money is being spent. ^_^

In what century ??? :lol:

 

[Ryan]

And I happen to disagree profoundly with the automatic either or. Automatically blaming Amtrak as well as automatically absolving them from any possibility of mismanagement is equally absurd.

Seconded.

Discourse would be a lot more productive if people didn't take such a black and white stand on things. I think that the "Foamers/railfans will defend Amtrak to the bitter end. Amtrak can do no wrong." are a figment of Henry's imagination, as I've never met one.