VA rail APPROVED

[Green Maned Lion]

The observation is that we're short of funds here and yet there are new funds being spent over there. It IS a reasonable observation. Don't let your... what is that, hatred?... for road travel blind you to what's actually being discussed.

I hate waste, you're right. We are discussing how we should remove money for a valuable and important transit service and allocate it to an out-dated, misguided mechanism for encouraging misguided travel methods. If money is to be spent on VA's rest areas and highways, it should be for the purpose of DIScouraging their use, not ENcouraging it!

That's the kind of quote you should add to your signature just to make sure everyone knows where you're coming from ahead of time.

I am a well-known and long-standing member of this forum (6th or 7th highest number of posts if I remember correctly, in fact.). If its members don't know where I am coming from by now, they are beyond help from my signature.

 

[Philzy]

So, anyone know when these new trains will be loaded for sale? just checked and still nothing there...

 

[Joel N. Weber II]

So, anyone know when these new trains will be loaded for sale? just checked and still nothing there...

When the through sleeper to Boston finally returned on the Lake Shore Limited, wasn't the start of ticket sales for that only about a week or two before that car started running through to Boston?

 

[AlanB]

So, anyone know when these new trains will be loaded for sale? just checked and still nothing there...

When the through sleeper to Boston finally returned on the Lake Shore Limited, wasn't the start of ticket sales for that only about a week or two before that car started running through to Boston?

A totally different thing, since that involved moving people who were going to NY in that sleeper out of that car since it was no longer going to NY.

 

[AlanB]

So, anyone know when these new trains will be loaded for sale? just checked and still nothing there...

I'd expect to see it loaded maybe a month or two before it starts running at most. And that assumes that all the agreements are signed by that time.

 

[jis]

I spent an afternoon in Richmond yesterday doing some quality train watching and photographing at Staples Mill station. The good news is there was no hassling for photographing trains whatsoever. In fact one Amtrak person was helpful in pointing out a good photo spot that was legal by Amtrak and CSX rules.

The interesting thing that I discovered is that all corridor trains are now being announced as Southeast Corridor trains at Richmond. For example "Southeast Corridor train 95 to Newport News with stops at Main Street, Williamsburg and Newport News, is now arriving." Or "Southeast Corridor train 66 to Boston is now boarding".

Presumably Northeast Corridor trains continuing south of Washington now morph into Southeast Corridor trains as soon as they get across the Potomac? Are announcements in Alexandria (if any) or any of the other stations along the Washington - Richmond line consistently changed this way? Or is it a special Richmond Staples Mill thing in anticipation of the SEHSR?

 

[Philzy]

So, anyone know when these new trains will be loaded for sale? just checked and still nothing there...

I'd expect to see it loaded maybe a month or two before it starts running at most. And that assumes that all the agreements are signed by that time.

Alright, good to know. I'd like to take a trip on that first northbound trip from CVS. How will all that be set up I wonder? Will the Ferry the train to LYH or operate the first run as a WAS-LYH revenue train?

 

[Joel N. Weber II]

The interesting thing that I discovered is that all corridor trains are now being announced as Southeast Corridor trains at Richmond. For example "Southeast Corridor train 95 to Newport News with stops at Main Street, Williamsburg and Newport News, is now arriving." Or "Southeast Corridor train 66 to Boston is now boarding".

So what are they going to print as the train name on the top of each column of the next timetable? ``Northeast/Southeast Corridor''?

This generally strikes me as being about as bad an idea as the name ``Acela Regional''.

Presumably Northeast Corridor trains continuing south of Washington now morph into Southeast Corridor trains as soon as they get across the Potomac? Are announcements in Alexandria (if any) or any of the other stations along the Washington - Richmond line consistently changed this way? Or is it a special Richmond Staples Mill thing in anticipation of the SEHSR?

Is SEHSR the Southeast Occasionally As Fast As 110 MPH And Never As Fast As The Low Speed Northeast Regional Rail project?

 

[Joel N. Weber II]

So, anyone know when these new trains will be loaded for sale? just checked and still nothing there...

I'd expect to see it loaded maybe a month or two before it starts running at most. And that assumes that all the agreements are signed by that time.

Alright, good to know. I'd like to take a trip on that first northbound trip from CVS. How will all that be set up I wonder? Will the Ferry the train to LYH or operate the first run as a WAS-LYH revenue train?

The idea is that they're going to take a trainset that currently spends the night at WAS and continue it south. I can't imagine there'd be any advantage to not selling tickets for the first southbound trip that will immediately preceed the first northbound trip unless there were some really obscure reason why they needed to do some sort of test run that didn't need to be done as a round trip, but unless that hypothetical non-round-trip test run could be done the evening prior to the first morning northbound service and not a week or several beforehand, they'd probably need to get the test trainset back to WAS to use it for revenue runs the next day anyway.

So I'll be very surprised if the first run is not the southbound run.

 

[AlanB]

So, anyone know when these new trains will be loaded for sale? just checked and still nothing there...

I'd expect to see it loaded maybe a month or two before it starts running at most. And that assumes that all the agreements are signed by that time.

Alright, good to know. I'd like to take a trip on that first northbound trip from CVS. How will all that be set up I wonder? Will the Ferry the train to LYH or operate the first run as a WAS-LYH revenue train?

The idea is that they're going to take a trainset that currently spends the night at WAS and continue it south. I can't imagine there'd be any advantage to not selling tickets for the first southbound trip that will immediately preceed the first northbound trip unless there were some really obscure reason why they needed to do some sort of test run that didn't need to be done as a round trip, but unless that hypothetical non-round-trip test run could be done the evening prior to the first morning northbound service and not a week or several beforehand, they'd probably need to get the test trainset back to WAS to use it for revenue runs the next day anyway.

So I'll be very surprised if the first run is not the southbound run.

Agreed.

 

[Philzy]

So, anyone know when these new trains will be loaded for sale? just checked and still nothing there...

I'd expect to see it loaded maybe a month or two before it starts running at most. And that assumes that all the agreements are signed by that time.

Alright, good to know. I'd like to take a trip on that first northbound trip from CVS. How will all that be set up I wonder? Will the Ferry the train to LYH or operate the first run as a WAS-LYH revenue train?

The idea is that they're going to take a trainset that currently spends the night at WAS and continue it south. I can't imagine there'd be any advantage to not selling tickets for the first southbound trip that will immediately preceed the first northbound trip unless there were some really obscure reason why they needed to do some sort of test run that didn't need to be done as a round trip, but unless that hypothetical non-round-trip test run could be done the evening prior to the first morning northbound service and not a week or several beforehand, they'd probably need to get the test trainset back to WAS to use it for revenue runs the next day anyway.

So I'll be very surprised if the first run is not the southbound run.

Agreed.

Fair enough. I guess I'll keep my eyes peeled and plan to fly into DC the night before and take the first DC-CVs run down and spend the night with the fam and take the first CVS-DC run back!

woot!

thanks guys!

 

[battalion51]

I'm guessing you may see an odd move or two in LYH prior to service start up. They're going to have to get a contractor for maintenance to service the set when it's on the layover. Also expect to see fuller than normal cabs on the Crescent for a few months leading up to the start of service as the Washington South boys get themselves qualified for those jobs. I'll be interested to see how they set those jobs up.