There's been a lot of discussion on here about what Amtrak should be doing with the money it's getting. A lot of it focuses on service expansion, but the question is: where should service be expanded?
Say hello to the first incarnation of the Amtrak National Expansion and Modernization Project, or NEMP.
(For those of you who follow my posts in the "What Would You Add?" thread, this is the same thing)
I had the idea for the NEMP when I made my first few posts in the "Amtrak's Future" forum. I took all of my ideas as well as many of the ones I saw from others in the thread and compiled them into one Word document (still in process). However, despite the actual paper copy not being complete, I was able to make this sample "system map", showing potential new routes for Amtrak in the future. Note: the Sunset East is still missing from this map (forgot to add it back), but it's on the list.
This is by no means a "done deal". Changes will be made depending on what happens with actual service expansions or cuts as changes in city pairs.
The list:
Corridors:
Expanded Wolverines (2x pair)
Expanded Blue Waters (1x pair)
Expanded Pere Marquettes (1x pair GRR-CHI, 1x pair GRR-DET)
Expanded Hiawatha (2x pair)
Expanded Lincoln Service (2x pair)
Expanded Missouri River Runner (1x pair)
Extended Heartland Flyer to Wichita
Cincinnatian (Detroit-Toledo-Cincinnati)
Lake Cities (Detroit – Traverse City)
Buckeye (Detroit – Toledo – Columbus)
Bluegrass (Chicago – Indianapolis – Louisville)
Cuyahoga Valley (Chicago – Toledo – Cleveland)
Iowan (Chicago – Davenport – Cedar Rapids)
North Star (Chicago – Milwaukee – Minneapolis)
Lake State (Duluth - Minneapolis)
Prairie Rocket (Minneapolis - Omaha - Kansas City)
Black Hawk (Chicago – Dubuque)
Quad Cities Zephyr (Chicago – Quad Cities)
Queen City Limited (Chicago – Indianapolis – Cincinnati)
Prairie Star (Kansas City – Hastings – Denver)
Desert Wind (Los Angeles – Las Vegas)
Kansas City Zephyr (Chicago – Galesburg – Kansas City)
Apache Limited (Los Angeles – Yuma – Phoenix)
Golden Gate (Los Angeles – San Francisco)
Long Distance:
21st Century Limited (NYP – Philadelphia – Pittsburgh – Cleveland – Toledo – Chicago)
Bostonian (Chicago – Toledo – Cleveland – Buffalo – Albany – Springfield – Boston)
California Chief (Chicago - Omaha - Denver - Las Vegas - Los Angeles)
Empire State (Chicago – Detroit – Niagara Falls – Albany – NYP)
International (Chicago - Detroit - Toronto)
Lake Shore Limited (Chicago – Detroit – Albany – New York City)
Peachtree (Chicago – Indianapolis – Louisville – Nashville – Atlanta)
Silver Comet (Chicago – Indianapolis – Louisville – Nashville – Atlanta – Orlando – Tampa)
Silver Meteor (NYP– Washington – Savannah – Jacksonville – Orlando – Tampa)
Silver Palm (NYP – Washington – Savannah – Jacksonville – Orlando – Miami)
Sunset Limited (Los Angeles - San Antonio - Houston - New Orleans - Tallahassee - Orlando)
Texas Chief (Los Angeles – Phoenix – El Paso – Dallas)
View attachment 11138
