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[quote user="gardendance"][quote user="Samantha"] According to TEMPO and NARP, discontinuance of the Eagle would result in a discontinuance of the Heartland Flyer.  I have not seen any hard data (number of passengers connecting with the Eagle) to support that theory.      [/quote]maybe they're thinking of expenses that 2 trains now share which just 1 isolated train wouldn't justify? Do they do maintenance in Chicago? I'd assume it's a lot cheaper to tack a Heartland Flyer car onto the Eagle to get it to the mainenance shop than to pay the freight railroad, or set up maintenance in Fort Worth.[/quote]Amtrak keeps a spare locomotive and Superliner coach in Fort Worth for the Flyer.  Of course, both could be used on the Eagle in case of an emergency.  I have seen the locomotive used on the Flyer in place of the FP40 cabbage unit, but I have never seen it or the coach used on the Eagle.  One Sunday afternoon I observed Amtrak run the spare locomotive and coach over the TRE to Dallas. This was shortly after I heard that Amtrak was considering re-routing the Eagle over the TRE.I presume the locomotives and cars are sent to Chicago or Beech Grove for serious maintenance.  Here is a web site for a great tour of Beech Grove:  <a href="http://www.trainweb.org/chris/beech.html">http://www.trainweb.org/chris/beech.html</a>.  The need to do that, however, does not justify the continuance of the Eagle, which loses more than $25 million a year before other charges.  The locomotives and cars probably could be maintained by the TRE or Trinity Industries.  They are Texas based.  The TRE is in Irving, whilst Trinity Industries has a car shop in Longview.Before moving to Austin I used to visit the Fort Worth ITC three or four times a week to observe the Flyer and Eagle.  I did not see many people connecting from the Flyer to the Eagle or vice versa.  This suggests to me that the Flyer might be able to stand on its own if the Eagle was discontinued.  If the Eagle and Sunset Limited were discontinued, some of the equipment could be used to expand passenger rail between Fort Worth and San Antonio, which is the most congested corridor in Texas.Passengers arriving on the Flyer and going to Dallas were better off taking the Trinity Railway Express (TRE) as opposed to waiting for the late running Eagle.  In fact, Amtrak's schedule hints that the TRE is a better connection.Interestingly, the Heartland Flyer covered its expenses during FY 2007.
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