For the first time, the annual annullment of the Crescent south of Atlanta for trackwork will have substitute bus service.
Is it because of Wick? Because Wick is from Hattiesburg MS? Or, just coincidence? In any event, this is a small "better".
-Don (Random stuff, mostly about trains - what else? http://blerfblog.blogspot.com/)
Here is Amtrak's official announcement. first thought it was really going to cause an interesting situation in Atlanta. In previous years the 1st cancelled #19 of the week would stay in ATL and make up that night's northbound #20. The unused Crescent train set would stay in New Orleans that same day for some 4 day PM.
But according to this Amtrak notice link south bound train set will stop in ATL on Sundays and northbound will operate Sundays. So if this was true then Amtrak would have two train sets there on Sunday nights and two sets each daytime Mondays - Wednesdays in ATL. Well did not believe that so checked amtrak reservations and it shows cancellations both ways Mon <> Thursdays.
Now another problem Amtrak reservations shows cancelled those days south of ATL with no bustitutions.
So once again one part of a department does not know what other part of department knows. Who does know the truth.
Any thoughts ?
Track work being performed by Norfolk Southern Railway will affect Trains 19 and 20 between New Orleans and Atlanta, on the following dates:
We appreciate your patronage and apologize for any inconvenience you may experience. Reservation and train status information is available on Amtrak.com, our free mobile apps and at 1-800-USA-RAIL (1-800-872-7245).
Thank you for traveling with Amtrak.
PSN 1216-37
Why do they have to cancel the train? Why can't they operate around it like other Amtrak routes?
ROBERT WILLISON Why do they have to cancel the train? Why can't they operate around it like other Amtrak routes?
Johnny
Thanks, makes sense.
And possibly only half or less of the business is thru Atlanta - NO. A train running via Montgomery will still require buses to serve Bermingham.
You can probably handle all the traffic from Atlanta south with no more than two buses. Not worth trying to jump through a lot of hoops to keep the train running. You COULD probably figure a way to keep it on the route, but run it at night - shifting the schedule as the trackwork moved, but Amtrak would have to find another set of equipment and people would be laying over in Atlanta for 12 hours or so.
oltmannd You can probably handle all the traffic from Atlanta south with no more than two buses.
You can probably handle all the traffic from Atlanta south with no more than two buses.
I rode the Crescent from Atlanta to NO several years ago. It was on a Tuesday in the middle of September. I booked a room for privacy. I was the only person in the sleeper.
Makes me wonder if a better outcome would be to permanently terminate the Crescent in Atlanta and provide connecting Thruway buses to Birmingham, Montgomery, Mobile and NO.
It takes the Crescent nearly 11 hours to run from Atlanta to NO. Greyhound and Megabus do it in approximately 8 to 9 hours, although Greyhound's day bus takes about as long as the Crescent. Buses are a better outcome on lightly patronized routes.
Rio Grande Valley, CFI,CFII
If the NOLA-ATL segment were dropped, maybe the WASH-ATL segment could be speeded and a 2nd day train added, WASH-ATL? Better equipment utilization, better market.
C&NW, CA&E, MILW, CGW and IC fan
A better market for this train would be NY-ATL-D/FW. A sleeper and coach cut be set off at Meridian to serve NO.
schlimm If the NOLA-ATL segment were dropped, maybe the WASH-ATL segment could be speeded and a 2nd day train added, WASH-ATL? Better equipment utilization, better market.
"rode the Crescent from Atlanta to NO several years ago. It was on a Tuesday in the middle of September. I booked a room for privacy. I was the only person in the sleeper."...
Sigh, for all the usual calls for statistics, any idea how many people actually use the NOL to ATL route? By all accounts this is the ideal day train route, between two large cities about 500 miles apart, and has been well patronized when taken by this author. It just needs to be speeded up to leave later than 7 AM from NOL.
The issue since NRPC dropped the Atlanta short turn sleepers is that the rooms buckets may be priced to reserve the sleepers for ATL to WAS ($1.35/bedroom mile for two people in March of 2017) or NYP. So travelers from the south see higher prices unless they get off in ATL, discouraging use. However, the NOL to ATL Bedroom sleeper buckets aren't that low considering it is a daytime trip (about $1.10/bedroom mile for two people).
Have I mentioned NRPC needs more bedrooms for sale before.
Need the help from you English majors. First part is Amtrak's bustitution announcement. Second part is an email from Amtrak saying their bulletin is correct. Comments ? ? ?
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Part 1
PART 2
Amtrak Customer Support <customersupport@amtrak.com>
Thank you for contacting us. We are sorry for taking longer than expected to reply to your e-mail, due to an unusually high volume of e-mail correspondence. Your patience in this matt
V.Payne "rode the Crescent from Atlanta to NO several years ago. It was on a Tuesday in the middle of September. I booked a room for privacy. I was the only person in the sleeper."... Sigh, for all the usual calls for statistics, any idea how many people actually use the NOL to ATL route? By all accounts this is the ideal day train route, between two large cities about 500 miles apart, and has been well patronized when taken by this author. It just needs to be speeded up to leave later than 7 AM from NOL. The issue since NRPC dropped the Atlanta short turn sleepers is that the rooms buckets may be priced to reserve the sleepers for ATL to WAS ($1.35/bedroom mile for two people in March of 2017) or NYP. So travelers from the south see higher prices unless they get off in ATL, discouraging use. However, the NOL to ATL Bedroom sleeper buckets aren't that low considering it is a daytime trip (about $1.10/bedroom mile for two people). Have I mentioned NRPC needs more bedrooms for sale before.
I did not claim or even hint that my experience on the Crescent between Atlanta and New Orleans reflected a typical load factor. It was not meant to be statistical in any sense of the word.
Without access to Amtrak's books, we don't know what the Crescent's load factor was between Atlanta and New Orleans in FY16. However, based on Amtrak's published figures, the average load factor for the Crescent in FY16 was 47.6 percent, which was below the average load factor of 57 percent for the long distance trains.
Several forum participants, who appear to be closer to the area than I am, have said that the load factors on the Crescent between Atlanta and New Orleans appear to be light.
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