BLS53 Does Amtrak's Hoosier State run on the former Monon?
Does Amtrak's Hoosier State run on the former Monon?
Yes, from Dwyer IN (Maynard Jct) to Crawfordsville. The train leaves Chicago on Amtraks former PRR main (now NS) to 47th St., thence to the UP, (former C&WI) to Dolton, thence UP (former C&EI to Thorton Jct) where it turns East onto the CN, (former GT), to the CSX at Maynard Jct which is where the Monon crossed the GT. At Crawfordsville, it swings SE on CSX (former Peoria and Eastern, NYC, Conrail) to CP Clermont where it goes onto CSX (former PRR Conrail ) to Union Station. It is a relatively direct route albeit not high speed. Getting out of Chicago, the train operates at 40 mph max to Dolton where it runs at 20 mph, on CN it gets up to 70, and on CSX runs at 60 mph. Greyhound bus is governed to max of 67 mph and even making local stops with slow stop & go running on city streets in LaFayette and Gary plus a 95th St Chicago stop handily beats the Hoosier. CSX track is comfortable at 60. Most of the former Big Four (NYC) route is gone between LaFayette and the north side of Indianapolis. With CSX not running a lot of traffic on the route, they have little motivation to improve it. I don't know whether they are putting in PTC on it.
Electroliner 1935 BLS53 Does Amtrak's Hoosier State run on the former Monon? Yes, from Dwyer IN (Maynard Jct) to Crawfordsville. The train leaves Chicago on Amtraks former PRR main (now NS) to 47th St., thence to the UP, (former C&WI) to Dolton, thence UP (former C&EI to Thorton Jct) where it turns East onto the CN, (former GT), to the CSX at Maynard Jct which is where the Monon crossed the GT. At Crawfordsville, it swings SE on CSX (former Peoria and Eastern, NYC, Conrail) to CP Clermont where it goes onto CSX (former PRR Conrail ) to Union Station. It is a relatively direct route albeit not high speed. Getting out of Chicago, the train operates at 40 mph max to Dolton where it runs at 20 mph, on CN it gets up to 70, and on CSX runs at 60 mph. Greyhound bus is governed to max of 67 mph and even making local stops with slow stop & go running on city streets in LaFayette and Gary plus a 95th St Chicago stop handily beats the Hoosier. CSX track is comfortable at 60. Most of the former Big Four (NYC) route is gone between LaFayette and the north side of Indianapolis. With CSX not running a lot of traffic on the route, they have little motivation to improve it. I don't know whether they are putting in PTC on it.
Thanks for the detailed response.
It seems speed relative to competing ground transportation is a common Amtrak problem on many routes. Same issue with the Illinois service on the CN in southern IL. I can beat the Carbondale-Chicago trains by about 30 minutes.
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