Rocky Mountaineer. Western Canada "Land Cruise"
http://www.rockymountaineer.com/en_US_CA/
Long Distance sleeper Service between Chicago and New Orleans. Pullman Journeys
http://www.travelpullman.com/
All Aboard Florida. Passenger Service between eastern Florida
http://www.allaboardflorida.com/
Vegas X Train. Fullerton to Vegas conventional rail
http://www.vegasxtrain.com/
Xpresswest Southwest High speed rail network connecting La, Palmdale, and Victorville to the southwest
http://www.xpresswest.com/
Teas Central High Speed rail Dallas to Houston
http://lshsr.com/
Examples of Services similar to what amtrak provides and many of them will be operation in a year or two. Rocky mountaineer is already in operation. I think Pullman journeys will be operation very soon. The services which are seen as thing which only Amtrak can offer can offered by different parties.
Railroad to Freedom
Anyone know how Chicago - NO Pullman is doing?
We have done several trips to New Orleans and back, and we have had decent crowds with plenty of positive feedback. In New Orleans on my last trip, virtually every other Amtrak passenger was asking about us. I will post a couple videos soon.
The Land of the Lime Green and Yellow!
[View:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4ivk2zhp5E]
3 of these exist only on paper and are several years away, if ever.
1 goes from nowhere to nowhere with only scenery in between
1 relies on Amtrak for its very survival
1 is more a commuter type service without true passenger train service
I am a little confused what the point is?
Have fun with your trains
The original post makes no mention of the past 40 year history of private US passenger rail: American Orient Express and all it's iterations; the original Auto Train; the Marlboro Train; the Montana Rocky Mtn tour train; the Denver Ski train. All these have gone out of business. I also seem to remember a Florida Fun Train. The only prior private LD service that still exists (that I can think of) is the Reno (Fun?) Train, and I think that is simply tacked on to the end of ATK's Zephyr. I hope success to the new private ventures, but it's hard to be optimistic.
You are missing the M&E: Maine and Eastern between Brunswick and Rockland Maine. The service is seasonal, yes, but is not a tourist/museum ride. Likewise the North Creek line out of Saratoga, NY is also a passenger service rather than a tourist/museum ride. It even connects with Amtrak services while the M&E is planning to coordinate with the Brunswick Downeast service within the next season..
RIDEWITHMEHENRY will plan and escort railfan rides in and around the NY Metropolitan and Philadephia areas: no mode of transportation is untouched. Guaranteed railfan fun!
The Saratoga-North Creek track is owned by the county, and it is my understanding they contract with Iowa Pacific. I did not think of it as an essentially private undertaking. In any case, I rode it this past summer, and I can highly recommend it.
PS: The Rockland branch is owned by the state and contracts with Maine Eastern for service.
MidlandMike The original post makes no mention of the past 40 year history of private US passenger rail: American Orient Express and all it's iterations; the original Auto Train; the Marlboro Train; the Montana Rocky Mtn tour train; the Denver Ski train. All these have gone out of business. I also seem to remember a Florida Fun Train. The only prior private LD service that still exists (that I can think of) is the Reno (Fun?) Train, and I think that is simply tacked on to the end of ATK's Zephyr. I hope success to the new private ventures, but it's hard to be optimistic.
Johnny
MidlandMike The Saratoga-North Creek track is owned by the county, and it is my understanding they contract with Iowa Pacific. I did not think of it as an essentially private undertaking. In any case, I rode it this past summer, and I can highly recommend it. PS: The Rockland branch is owned by the state and contracts with Maine Eastern for service.
So what. It is the private railroad in each case and not the government owner who is instituting and operating the service. The service is not mandated by the government agencies. I would believe, beyond a certain level of freight service, the government agencies really don't care what the railroad does as long as the rent is paid and the customers are happy. As for the concept of public ownership and private operator, this is how most of the short lines are designed today and as long as it works, it is something which we'll see even more of in the future.
henry6 MidlandMike The Saratoga-North Creek track is owned by the county, and it is my understanding they contract with Iowa Pacific. I did not think of it as an essentially private undertaking. In any case, I rode it this past summer, and I can highly recommend it. PS: The Rockland branch is owned by the state and contracts with Maine Eastern for service. So what. It is the private railroad in each case and not the government owner who is instituting and operating the service. The service is not mandated by the government agencies. I would believe, beyond a certain level of freight service, the government agencies really don't care what the railroad does as long as the rent is paid and the customers are happy. As for the concept of public ownership and private operator, this is how most of the short lines are designed today and as long as it works, it is something which we'll see even more of in the future.
How is ridership on the Chicago - NewOrleans Pullman operation now?