Admittedly a one-seat ride is preferable and will draw more customers than one that requires changing trains. But the connection between Amtrak and LIRR at Penn isn't difficult, suits current travel patterns and densities, and the LIRR already has all the traffic it can handle on Friday and Sunday evenings on the single-track Montauk line.
But wouldn't it be interesting to have a few Northeast Regionals to/from Washington and Philadelphia run through Penn Station and on to the Hamptons? Especially maybe Sunday night/Monday morning to "town", and Friday nights out to the Hamptons ... ?
Sure, but the problem here is that everybody envisions a service built around his or her sepcific wants ..., and the passenger network that existed before the highways and airlines took most of the business is just not flexible enough to accommodate them, particularly when business travel is an impossibility on most Amtrak routes, and demand is buiit around a summer-season peak, and there's insufficient equipmet to run additional trains ... etc, etc, etc
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Probably, if you check the schedules closely, you may see that the train between Pittsburgh and New York was really part of a regular Pittsburgh-NY train with a year-round different name, much like the IC's Magnnolia Star and Panama Limited were coach and sleeper in the same train. I am not certain of this, but there is a high probability, given the expected ridership, and the information that I learned much earlier in life. But remember in those days, the LIRR service to Montauk included regular dining cars! At least in the summer season.
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daveklepper through Pittsburgh - Montauk sleeper
TheLIRR and PRR did at one time have a through Pittsburgh - Montauk sleeper, and up to WWII there were through summer Philly - Montauk parlor cars. Amtrak doesn't serve lots of places. They never considered serving any part of Long Island because the LIRR was serving the Island already. Amtrak began serving locations which were served by Private Railroads that joined the Amtrak plan. The LIRR did not and neither did any of the other State-owned railroad systems of the time.
Back when the Empire Connection was being planned there was some consideration to originate/terminate some trains at Jamaica to establish a convenient service from the island to the state capitol. The idea never really caught on.
Editor Emeritus, This Week at Amtrak
Dragoman But wouldn't it be interesting to have a few Northeast Regionals to/from Washington and Philadelphia run through Penn Station and on to the Hamptons? Especially maybe Sunday night/Monday morning to "town", and Friday nights out to the Hamptons ... ?
Amtrak did try something similar to Cape Cod a number of years ago...
Also, Amtrak service to Atlantic City from Springfield MA and Richmond VA...
-Don (Random stuff, mostly about trains - what else? http://blerfblog.blogspot.com/)
Amtrak, at its creation, was not to operate ANY train service deemed commuter. That definition was less than 100 miles was considered commuter.The Long Island Railroad operations of less than 100 miles from New York City would be considered commuter under the law that created Amtrak. Ironically Penn Central might have been forced to operate all New York to Philadelphia intercity trains it operated because New York was less than 100 miles from Philadelphia. Sensibility prevailed and Amtrak operated trains between New York and Philadelphia and Chicago and Milwaukee after May 1st 1971, among others. As it has done in Boston; Amtrak could contract to operate trains for a commuter authority using Amtrak crews but not Amtrak equipment.
First and foremost the LIRR is a commuter railroad considering all their services commuter and not long distance nor inter city. As such thier equipment, schedules, and customer base are so different from Amtrak's that it doesn't fit Amtrak's busniess program. Second, the LIRR is owned and operated by the New York Metropolitan Transit Authority and not aprivateenterprise (Governor Nelson Rockefeller had the State take control back in the early 60s). (The PRR relenquished control of the LIRR in1950 when the LIRR filed for bankruptcy.)
Basically, the Long Island did not ask to join Amtrak, but continued, and continues, to provide service to Montauk and several other destinations on Long Island.
Johnny
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