When additional cars and locos become available Amtrak's plans will probably be determined on how Congress has positioned the RR.
1. Spare cars will first go thru any refurbishment needed to improve the car's appearances and reliability.
2. If no additional funds to Amtrak it may attempt to increase the lengths of their present trains to attact more passengers to current trains. The ACS-64s will be able to pull longer trains with only one motor. However the problem of unreliable diesels will require probably another diesel on those routes where only one diesel might stall on a hill. Hopefully they would come from the displaced diesels.
3. Additional trains on any current route would require 3 -4 train sets in eastern US and 4 -6 western. Exceptions would be a daily Cardinal needing only one more set or if Sunset made thru Chicago - LAX no superliners but 2 single level sets for SAS - NOL.
4. Any new route would require mega bucks to get the route ready for service . + the requisite train sets.
All the above will eat up extra cars rapidly and not enough may be spare to accomplish any more than one of these options.
There won't be any new service, Amtrak, state funded or otherwise, unless two ingredients are present:
Absent those essential ingredients, the plans for the various proposed routes are exercises in hot air. Las Vegas - Southern California is a typical example. Press releases, plans, pretty pictures - but, so far, nobody has moved a spadeful of dirt, and it has been talked to death for eight years now. If it was likely to make money the casino owners would be lined up, checkbooks in hand. If they are, it's the best kept secret in Las Vegas.
Chuck (Las Vegas resident)
I think a bunch of amfleets will either be sold off to commuter rails, sent to California to surplus the California/Surfliner routes, or maybe its time to come up with a new regional route for Amtrak such as Chicago to Nashville, TN as an example.
081552I haven't done the math but won't the delivery of this new equipment place 100+ Amfleet coaches out of service? There's a blog post about a "wish list" for new single level equipment. It looks like Amfleet will be not seen west of Chicago in a few years.
Not sure how much Amfleet vs Horizon single level cars can go elsewhere. There should be enough to cover the 2 a day trains to Galesburg, St Louis, Carbondale. 1 a day to Quad Cities or Rockford delayed for some time. not sure how much may appear on Michigan trains. a lot depends what happens with the Hoosier to Indy.
Amfleet may easily be sent Northeast. Horizon cars could be sent somewhere South where they don't have to deal with so much snow.
I haven't done the math but won't the delivery of this new equipment place 100+ Amfleet coaches out of service? There's a blog post about a "wish list" for new single level equipment. It looks like Amfleet will be not seen west of Chicago in a few years.
zkr123 I don't think I worded the sentence right. I meant would there be enough of the new equipment to move the older sets to a new route.
I don't think I worded the sentence right. I meant would there be enough of the new equipment to move the older sets to a new route.
There are a few issues here.
One, is who owns the equipment. The California corridors are all populated by equipment owned by the state, so it can't go anywhere else.
Two, Amtrak itself hasn't proposed of pushed any new service anywhere in decades and isn't likely to start now. They let all new and expanded service initiatives come from the states.
Three, any new route would require an agreement with the host road. Except in very specific spots, the frt RRs are going to require a boat load of capital for capacity improvments, at the very least, for there to be new service anywhere.
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-Don (Random stuff, mostly about trains - what else? http://blerfblog.blogspot.com/)
zkr123 For example Amtrak California/Surfliner extend to Las Vegas with new equipment coming? Or an Amtrak high speed Texas triangle service.
For example Amtrak California/Surfliner extend to Las Vegas with new equipment coming? Or an Amtrak high speed Texas triangle service.
I don't think Amtrak is even in the picture for the Texas service. And so far only localities have discussed the possibility of kicking in money to extend the current private HOUSTON to DALLAS HSR line to Ft. Worth. Not much state involvement in that yet.
The additional California equipment will go to cover additional service on existing routes. The last time I looked, Las Vegas was on the other side of the state line.
Since this new equipment was ordered by various state agencies, no new service will be established in Texas.
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