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[quote user="CJtrainguy"] [quote user="Sam1"] Two weeks ago I took the Texas Eagle from Taylor to Dallas.  Number 22 was four hours late.  Lets see, it is 117 miles from San Antonio, where Number 22 originates, and Taylor.  Four hours late!  It is happening frequently now that the UP is again crowded with freight trains.  Rather than constantly tick-off passengers because of late running trains, we would be better off to kill the long distance trains and run trains in relatively short, high density corridors.  Even if they are run over a freight carrier, if they don't have too far to go, there is a higher probability of keeping them on time. [/quote] [/quote][quote user="CJtrainguy"] [quote user="Sam1"] [/quote] Okay, so I have to ask, since you suggest that short corridors would be better than LD for timekeeping: How long (short) should those corridors be then, since apparently 117 miles is way too long, as seen in the case you relate? <img src="/emoticons/emotion-5.gif" alt="Wink" /> [/quote] The consensus among the experts seems to say that a 200 to 250 mile high density corridor is ideal for passenger trains. To be successful the trains must be quick, frequent, comfortable, economical, and dependable. Moreover, if they are hosted by a freight railroad, it must be compensated to cover all of its costs. Unless that happens the freight carrier has no incentive to keep the renter's trains on-time.   The Eagle delay that I noted above was a bit of a one off.  Number 22 is rarely that late.  Part of the problem was that the Eagle picked up Amtrak's display cars from Number 2.  The cars were going to Fort Worth for National Train Day.  If I remember correctly, Number 2 was late that morning. When it is not saddled with the connecting cars from Number 2, the Texas Eagle is usually on-time or nearly on-time into Fort Worth.  But on those days when the cars off the Sunset Limited are transferred to the Eagle, the train is likely to be late, especially if the Limited is more than an hour or so late getting into San Antonio. If I am taking the Eagle to Dallas, I frequently look on Amtrak's status page before going to bed to see when Number 2 is expected to arrive into Del Rio. If it is seriously late, i.e. more than two hours, I can be reasonably sure that the Eagle will be late departing San Antonio. The further one has to go, the greater the probability that he will run into a delay. Although I don't have any numbers to back-up this notion, experience tells me that it is so. Support for this notion appears to lie in the fact that Number 22 gets 2 hours and 31 minutes to run from San Antonio, its point of origin, to Austin. Number 21 gets 3 hours and 25 minutes to run from Austin to San Antonio, in large part because it is frequently late on its run from Chicago.
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