What would you like to see?

[hf1001]

An extended route on the Heartland Flyer to Newton, Kansas

[daniel3197]

Name a train/route that you would like to see in the future.

Ok now that you asked here are a few key NEW PASSENGER routes that I would like to see begin soon.   This list of course favors California because that is where I live:

1. Bakersfield thru LA to San Diego Amtrak California passenger service.   In the interim this service would need to run via the current freight railroads via Tehachapi--Mojave--Palmdale--Newhall--Burbank--LA.  Unfortunately this would require a 5 hour plus run time from Bakersfield to LA (LAUPT).  My Timelog from the PRESIDENTUAL special run by former Amtrak president David Gunn shows what todays SHORTEST travel times would look like:  http://www.trainweb.com/travelogues/2006/danmonroe1.html

This Bakersfield to LA service should be operated ULTIMATLEY as SOON as possible via a new conventional world class "Super Railroad" over the Tehachapis.   A new California state "Grapevine Rail Authority" should be formed to close this key transportation gap.  At a minimum this should be constructed as a 6 Track railroad giving 3 passenger and 3 freight lines over 2 nearby mountain passes.   This new railroad needs to run roughly parallel to the 5 Freeway over the Grapevine - Tejon Pass.   That new Grapevine Rail Line needs to be TIME competitive with other modes to ensure its success.   This new service needs SOME thru trains to continue onward down the Surfliner Corridor toward San Diego CA.   In order to lower crowding some SHORT trains should be operated that TURNBACK in Los Angeles.   That way Bakersfield to Orange County or San Diego passengers would not likely to be crowded out over the KEY Tehachapi Mountains segment. This San Joaquin Valley to San Diego service should operate an overnight service.   This overnight train should be a very popular service .  This LONG route could perhaps originate in Sacramento and serve Stockton--Modesto--Fresno--Hanford and on to Socal.   An ULTRA LONG California Corridor could operate from Redding to San Diego.  That Redding to San Diego train would of course require sleeper cars and be very popular with far Northern California as the way to connect to the rest of California.   After thinking about all these potential corridors it looks like Amtrak California should have ordered a fleet of sleeper cars for the Amtrak California system.

 

2. San Francisco to LA and San Diego.  The new Coast Daylight Corridor would operate via Palo Alto--San Jose--Gilroy--Salinas--San Luis Obispo--Santa Barbara thru LA to San Diego.  This should also offer SOME direct trains thru central Los Angeles so that Orange County passengers are NOT forced to transfer in LA.   The Caltrain JPB has already OKed the use of a "Baby Bullet" Express time slot to operate this train from SF to SJ.   That way there will NOT be any additional traffic created on the very busy Peninsula Commute Line.   This is the same way that LA area Metrolink allowed Amtrak to add the currenly operating Surfliner trains 798 and 799.   Trains 798 and 799 are the midday Surfliner roundtrip serving San Luis Obispo CA.   Here is a RAILPAC Rail Advocacy meeting report that talks about this Coast Daylight issue on the Caltrain rail line:   http://archive.railpac.org/reports/2006/20061028.html

 

3 Amtrak Capitol Corridor service running thru SAN FRANCISCO and down Caltrain to San Jose.  This should SOMEHOW operate over a new STANDARD RAIl Bay Bridge.   This should run from Roseville--Sacramento thru Oakland and SF onward down Caltrain to San Jose.   I know this would take a massive amount of construction however the mobilty payoff for the SF Bay Area would be huge as well.   Currently Capitol Corridor passengers enroute to/from the SF Peninsula must either backhaul south to San Jose or head north thru vew busy San Francisco and transfer at least 2 times if not more.  This is why I am ranking this as my 3rd priority statewide choice.   A Caltrain Baby Bullet express slot would be a must for any future Capitol Corridor  trains running via SF.  In the interim (short-term) this route could operate south from San Franciso thru Redwood City via Dumbarton thru Newark--Fremont and turn north and join the EXISTING Capitol Corridor toward Oakland and Sacramento.  This route could use the rebuilt Dumbarton Rail Bridge Project that San Mateo County is working on.   Here is the OFFICAL website for the new Dumbarton Rail Project that is supposed to open in the year 2012:  http://www.smcta.com/Dumbarton_Rail/information.asp

 

4  San Francisco thru Redwood City to Stockton Am Cal serivice via Altamont Pass.    This would of course operate via the former SP Dumbarton Bridge line that has been closed to freight traffic since 1982.   This would be a key connection to the San Joaquin Valley from the mid peninsula (SF Peninsula) .  A San Jose service should operate north via Milpitas to the Niles (Fremont) connection with the former WP now UP Oakland Subdivision.  Adding this service to the existing ACE Commuter trains would require some major expansion (double and triple traking)  of the current railroad  (Fremont--Pleasanton--Livermore--Tracy--Lathrop--Stockton).

 I am eager to learn what new lines other people here would like to see.

--- Daniel 

[Los Angeles Rams Guy]

Here's the routes I'd like to see service restored to:

1.  Chicago - Dubuque - Waterloo - getting service back on the CN's former IC/ICG/CC Iowa Division.  I know that there's some study underway of getting service back between Chicago and Dubuque but this really needs to be extended to Waterloo.

2.  Twin Cities - Kansas City - Another corridor where there really should be service.  Of course, the UP's "Spine Line" mainline would be the ideal candidate here.

3."I-25 Corridor" - No matter where you have the northern point (Billings, Casper) there simply has GOT to be service between Denver and Pueblo.  I-25 between Denver and Colorado Springs and Pueblo is simply a freaking nightmare right now.  For the life of me if there was ONE route Amtrak had to add to their system this would have to be it - hands down.

4.  Chicago - Omaha - Another option to the current BNSF route via either the UP's "Overland Route" mainline, the Iowa Interstate, or perhaps even on the CN's Iowa Division.  I think, ideally anyway, the former CNW portion of the "Overland Route" would have to be the first choice because of the towns and cities for stops (just speaking of Iowa; Clinton, Cedar Rapids, Marshalltown, Ames, Boone, Carroll) but UP seems adamant about keeping Amtrak off of its showcase mainline.  Next choice would then be IAIS' former Rock Island mainline which also serves some good population areas (Quad Cities, Iowa City, Des Moines).  The big problem here is that a BOATLOAD of work would have to be done to bring the IAIS main up to F.R.A. Class 4 or 5 status and I'm assuming that would have to include new signaling as well.  The 3rd choice in all this mess would be CN's Iowa Division mainline which does serve both Dubuque and Waterloo as well as Ft. Dodge.  Still, a somewhat longer route and there would have to be some work done; particularly from Tara (just west of Ft. Dodge) to Council Bluffs. 

5.  Iowa City - Cedar Rapids - Dubuque - La Crescent - Twin Cities - Okay, okay, I know this one has as much chance as a snowball in hell of seeing the light of day but I thought it would be cool to have service on "my mainline" (the current ICE mainline between River Jct. and Sabula) as well as on the CN's Cedar Rapids-Manchester secondary mainline.

  

 

[tomikawaTT]

Serious rail service from Las Vegas to Los Angeles.

The most recent proposal called for service from Las Vegas to a park-and-ride lot in Victorville.  Somebody has got to be kidding!

Chuck

[inch53]

I would like to see passenger service again between Indy and St Louis, with stops in Terre Haute In and Effingham IL at least. I have heard talk about it before, but that seems to be as far as it goes. Maybe when gas hits $5.00 a gal, they'll get serous, but I don't it'll happen even then.

[CG9602]

Empire Builder re-routed through Madison, Wisconsin. I'd also enjoy seeing a Chicago - Florida service, and also St. Paul - Kansas City service. Barring those, it would be nice to see a doubling of the frequency of service over existing routes. I also think that service would be nice to be restored between Duluth, Minnesota, and Chicago, running as an additional frequency over the same route MSP - CHI as the builder through Wisconsin.

[Prairietype]

Kansas City to Denver, or, Kansas City to Omaha. It would be a modest but important regeneration of a passenger rail network. KC to Denver would run through a vast unserved area.

[Kevin C. Smith]

Close to home: Extend at least a few of the Hiawathas to Green Bay (and/or Madison), WI.

Big Picture: Something Chicago-Florida.

[alphas]

A 2nd run from Pittsburgh to NYC, probably by extending one of the Harrisburg--NYC trains.   Unlike so much of what is proposed here, this one would stand a decent chance of not requiring too much subsidy and might not be resisted by NS once their Tidewater double-stacks don't have to travel this route anymore.

[oltmannd]

Personally?  A daylight Atlanta to NEC train.  It's one I would use.

[lattasnip9]

Name a train/route that you would like to see in the future.