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Passenger trains and coal

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RME
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Posted by RME on Tuesday, May 24, 2016 12:45 PM

BaltACD
Serving alternate intermediate locations, that are not on the 'normal' route will always have a trip duration time penalty.

Sometimes a really tremendous one, if the 'intermediate location' pairs are to be served at human-acceptable hours...

There is also the 'California Zephyr' criterion that end-to-end speed may NOT be even particularly necessary for all or part of a LD train service -- and perhaps even further,  keeping to announced schedule might not be, provided connections or accommodations are assured.

It might be interesting to see how much of a parallel there is between people riding LD trains and people arranging for containerized freight shipments -- in both cases, there is often much more value in the guaranteed arrival (and in the quality inherent in the trip) than in absolute time reduction.

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Posted by schlimm on Tuesday, May 24, 2016 4:22 PM

RME
BaltACD Serving alternate intermediate locations, that are not on the 'normal' route will always have a trip duration time penalty.

 

RME wrote the following post 3 hours ago: Sometimes a really tremendous one, if the 'intermediate location' pairs are to be served at human-acceptable hours...

So why not change the end point to Cincy at an acceptable hour and see if that increases the ridership??

C&NW, CA&E, MILW, CGW and IC fan

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Posted by Philly Amtrak Fan on Tuesday, May 24, 2016 4:46 PM

Cincinnati (and Indianapolis) absolutely need to be served at better hours. I'd have the westbound leave 6 hours later. It would arrive in Cincinnati in the morning, Indy around noon, and Chicago about 6pm. The eastbound leaves 6 hours earlier from Chicago so it arrives in Cincinnati before midnight and gets to New York earlier in the afternoon. That doesn't allow for transfers to/from western trains but would Cincinnati rather have transfers or better hours? I would split the Cardinal and Hoosier State and have the Hoosier State run daily in the current Hoosier/Cardinal times.

If the Cardinal can't be rescheduled to better serve Indy/Cincy, it would be better to just break up the train. You could extend the Hoosier State to Cincinnati and reschedule it to benefit all three major cities involved and then have a new Lynchburger in the Cardinal slot so Charlottesville-New York service is maintained. Best of all, both of these trains can be daily and you wouldn't have to worry about Buckingham Branch or a potential downgrade east of Cincinnati.

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Posted by daveklepper on Wednesday, May 25, 2016 9:19 AM

The 

MidlandMike

 

 
daveklepper

Mysuggestion for cutting the deficit and at the same time put trucking compeition with rail on a more equal footing is to sell the Interstate Highway System to investors who would make it into a series of toll roads, with the purchase price paid off, plus maintenance and imiprovements, paid out of the tolls.

 

 

 

Be careful what you wish for.  Private companies run the business for the benefit of their largest customers.  In this case it would be for large trucking and bus companies.  Maybe AAA and large fleets could get deals also.  There is no guarantee that the turnpike companies wouldn't get subsidies like transit operations do.  There would be no more freedom of the road.

 

[quote user="MidlandMike"]

 

 
daveklepper

Mysuggestion for cutting the deficit and at the same time put trucking compeition with rail on a more equal footing is to sell the Interstate Highway System to investors who would make it into a series of toll roads, with the purchase price paid off, plus maintenance and imiprovements, paid out of the tolls.

 

 

 

Be careful what you wish for.  Private companies run the business for the benefit of their largest customers.  In this case it would be for large trucking and bus companies.  Maybe AAA and large fleets could get deals also.  There is no guarantee that the turnpike companies wouldn't get subsidies like transit operations do.  There would be no more freedom of the road.

 

[/quoteabove]

The Surface Trasnsportation Board would, of course, insure that all toles would be proportional to weight and on an pervihicle-mile basis.

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Posted by MidlandMike on Wednesday, May 25, 2016 9:18 PM

daveklepper

...

The Surface Trasnsportation Board would, of course, insure that all toles would be proportional to weight and on an pervihicle-mile basis.

 

Does the STB already regulate private toll roads?  Railroads set prices with shippers, and if shippers have a problem they file a complaint with STB.  Tarrifs have been gone for years.  Some new toll roads don't even take coins, you must have a credit-like card.

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Posted by BaltACD on Wednesday, May 25, 2016 10:13 PM

MidlandMike
daveklepper...

The Surface Trasnsportation Board would, of course, insure that all toles would be proportional to weight and on an pervihicle-mile basis.

Does the STB already regulate private toll roads?  Railroads set prices with shippers, and if shippers have a problem they file a complaint with STB.  Tarrifs have been gone for years.  Some new toll roads don't even take coins, you must have a credit-like card.

The latest in toll roads don't have manned toll plaza's - correct change or license tag reader that will send a bill to the owner of the license, others don't accept money at all, it is either 'E-Z-Pass' (or equivalent) or the license tag reader routine.

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by Phoebe Vet on Thursday, May 26, 2016 7:56 AM

schlimm

 

 
JPS1
The feds could legislate a change to Medicare, for example, which would reduce the out year obligations, but it cannot refuse to pay the interest on the public debt unless it wants to default, which is unlikely.

 

One candidate "suggested" renegotiating the debt with creditors, in fact. At least that was his position for one news cycle.

 

Or he could just burn the creditors by declaring bankruptsy like he has 4 times in the past.

Dave

Lackawanna Route of the Phoebe Snow

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Posted by zugmann on Thursday, May 26, 2016 12:20 PM

Phoebe Vet
Or he could just burn the creditors by declaring bankruptsy like he has 4 times in the past.

 

But they were the best bankruptcies! People could only dream of having bankruptcies like him!

 

It's been fun.  But it isn't much fun anymore.   Signing off for now. 


  

The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.t fun any

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Posted by PJS1 on Thursday, May 26, 2016 9:26 PM

As per the Law Dictionary, which features Blacks Law Dictionary, People might ask "How is Donald Trump able to file for bankruptcy so many times?" The answer is "He didn't." Trump himself has never filed for bankruptcy. His corporations have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy four times. 

Most of the nation's railroads or their predecessors have filed for bankruptcy at sometime in their corporate history.  

Rio Grande Valley, CFI,CFII

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Posted by ROBERT WILLISON on Friday, May 27, 2016 3:11 PM

Thier are no such thing as a good bankruptcy. Perhaps Donald trump or the major air lines came out OK. The people who are hurt, the employees who lose thier jobs, vendors and other companies who are never paid what they are owed, bond holders and shareholder's who lose their investments.

The top managers of trump's corporations and other companies that went bankrupted may have  been given golden parachute's but everyone else lost.

Be nice to keep politics out of it.

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Posted by CandOforprogress2 on Tuesday, June 7, 2016 1:42 PM

Fracking may be a factor to save some of these lines. SW Ohio and NE Pennsy are former coal fields that are now fracking fields. Railroads now bring in frak sand and frak fluids and carry out frak gas and oil. Gennese and Wyomings Buffalo and Pittsburgh is a major player in this game. https://finance.yahoo.com/q/pr?s=GWR

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