Passenger Trains > HSR and SnailRail in Springield IL

Hi,

This not meant to be anti Amtrak post. Station is nice, all except one train I saw was on time and some decent loadings.

But:
Some NB trains loaded at the front, others at the rear but never in front of the station. I'd think you would want to load
at the same locations so people could head to the loading area as the train arrives. Here one door is open, a later
train with much fewer people had two doors at the rear of the train.

There seemed to be a lot of time padding. I guess some of this can be a result of track work speeding trains up and I
know you need padding but I think padding can become a crutch that is hard to get rid of and too much is never going to be HSR.

I know these things can be worked out but NOW would be a good time I think to start working on these things.
If you are going to spend a billion on track work then you want to start loading procedures that do not look like this.
A cynical comment could be is it will be easy to cut a half hour off the timing and say, look the track work paid off.


On another note, saw I guess 6 Chi-Stl trains and all but one had two units, some back to back others not.
I guess there can be some shuffling of units between Chi and Stl but not sure why the two so often???

Bob



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/09/12 05:07 by robj.

---

The two engine trains are the ones that are going 110mph in the segment between Dwight and Pontiac. I think it has something to do with acceleration, but I'm not sure where I saw that.

Under the high speed rail plans, 303 and 306 are going to stay at 79mph. The Texas Eagle is also going to stay at 79.

I've also been confused by why the crews sometimes do what they do with loading and not hitting a "mark". One time, I darn near got dropped off in the middle of Washington Street.

Ken Kirgan
Springfield, IL

Why can't we just be like Europe when it comes to boarding and deboarding trains? Your train arrives at the station. There is a little button by the door. You push it. The door opens. How hard is that? It would greatly decrease dwell times at stations. While many European stations have high level platforms, many do not and you are still able to let yourself on and off. Oh wait. I might get off at the wrong stop! Then that would then be the railroads fault...not mine!

andersonb109 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Why can't we just be like Europe when it comes to
> boarding and deboarding trains? Your train
> arrives at the station. There is a little button
> by the door. You push it. The door opens. How hard
> is that? It would greatly decrease dwell times at
> stations. While many European stations have high
> level platforms, many do not and you are still
> able to let yourself on and off. Oh wait. I might
> get off at the wrong stop! Then that would then be
> the railroads fault...not mine!

It would put the control freaks out of a job.

Why on Earth would you keep some trains at 79 mph after spending all that money on upgrades? Especially when there aren't that many passenger trains on the route to begin with. Even the Texas Eagle should be good for 100 mph with Superliner equipment, and yet, not even a bump to 90?

hsr_fan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Why on Earth would you keep some trains at 79 mph
> after spending all that money on upgrades?
> Especially when there aren't that many passenger
> trains on the route to begin with. Even the Texas
> Eagle should be good for 100 mph with Superliner
> equipment, and yet, not even a bump to 90?


It is a losing proposition to have trains run 110 mph requiring two units for a short stretch only to sit and wait at the next station.
Best guess is right now the four trains is good enough for performance testing etc but they don't have extra units
sitting around for the other trains. The extra cost over a year could be substantial.

Bob

hsr_fan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Why on Earth would you keep some trains at 79 mph
> after spending all that money on upgrades?
> Especially when there aren't that many passenger
> trains on the route to begin with. Even the Texas
> Eagle should be good for 100 mph with Superliner
> equipment, and yet, not even a bump to 90?

There was something in the agreement with UP that limited the number of 79MPH+ trains, presumably because faster trains eat more track capacity when mixed with lower speed freights.

Dave

There is a stretch of 110 MPH from CP 125 almost to the Albany station (about MP 142) on the Hudson Line in New York state. A few years ago I had a head-end ride (all legal). The P32 we had couldn't get the seven-car train above 93 MPH in the 17-mile stretch. So that's why they need two locomotives.

Returning, we had a different P32DM on the "Ethan Allen" with a five-car consist. That one did reach 110 a couple of miles before we had to slow southbound at CP 125.

Those GE units load very slowly, and acceleration is poor. Not a good choice for HSR.

shoretower Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> There is a stretch of 110 MPH from CP 125 almost
> to the Albany station (about MP 142) on the Hudson
> Line in New York state. A few years ago I had a
> head-end ride (all legal). The P32 we had
> couldn't get the seven-car train above 93 MPH in
> the 17-mile stretch. So that's why they need two
> locomotives.
>
> Returning, we had a different P32DM on the "Ethan
> Allen" with a five-car consist. That one did
> reach 110 a couple of miles before we had to slow
> southbound at CP 125.
>
> Those GE units load very slowly, and acceleration
> is poor. Not a good choice for HSR.

Well yeah a p-32ACDM only has 3200HP. a P-42 has 4200HP a 1000 more so if you had a P-42 you might have gotten to 110.

I was on #3 in May 2012 with the usual consist (7 Super liners, heritage baggage) plus 3 PV behind 2 P42s and it seemed to me that we had no problem accelerating to and maintaining 90. And Superliners are quite heavy! But maybe 110 is a lot different than 90.

Posted from Android

As a thought, could election year politics be involved? A high speed dashed picked up by the media, completely lacking in point to point improvement?

Charles Rice
Saint Louis, MO

Until conductors are trained again, again and again about how to load and unload trains, the train crews will continue to operate the trains for their own convenience. Until they understand that it is the passengers who are paying their salaries, they will treat passengers as a problem.

amtrakwolverine Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> shoretower Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > There is a stretch of 110 MPH from CP 125
> almost
> > to the Albany station (about MP 142) on the
> Hudson
> > Line in New York state. A few years ago I had
> a
> > head-end ride (all legal). The P32 we had
> > couldn't get the seven-car train above 93 MPH
> in
> > the 17-mile stretch. So that's why they need
> two
> > locomotives.
> >
> > Returning, we had a different P32DM on the
> "Ethan
> > Allen" with a five-car consist. That one did
> > reach 110 a couple of miles before we had to
> slow
> > southbound at CP 125.
> >
> > Those GE units load very slowly, and
> acceleration
> > is poor. Not a good choice for HSR.
>
> Well yeah a p-32ACDM only has 3200HP. a P-42 has
> 4200HP a 1000 more so if you had a P-42 you might
> have gotten to 110.

You will need a P52ACDM and a P52DC... Come on, GE! Bring on an EVO Genesis!


I was really expecting to see a Superliner route doing 100MPH (Texas Eagle beating the Chief).... Oh darn! Will this be possible is IDOT extends more capacity, here?

....



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/21/12 16:50 by darkcloud.

robj Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> But:
> Some NB trains loaded at the front, others at the
> rear but never in front of the station.

It appears there is only ONE electronic ticketing device per train so, it depends on where the conductor feels like boarding everyone. Even on the LD trains at outlying stations, it seems like too much trouble for them to come find you on the train. So everybody has to line up before the conductor to have their ticket verified before heading to their assigned car.

RailNet802, owevaaaah

I don't mean to divert any attention from such a serious discussion!
But I really like your shot... :^]

Lance

santafe199 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I don't mean to divert any attention from such a
> serious discussion!
> But I really like your shot... :^]
>
> Lance


Thanks! Glad someone noticed. Smile!!!!

Bob