Passenger Trains > Amtrak to cancel some NEC trains, put pax on Palmetto

> Palmetto Trains 89 and 90 Add New Stops and Temporarily Replace
> Northeast Regional Trains 121, 131, 181 and 198
>
>
> *Effective October 12, 2015 - February 26, 2016*
>
> During a pilot program that begins October 26, 2015 through February
> 26, 2016, daily Train 198, Saturday Train 121, Sunday Train 131 and
> weekday Train 181 will not operate. Passengers who typically ride
> those trains can now make reservations aboard Palmetto Trains 89 and
> 90, which offer free Wi-Fi, checked baggage service, Business class
> and café service. Multi-ride tickets will also be accepted on between
> New York and Washington on Trains 89 and 90.
>
> New station stops have been added to Train 89 between New York and
> Washington to accommodate the temporary suspension of southbound
> Trains 121, 131 and 181. Stops have also been added to Train 90 due
> to the suspension of northbound Train 198.
>
> *Southbound Train 89*
>
> On weekdays, Train 89 added new station stops at Metropark, New
> Brunswick, Princeton Junction and BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport. On
> Saturdays and Sundays, stops have been added at Metropark, BWI
> Thurgood Marshall Airport and New Carrollton.
>
>
> *Northbound Train 90*
>
> Train 90 added daily stops at New Carrollton, BWI Thurgood Marshall
> Airport, Metropark and Newark.

source: AMTRAK

 

I can see combining the southbound Cardinal with an NEC train, though not northbound.
Higher horsepower Motors and higher speed baggage cars permit this efficiency. The Pennsy always mixed some LD thru cars with corridor train. I remember NH cars in the same conist with B&O and C&O cars through New Jersey. Now they just better not waste time with their LD seat assignment or ticket scanning nonsense on the platform.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/14/15 16:37 by joemvcnj.

Most times I ride 89 south out of DC, it is almost impossible to find seats in Business Class.  This sure isn't going to help.

What is the reasoning behind this?

Not sure if this is the reason, but there is a lot of track work going on at a few spots. Might be related to the high speed improvement work..

RFandPFan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Most times I ride 89 south out of DC, it is almost
> impossible to find seats in Business Class.  This
> sure isn't going to help.

If the idea behind this is merely to fill seats that now go unsold north of Washington because short-haul reservations are currently not accepted on this train, it should not affect seat availability south of Washington, unless somehow the introduction of a few intermediate station stops induces a few more people from New Jersey or Maryland to take this train to points south of Washington than currently do.

I don't really get this "pilot program" but OK. Why is it being termed a "pilot program." If they were just going to cancel and combine trains - just state that and state the reason. What makes it so special and a "pilot program."

The southbound consolidation may make some sense, but the northbound elimination of train 198 leaves a big gap between the departure at Washington DC. Basically there's no 9 pm train leaving Washington DC. You either have to get an 8 pm train or 10 pm train, and the 10 pm train is often not too attractive with arrival time into NYP, especially with train 90 potentially operating late or longer running time over the NEC........

How about a pilot program with train 66/65/67 with adding a Viewliner sleeper (as in when the second sleeper comes off the Cardinal - put it on the NEC train as a "pilot program.").

jp1822 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I don't really get this "pilot program" but OK.
> Why is it being termed a "pilot program." If they
> were just going to cancel and combine trains -
> just state that and state the reason. What makes
> it so special and a "pilot program."

And has any of these so called "pilot programs" actually pay off?

They will also leave a bit of a hole in the NEC Sunday morning schedule.

Saturdays, 121 (545am from NY) is replaced by 79 (605am)
Sundays, there is no 121 no begin with, there will be 89, but then they are killing 131 (645am). That leaves only a Keystone (700a) and 79 (705am). They are likely killing 131 since it and 51 play freeze-tag to DC.

So they should open up the under-utilized Cardinal (also 645am) to discharge passengers Wilmington and south. Otherwise, NEC passengers will squeeze out south-of-DC passengers from 79. North Carolina DOT will not like that.  
 

Great, it looks like Washington DC is getting the Boston treatment in terms of convienent late night departures.  Better make it an early dinner if you want to get back to NYC on time.  Train 66 is already too short, too crowded and too slow to be a viable option for travelers in the DC area to get back home.