Passenger Trains > Amtrak Rumors

Any new Amtrak rumors coming down the pipeline. New service, discontiue service, schedule changes, Sunset/Texas Eagle, new equipment and so on!!

With the November Schedule change Acela schedules will be changed to reflect the new 150 MPH running between NYC and Washington DC, and the Pennsylvanian will gain a Viewliner (made possible by an overhaul of the two prototypes) and will run through to Chicago.

Surfliner trains 799 and 798 will begin running through to San Francisco with an overnight "Lark" service running to Oakland, on the south end the Surfliners will get a 12th daily round trip along with a promise of 90% or better OTP across the line by the host railroads, the SD-LA running time will be shortened half an hour thanks to the new tunnel through La Jolla and Del Mar and new 110 MPH running through Camp Pendelton and Orange County.

The Desert Wind will be resurrected between LA and Vegas, while the Pioneer will be restored running across Wyoming.

The Southwest Chief is being rerouted over the Transcon while the Heartland Flyer is being extended to Minot, ND in the north, and Houston, TX in the south (with perfectly timed connections to all the LD trains).

Oh, almost forgot that the Sunset will go daily and resume service to Florida in order to help boost the economy in the oil-stricken areas.

And the Amtrak company lurkers who do witch hunts on those who leak information are now frantically searching for whoever provided that information to Jaanfo.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/05/10 23:52 by GenePoon.

Hey Jaanfo. You forgot to mention. Train 799 will have a new 5am Departure time from Los Angeles.

Jerry Martin
Los Angeles, CA
Central Coast Railroad Festival

GP25 Wrote:
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> Hey Jaanfo. You forgot to mention. Train 799 will
> have a new 5am Departure time from Los Angeles.


I also neglected to mention the train which will replace 3 and 4 from Kansas City over Raton, then turn at ABQ going up the NMRX to Santa Fe, then down the SFS BACK over Raton and on into Denver... That one's a state-funded initiative though, never know exactly how that could play out.

Guys, this is September, not April 1.

B&OB

Yea, but they've been on the Sunset. It was SUPPOSED to arrive on April 1...


-Tom


bandob Wrote:
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> Guys, this is September, not April 1.
>
> B&OB

I know everyone is kidding, but it's sad to realize that all of these ideas are very good ones.

As long as many in America look upon passenger rail as "wasteful Government spending", we will never "pull the trigger" and commit to projects like these. We will continue to joke about wonderful train service "we could have had".

You know, Europe and Asia with their high-speed networks, must look down on America as a backward country when it comes to rail.

floridajoe2001 Wrote:
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> As long as many in America look upon passenger
> rail as "wasteful Government spending", we will
> never "pull the trigger" and commit to projects
> like these. We will continue to joke about
> wonderful train service "we could have had".

Joe, until America realizes that limited resources have to be put to the best uses (and that applies to passenger train funding , too), and you get away from your every train is a good train notion, Amtrak will be one vote away from extinction. In other words, your attitude is not helping the cause.

ts1457: My question to you is, why does America have "limited resources" and the rest of the world doesn't?

I suspect your view of "best uses of resources" does not include rail. Sorry, mine does.

Who can say what's "best". In my view, the guy that gets the money wins. Who cares if some people think this is not the "best" use.

Joe



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/06/10 07:33 by floridajoe2001.

Not a rumor but a prediction: if the Republicans regain control of Congress this year--especially with the rise of Tea Party and Libertarian candidates--anticipate another all out push to again privatize, dismember, or zero out Amtrak. These guys (and women) are True Believers, and will take their cues and legislative agendas--pretty much verbatim-- from such traditional Amtrak/public transit foes as the American Enterprise Institute, Cato Institute, and the Heritage Foundation.

Amtrak has been on the hit list of these organizations and their pocketed members of Congress for decades.

If you are an Amtrak rider or supporter, expect the worst, because it's coming.

Art House
Gettysburg, Pa.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/06/10 07:43 by aehouse.

Other than a bunch of studies, I haven't seen a great passenger network evolve over the last 4 yrs of dem control either. The "stimulus" money to repair equipment was a drop in the bucket, not an endorsement of Amtrak. While traditionally conservatives oppose Amtrak, it hasn't exactly been embraced by liberals over its near 40 year lifetime.

Although the Republicans and Conservatives have tried and tried Jimmy Carter cut more trains than anyone else.

floridajoe2001 Wrote:
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> Who can say what's "best". In my view, the guy
> that gets the money wins. Who cares if some
> people think this is not the "best" use.
>
> Joe


Well Joe, lets turn that around and say "the guy who doesn't get the money loses."
As the poster who followed your comment noted, get ready to lose bigtime....
and IMHO this loss could have been avoided, as Graham Claytor once demonstrated.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/06/10 13:50 by hazegray.

We can go around round round on this. My basic question is why is it OK to spend 3 trillion dollars on a war i Iraq, but when we spend money in America is wrong, socialism or any other number of terrible words.

The money spent on Amtrak is small but in the right direction. The money spend on higher speed rail is also money spent in the right direction. Once people start riding these new services, there will be a huge cry for more. Look at the record numbers of people riding Amtrak = and new services: Lynchburg, North Carolina, ancouver and the slow Chi-Stl services and the newly improved Keystone Serivces. This with the price of gas in the dumps.

Any improvements - slow speed, medium speed or high speed is a great start!

aehouse Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Not a rumor but a prediction: if the Republicans
> regain control of Congress this year--especially
> with the rise of Tea Party and Libertarian
> candidates--anticipate another all out push to
> again privatize, dismember, or zero out Amtrak.
> These guys (and women) are True Believers, and
> will take their cues and legislative
> agendas--pretty much verbatim-- from such
> traditional Amtrak/public transit foes as the
> American Enterprise Institute, Cato Institute,
> and the Heritage Foundation.
>
> Amtrak has been on the hit list of these
> organizations and their pocketed members of
> Congress for decades.
>
> If you are an Amtrak rider or supporter, expect
> the worst, because it's coming.
>
> Art House
> Gettysburg, Pa.

I tend to agree with this, and this is why Amtrak really needs to capitalize NOW on continued Obama administration support. Secure the money, start restoring/laying track, and continue getting passenger rail cars out on the rails. And of course, this includes ensuring funding for new equipment is securely in place, before it may be taken away. Nice for Amtrak to make a "down payment" but it would be nicer if Amtrak had this money ready to go to pay CAF as the cars become available. Amtrak can't afford funding being "taken back" after it has been promised. Obama threw stimulus money at Amtrak and Amtrak has got to make sure it uses it appropriately and kinda quickly since the railroad has often been a political football and no need to get started in the games. Perhaps Boardman has come out of his shell with the new contract he's been given and the whole VRE fiasco, but I still think he has got to be more aggressive for Amtrak's sake. The US has a really unique and friendly rail passenger administration. Boardman needs to CAPITALIZE on this even more than what he has been.

Yes, it's true, the Democrats are friends to passenger rail, and it looks like they will lose big time in November. But all is not lost to the anti-spending Amtrak haters.

The Democratic Party will take over as the "just say no" party and object to cuts in Amtrak. Hopefully, they can prevent any real damage being done to Amtrak. We've been down this road before--in fact, the last administration was totally anti-Amtrak, and tried and failed for 8 years to eliminate it. Amtrak is still here and carrying more passengers than ever.

In our favor are the 3 big projects in Ill., Fla., and Cal., which will be coming on line regardless of who controls Congress; the interest of States in funding new service; and those wonderful ridership figures heading for another record.

At least we got about $12B while we could. But, after November, we will probably have to shift from offence (funding Amtrak's bright future), to defense (keeping what we've got).

Joe

floridajoe2001 Wrote:
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> At least we got about $12B while we could. But,
> after November, we will probably have to shift
> from offence (funding Amtrak's bright future), to
> defense (keeping what we've got).

I guess the essence of my point is that it would be easier to keep what we've got if the money had been put into the best projects in the first place. Call me anti-passenger train if it makes you feel better.

Why don't you post a list of what you think "the best projects" are. See how many fellow fans agree or disagree. It's the only way to know how close you come to defining what "the best" means.

Please, I would love to have someone define "the best" for us.

Joe

Re: Prior post..we do not have resources because we are supporting the world instead of it's American citizens..