Passenger Trains > Amtrak Norfolk-WAS to depart at 610am, not 500am

Amtrak moving weekday departure for Norfolk to Washington train
The Virginian-Pilot
by Tim Eberly
August 25, 2015    

> Amtrak values your sleep, too. The railroad passenger service
> announced Monday that it's moving the weekday departure time for the
> train from Norfolk to Washington.
>
> As of Aug. 31, the new departure time will be 6:10 a.m. The current
> time is - yawn - 5 a.m.
>
> In a prepared statement Monday, Amtrak wrote that the time change was
> due to "customer response."  (emphasis mine -GP)

Full story:

Amtrak moving weekday departure for Norfolk to Washington train[/url} <phorum break> <phorum break>  

This should have been obvious from the beginning.  I, for one, pointed it oiut before the service even started.

It's a bit amusing that it took Amtrak several years to figure this out.

All they have done is move train 174 to departing Richmond at 7 am and have 84 now leave from Norfolk and leave Richmond at about 8:15 instead of the 8 am it was leaving. Another point is that 84 is a New York train not a Boston train so has Norfolk lost its direct train to Boston.

Sharon Evans
Glen Allen, VA



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/25/15 15:59 by RNinRVR.

Let's watch what happens to the Newport News ridership in the coming months. That train has a bus connection from Norfolk at 7:40am.
It also more closely aligns Norfolk train weekday with weekend service. It seems to be M-F train 84 rather than 174.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/25/15 16:19 by joemvcnj.

It's not obvious.  Washington DC is an early city.  The government is all on flex time with strict 40 hour work weeks so employees get in an 6-7am and work to 3-4pm.  New York is a late city.  You can't leave before your boss so people get in at 9 and work until late. 

reindeerflame Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> This should have been obvious from the
> beginning.  I, for one, pointed it oiut before
> the service even started.
>
> It's a bit amusing that it took Amtrak several
> years to figure this out.

mbrotzman Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It's not obvious.  Washington DC is an early
> city.  The government is all on flex time with
> strict 40 hour work weeks so employees get in an
> 6-7am and work to 3-4pm.  New York is a late
> city.  You can't leave before your boss so people
> get in at 9 and work until late. 
>
> reindeerflame Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > This should have been obvious from the
> > beginning.  I, for one, pointed it oiut before
> > the service even started.
> >
> > It's a bit amusing that it took Amtrak several
> > years to figure this out.

This train service is not for people going to and from work on a regular basis.  It is for people making occasional trips.

Newport News and Norfolk/Virginia Beach are arguably much different markets, and the stations are twenty-five miles apart by highway. Also makes a more sane travel time for those of us going *to* Norfolk from points north. Who wants to spring for a night in a hotel, only to get up at 3:30 to catch a 5:00 return trip? I travel occasionally for work on state contracts, and would never consider Amtrak to be an efficient use of time or travel dollars--not even to/from Richmond from Northern Virginia. We drive 100% of the time.

Paul Wilson
Arlington, VA

mbrotzman Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It's not obvious.  Washington DC is an early
> city.  The government is all on flex time with
> strict 40 hour work weeks so employees get in an
> 6-7am and work to 3-4pm.  New York is a late
> city.  You can't leave before your boss so people
> get in at 9 and work until late. 
>
> reindeerflame Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > This should have been obvious from the
> > beginning.  I, for one, pointed it oiut before
> > the service even started.
> >
> > It's a bit amusing that it took Amtrak several
> > years to figure this out.

It's pretty obvious to me that a training leaving a station at 5am isn't going to get much business at that station.  Yes, I've heard the arguments that it's used by Military people needing to get to Pentagon by 9am (remember "we do more before 9am than most people do in a day"?)....but bloated as the Military is, they alone won't fill a train a day from Norfolk to DC.  Sure, the train begins to fill up at more reasonably timed stations down the line, but the $100M Virginia spent was to extend the already existing service beyond Richmond to Norfolk, and so far that's only attracting about a coach load of riders per train.  They need to figure out how to attract more customers (Hint:  more than one train a day would help even more than a daylight hour departure)

Dave