Passenger Trains > New Private Car Guidelines & Rates w/ Amtrak

Here are the new current changes Amtrak made regarding private car movements.

https://www.amtrak.com/content/dam/projects/dotcom/english/public/documents/Amtrak-Private-Car-Guidelines-041818.pdf

https://www.amtrak.com/content/dam/projects/dotcom/english/public/documents/Private-Car-Tariff-Rates-Addendum-6-050118.pdf

Also new guidelines regarding charter/special trains

https://www.amtrak.com/content/dam/projects/dotcom/english/public/documents/Amtrak-Charter-Train-Guidelines-032818.pdf

No Capitol Ltd at Pittsburgh.
No Spokane, no Whitefish at all.

Charter train guidelines written to permit special to Greenbriar (on an existing route, for government purpose), but no Autumn Express.
NJ Chamber of Commerce train is a big maybe (uses 18 cars needed elsewhere, not a government-sponsored purpose, although politicians ride it).



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/19/18 10:01 by joemvcnj.

What does this mean?

Charter Trains must not be one-time trips;

So a Saturday charter out and back is no. But that same charter operating out and back on Saturday and Sunday is a maybe?

CP4743 Wrote:
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> What does this mean?

That all of the doomsday posts were premature and what I and some others were saying to just wait and take a deep breath has come true.

That this is Amtrak trying to clean house and become more efficiant to take care of its primary purpose, basic transporation.

If Mr. Airline likes bean counting so much, why not just make PV owners responsible for the cost of delays associated with mid-point pickups-dropoffs? If someone is willing to pay an extra $10k or whatever to go to Whitefish, by all means, take their money!

Also why not offer Philly as a set-out stop for northbound long distance trains for an additional fee?

I'm sure I could come up with more examples, but this is not a very through exercise in finding ways to monetize existing operations.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/19/18 10:06 by mbrotzman.

akpsteam Wrote:
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> Here are the new current changes Amtrak made
> regarding private car movements.


No more Oakland CA...thinking of what Aronco wrote on Tuesday.

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?4,4533749



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/19/18 10:12 by GenePoon.

mbrotzman Wrote:
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> If Mr. Airline likes bean counting so much, why
> not just make PV owners responsible for the cost
> of delays associated with mid-point
> pickups-dropoffs? If someone is willing to pay an
> extra $10k or whatever to go to Whitefish, by all
> means, take their money!

BECAUSE the whole point is to NOT affect Amtrak passangers.

Looks like the private cars that were "home ported" in Huntington, WV, and Jacksonville, FL, and other locations, will have to move.

This is a 12.5% increase in mileage rates and comes just 7 months after the last increase. In the past few years, Amtrak agreed to make rate changes on October 1, with advance notice, so PV operators could plan their costs and price trips accordingly. This increase comes with 12 days notice. Any scheduled trip taking place after May 1 is now stuck with a big increase in mileage fees and no way to recoup that cost.

jst3751 Wrote:
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> BECAUSE the whole point is to NOT affect Amtrak
> passangers.

I wish more of the froth understood this.

Look at the "Varnish on the back of Amtrak 8" subject on the Eastern Board.

There are 2 PV's on the eastbound Empire builder in Washington State on April 18th evening. How do they deal with them when they reach Spokane, train 28's cars have to be attached, yet Spokane is not on the permissible list for switching ?

Really thankful I no longer own a PV.

glendale Wrote:
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> jst3751 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > BECAUSE the whole point is to NOT affect Amtrak
> > passangers.
>
> I wish more of the froth understood this.

PV's are Amtrak passengers. Last I checked the Airlines have restored their profitability by offering more and more premium services because the 1% is where the money is. The whole point is to make money and if you want to make money all services should be available at the right price.

glendale Wrote:
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> jst3751 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > BECAUSE the whole point is to NOT affect Amtrak
> > passangers.
>
> I wish more of the froth understood this.


I wish more of the "froth" as you put it understood that private cars were only a minimal contributor to delays on the Amtrak system. Statistically, they amount to a rounding error in the whole scheme of things. Very few trains overall ever had private cars, and yet the trains without private cars still accumulated shocking delays.

> BECAUSE the whole point is to NOT affect Amtrak
> passangers.

Well thank goodness, now that the PV/charter nemesis has been dealt with the trains will be on time! :)

In the grand scheme, I don't see how this action by Amtrak will make any significant difference in the abysmal on-time performance of most of their trains. I'm a frequent Cardinal passenger and I've seen that train running on time only to be put in the hole for over an hour. The PV action won't fix that!

joemvcnj Wrote:
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> No Capitol Ltd at Pittsburgh.
> No Spokane, no Whitefish at all.
>

I was on an eastbound Builder that backed in to pick up a private car at Whitefish. The whole thing: backup move, hooking up, brake test, pulling out and lining switch took about 20-30 minutes, as I recall.
No switch engines to bring the PV out on the mainline and hookup there. And yes, we were late arriving in Chicago.

Detaching is easier. Last July on #6, we dropped a UP car of some sort at Omaha that must have come from California or Salt Lake (I got on at Denver). Total dwell time for that and passenger station work was 10 minutes.

The bottom line is that all you yo-yos who think that Airline Boy is doing a service to Amtrak are dead wrong. Wait until you see what's coming next with the long distance trains. A year from now, Amtrak as you've known it will no longer exist. I'll remind you all next spring. I feel bad for the Amtrak employees here in the west who will be affected if no one in the organization is man enough to lead the charge to oust Anderson and Gardner. Mark my words.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/19/18 19:29 by jcaestecker.

jcaestecker Wrote:
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> A year from now,
> Amtrak as you've known it will no longer exist.

Good, I look forward to it. Amtrak, the way it has been running, is not working. It has to be changed.

Remember, Amtrak was created as a federal bailout of long distance passager rail that was failing and lossing money and the railroads were trying to get rid of it.

Everybody moans and groans that long distance passange rail service here in the US is worse than other countries. So, something is finally being done about it, and now everyone is crying foul.

> I'll remind you all next spring.

Will you still be yelling the sky is falling, the sky is falling?