Passenger Trains > Four Sleepers on the Coast Starlight

i'm not sure if anybody else has reported this, but there are FOUR sleeping cars on the Thanksgiving holiday consists for the Coast Starlight!

Yes. And I suspect one more coach also.

So peak consist of 40//32//31/30? 

Been running that away for the last few days. 12 instead of the 9 cars they have had recently.

Steve Panzik
Chilouin, Or

ColdRainAndSnow Wrote:
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> So peak consist of 40//32//31/30? 

Peak full consist is;

Baggage
40, 33, 32, 31, 30 Sleepers
Diner
11 (Biz)
Lounge
12, 13, 14 coaches.

Posted from iPhone

The Coast Starlight had run with four sleepers (+ Superliner Trans/Dorm Sleeper) in the summer peak season for a while. Always ran with at least three full Superliner sleepers, then luck of the draw some years it seemed as to whether a fourth sleeper would be added or not. When the re-launch was done back in Boardman's term I believe, it had sported four sleepers. I think Gunn even did some sort of "re-launch" too and it ran with four sleepers then too. But then they came and went. 

To me, the Auto Train seems down in the number of sleepers it carries, especially since they have two Deluxe sleepers to operate (at least) per consist. I don't really watch that train too closely so can't say for sure, but just seemed a little surprised with its recent consist. It did have a pretty good coach count though!

PNWDivision10 Wrote:
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> Peak full consist is;
> Baggage
> 40, 33, 32, 31, 30 Sleepers
> Diner
> 11 (Biz)
> Lounge
> 12, 13, 14 coaches.

Is this based on your observation this week, or do you have online access as a RR employee? Curious because the Starlight running 4 sleepers plus transdorm would be a rare exception these days. Possible given the holiday week, hence my request for clarification.

Where does Amtrak get the extra attendants in situations such as this?  Is their a "surge fleet" of humans waiting in the wings somewhere?  Perhaps furloughed employees?

Amtrak's ridership figures  for these two trains make pleasant reading (for full 12 months of 2019).

Auto Train  +5%  (236,041 passengers)
Coast Starlight +2%  (426,029 passengers)

But, the on-time performance is a different story (read, Horrible) (11 months YTD)

Auto Train  0%
Coat Starlight 20%

 

Autotrain carried 17 cars the past two days with 5 sleepers.

AutoTrain car carrier count has been down 1-2 cars at the same time. This may suggest more passengers in higher-capacity vehicles such as vans and three-row SUVs.

Four full sleepers on the Starlight has been the eyeball count for several days now.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 11/29/19 08:06 by GenePoon.

ronald321 Wrote:
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>
> But, the on-time performance is a different story
> (read, Horrible) (11 months YTD)
>
> Auto Train  0%
> Coat Starlight 20%
>
>  

It appears the zero on-time performance for the AutoTrain is a report error.  Using the ASMAD site, the on-time rate of the AutoTrain for FY19 (10/18 - 9/19) was 71.2% with a 30 minute tolerance (Amtrak LD standard). 55.8% (407 trips) arrived on schedule or early.

sums007 Wrote:
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> Where does Amtrak get the extra attendants in
> situations such as this?  Is their a "surge
> fleet" of humans waiting in the wings somewhere? 
> Perhaps furloughed employees?

They complete ongoing maintenance on cars in the shop and don't shop new cars until after the holiday.  They might also pull spare/protect cars from the yard.

I would assume it’s like the airlines with reserve schedules some crew are on a 12 hour on call, some on a “hot standby” 2 hour call outs to report. Also in the mix is employees on scheduled days off working voluntary overtime for $$$.

Reserve schedules are weird, again as far as airlines go. It’s possible and not unheard of to sit home the entire month,  not do anything and still receive full base pay. Also not unheard of to get your butt kicked and be on the road most of the month. Some people like the variety, some don’t. 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/29/19 11:17 by Flyer92122.

Ronald 321, thank you for correcting that gross exaggeration about Auto Train.. FYI today's 53 arrived 2" early, 52 was 50" early.  One day last week both arrived early, forget what day that was.

Five sleepers on Auto Train unusual.  For many years the sleeper consist was fixed at six, regardless of seasonal load factors. Now they appear to  have changed that policy, and vary according to load.  I travelled last month with eight one way, then six the other, and was told that the count may go as high as nine this winter.

abyler Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> sums007 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Where does Amtrak get the extra attendants in
> > situations such as this?  Is their a "surge
> > fleet" of humans waiting in the wings
> somewhere? 
> > Perhaps furloughed employees?
>
> They complete ongoing maintenance on cars in the
> shop and don't shop new cars until after the
> holiday.  They might also pull spare/protect cars
> from the yard.

Thanks, but I was asking about the extra attendants in the cars.