Passenger Trains > Capitol Limited

She is back to four cars, one baggage (for all of the baggage from the hundreds of passengers on board?  Oh wait, no...), one coach, one food car, one sleeper.  What a complete joke.  I find it infuriating.  

Meanwhile the Auto Train has all the cars it needs.  How about pulling a few cars from the Auto Train pool for the Cap?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/25/23 04:40 by Chessie1963.

Different  brakes. How  about  some attention at  Beech Grove  to speeding   repairs/ maintenance!!

They can be cut over from direct to graduated release and vice versa very quickly. 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/25/23 05:22 by joemvcnj.

Less than 5 minutes with a  9/16th wrench....

Can't get those wrenches anymore. Supply chain issues. Would have to get metric ones from Canada. 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/25/23 08:02 by joemvcnj.

It would not surprise me that Amtrak staff and management have decided that the Capitol Limited falls into the category of redundant and un-necessary service.  Couple that appraisal to the fact that they have equipment repair backlog issues forecast into 2024.  The minimized consist does show the level of deterioration that has happened with respect to available equipment system wide and the coping strategy Amtrak has employed.  I remember the train-offs in 1979 and routes that could be defined as redundant were cut.  Some trains are just more essential and important to a faltering Amtrak system than others.  

Autotrain is now down to 7 sleepers down from the peak period of 9 sleepers.  The Sleepers were pulled but assume they are sitting in Sanford.

Sleepers are already sold out for most of the summer, and coach is close to sold out or sold out most days.  Amtrak giving up millions of potential revenue.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/25/23 14:35 by kbmiflyer.

Hou74-76 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It would not surprise me that Amtrak staff and
> management have decided that the Capitol Limited
> falls into the category of redundant and
> un-necessary service.  Couple that appraisal to
> the fact that they have equipment repair backlog
> issues forecast into 2024.  The minimized consist
> does show the level of deterioration that has
> happened with respect to available equipment
> system wide and the coping strategy Amtrak has
> employed.  I remember the train-offs in 1979 and
> routes that could be defined as redundant were
> cut.  Some trains are just more essential and
> important to a faltering Amtrak system than
> others.  

If they yanked it, only Connellsville, Cumberland, and Alliance would lose all rail service. Cumberland has a Thruway bus back to BWI. East of there has MARC rush hour commuter trains. 

In 2004, David Gunn deemed the Three Rivers redundant, thought is was solely a freight train and yanked it. That is now costing us $200 million to put back, and only east of Pittsburgh. 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/25/23 08:35 by joemvcnj.

amtrakbill Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Autotrain is now down to 7 sleepers down from the
> peak period of 9 sleepers.  The Sleepers were
> pulled but assume they are sitting in Sanford.

What is considered peak for Autotrain, summer or winter ? 

Empire Builder gained a Seattle Sleeper. Back to what it kinda used to look like. Still 1 Seattle Coach though. 

cutboy1958 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Different  brakes. 

The brakes are the same.

Isn't Autotrain a seperate business unit?  Not supposed to cross the streams.

PHall Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Isn't Autotrain a seperate business unit?  Not
> supposed to cross the streams.

Corridors are a different business unit and they rob cars from the LD business unit all the time.

Chessie1963 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> She is back to four cars, one baggage (for all of
> the baggage from the hundreds of passengers on
> board?  Oh wait, no...), one coach, one food car,
> one sleeper.  What a complete joke.  I find it
> infuriating.  
>
> Meanwhile the Auto Train has all the cars it
> needs.  How about pulling a few cars from the
> Auto Train pool for the Cap?

Auto Train indeed reduced by a sleeper or two last week sometime saw it a couple times on the Ashland and Folkston cams - but I'm guessing these were sent to the Builder/Zephyr which both just got a sleeper addition - Cap second sleeper probably sacrificed for those routes as well.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/25/23 10:15 by lordsigma.

As has been mentioned - there's been a "shuffle" but not a "net add" to Amtrak equipment capacity. The Western Superliner long hauls have greater potential for bringing in the higher end revenue than any of the Superliner one day overnight runs. 

joemvcnj Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hou74-76 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > It would not surprise me that Amtrak staff and
> > management have decided that the Capitol
> Limited
> > falls into the category of redundant and
> > un-necessary service.  Couple that appraisal
> to
> > the fact that they have equipment repair
> backlog
> > issues forecast into 2024.  The minimized
> consist
> > does show the level of deterioration that has
> > happened with respect to available equipment
> > system wide and the coping strategy Amtrak has
> > employed.  I remember the train-offs in 1979
> and
> > routes that could be defined as redundant were
> > cut.  Some trains are just more essential and
> > important to a faltering Amtrak system than
> > others.  
>
> If they yanked it, only Connellsville, Cumberland,
> and Alliance would lose all rail service.
> Cumberland has a Thruway bus back to BWI. East of
> there has MARC rush hour commuter trains. 
>
> In 2004, David Gunn deemed the Three Rivers
> redundant, thought is was solely a freight train
> and yanked it. That is now costing us $200 million
> to put back, and only east of Pittsburgh. 

If I remember he regretted doing that, what he should've done was find cars to grow it since that train's ridership was very very consistent day in and day out!

Chessie1963 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> She is back to four cars, one baggage (for all of
> the baggage from the hundreds of passengers on
> board?  Oh wait, no...), one coach, one food car,
> one sleeper.  What a complete joke.  I find it
> infuriating.  
>
> Meanwhile the Auto Train has all the cars it
> needs.  How about pulling a few cars from the
> Auto Train pool for the Cap?

In the dying summer of 1970, C&O/B&O Capitol Limited and George Washington trains both had way more cars than this sad thing. Unbelievable that they only have one coach and one sleeper during the high summer season. Of course, I would have to concur that of all the long distance routes. The Capitol probably would be the least missed if it was dropped completely. Given the horrible hours it serves Ohio. Nobody would miss it much in either direction. There’s other similar service between Cleveland and Chicago. East of Pittsburgh the route is very scenic, but very slow compared to other modes of transportation. And there is very little on route population between Pittsburgh and DC.

Posted from iPhone

Chessie1963 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> She is back to four cars, one baggage (for all of
> the baggage from the hundreds of passengers on
> board?  Oh wait, no...), one coach, one food car,
> one sleeper.  What a complete joke.  I find it
> infuriating.  
>
> Meanwhile the Auto Train has all the cars it
> needs.  How about pulling a few cars from the
> Auto Train pool for the Cap?

In the dying summer of 1970, C&O/B&O Capitol Limited and George Washington trains both had way more cars than this sad thing. Unbelievable that they only have one coach and one sleeper during the high summer season. Of course, I would have to concur that of all the long distance routes. The Capitol probably would be the least missed if it was dropped completely. Given the horrible hours it serves Ohio, few would miss it much in either direction. There’s other similar service between Cleveland and Chicago. East of Pittsburgh the route is very scenic, but very slow compared to other modes of transportation. And there is very intermediate population between Pittsburgh and DC. As others have said, Amtrak dropped the wrong train. They should’ve kept the Broadway. People could still connect to DC from that route.

Posted from iPhone



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/26/23 11:36 by alan2955.

Capitol Limited has a LOT of end to end traffic and Chicago to Pittsburgh traffic. Can't see them pulling the plug on this train, or any other LD trains.