Re: Illinois Amtrak Service
PostPosted:Sat Oct 19, 2019 9:19 pm
https://www.railpassengers.org/site/ass ... 470/23.pdf
Saluki ridership fiqures
Saluki ridership fiqures
Arlington wrote: ↑Sun Oct 20, 2019 8:20 am CHI-MEM arrives at 6:40amHere's some examples, because I have an imagination. Never-the-less, let's keep to realistic distance, speed, and time. That means getting those from the existing CONO schedule.
MEM-CHI departs at 10:40pm
Specifically, it is the night train both ways.
Imagine how much better a day (corridor)train timed for the convenience of both ends and all midpoints would do.
Arlington wrote: ↑Sun Oct 20, 2019 9:44 am That MEM-NOL works so well (vs MEM-CHI) may simply be the power of a day train vs a night trainExplain why Jackson MS attracts more passengers than Memphis TN towards Chicago. Most of the rest of the top ten city pairs for this train originate in Illinois, definitely during darkness.
electricron wrote: ↑Sun Oct 20, 2019 10:54 pmExplain why Jackson MS attracts more passengers than Memphis TN towards Chicago.[Actually I'm not sure I understand the question, but it is worth noting that]
eolesen wrote: ↑Tue Oct 22, 2019 4:13 pm That’s an awful lot of effort for dubious value. LD to LD connections at NOL look like they’d involve a lot of backtracking...I don't see how anything eastward connects with the Sunset when it's as late as it can be.
Tadman wrote: ↑Wed Oct 23, 2019 7:45 amA good point, and certainly I hope that Amtrak can figure out a way to solve the reliability issue. I'm not saying that NOL will a major transfer point, but with potentially three trains departing and arriving within 2-3 hours of each other, it's there wouldn't be any extremely long layovers. It would be nice to have at least one overnight arrival and late night departure to take advantage of that connectivity. Maybe if Amtrak sees improved revenue, they can invest in reliability. And as you say the area within about 300 miles of MSY is very poorly served by airlines (apart from MSY itself), so Amtrak is already at an advantage to capture some amount of MOB-MEM, LFT-JAN, HMD-BHM etc. traffic that would ordinarily have to back track to an air hub with a very high fare.eolesen wrote: ↑Tue Oct 22, 2019 4:13 pm That’s an awful lot of effort for dubious value. LD to LD connections at NOL look like they’d involve a lot of backtracking...I don't see how anything eastward connects with the Sunset when it's as late as it can be.
Imagine if NOLA was a corridor hub - Mobile, Birmingham, Jackson/Memphis, Baton Rouge, Houston/San Antonio. Might be really useful. Fly into MSY from anywhere outside 500 miles, hop a train to a corridor city. Right now I've got a trip on the docket to Pensacola, Mobile, Pascagoula, and New Orleans. The flights to the gulf cities are really expensive.
gokeefe wrote: ↑Wed Oct 23, 2019 11:41 am I would be more impressed with an East-West connection across Illinois from Springfield to Indianapolis.The Wabash once ran Hannibal-Springfield probably has not seen a passenger train since the 1950's. Wabash/Norfolk & Western passenger trains sent to St Louis. Not sure how big a freight carrier it can be from Detroit to the auto plants in Kansas City. Maybe could be a Thruway bus route on I-72 over to Decatur & Champaign.
Is there an existing rail corridor that makes sense from Hannibal?