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  • Amtrak Hiawatha Discussion: Chicago - Milwaukee and Possible Extensions

  • Discussion related to Amtrak also known as the National Railroad Passenger Corp.
Discussion related to Amtrak also known as the National Railroad Passenger Corp.

Moderators: GirlOnTheTrain, mtuandrew, Tadman

 #1380578  by MisterUptempo
 
electricron wrote:
MisterUptempo wrote:I understand that in addition to the nearly $10 million handed over to Talgo in the settlement, Talgo had already made $40 million for the trainsets themselves. Hmmmmm...$50 million forked out and got nothing in return. Well played, Scott Walker!
It's 86 miles between Chicago and Milwaukee. It's 80 miles between New Orleans and Baton Rouge. A little bit too far for comfort on commuter railcars? I wonder if Louisiana might be interested in these two Talgo train sets? There's very little else brand new out there' and ready to go for inter-city services.
Never thought of that corridor.

My first thought was that it might be a good idea for Michigan to look at the Talgos again. They could use them temporarily on the Wolverine when they were ready to increase frequencies on that route. Then, once the new Siemens locomotives and N-S railcars were ready, the state could utilize the Talgos on the coast-to-coast route (Holland-Grand Rapids-Lansing-Jackson/Howell-Ann Arbor-Dearborn-Detroit) they are planning, or the Ann Arbor-Traverse City route that is merely part of Michigan's wish list at the moment.

When this subject came up on another board, someone mentioned that California is putting out feelers about the Talgos, possibly for use on the LOSSAN corridor, though I have yet to find anything to confirm that.
 #1380588  by Woody
 
electricron wrote:
MisterUptempo wrote:I understand that ... Talgo already made $40 million for the trainsets
It's 86 miles between Chicago and Milwaukee. It's 80 miles between New Orleans and Baton Rouge. A little bit too far for comfort on commuter railcars? I wonder if Louisiana might be interested in these two Talgo train sets? There's very little else brand new out there' and ready to go for inter-city services.
The Talgo problem is that it's difficult to use one or two. Just one requires its own maintenance facility. The Cascades can use them soon enuff, and there's already a Talgo maintenance facility. So expect the 'Hiawatha Two' to join the little herd in Seattle.

You're right to be looking at Baton Rouge metro/ 800,000 - New Orleans metro/ 1,300,000. And New Orleans even has a handful of streetcar lines to get you to/from Union Terminal. The strip between the cities is heavily industrial, and threading passengers trains thru the mess won't be easy. But definitely worth doing. The state capital and the Big Easy don't have the huge population of the Windy City, or even Milwaukee, so we're not dreaming of a million riders any time soon. But the line would get solid ridership.

Of course, good corridors help the LD trains. Here riders from Baton Rouge could transfer to the CONO, the Crescent, the CONO extension by another name to Florida, and even to the Sunset Shuttle to Lafayette metro/ 500,000, Houston and San Antonio. If corridor service starts up New Orleans - Mississippi casino coast - Mobile, the two short corridors would become almost as one.

Then I'd want to push one train up the Red River: New Orleans - Baton Rouge - Alexandria - Shreveport - Dallas . . . Hey, haven't we been on this road before?

I'm not looking for Talgos here. This is a great area to use Horizons, which the Southern Rail Commission study recommended for the Mobile corridor.
 #1380590  by electricron
 
Here's an interesting link that explains the differences between the Wisconsin and Oregon Talgo train sets.
http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/COMM/docs/Tr ... y_2013.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The original Wisconsin sets had
1 Cab car with HEP diesel generator, 1 end coach car with bike racks, 1 bistro car, and 11 coach cars 5 having restrooms.
The Oregon sets had
1 cab car with HEP diesel generator, 1 end baggage with bike racks, 1 bistro car, 1 dining table car, 2 business coaches, and 7 coach cars.

The Oregon sets layout works better for a 250 mile or longer corridor, the Wisconsin sets layout works for a shorter 100 mile or so corridor.

While I think Talgos will work anywhere where the stations have low platforms, to use the Wisconsin sets over longer distances they will need changes - converting the coach-bike end car into a baggage-bike car, adding a dining table car, and possibly converting a few coaches to business class - depending upon the route's requirements.

With the delays at Nippon Sharyo new regional Superliners, a few states improving tracks for 110 mph speeds might be interested in these real ready to go train sets. :)
 #1386080  by Balerion
 
Amtrak adds late night Saturday trains to Hiawatha line for summer

One extra run in both directions. This seems entirely separate from Wisconsin's talk of adding a few round-trips.
The train, which runs between Chicago and Milwaukee, has added two additional late-night trains for the summer tourist season. Service started Monday and will run through Sept. 23. One train leaves Chicago at 11:10 p.m., and the other new train leaves Milwaukee at 10:40 p.m., allowing visitors to both cities to stay later and enjoy summer concerts and other late-night events.
 #1386147  by lstone19
 
Not an extra run. It replaces the first trip of the morning. Saturdays will still be 7 each way with current except Sunday 329 and 330 becoming except Sat/Sun. This is the same as was done last year for a limited period.
 #1405839  by gokeefe
 
Although slow on construction ridership growth has been quite robust. This quote really caught my eye:
The rail line also has the largest number of riders of any Amtrak service outside the East and West coasts, according to the Wisconsin Department of Transporation project website.
It's interesting to see based on further information in this article that the corridor has essentially unlimited potential for ridership growth. I find that fascinating.
 #1405883  by Suburban Station
 
The keystone corridor had modest improvements like these about ten years ago and frequency went from ten to 14 during weekdays. Ridership has since doubled. I'd guess the same would happen here if this plan were implemented
 #1407542  by EricL
 
Here's a link to the preliminary schedule proposal

Looks fairly solid to me. CP will go along with anything if your palms are greasy enough; Metra is the main sticking point. I appreciate reading these schedules because they actually pay some attention to Metra time slots, and because WisDOT finally drops that 10+ year old stubborn insistence of all the schedules (save for today's 330 and 339) having to be set at 1'29". In this new version, train 332 is moved to a more sensible timeslot, and the 19:35 schedule from MKE (today's 342) is dropped completely in favor of a later time. This is a great idea because today's setup with these particular two schedules has them failing from the minute get-go (operational reasons... cross traffic, etc.) - and a 19:35 southward train attracts hardly any ridership, besides.

I do wonder how many people would really want to ride a 09:25 train north from Chicago, but I guess in time that could evolve into a reverse commutation option - maybe attractive to northward riders from SVT who work a later/second type shift? The later departures from both ends are definite improvements that will allow for far more same-day round-trips.
 #1407556  by gokeefe
 
Having the Empire Builder on this tentative schedule may imply a proposed change in ticketing policy.
 #1407595  by AgentSkelly
 
I thought you could on 27/28, the Portland Section?
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