Wisconsin Hiawatha (Service Talgos Upgrades Maintenance)

R36 Combine Coach wrote:Hiawatha did not offer a full café menu, but snacks and beverages only.

Golly, how much can passengers eat in an hour and a half's time when you consider the food has to be prepared, cooked, served, and eaten? For a 90 minute ride, snacks and beverages should satisfy most passengers.

I'm a bit confused, I've probably had 10+ Hi rides, and I've never seen foodservice of any sort. Further, the 90 minute point is well-founded. Grab a beer and a snack at CUS or MKE/MKA.

I remember reading that this cart services recovery ratio was around 60 %. That would put the total cost at around 500k.
Not every train had cart service. 6 trains have service 5 days a week, 2 trains have service 4 days a week.
So 38 services per week , a cost of $ 253 per service. Sales per service of $ 151.82. Loss per service of $ 117.91.

333, 335, 336, 337, 338 and 340 have snack bar service weekdays, 334 except Monday and 339 except Friday. Appears the commissary is in Chicago and 334 (Mon) and 339 (Fri) depart too early and late respectively to be serviced.

the route could use part time help, someone to work a train there and back (roughly a 4 hour shift) on the peak trains, particularly in the afternoon. does amtrak have part time obs staff?

R36 Combine Coach wrote:333, 335, 336, 337, 338 and 340 have snack bar service weekdays, 334 except Monday and 339 except Friday. Appears the commissary is in Chicago and 334 (Mon) and 339 (Fri) depart too early and late respectively to be serviced.

This is only the case when the Milwaukee based LSA is on vacation. His assignment covers 334-335-338-339 Monday - Friday. When he is on vaction, then the job works 335-338-339-342 or 331-334-335-338-339 (originating and terminating in Chicago instead of Milwaukee)

Hmmm , It would appear from this video the attendant sets up camp at a set of seats and the customer comes to him. Perhaps a vending machine would be better value.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHIfseD1SJ8" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
I do think it is a shame that Amtrak's only attempt at cart service will come to an end though, it appears it could be done for less , perhaps a lot of overhead costs are loaded onto it.

David Benton wrote:Hmmm , It would appear form this video the attendant sets up camp at a set of seats and the customer comes to him. perhaps a vending machine would be better value.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHIfseD1SJ8" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
I do think it is a shame that Amtraks only attempt at cart service will come to an end though, it appears it could be done for less , perhaps a lot of overhead costs are loaded onto it.

The purpose of cart service is to bring the drinks to the passengers. You gotta sell it.

I'm sure that if the Southwest flight attendants set up camp in the back of the plane and waited for the passengers to come to them, they could achieve equally poor results.

I think that North Carolina may have gone the vending machine route on its Piedmont service. (Corrections welcome!)

David Benton wrote:Hmmm , It would appear from this video the attendant sets up camp at a set of seats and the customer comes to him. Perhaps a vending machine would be better value.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHIfseD1SJ8" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
I do think it is a shame that Amtrak's only attempt at cart service will come to an end though, it appears it could be done for less , perhaps a lot of overhead costs are loaded onto it.

That was not the case with the Milwaukee Based LSA . He would walk the train with his cart

Matt Johnson wrote:I think that North Carolina may have gone the vending machine route on its Piedmont service. (Corrections welcome!)

Yup, that is indeed the case. They also supply 'free' cold bottled water and hot tea and coffee (also included in fare). Other than the ocasional person who is stuck with only $20s and no change I have heard few complaints about this system. That said, I would really like to be able to buy a beer on board ocasionally.

The Piedmont route is right around 3 hours from end to end, I would guess about 30-40% of riders take it all the way from Charlotte to Raleigh (or vice)

Interestingly, WSDOT looked at vending machine service on the Cascades when the service was being developed. They would of used the same vendors that WSDOT uses on their Ferry system for their vending machines, but between servicing issues and potential customers indicating they wanted hot food, they decided to go with full bistro service.

620wtmj.com

Going legal...

...and pretty pictures in the accompanying video...

Suit filed over $40 million unused train carsTODAYS' TMJ4 has learned the feud is about to blow up into a bigger lawsuit as Talgo goes after the state for more money - claiming the state has not lived up to its end of the deal.

The state strongly disagrees.

Milwaukee to Chicago commuters who spend nearly $400 a month to ride the old trains are outraged.

"If we've got these trains stored in mothballs, why don't we use them?" said Lloyd Davis.

The Milwaukee to Chicago corridor moves more than 800,000 passengers a year, sometimes with standing room only.

There's talk of increasing the seven round trips to ten so additional trains would help meet the growing demand.

...

Dear God why don't they lease a string of bilevels. You go from a train with 444 seated capacity (6 horizon * 74 people) to something over 1000 (gallery cars usually seat 130 with bathrooms/cabs) if you increase to 8 or 10 car train. You can also drop the NPCU as many gallery cars have cabs.

icgsteve wrote:The City of Milwakee all by itself sunk $16 million into the Tower Plant, and even if you only talk about the $6 million that was used to upgrade the building that Talgo uses this still works out to over $7,000 per job per month subsidized...assuming 65 workers for 13 months. I know that the state had claimed it will be 125....ooops. Until about a month ago they only had about 20. We dont want to talk about all of the other costs, and that the city is now stuck with a huge unneeded manufacturing plant that will almost certainly need to be torn down given the glut of them all accross America, thus adding more costs.


Way to go Milwaukee!

Mr Norman is correct that my home state of Illinois would be stupid to get involved with Talgo, but they are certainly capable of doing it...

so I was right again, shocking. the city of Milwaukee for decades now has seemed incapable of making a wise choice. they are prime candidates for being the next Detroit. lets review...$20 somw million spent, currently supporting 6 jobs. way to go!