Chicago Hub

ryanwc wrote: ↑Mon Jul 17, 2023 8:41 pm Staff in DC were fine, particularly the giant Amtrak cop who posted up at the timeboard and kept asking people their train so he could give them info.

Mr. Ryan, when did Amtrak Police start to provide station services?

I thought of it as a duty of a peace officer pursuant to the maintenance of order.

And if there'd been a disturbance he needed to handle, he'd start with the sympathy of the crowd.

GOP Indiana Senators Braun and Young signed on to the Chicago Hub proposal. That surprised me, and seems to give it a chance:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/chica ... r-AA1h4Q8P

The work is mostly in IL, so I have to think they signed on in the belief it could lead to reliable service to Indiana, rather than out of a commitment to pork.

CEO Gardner was apparently in Chicago 3-4 days ago, saying he anticipates a decision on the Chicago Hub proposal in the next couple weeks.

He has also been saying Amtrak holiday ridership is up 15% over pre-pandemic levels. That's an astonishing figure, and I wish any of the reports included actual numbers so I could evaluate it. Is this "selected routes"? Hard to believe numbers could be up that much across the whole system. The percent figure is found in multiple news reports, like this one.
https://chicago.suntimes.com/afternoon- ... on-station.

Attempting to find a train tomorrow between Chicago and Springfield, IL, I'm getting an all trains are sold out message. Same with Chicago Champaign, and all three Wolverines to Ann Arbor are sold out. Of 4 options to Galesburg, while only one is sold out, none have coach seats -- two have only private rooms, and one has only business class. Milwaukee service has seats on all trains, though.

I don't know what this would have looked like on a pre-pandemic Thanksgiving Sunday.

This is a better link directly to the full story:
https://chicago.suntimes.com/2023/11/21 ... ilder-chip

Also, Gardner says Amtrak has "added extra cars and scheduled extra trains" for the weekend. Anyone know where that's happening?

Other reports are that Thanksgiving travel in general is at pre-pandemic levels, with the general statement that more flexible working conditions for those who can work remotely is leading to an increase in travel. United airlines reported its bookings for this year are 5% more than 2019. According to the New York Times, Amtrak expected about a %2 increase in travel this year over last year, not a 15% increase, though I don't know if that is specific to travel though NYP.

Amtrak announced extra services in the NEC, and that some other services would be reservation only. https://media.amtrak.com/2023/11/enjoy- ... th-amtrak/

Given all the funds going out to the NEC, I'd think this proposal has a good chance at getting funding.

Moving Amtrak onto the Rock Island makes sense, and I hope they're talking about buying the unused Canal Street (former C&EI) yard.

The first round of the National Network side of the "Federal State Partnership for Intercity Passenger Rail" grants which, like the NEC announcement, I believe will include the first two fiscal years of the five year program should be announced in the next couple weeks as well as the selections for the "Corridor ID" program. These are the last major announcements for this fiscal year (CRISI, and the Northeast Corridor portion of Federal State have already been announced) I would anticipate Chicago Hub to be part of the former. Because it took FRA a year to get things going and they are a year behind on grants, the Fed State announcements being awarded this year are for both FY22 and FY23. CRISI was awarded this year only for FY22 I believe - next year's CRISI is supposed to catch up including both FY23 and FY24.

Of interest, Minister of Information Magliari got on WBBM 780/105.9 and likely other radio and TV outlets as well (I thought he RELOED to Wash, but at least for the Holiday, he's here in CHI).

He was talking about the heritage of trains, how there were small towns to pass through between population centers 200 miles apart.

Now what all that has to do with 21st century rail passenger service escapes me. It has nothing whatever to do with how the trains are performing into and out of the Chicago hub. All I can think is that if Amtrak gets funded for a new order of LD equipment is that those trains are simply here to stay.

The long distance equipment is funded (via the direct supplemental capital grants to Amtrak in the national network account). The RFP should be any day now between now and early next year. The Fed state - national network awards is going to be more major capital expenses - things in the running include Chicago hub, the I20 corridor study, sunset reroute to phoenix, the new signal system on the chief route between ABQ and LAJ, some work on the Cardinal route that would be required for daily Cardinal, and a plethora of state led initiatives for potential corridor expansion and some non Amtrak led initiatives - including, reportedly, funding for Brightline west.

The total amount to be distributed in this is around $4.5 billion. Amtrak’s direct submissions, which mostly involve long distance, amount to around $750 million. So even if Amtrak got all of these the vast majority of this will go to projects submitted by states for corridors and other entities.

The following list is from Amtrak includes some of the stuff they submitted:

Multiple Cardinal and Sunset Limited service improvements
Increase service to operate daily – up from 3x/week currently (Corridor ID Program)
Increase Cardinal train speeds and reduce travel times between Indianapolis and Dyer, Ind.
Sunset Limited return to Phoenix
Southwest Chief signal modernization between Colorado and New Mexico
Empire Builder rail enhancements in Montana
I-20 Crescent service extension from Mississippi through Louisiana to Texas
Construction of new Crystal City station that would add service to Arlington, Va.

Volks, I was there on A-Day, and the LD's were only meant to be a five year "ease the pain" diversion.

But then, "old programs never die" and in this case "never fade away".

But Mr. Lord, even if I disagree, I respect the LD advocacy positions you take at this site.

lordsigma12345 wrote: ↑Mon Nov 27, 2023 9:41 pm

The following list is from Amtrak includes some of the stuff they submitted:

Multiple Cardinal and Sunset Limited service improvements
Increase service to operate daily – up from 3x/week currently (Corridor ID Program)
Increase Cardinal train speeds and reduce travel times between Indianapolis and Dyer, Ind.
Sunset Limited return to Phoenix
Southwest Chief signal modernization between Colorado and New Mexico
Empire Builder rail enhancements in Montana
I-20 Crescent service extension from Mississippi through Louisiana to Texas
Construction of new Crystal City station that would add service to Arlington, Va.

What a crazy list and utterly useless list in terms of making real shifts in transportation use and habits, with the exception of the Indy/Cardinal reroute maybe. You could have 12 trains per day on the sunset route and it would be no different. The key is, you have a huge population density area between San Antonio, Houston, and New Orleans (#24, 5, and 57 in MSA size) on the east end and another one on the west end between LA, Phoenix and Tucson (2, 10, 52). You also have oodles of universities and military installations. You have a long single track main connecting the two through a thousand miles of nothing. Zero.

But instead we're going to keep up that romantic fiction that hundreds of thousands of Cary Grants are just aching to take a three day train through the middle of nowhere. This does nothing for anybody, nor the environment, nor transportation.

Tadman wrote: ↑Tue Nov 28, 2023 8:18 am

lordsigma12345 wrote: ↑Mon Nov 27, 2023 9:41 pm Construction of new Crystal City station that would add service to Arlington, Va.

What a crazy list and utterly useless list in terms of making real shifts in transportation use and habits, with the exception of the Indy/Cardinal reroute maybe.

Whoa there. You're lumping a desperately needed station in Virginia that would offload people going to Crystal City (where Amazon's locating an east-coast HQ at) and to Dulles Airport from the roads and the mess that is WMATA into the "crazy and utterly useless" category? Why?

Tadman wrote: ↑Tue Nov 28, 2023 8:18 am What a crazy list and utterly useless list in terms of making real shifts in transportation use and habits, with the exception of the Indy/Cardinal reroute maybe. You could have 12 trains per day on the sunset route and it would be no different. The key is, you have a huge population density area between San Antonio, Houston, and New Orleans (#24, 5, and 57 in MSA size) on the east end and another one on the west end between LA, Phoenix and Tucson (2, 10, 52). You also have oodles of universities and military installations. You have a long single track main connecting the two through a thousand miles of nothing. Zero.

But instead we're going to keep up that romantic fiction that hundreds of thousands of Cary Grants are just aching to take a three day train through the middle of nowhere. This does nothing for anybody, nor the environment, nor transportation.

There might well be something between the current status quo and the hyperbolized 12 daily trains. I rode the Sunset Limited this past summer, and it was packed for the entire route. I also met lots of people who were on the Texas Eagle section of the train, many going all the way to Chicago. If the train, such as it is, is well used, it might be worth some level of upgrade to capture latent demand.

Tadman wrote: ↑Tue Nov 28, 2023 8:18 am You have a long single track main connecting the two through a thousand miles of nothing. Zero.

Correct on the thousand miles of nothing, but it's no longer a single track from Maricopa to El Paso...

Somewhere around half of the track between Maricopa and Coachella is either double track or has extensive passing sidings that only need be connected to become double track...

"Restoring" Phoenix is simply boggling. Maricopa as an exurb is close enough for most, and definitely more convenient to the lower income areas and the Gila River Community.

If Amtrak really wants to rebuild 80+ miles of track, I'd be looking at the Cardinal's routing between Chicago and Indy before I'd rebuild the Phoenix Sub.