Railroad Forums 

  • Illinois Amtrak Service

  • Discussion related to Amtrak also known as the National Railroad Passenger Corp.
It is currently Sat May 18, 2024 10:08 am

Illinois Amtrak Service

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

Moderators: GirlOnTheTrain, mtuandrew, Tadman

  by Tadman
 
I believe at one time, Indy-Chi had B&O, Monon, PRR, and NYC. I would be my guess that Monon was the best, as their Monon-Indy route was noted as a good high-speed passenger route. However, a lot of this route is gone now. It also had a good entrance to Chicago over C&WI, and while that's gone, the C&WI paralleled what is now the state-owned South Shore; also, the IHB has the barely-used ex-PRR secondary going from Hegewisch to Whiting, connecting (at least at one time) with the Chicago line.

Problem is, most of these lines have a big enough chunk missing that it's just too expensive to re-lay for just one set of passenger trains that hardly cover their operating costs.

  by Gilbert B Norman
 
The NYC/CC&STL had the best trains on the route. The James Whitcomb riley was equipped with lightweight cars including a Parlor Obs.

The C&IL (Monon) tried to market their route aggressively, but when was all said and done they had no new equipment. They merely spruced up some US Army cars made surplus after WWII. But they did have their "Hoosier Pride" and I guess the hope that some would "support Indiana's own road', and not sent the profits(?) off to 230 Park Ave.

The PRR never sported anything newer than a P-70 Coach. Shortly before "the End" along with a party of six others (and a chaser on the highway to retrieve the group) I rode North Judson to Winnimac. The Conductor knew we all wanted legible and complete cash fare receipts and somehow he obliged our party.

And remember, back in the good old days, only the Conductor "handled revenue'. The two Brakemen were there....well to set the brakes!!!!

Front Page Headline Article on the Chicago Tribune

  by themallard
 
Front Page Headline Article on the Chicago Tribune
Jon Hilkevitch
Amtrak sidetracked
Illinois routes gain riders, lose time

Hefty ridership gains on state-funded Amtrak trains since last fall have exceeded even the optimistic expectations of Illinois officials. But habitually late trains are creating a bad impression of the expanded intercity rail service, leaving some Amtrak passengers to wonder why they ever gave up driving or flying.

Piles of empty plastic water bottles lie scattered against chain-link fencing near the train station that Amtrak serves in southwest suburban Summit, a symbol of the unquenched thirst for decent passenger rail service in the U.S...

...Amtrak Chairman David Laney called the burgeoning delays "unacceptable by any measure."...

...Referring to the shotgun-wedding relationship between the host freight railroads and Amtrak, Trafton said: "No freight railroad in the United States has sought passenger service to be instated or reinstated on their lines."

Weber said in an interview that it wasn't IDOT's idea to add more Amtrak service now. The longer-term solution to providing quality service rests with building more capacity, which is the basis of the Chicago Region Environmental And Transportation Efficiency (CREATE) program, a $1.5 billion modernization of the freight and passenger rail infrastructure serving northeastern Illinois. But the program is underfunded and, therefore, years away from completion...
Chicago Tribune (With Video)

  by ne plus ultra
 
Lord, Governor Blagojevich's Amtrak initiative is doing well.

Here are the latest statistics from IDOT:
http://www.dot.il.gov/amtrak/PDF/Monthl ... ership.pdf

On the Chicago-Spfld-St. Louis route, May 07 ridership is more than that of August and September 06 COMBINED!

The last-year-same-month comparison is better almost every month for the St. Louis and Quincy trains, meaning that these trains have not come close to peaking. Chgo-St. Louis could wind up tripling ridership.

The Carbondale train is not growing in the same way. Instead, when the service was inaugurated, it almost immediately shot up by 75% in same-month comparisons, reflecting the easier task of marketing to its primary constituency - college students.

It has held that growth rate, with a little fluctuation (average about 70%), throughout the 8 months of service. This service will likely grow stronger year-by-year rather than month-by-month, since the improved frequencies are apt to impact the decision of whether to send the kid to Champaign or Carbondale with a car so she can come home on weekends. Once you bought her a beater for the 07 school year, she's not coming home on Amtrak. But expect that fewer kids heading downstate for college next year will get used cars as graduation presents, and ridership will climb again.

Very impressive. I wonder what passenger & revenue projections they were using. In particular, I wonder whether ticket revenue is exceeding projections, meaning there might be some money for capital improvements. Speculation is already in the news articles -- with Magliari saying Amtrak is hoping for some track work.

  by Rockingham Racer
 
Thanks for the info, Ultra. As I've been know to say quite a few times, frequency [not speed] is the single largest builder of ridership. I wonder if the Gov. and company have plans for more frequencies--translating, of course, into more dollars for increased service. Anybody?

  by David Benton
 
seems like they need to spend alot of money on the tracks first .

  by bmichel5581
 
Haven't seen this posted anywhere...

The results are in!

June Ridership:
Carbondale Service: 19,429
Milwaukee Service: 50,519
Quincy Service: 15,968
St. Louis Service: 27,899


TOTAL Fiscal Year 2007:
Carbondale Service: 202,109 (+80%)
Milwaukee Service: 590,227 (+25%)
Quincy Service: 155,136 (+58%)
St. Louis Service: 230,179 (+110%)

  by Tadman
 
A neat observation I've made recently - I drove across Missouri on a few different highways, such as I-70 and US-36. It seems MO has spent untold monies on useless highways like US-36, and refuses to spend enough 403b money on their KC-STL train. The initial refusal to follow the IL model and operate a decent 403b network was understandable until I saw how empty the four-lane US36 was. I was usually the only car on the road, mid-day. I'm not impressed with the decisions made in MO, because it's obvious the money is there and being spent, but not in the right places. Ne Plus and JP, I'd like to hear your thoughts as residents/voters/taxpayers, etc...

  by mkellerm
 
bmichel5581 wrote:Haven't seen this posted anywhere...
TOTAL Fiscal Year 2007:
Carbondale Service: 202,109 (+80%)
Milwaukee Service: 590,227 (+25%)
Quincy Service: 155,136 (+58%)
St. Louis Service: 230,179 (+110%)
I think that the total numbers here (which are from the IDOT website) are correct, but the percentage changes are definitely wrong. This is what I have from the Amtrak MPR's:

Code: Select all
                 SFY07          SFY06       Change
Carbondale      202,109         134,531      +50.2%  
Milwaukee       590,227	      569,160      + 3.7%
Quincy          155,136	      118,502      +30.9%
St. Louis       359,020	      256,612      +39.9%
Note that this includes all four CHI-STL round trips, while the IDOT data only includes three. Someone in Springfield used the wrong denominator. Still a pretty good showing, particularly since this only includes 8 months of the new service.

  by ne plus ultra
 
mkellerm wrote:
bmichel5581 wrote:Haven't seen this posted anywhere...
TOTAL Fiscal Year 2007:
Carbondale Service: 202,109 (+80%)
Milwaukee Service: 590,227 (+25%)
Quincy Service: 155,136 (+58%)
St. Louis Service: 230,179 (+110%)
I think that the total numbers here (which are from the IDOT website) are correct, but the percentage changes are definitely wrong. This is what I have from the Amtrak MPR's:

Code: Select all
                 SFY07          SFY06       Change
Carbondale      202,109         134,531      +50.2%  
Milwaukee       590,227	      569,160      + 3.7%
Quincy          155,136	      118,502      +30.9%
St. Louis       359,020	      256,612      +39.9%
Note that this includes all four CHI-STL round trips, while the IDOT data only includes three. Someone in Springfield used the wrong denominator. Still a pretty good showing, particularly since this only includes 8 months of the new service.
With the exception of the Milwaukee figure, those look suspiciously like June 07 to June 06 monthly percentage changes.

I'd note that I looked at the IDOT chart as recently as last night, and it was not yet updated, so you found this stuff very quickly after it was uploaded. I wonder if they'll go back and correct the percentages.

And Tadman, I live in Chicago. I think from the context that you may have thought I was a Missouri taxpayer.

  by bmichel5581
 
Just a curious question that's been on my mind.

For those that have ridden the Mid-West Corridor trains, do you prefer the Business class/cafe car at the front behind the engine....or the rear as the caboose?

  by stlboomer
 
No question about it, rearmost, please.

STL-CHI, the Business Class end ot the cafe car is invariably directly behind the locomotive. The ride is noisy and rough, not worth the extra fare. And some of the Horizon cars have a Business section converted from cafe seating. Guess what? No overhead luggage racks!

  by Lucius Kwok
 
Slow zones, malfunctioning crossing gates: why is the rail infrastructure in IL in such bad shape?

Also, the CN VP said, "No freight railroad in the United States has sought passenger service to be instated or reinstated on their lines."

Wasn't Norfolk Southern at one time (late 1990s) looking to start state-subsidized commuter rail service on some underutilized tracks?

  by gt7348b
 
Wasn't Norfolk Southern at one time (late 1990s) looking to start state-subsidized commuter rail service on some underutilized tracks?
The short answer is "yes." The caveats are that NS was looking to preserve the S-line between Macon and Atlanta as an alternative to the H-line, but traffic on the S-Line is very light. They saw hosting commuter trains as a revenue generator, provided the state (or other public entity) upgraded the track/signals and providing operating support, through the track access payments and from the ability to have an alternate route between Macon and Atlanta should the H-line be unavailable. Of course, the introduction of the service is still in limbo thanks to a state government that just left one-party rule in 2002, but NS has the agreements ready from what I understand.

Back to the Midwest, I do know many places are watching this expansion closely to see the ridership gains and, in my opinion, it completely supports the notion that it is frequency that is extremely important. It will be interesting to see if there are similar gains to the Illinois expansions when the Piedmont institutes another round-trip between Raleigh and Charlotte.

  by acs85
 
From the Associated Press:

http://www.nj.com/newsflash/jersey/inde ... =njtransit


The relevant part is at the bottom of pg.2 & the top of pg.3:
Illinois has sunk about $80 million into track and crossing improvements over a decade, but has finished less than half of a planned high-speed route from Chicago to St. Louis that would shave 90 minutes off the current 5 1/2-hour train ride.

Completing the estimated $400 million project will take years, but is projected to boost ridership from 300,000 last year to 1.2 million, said George Weber, chief of the Illinois Department of Transportation's passenger rail division.

Weber said trains could begin running at 110 mph by 2009 on 120 miles of the 280-mile route after the state recently settled on safety technology that will ensure faster trains can coexist with cars and slow-moving freight traffic that shares the line.

"To think this state (Illinois) has known for 10 years how to get Chicago-to-St. Louis to three hours and 45 minutes, and we kind of languish at five and a half to six hours," Harnish said. "Imagine what difference that would make to the St. Louis economy if you could get to Chicago by train (that much quicker)."
  • 1
  • 9
  • 10
  • 11
  • 12
  • 13
  • 109
 Return to “Amtrak”
 - All times are UTC-05:00 -