Lake Shore, Star, and Meteor Schedule Changes

There had been rumors flying around regarding the permanent discontinuance of through cars on the Lake Shore Limited from Boston to Chicago.

As of right now, Amtrak.com's reservations page isn't doing anything to stop those rumors. Even though I haven't seen an official announcement, a quick search of numerous post-November 1 dates reveals that there is no through train available from Chicago to Boston, and all trips require a change at Albany.

Gotta love the way service is "improving" these days.

Robert Madison

Well they also just lost this customer with the re-vamp of the New York - Florida bound trains. The last of the late night departures out of New York Penn is now history - Silver Meteor will depart NYP at 2:15 p.m. and arrive into Savannah at 5:00 a.m. (Charleston even earlier). Used this train quite often for business trips to Charleston and Savannah - schedule worked well. Now it's useless. I don't know how Amtrak plans on supporting the Meteor schedule with equipment, when the Meteor is often delayed waiting for inbound equipment (i.e. the Lakeshore Limited).

With the removal of the through cars, will there be a shorter layover in Albany? If so, I would consider this a positive change since I always ride in coach and don't have a big problem switching trains once along my trip.

Will the Boston and the CHI-ALB trains continue to share the same power? I think that the time required to refuel this power in ALB was responsible for a large portion of the layover, and it would be great if they could eliminate that. Combine this time savings with the elimination of M&E switching and I think the schedule could be shortened by 30-45 minutes for both Boston and New York passengers traveling to/from points west of ALB.

Is David Gunn's plan to sytematically dismantle Amtrak? Grrr...they need to keep the Three Rivers, with sleeping accomodations, and not screw with the other long distance services. The Cardinal should return to a Superliner equipped WAS - CHI run, as the train is pathetic with its current motley assortment of single level equipment.

Well I've got a Better Idea make a Daily Cardinal and I like the idea of Mr. HSRFAN to Superline the Cardinal.

I have an Idea,
Lets replace the AMTRAK big boys and get some people who WILL IMPROVE service. This would include basing more around business travel. That way they would actually have some competition with the airlines, and maybe even be able to chop ticket prices.

While I have no new rumors to add, when I took the LSL round trip from Boston to Rochester in May, the conductor commented that the Boston section would be run as a Boston-Albany stub train starting in October.

CRail wrote:I have an Idea,
Lets replace the AMTRAK big boys and get some people who WILL IMPROVE service. This would include basing more around business travel. That way they would actually have some competition with the airlines, and maybe even be able to chop ticket prices.

I strongly disagree with your second point. Amtrak does not compete with the airlines (except in the northeast corridor). If we want a rail network that is competitive with the airlines, it will only work on short-haul trips. If that's what we want, it has to be a separate policy and funding decision made by congress and/or the states involved. At this current time, it would be an even bigger waste of money for Amtrak to pursue (on its own) high-speed corridors that are competitive with airlines.

The Lake Shore Limited is not going to compete with any airline.

Why should Amtrak cut its ticket prices? Theoretically, the fares are set at the revenue maximizing point, with yield management performed through fare "buckets." If that's the case, then either raising or lowering fares would reduce revenues overall, making Amtrak's financial situation worse.

Mr C-Rail noted "Lets replace the AMTRAK big boys and get some people who WILL IMPROVE service. This would include basing more around business travel."

Obviously, this appears to be the direction in which Amtrak is moving. Even though the LD trains always appear to be well patronized (including $1858.05 from this author's pocket CYTD), I believe the "writing is on the wall" for the LD's. While nothing to date has equaled the discontinuances of either 1979 or 1995, there clearly has been a "snipping away' at the LD network since the Gunn administration came to town.

Expansion of business travel includes increasing frequencies of Acela Express service, which has occurred. Unfortunately, it does not include "overnight" business markets such as Boston-Washington or Chicago-Pittsburgh.

I know for a fact that it will be a stub train Alb to Bos, got the info from a boss. If you remember they did the same thing last winter, most people didnt mind having to cross platform at Alb. The stub train should be 1 or 2 P42s a lounge, 2 coaches and a bag car.

WildBill144 wrote:With the removal of the through cars, will there be a shorter layover in Albany? If so, I would consider this a positive change since I always ride in coach and don't have a big problem switching trains once along my trip.

Will the Boston and the CHI-ALB trains continue to share the same power? I think that the time required to refuel this power in ALB was responsible for a large portion of the layover, and it would be great if they could eliminate that. Combine this time savings with the elimination of M&E switching and I think the schedule could be shortened by 30-45 minutes for both Boston and New York passengers traveling to/from points west of ALB.

The time elapsed at Alb is not to re-fuel the locomotives. It is simply to seperate the two sections and put an engine on the second section. And after the each section is tied-on and ready to go, a new break test has to be performed also, which doesn't take long, bt every couple of minutes adds up. Somewhere in the mix here you have crew change going on too. Also, the Roadrailers only run on the LSL between Albany and Chicago, so they have to be dropped as well, but since they are on the rear, I don't thnk that takes much time.

As long as the government in Washington continues to treat Amtrak as it
presently does, there is not too much hope financially.
Within the last day or so, I read that both U.S. Senators from the state of
Montana are big supporters of Amtrak. One is a Republican and the other
is a Democrat. This indicates to me that support for Amtrak sometimes
crosses party lines.
We continue to build highways and improve existing ones, same with
airports. Why can't we improve the status of Amtrak all over the US and
not just in certain areas.
We need a total federal commitment to passenger rail transportation.
I could go on but I have said enough for this time around.
Noel Weaver

I may be naive, but I prefer to think that the current management is doing its best to streamline services (by eliminating mail and express, and eliminating the LSL split) and to make the most of its rapidly shrinking pool of equipment. Remember that the current political administration has indicated that there will be no funding for new equipment as long as they are in control.

Would we rather have another tough winter with multiple annuled trains, bad-ordered equipment, and horrendous passenger experiences, or should the current pool be deployed in such a manner that there is back-up equipment available? (Not that I have any idea that that is what they are doing, but if so, I'm all for it)

The loss of a sleeper and the need to transfer trains at Albany, while not ideal, is not the end of the world. Those wanting sleeper service for the entire journey can take advantage of the frequent connections between NYC and Boston. Those who can "tough it out" in coach for those hours it takes to go from Boston to Albany can board or disembark their sleeper in Albany.

The REAL problem here is that the current congress and whilte house refuses to take Amtrak seriously. When a national transportation system is proposed less funding than a program for the government to promote "healthy" marriages (900 million for Amtrak vs. 1.5 Billion for marriage) , we have some serious reality problems on our hands.

updrumcorpsguy wrote:...and to make the most of its rapidly shrinking pool of equipment.

Why is it rapidly shrinking? Over the last several years, with the loss of the Heritage fleet and inadequate numbers of replacement cars, sure. But at this point, the fleet should be expanding if anything, given the wreck repair program.

The loss of a sleeper and the need to transfer trains at Albany, while not ideal, is not the end of the world.

It is a downgrade in the level of service, no question. And what about people who not only desire first class accomodations but also are traveling with luggage? Not only do they have to sit in coach for several hours and then switch trains, but they have to transfer all their luggage one more time, making it that much more of a pain in the you know what.

I totally agree it's a downgrade. If it were up to me, we'd be adding routes, adding equipment, working with the freights so that their concerns are addressed and otherwise creating a real system that generates revenue, provides service to the traveling public, and helps build up the sagging freight infrastructure, to the benefit of the entire economy. (all of which would create jobs, btw). However, that's not happening, and Amtrak is being forced to "live within their means" - that means that hard, ugly decisions have to be made.

The alternative is to force another funding crisis as we saw two summers ago. All that will do is feed the fire of the pundits who say that Amtrak is mis-managed, and an anachronism.

And the wreck repair program, while making some great progress, has not been funded at the level it needs to be to make an actual dent - it seems to be just keeping things above water. Apparently the Superliner crisis is somewhat abated, but now it's the lower level fleet that seems on the edge.

Yes, the system is shrinking, and that means that some people are going to lose out. But I think blaming Amtrak is playing into the politician's hands. We need to hold the politician's accountable for the sorry state things are in. Unfortunately, the national debate is so muddied and focused on simple-minded non-issues, that there's little chance of that getting done.