justalurker66 wrote: ↑Mon Mar 09, 2020 6:01 pm
I agree. Indiana gets a bad rap with people talking about the negatives (not funding the Valpo Dinky, ending funding for the Hoosier State, not supporting commuter rail or light rail in Indy) and they forget about NICTD - which is moving full steam ahead with the double track project and West Lake line. They are also funding grade separations to improve traffic around freight railroads.
Yep, I would say Indiana would rate in the bottom five if we were to poll the guys over on the Amtrak forum, and I keep pointing to the state-run commuter train (that is ELECTRIC!!!) and they stick their head in the sand. The Hoosier was a bad deal over a very tough route and schedule. I don't blame Indiana for that. The Valpo Dummy was a bad decision but it was also a different era when we genuinely thought passenger trains were still slowly heading for oblivion. I remember reading the magazines at the time and they were sure the South Bend service and Blue Island branch were going to disappear some day. The Pere Marquette lost funding a few times, also. We all took elimination of A/B on the L as another sign of decay.
Regarding Valpo Dummy service, perhaps the state thought the general region was adequately served by the South Shore, and/or that the service wasn't really viable without a few more frequencies. 1-2/day is bare bones and it's hard to make an investment in the physical plant like stations and yards for only 1-2 trains. But that was also right around the time NICTD bought another 15-20 cars, which we never thought would happen.
The new Acela: It's not Aveliable.