25Hz wrote:Why not contract NH&IRR to do once-per-two-hours trips to/from warminster & new hope?
And, what about another partnership with PN for service between landsdale & quakertown?
Just grab some simple HEP diesels from MP or wherever is cheapest, refurb those comet 3's and boom.
Dunno how much it'd cost to do that, but it seems more realistic as a bridge to SEPTA running the service?
I have talked to many at NH&I and they seemed open to the idea......
As ridiculous as this sounds....and assuming neither PN or NHRR don't need to do ANY track work to satisfy the FRA and STB to change their charter to a freight-only common carrier:
$300k for a used F40-ph X 2 locomotives = $600k
$150k for a used coach X 6 coaches = $900k
$225k for a cab car (best guess, don't see any on the after market) = $450k
......So now we are up to nearly 2 million bucks. And this equipment is sold as-is. No telling what is needed to make the equipment pass a 92 day MI inspection, or a 3 year air brake inspection. Then you need to fix all the HVAC and door interlock systems on your coaches, prime mover upgrades and PTC systems for your used locomotives, additional liability insurance.... But for the sake of this exercise, none of that is needed.
Total fictional startup cost for just the equipment is 2 million ( let's round-up for shipping and handling ).
Now, let's say this short line business plan is to recoup their startup investment cost in commuter rail within 5 years.
They run 4 trips in the morning, 4 trips in the PM, no nights or weekends to keep fuel and labor costs down. Each train has the capacity to hold 400 passengers, but realistically, let's say 200 passengers per trip (even 200 is fantasy). That's 1600 passenger trips per day, 8,000 per week, times 50 weeks (everybody takes a 2 weeks off per year for vacation / holidays) that's 400,000 passenger rides per year.
If we plan to recoup initial investment startup, we have to payback $400,000 per year to our investors (they loaned us the money for free), so ticket prices start at $1.50 round trip to break even.
Now we need labor (2 regular crews and 1 extra board crew) Since they are non union, let's say they earn 65k each, plus health benefits at 15k each. That's $3 per round trip ticket.
Now we need fuel. That 645e prime mover burns 10 gallons per hour at idle, 200 gallons per hour in the 8th notch. Let's say they run 8 hours per day, idle for 16 hours per day plus 48 hours idle time on weekends. That's 128 weekly hours of idle time, 40 hours of run time: That's 9280 gallons per week, 37120 gallons per month X 2 locomotives = 74240 gallons X $3.50 per gallon = $260k per month for fuel costs.
That's $8.00 per round trip ticket
And we haven't considered trackage rights, stations, business administration costs, profit margins, etc. This was just a bare bones expense exercise.
If there was money in the commuter rail business, don't you think the big railroads would be getting a piece of the action?
