Why isn't Amtrak copying Brightline?

Philly Amtrak Fan wrote:

electricron wrote: Doesn’t Amtrak already serve the Charolette to Atlanta route with the Crescent?

Sure! Leaving Charlotte 2:45am and returning at 1:21am! Interested?

All the more reason for an WAS-ATL day train that leaves 12 hours or so off the Crescent. That would make this 2:45 PM and 1:21PM. Pretty reasonable.

Greg Moore wrote:

Philly Amtrak Fan wrote:

electricron wrote: Doesn’t Amtrak already serve the Charolette to Atlanta route with the Crescent?

Sure! Leaving Charlotte 2:45am and returning at 1:21am! Interested?

All the more reason for an WAS-ATL day train that leaves 12 hours or so off the Crescent. That would make this 2:45 PM and 1:21PM. Pretty reasonable.

Easier first step would be extending a Piedmont frequency each way to Atlanta. If we ever had the cutoff capabilities at the Atlanta station, we could have an extra coach car on the Crescent north of ATL and cut it off (and another) and run a shorter train ATL-NOL. They suggested that on the PRIIA.

Northbound 76 (Takes cars from southbound 19 arriving 8:38am) ATL: 11:04am CLT: 4:21pm
Southbound 73 CLT: 10:45am, ATL 4:38pm (Cars added to northbound 20 departing ATL 8:04pm)

This would give you ATL-Raleigh service.

Greg Moore wrote: All the more reason for an WAS-ATL day train that leaves 12 hours or so off the Crescent. That would make this 2:45 PM and 1:21PM. Pretty reasonable.

That would be Charolette times for the Crescent. Charolette already has a day train to D.C. and eventually all the way to NYC, called the Carolinian. It's Atlanta that does not. Adding another day train 12 hours displaced from the Crescent gives NYC to Charolette three trains....

The most likely solution of extending the Carolinian to Atlanta would place it arriving in Atlanta at 2:00 am, and departing Atlanta at 1:30 am, while matching the Carolinian's existing schedule north of Charolette.

Crescent elapse times between Charolette and Atlanta is 5.5 hours.
Carolinian arrival in Charolette: 8:44 pm.
Carolinian departure from Charolette: 7:00 am.

Philly Amtrak Fan wrote:All Amtrak needs is through cars off the Texas Eagle at Dallas to Houston via College Station (less than 300 miles). They did it back circa 1994. It shouldn't even require state funding since it would be considered part of the TE.
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ooof no thanks.

I ride the eagle 4-ish times a year. It's not a bad train but timekeeping can easily be 60-90 minutes off. I don't doubt a corridor train between Dallas and Houston could be competitive even if it were 1 hour longer than drive time, but if you factor in 90 minute late train plus 20-30 minutes switching time, you get drive time + 2 hours fudge + 1 hour extra. Nobody wants to do 8 hours Dallas to Houston.

I fly that on AMR at 60 minutes.