Thanksgiving 2014 timetables

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fairviewroad

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Don't think it's been mentioned here, but the 2014 Thanksgiving timetables are posted on the Amtrak timetable page.

Specifically, the NEC/Keystones/Empire Service.

I don't see much in terms of surprises. As usual, the bulk of the extra trains on the NEC run on Wednesday and Sunday,

with a smattering of extra service on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

Once again the only thing "special" about the Keystone timetable is the fact that all trains are reserved over the period.

(and that Thanksgiving Day service appears to be on a Sunday schedule). But there are no "extra" Keystone trains. (Have

there ever been? I don't think so.)

Don't see any extra Empire Service either, but I could be missing something.
 
And the fact that some of the Keystones from PHL to HAR cost an astonishing $36 with some of them only flexible available at $42!
 
And the fact that some of the Keystones from PHL to HAR cost an astonishing $36 with some of them only flexible available at $42!
Good catch. However, the demand must be there even at that price. There are already a couple of Sunday evening

HAR-PHL runs that are sold out a whole month in advance!
 
The question is whether they are REALLY sold out or just put as down as sold out to mooch an even higher flexible fare. I checked a month ago and some of the ones that later went to $19 were $21 and some were sold out. So you never know.
 
Keystones Sell at PEAK fare for the entire week. I purchased a ticket from PAO-PHL for wednesday. $8. Normal fare for a Peak day.

I did post in the november trip topic that I'll be on an extra regional on wednesday and an extra acela on saturday. But couldn't post a topic that timetables have been released.
 
The question is whether they are REALLY sold out or just put as down as sold out to mooch an even higher flexible fare. I checked a month ago and some of the ones that later went to $19 were $21 and some were sold out. So you never know.
Hmm, at first I thought I'd break out the tinfoil for you...but I found this oddity. On 11/30, train 674 is listed as "sold out" from

Harrisburg to Philadelphia. However, Amtrak is happy to sell you a ticket for HAR-NYP on that same train. So clearly it cannot

be sold out from HAR-PHL. They are blocking short-haul seats for the purpose of selling more expensive longer-distance seats.

[Of course, the same physical seat could be sold twice HAR-PHL and PHL-NYP, but PHL-NYP travelers have tons of options over

Thanksgiving weekend so it's far from certain they'd be able to re-sell that seat.]

OTOH, train 612, which runs HAR-PHL only, is listed as sold out no matter which city pair you select, and since it's the last run of

the day, I'm guessing it is legitimately sold out.
 
Don't think it's been mentioned here, but the 2014 Thanksgiving timetables are posted on the Amtrak timetable page.

Specifically, the NEC/Keystones/Empire Service.

I don't see much in terms of surprises. As usual, the bulk of the extra trains on the NEC run on Wednesday and Sunday,

with a smattering of extra service on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

Once again the only thing "special" about the Keystone timetable is the fact that all trains are reserved over the period.

(and that Thanksgiving Day service appears to be on a Sunday schedule). But there are no "extra" Keystone trains. (Have

there ever been? I don't think so.)

Don't see any extra Empire Service either, but I could be missing something.
They used to run a few extra PHL-HAR Keystones in the 90s. They used to also run a few BAL-NYP extras on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.

At this rate, they may not even really need to print another schedule. As the years go by, there are less trains operating during this period. On the other side of the equation is there is less equipment and I imagine with so many people working Thanksgiving, there is less time to travel.
 
They used to run a few extra PHL-HAR Keystones in the 90s.
IIRC there were fewer PHL-HAR Keystones in the 90's than there are now, so the extra trains may have simply brought things up to roughly the current service level.

On a seperate note, the Thanksgiving timetable for Michigan is now posted on the Amtrak website. I think it mostly mirrors last year's TDay service, though I don't

specifically remember them running a "Pere Marquette Extra" before.
 
They used to run a few extra PHL-HAR Keystones in the 90s.
IIRC there were fewer PHL-HAR Keystones in the 90's than there are now, so the extra trains may have simply brought things up to roughly the current service level.

On a seperate note, the Thanksgiving timetable for Michigan is now posted on the Amtrak website. I think it mostly mirrors last year's TDay service, though I don't

specifically remember them running a "Pere Marquette Extra" before.
Yes, there was a PM extra last year.
 
This hasn't appeared as a special timetable yet, but there will be a couple of extra Cascades trains on the Wed/Sun of Thanksgiving

week. Details here:

http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/News/2014/11/ExtraThanksgivingTrains2014.htm
Thought folks might be interested in some follow-up data, taken from a December 2014 WSDOT newsletter:

WSDOT made the business decision again to offer four extra Amtrak Cascades trains between

Seattle and Portland during the Thanksgiving holiday. All four trains were sold out or nearly sold

out, carried over 1,100 passengers, and generated over $56,000 in revenue. The net revenue gain

(approximately $33,000) will offset annual Cascades operating costs funded by WSDOT and

ODOT.
 
That's fascinating. What's especially fascinating is that the gross revenue is $56K, and the net was $33K... a 58% margin.

This shows how low the variable costs are -- you can run four extra trains for $23,000. More volume is good.
 
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