Philly Amtrak Fan
Engineer
I had written some posts as a guest but this is my first as a member.
I currently live in the Philadelphia area and am planning a cross country trip on Amtrak.
Right now, the only direct train from Philly to Chicago is the Cardinal which only travels three days a week and is very long. For my trip, I have to change trains in either New York or Washington (I could change in Pittsburgh but the change is late at night going west and in the early morning going east).
Philadelphia and Chicago are the 3rd and 4th, respectively, busiest Amtrak stations in the US. There should be a better direct link between the two cities than what they have.
I was thinking about ways to create a new direct route from Philly to Chicago. Then I was thinking why not try to expand other routes along the Northeast Corridor to improve other service from the NEC to other areas of the country?
Here are my ideas:
Expanding along NYP-WAS:
1. Expand the Capitol Limited north from Washington to New York (similar to the Cardinal) OR the Lake Shore Limited south from New York to Washington DC. This would give a better connection from Newark, Trenton, Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore directly to Chicago (and Cleveland although in the middle of the night) as opposed to the Cardinal.
To do this on the Capitol Limited, they would have to change from Superliners to Viewliners to fit the tunnels in the NEC. The Lake Shore Limited would be easier to switch but the Capitol is currently shorter in length/time so it would be easier to expand.
2. Expand one Empire Service train each way from New York to Washington (283 out of New York and 284 going into New York). This would give direct connections from Philly and DC to Buffalo/Niagara Falls and upstate New York.
Expanding along NYP-BOS:
1. Expand the Silver Meteor train north from New York to Boston. This would give direct service from Boston and parts of New England along the BOS/NYP route to Florida. The schedule for the Silver Meteor works better than the Silver Star.
2. Expand the Crescent train north from New York to Boston. This would give direct service from Boston/New England to Atlanta and New Orleans.
My proposals do not add trains, they simply extend trains along the NEC (the most popular Amtrak service). The added expense would be the extra fuel and staffing (4-5 hours for each train). The extra connections should be embraced by passengers in these areas and increase business along these routes. I believe the furthest south travelers from Boston can travel to directly is Virginia. Why can't they go to Florida and/or Atlanta/New Orleans?
Ideally the Carolinian and Maple Leaf are trains I would like to see expanded either north or south but they would probably require the schedule to change to be feasible as the trains either leave New York too early or get into New York too late.
It would be ideal to expand one of the Empire Service trains from Buffalo to Cleveland and possibly Chicago but there is no existing train that you can extend that would get into Cleveland at any better time than the Lake Shore Limited does now. Cleveland's Amtrak service times are in the middle of the night and I'm sure they'd love to have a train go through Cleveland during a reasonable hour.
How do you feel about these extensions? Are any of them feasible? If so, which ones?
I currently live in the Philadelphia area and am planning a cross country trip on Amtrak.
Right now, the only direct train from Philly to Chicago is the Cardinal which only travels three days a week and is very long. For my trip, I have to change trains in either New York or Washington (I could change in Pittsburgh but the change is late at night going west and in the early morning going east).
Philadelphia and Chicago are the 3rd and 4th, respectively, busiest Amtrak stations in the US. There should be a better direct link between the two cities than what they have.
I was thinking about ways to create a new direct route from Philly to Chicago. Then I was thinking why not try to expand other routes along the Northeast Corridor to improve other service from the NEC to other areas of the country?
Here are my ideas:
Expanding along NYP-WAS:
1. Expand the Capitol Limited north from Washington to New York (similar to the Cardinal) OR the Lake Shore Limited south from New York to Washington DC. This would give a better connection from Newark, Trenton, Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore directly to Chicago (and Cleveland although in the middle of the night) as opposed to the Cardinal.
To do this on the Capitol Limited, they would have to change from Superliners to Viewliners to fit the tunnels in the NEC. The Lake Shore Limited would be easier to switch but the Capitol is currently shorter in length/time so it would be easier to expand.
2. Expand one Empire Service train each way from New York to Washington (283 out of New York and 284 going into New York). This would give direct connections from Philly and DC to Buffalo/Niagara Falls and upstate New York.
Expanding along NYP-BOS:
1. Expand the Silver Meteor train north from New York to Boston. This would give direct service from Boston and parts of New England along the BOS/NYP route to Florida. The schedule for the Silver Meteor works better than the Silver Star.
2. Expand the Crescent train north from New York to Boston. This would give direct service from Boston/New England to Atlanta and New Orleans.
My proposals do not add trains, they simply extend trains along the NEC (the most popular Amtrak service). The added expense would be the extra fuel and staffing (4-5 hours for each train). The extra connections should be embraced by passengers in these areas and increase business along these routes. I believe the furthest south travelers from Boston can travel to directly is Virginia. Why can't they go to Florida and/or Atlanta/New Orleans?
Ideally the Carolinian and Maple Leaf are trains I would like to see expanded either north or south but they would probably require the schedule to change to be feasible as the trains either leave New York too early or get into New York too late.
It would be ideal to expand one of the Empire Service trains from Buffalo to Cleveland and possibly Chicago but there is no existing train that you can extend that would get into Cleveland at any better time than the Lake Shore Limited does now. Cleveland's Amtrak service times are in the middle of the night and I'm sure they'd love to have a train go through Cleveland during a reasonable hour.
How do you feel about these extensions? Are any of them feasible? If so, which ones?
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