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I was looking for a decent way to go from Raleigh to Atlanta by train. There isn't one. So I thought about extending the Carolinian down to Atlanta - but that is much too long for a daylight trip. Then I thought about running a train just from Washington to Atlanta. That's doable and avoids all of the future infrastructure problems of the NEC. It would be a trip of 737 miles and would need the cooperation of VA - NC - SC - GA. It would also require some track upgrades such as what to do with the train when it gets to Atlanta. Attached is a possible schedule.

If only.

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The name is just something I came up with. I don't know if there is a better name, referring to a prior train having existed.

jb
 
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I've been suggesting almost the exact idea for years. I think Atlanta would be well served by a day train that operated on essentially the reverse schedule of the existing Crescent.

You've already got the station personal there working. And the length is just right that it could be doable in a long day as you suggest.

There's more than once that I would have taken this instead of the Crescent had it been available.
 
You'd have to get Amtrak to fund this as an LD train. Should this take priority over things like Sunset East or the likes of Pioneer and Desert Wind?
Why? I was thinking more that it would be a joint VA - NC - SC - GA supported train that would be contracted out to Amtrak to run. The cutoff is 750 miles, no? This is 737 miles.

jb
 
This would also add another mid route train for the CLT - Raleigh piedmonts. Only problem is congress would drop the 750 mile requirement to 700 miles then could be a full Amtrak LD train. Maybe originate train in PHL to make mileage requirement
 
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This would also add another mid route train for the CLT - Raleigh piedmonts. Only problem is congress would drop the 750 mile requirement to 700 miles then could be a full Amtrak LD train. Maybe originate train in PHL to make mileage requirement
The trouble with making the distance longer is that it takes more time. Without significant track improvements which would shorten the trip by at least a couple of hours, the trip would take too much time. Philadelphia is not as desirable destination as Washington is. I would envision that there would be a pretty good crowd of folks who would ride the whole distance from Atlanta to Washington - but that's it. I wouldn't expect the four states to be interested in picking up the tab for operations north of D.C., nor would I expect Amtrak to either.

Anyway, it would be interesting to see if someone could project some ridership numbers for a train like this.

jb
 
The GA legislature is short on interest for trains requiring funding. Also, ATL does not have any mechanical crew and I recall in the distant past that estimates to cut a car or two from the southbound Crescent would cost a tonof money. Mechanical crew, plqce to,turn and service the train, housing of crew overnight, etc. it is basically a great idea, but the financials just don't work out at this time.
 
One thing that caught my attention and am left wondering, as to why the proposed schedule allocated over 4 hours from Charlotte to Raleigh when Piedmonts are scheduled for 3 hours and 11 mins? Is that an error perhaps and the Raleigh arrival was meant to be at 0344pm and not 0444pm?
 
Keep in mind that the proposed southeast HSR plans include rebuilding the former SAL between Petersburg and Raleigh. This should cut some time from this schedule. Regarding the train's name, I would like it to be called the Peach Queen, an old SOU Rwy. name.
 
One thing that caught my attention and am left wondering, as to why the proposed schedule allocated over 4 hours from Charlotte to Raleigh when Piedmonts are scheduled for 3 hours and 11 mins? Is that an error perhaps and the Raleigh arrival was meant to be at 0344pm and not 0444pm?
It looked wrong to me too. I was getting a little bleary-eyed though. Here's a revision.

jb

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The GA legislature is short on interest for trains requiring funding. Also, ATL does not have any mechanical crew and I recall in the distant past that estimates to cut a car or two from the southbound Crescent would cost a tonof money. Mechanical crew, plqce to,turn and service the train, housing of crew overnight, etc. it is basically a great idea, but the financials just don't work out at this time.
Very salient points. In the past when 19/20 operated with shorter trains ATL-NOL, Amtrak contracted with NS for switching as well as Mechanical services. The cars were staged at the old Armour Yard a few miles north of Peachtree Station.

As far as the Georgia General Assembly is concerned, you are also correct about a reluctance to fund anything that isn't spelled r-o-a-d. However, a transportation project that could be pitched to the General Assembly as a benefit to the State and to the rural counties the route would serve might stand a better chance than most transportation-related projects that get torpedoed because of their perceived benefit to metro Atlanta only.
 
Alright, I gave this another round of thought and here's where I am with this train:
(1) The train should almost definitely go to New York. Doesn't matter if it arrives at 0200 or 0400, you run the train through to NYP. Why? Well, you might not get much business to NYP (though you might be surprised), but BAL, WIL, and PHL are reasonable traffic generators. Moreover, this offers a choice that arrives at a time other than the Carolinian for a number of intermediate destinations (e.g. RGH-PHL, RGH-NYP). It could also use 66/67 as a transfer train and/or to run cars through to Boston if you wanted to.
(2) With that in mind, SEHSR should knock enough time off the schedule to get that NYP arrival back towards 0000/0100. That may not be great, but an 0100 arrival into NYP corresponds to 2330 in PHL and a pre-2200 arrival into WAS...both of which are potential traffic generators.
(3) On funding, I very strongly suspect that operations post-SEHSR would be deep in the black, largely on the basis of being able to supplement CLT-WAS-NYP business with a not-insignificant amount of traffic originating from Atlanta. The main challenge would be working to ensure passable OTP.
 
As a modest additional requirement, I think it should be easy to jiggle the schedule a bit to have it make a reasonable connection with 66/67 at WAS.

Extending it to New York immediately adds the need for additional consists. The train as specified by John can be operated with two consists with extremely good utilization. Extending to NY adds a third consist which basically sits in NYP for 24 hours (or perhaps can be paired with something that departs midday or later - like the Pennsy is paired with the Palmetto, that mostly to account for covering very late Palmetto arrival.

In general, I don't think the general idea that all south of Washington trains must originate in New York is sustainable as an operational proposition.
 
More service is always a good idea, but I don't think there's a place to have the equipment lay over in Atlanta, is there?
 
As haolerider pointed out above....

ATL does not have any mechanical crew and I recall in the distant past that estimates to cut a car or two from the southbound Crescent would cost a tonof money. Mechanical crew, plqce to,turn and service the train, housing of crew overnight, etc. it is basically a great idea, but the financials just don't work out at this time.
.... in addition to the issue of finding tracks space for storage and provisioning.
 
As a modest additional requirement, I think it should be easy to jiggle the schedule a bit to have it make a reasonable connection with 66/67 at WAS.

Extending it to New York immediately adds the need for additional consists. The train as specified by John can be operated with two consists with extremely good utilization. Extending to NY adds a third consist which basically sits in NYP for 24 hours (or perhaps can be paired with something that departs midday or later - like the Pennsy is paired with the Palmetto, that mostly to account for covering very late Palmetto arrival.

In general, I don't think the general idea that all south of Washington trains must originate in New York is sustainable as an operational proposition.
Yeah, I can (mostly) agree there. One part of this was the lack of a functional same day/same night connection on the NEC was staring at me through the timetable with angry eyes; the other was, as wacky as it may sound, some documents I saw a long time ago which suggested that there might be a departure as late as noon from CLT, terminating in NYP, as part of SEHSR (remember, SEHSR proposes no less than four departures from CLT that go to NYP and which you'd expect some schedule spacing on).
 
Exactly, this schedule is practically the same as Southern's 5&6, the Piedmont, that ran Washington-Atlanta until 1975 and Washington-Charlotte for a year longer.

It's a nice idea but I just don't see it happening in the current climate. Among other things, NS won't be receptive to more blockage of their main line at MP 633 by additional passenger trains sitting in the station. Meanwhile Amtrak, the City of Atlanta, and GDOT appear to be absolutely incapable of getting a new station project underway.
 
Altanta Station

Why can't we just run the train(s) to the far side of belt way, and build a station with a maintance facility? Is Altanta too small to have two stations. The new "Western" will have large parking lot, with easy access to the belt way. Turning loop or wye, shed for maintance, and layover track(s).

Problem solved.
 
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