Pere Marquette is a Superliner Train Again

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tommylicious

OBS Chief
Joined
Sep 9, 2013
Messages
599
Just saw tonight's Pere Marquette in Harbert, Michigan tonight. She's running a P42, 3 Superliner cars, and a Cabbage. I thought she had been demoted to dreaded Horizon equipment but not so.
 
Isn't the demotion during the winter when the superliners are needed to supplement delayed and/or frozen trains?
It believe it is the opposite wherein Superliners always run on the train during winter and may or may not during summer. The other Michigan trains even use Superliners occasionally during the Winter. Your reason is correct, however, as Horizons do not perform well in colder weather. That is why as many Superliners as possible are used in their place during the winter on routes that are traditionally operated with Horizons.
 
Pere Marquette has been a Superliner for many years now. They have however replaced them at times when they needed to for equipment reasons but only for short spurts. This whole summer with the exception of a few days has been Superliner.
 
It's nice that they are running the Superliners on the Pere Marquette and also know that they run them on some of the California Trains along with the "California Cars".

I have a serious question however and that is considering all of the Superliners being used on relatively short haul daytime corridor runs I wonder how many long distance passengers are being turned away because the long distance trains don't have enough coaches?

Remember the Superliners were built for and were intended to primarily be long distance equipment. For example the Superliners at one time ran and were supposed to run on the Cardinal. Yes I know that the Cardinal now runs into Penn Station so they can't be used on the train however it would be smarter in my opinion to run the Cardinal only as far as Washington, Baltimore or Philadelphia where they could make connections to the Northeast Corridor as the Cardinal being a long distance train going through a scenic route through the New River Gorge should really be running with Superliners and a SIghtseer Loinge to take advantage of the scenery. Their current arrival time in New York is inconvenient to begin with and it was never really meant to be a Chicago to New York Train. The Lake Shore Limited is the primary Chicago to New York Train and it arrives late enough.

The Superlliner coaches on the Michigan and Calfornia trains can better be used on the Calfornia Zephyr and the Empire Builder where there are large summer time crowds on portions of their routes. They could also probably be better used on a few other busy long distance trains that have large summer time crowds.
 
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We'll take this part of your post first:

I have a serious question however and that is considering all of the Superliners being used on relatively short haul daytime corridor runs I wonder how many long distance passengers are being turned away because the long distance trains don't have enough coaches?

The Superlliner coaches on the Michigan and Calfornia trains can better be used on the Calfornia Zephyr and the Empire Builder where there are large summer time crowds on portions of their routes. They could also probably be better used on a few out busy long distance trains that have large summer time crowds.
This is indeed a valid concern. Although the state supported "corridor" services account for a lot of ridership and growth, the long distance service will suffer as a result, stymieing its ability to grow or meet demand. I made mention of this in the A proposal to restructure Amtrak thread:

Don't know about #1 and 2 but, the Pacific Northwest and Southern California have the Cascades and the Pacific Surfliner which are predominately state-supported and would probably survive. There are other areas with state-supported, Amtrak operated rail as well.
State supported trains do not add to Amtrak's losses and since states are required to balance their budgets I feel that is responsible governmental spending. If more states stepped up to cover more interstate routes Amtrak would not have to losses it now has.
That is inherently untrue. Every coach or resource you divert to state supported services takes away from Amtrak's network. Do you realize how long some of the trains were before Amtrak started providing additional equipment to state supported services? If they were running with their own cars (Such as MARC or CDOT) that is one thing. However, the diverted equipment could be used to run additional trains and add to existing services.
This goes for the single level fleet at well. Trains such as the Pigeon, Late For Sure Limited, Silver Slug and Silver Starvation could have more coach seating for long distance service (and short haul service along the route) if AM2s weren't diverted to trains such as the Pennsylvanian (even though that is operationally considered a long distance train), Adirondack and Maple Leaf.

Additional service is always nice but it would be equally nice if it came with additional equipment.

Speaking of the Cardinal, let's add one thing to this statement:

I

Remember the Superliners were built for and were intended to primarily be long distance equipment. For example the Superliners at one time ran and were supposed to run on the Cardinal. Yes I know that the Cardinal now runs into Penn Station so they can't be used on the train however it would be smarter in my opinion to run the Cardinal only as far as Washington, Baltimore or Philadelphia where they could make connections to the Northeast Corridor as the Cardinal being a long distance train going through a scenic route through the New River Gorge should really be running with Superliners and a SIghtseer Loinge to take advantage of the scenery. Their current arrival time in New York is inconvenient to begin with and it was never really meant to be a Chicago to New York Train. The Lake Shore Limited is the primary Chicago to New York Train and it arrives late enough.
While the Cardinal's top ridership pairs are short haul passengers, the revenue pairs are longer. If you kill the Cardinal in WAS, you're eliminating a direct connection for almost half of your top revenue generating city pairs. That is one of the main reasons while the Cardinal remains a single level train.
 
We'll take this part of your post first:

I have a serious question however and that is considering all of the Superliners being used on relatively short haul daytime corridor runs I wonder how many long distance passengers are being turned away because the long distance trains don't have enough coaches?

The Superlliner coaches on the Michigan and Calfornia trains can better be used on the Calfornia Zephyr and the Empire Builder where there are large summer time crowds on portions of their routes. They could also probably be better used on a few out busy long distance trains that have large summer time crowds.
This is indeed a valid concern. Although the state supported "corridor" services account for a lot of ridership and growth, the long distance service will suffer as a result, stymieing its ability to grow or meet demand. I made mention of this in the A proposal to restructure Amtrak thread:

Don't know about #1 and 2 but, the Pacific Northwest and Southern California have the Cascades and the Pacific Surfliner which are predominately state-supported and would probably survive. There are other areas with state-supported, Amtrak operated rail as well.
State supported trains do not add to Amtrak's losses and since states are required to balance their budgets I feel that is responsible governmental spending. If more states stepped up to cover more interstate routes Amtrak would not have to losses it now has.
That is inherently untrue. Every coach or resource you divert to state supported services takes away from Amtrak's network. Do you realize how long some of the trains were before Amtrak started providing additional equipment to state supported services? If they were running with their own cars (Such as MARC or CDOT) that is one thing. However, the diverted equipment could be used to run additional trains and add to existing services.
This goes for the single level fleet at well. Trains such as the Pigeon, Late For Sure Limited, Silver Slug and Silver Starvation could have more coach seating for long distance service (and short haul service along the route) if AM2s weren't diverted to trains such as the Pennsylvanian (even though that is operationally considered a long distance train), Adirondack and Maple Leaf.

Additional service is always nice but it would be equally nice if it came with additional equipment.

Speaking of the Cardinal, let's add one thing to this statement:

I

Remember the Superliners were built for and were intended to primarily be long distance equipment. For example the Superliners at one time ran and were supposed to run on the Cardinal. Yes I know that the Cardinal now runs into Penn Station so they can't be used on the train however it would be smarter in my opinion to run the Cardinal only as far as Washington, Baltimore or Philadelphia where they could make connections to the Northeast Corridor as the Cardinal being a long distance train going through a scenic route through the New River Gorge should really be running with Superliners and a SIghtseer Loinge to take advantage of the scenery. Their current arrival time in New York is inconvenient to begin with and it was never really meant to be a Chicago to New York Train. The Lake Shore Limited is the primary Chicago to New York Train and it arrives late enough.
While the Cardinal's top ridership pairs are short haul passengers, the revenue pairs are longer. If you kill the Cardinal in WAS, you're eliminating a direct connection for almost half of your top revenue generating city pairs. That is one of the main reasons while the Cardinal remains a single level train.
That's interesting when you consider that the Cardinal arrives New York so late at night and leaves New York so early in the morning. Would it help much if the Cardinal were to terminate in Philadelphia or it New York City still responsible for much of the the Cardinals revenue stream?

I also have another operational idea which may be possible even though the probability of them doing it isn't that good. The idea would be to run the Cardinal as a mixed 'car type" train. It would run with single level cars in the front and in the rear it would run with a few Superliners which would mainly be a Sightseer Lounge and a transition dorm as way for passengers to go from the front to the rear section, They could also possibly run a coach and maybe a sleeper if warranted, that is beside the point however. The main idea would be to run with the Superliners attached to the rear of the train as far as at least Washington or maybe even Philadelphia and then disconnect the Superliners and have the single level train continue on to New York. Another way of doing it would be just to have a dedicated corridor train whose main purpose would be to connect with the Cardinal either in Washington or Philadelphia.
 
We'll take this part of your post first:

I have a serious question however and that is considering all of the Superliners being used on relatively short haul daytime corridor runs I wonder how many long distance passengers are being turned away because the long distance trains don't have enough coaches?

The Superlliner coaches on the Michigan and Calfornia trains can better be used on the Calfornia Zephyr and the Empire Builder where there are large summer time crowds on portions of their routes. They could also probably be better used on a few out busy long distance trains that have large summer time crowds.
This is indeed a valid concern. Although the state supported "corridor" services account for a lot of ridership and growth, the long distance service will suffer as a result, stymieing its ability to grow or meet demand. I made mention of this in the A proposal to restructure Amtrak thread:

Don't know about #1 and 2 but, the Pacific Northwest and Southern California have the Cascades and the Pacific Surfliner which are predominately state-supported and would probably survive. There are other areas with state-supported, Amtrak operated rail as well.
State supported trains do not add to Amtrak's losses and since states are required to balance their budgets I feel that is responsible governmental spending. If more states stepped up to cover more interstate routes Amtrak would not have to losses it now has.
That is inherently untrue. Every coach or resource you divert to state supported services takes away from Amtrak's network. Do you realize how long some of the trains were before Amtrak started providing additional equipment to state supported services? If they were running with their own cars (Such as MARC or CDOT) that is one thing. However, the diverted equipment could be used to run additional trains and add to existing services.
This goes for the single level fleet at well. Trains such as the Pigeon, Late For Sure Limited, Silver Slug and Silver Starvation could have more coach seating for long distance service (and short haul service along the route) if AM2s weren't diverted to trains such as the Pennsylvanian (even though that is operationally considered a long distance train), Adirondack and Maple Leaf.

Additional service is always nice but it would be equally nice if it came with additional equipment.

Speaking of the Cardinal, let's add one thing to this statement:

I

Remember the Superliners were built for and were intended to primarily be long distance equipment. For example the Superliners at one time ran and were supposed to run on the Cardinal. Yes I know that the Cardinal now runs into Penn Station so they can't be used on the train however it would be smarter in my opinion to run the Cardinal only as far as Washington, Baltimore or Philadelphia where they could make connections to the Northeast Corridor as the Cardinal being a long distance train going through a scenic route through the New River Gorge should really be running with Superliners and a SIghtseer Loinge to take advantage of the scenery. Their current arrival time in New York is inconvenient to begin with and it was never really meant to be a Chicago to New York Train. The Lake Shore Limited is the primary Chicago to New York Train and it arrives late enough.
While the Cardinal's top ridership pairs are short haul passengers, the revenue pairs are longer. If you kill the Cardinal in WAS, you're eliminating a direct connection for almost half of your top revenue generating city pairs. That is one of the main reasons while the Cardinal remains a single level train.
That's interesting when you consider that the Cardinal arrives New York so late at night and leaves New York so early in the morning. Would it help much if the Cardinal were to terminate in Philadelphia or it New York City still responsible for much of the the Cardinals revenue stream?I also have another operational idea which may be possible even though the probability of them doing it isn't that good. The idea would be to run the Cardinal as a mixed 'car type" train. It would run with single level cars in the front and in the rear it would run with a few Superliners which would mainly be a Sightseer Lounge and a transition dorm as way for passengers to go from the front to the rear section, They could also possibly run a coach and maybe a sleeper if warranted, that is beside the point however. The main idea would be to run with the Superliners attached to the rear of the train as far as at least Washington or maybe even Philadelphia and then disconnect the Superliners and have the single level train continue on to New York. Another way of doing it would be just to have a dedicated corridor train whose main purpose would be to connect with the Cardinal either in Washington or Philadelphia.
The train could not even get as far as Baltimore due to low tunnels if it ran with Superliners. Also, New York brings in a lot of revenue and passengers so it wouldn't make sense to terminate in Philadelphia even if it was possible. As to a connecting cross-platform transfer in Washington, it is possible but passengers have a strong hatred for transferring. Many passengers would choose another method of transportation if the train was no longer direct for their routing.
 
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