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Dodge City KS is a crew change point.

The initial chatter was a day light run is possible.

Dodge City to Albuquerque is travel basically during day light hours.

However general this is a poor plan. If you want to use PTC as excuse then send the train down to Amarillo on detour. Done it in the past, can do it again.
 
jis said:
Except for the Lamy - Dailies portion the PTC excuse is no excuse at all. It is just obfuscation.
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...but if the eastern segment of the train is truncated at Dodge City instead of Lamy then Amtrak doesn't have to contribute the $3 million...
 
RPC said:
jis said:
Except for the Lamy - Dailies portion the PTC excuse is no excuse at all. It is just obfuscation.
Click to expand...
...but if the eastern segment of the train is truncated at Dodge City instead of Lamy then Amtrak doesn't have to contribute the $3 million...
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That is why the PTC bit is irrelevant to that discussion. It is just a non-excuse to try to justify something that would otherwise look like breaking of a commitment to all reasonable people.

The real solution is to reroute via Amarillo if a deal cannot be struck with Rail Runner to have them set aside a slot for the SWC. This is something that the good senator from New Mexico could work on in addition to blowing hot air and huffing and puffing about various other things.
 
bretton88 said:
https://www.progressiverailroading.com/ptc/news/House-Democrats-warn-FRA-against-PTC-exemptions--55023

I don't know if anything will come of this, but it's just more of a headache for Amtrak, especially if this causes the FRA to take a closer look at existing waivers. It's definitely bad news for the Railrunner PTC request.
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I am hopeful that the current FRA will ignore that piece of dubious advice, given that it is entirely coming from the Democrats
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Here is another example where Democrats are working hard, under the pretext of the elusive greater good, to make sure that the whole issue becomes moot due to discontinuance of service never to return.
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jis said:
RPC said:
jis said:
Except for the Lamy - Dailies portion the PTC excuse is no excuse at all. It is just obfuscation.
Click to expand...
...but if the eastern segment of the train is truncated at Dodge City instead of Lamy then Amtrak doesn't have to contribute the $3 million...
Click to expand...
That is why the PTC bit is irrelevant to that discussion. It is just a non-excuse to try to justify something that would otherwise look like breaking of a commitment to all reasonable people.

The real solution is to reroute via Amarillo if a deal cannot be struck with Rail Runner to have them set aside a slot for the SWC. This is something that the good senator from New Mexico could work on in addition to blowing hot air and huffing and puffing about various other things.
Click to expand...
It's funny that PTC, which is objectively good for safety and which would have prevented many derailments and crashes, is being weaponized and used as an excuse to chop up trains. Fun, isn't it.
 
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I have always felt that the multi-billion dollar unfunded mandate was always means to kill some passenger trains under the disguise of "more safety" in addition to the train operational safety reasons stated publically. If the federal government truly believed it was a safety improvement, they would have found a way to provide a reasonable share of funding for passenger train operators from year one of the mandate. The small amounts recently provided funds may help slightly, but a true funding commitment was needed within the first four years after the mandate was passed if they truly believed it was a safety improvement.

The Feds were putting huge amounts of money into the new air traffic control system (NEXTGEN) to DEVELOP and INSTALL it when they not not providing one penny towards PTC. If safety was the true and only reason, they would have equivalent efforts to funds both PTC and the new air traffic control sysytem. The FED Department of Transportation did not do this. Also, NEXTGEN will reduce the operating costs for airlines.

Information on the FAA website: "Starting with our initial 2007 investments and continuing through to 2030, NextGen is projected to cost the FAA and taxpayers about $20.6 billion and aviation industry partners about $15 billion for new equipment and training.

Here is the breakdown of direct costs to the FAA and taxpayers:

$16 billion for facilities and equipment

$3.1 billion for operations

$1.5 billion for research and development"

BENEFITS: "The FAA estimates that NextGen's implemented improvements have accrued $4.7 billion worth of benefits from 2010-2017, which consists of $2.6 billion in decreased passenger travel time, $1.8 billion in lower aircraft operating expenses, and $300 million in safety benefits."

Link: https://www.faa.gov/nextgen/faqs/#q7
 
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Unfortunately, all that huge amount of money in the "new" air traffic control system has not on the whole been bungled any less than the whole PTC episode. We are all still waiting for both to actually work in the way they are intended to. Yes bits and pieces work, but we are quite a ways from fully integrated operation. Hence the "alternate schedule" thing for another two years.
 
I would say that the current ridership numbers being used to justify plans like this can only be taken with a grain of salt. It isn't that difficult for Amtrak to manipulate its ridership numbers to meet this narrative. An easy way is by tinkering with consists. If you intentionally and strategically run trains with less capacity at times you know demand is higher you can force lower ridership as you're going to have less cheaper seats and sleepers.
 
Tennessee Traveler said:
frequentflyer said:
Seeing the SWC with three sleepers and five coaches on the Flagstaff and La Platta railcams, is that normal?
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Actually, the SWC is currently running two regular sleepers and one transition crew sleeper and four coaches. In between is the dining car and sightseer lounge car.
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It could have been a special case, though. As railiner said, it could be some group movement or Boy Scouts.
 
While your supposition sounds plausible. . .

lordsigma said:
If you intentionally and strategically run trains with less capacity at times you know demand is higher you can force lower ridership as you're going to have less cheaper seats and sleepers.
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. . .do you have any evidence showing this has actually occurred?
 
Regarding the previous post I did take the Southwest Chief from L.A. to Chicago during the height of spring Break time this year and the train was running with 2 coaches and 2 sleepers.

Coach was sold out, and sleeper prices for a roommette were the highest I'd ever seen them for the route.

I did not post the original question but I am also concerned that if Congress doesn't regulate prices charged or mandate reasonable length consists Amtrak will be able to reduce ridership on their own by charging way too high of prices to the point where the service is unpopular.
 
Another possibility is to move an extra cars(s) to/from Beech Grove for heavy maintenance?
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lordsigma said:
No actual evidence, just saying it wouldn’t surprise me.
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I will add though I was looking into taking an LSL trip while its in its temporary configuration this summer. I noticed an awful lot of sleeper sold out days and most remaining are in the highest most expensive buckets - really couldn't find an affordable time to go. And the consist seems to still be running with only two sleepers, yes the NY segment is absent but people still seem to be riding the train. When you see lots of sold out trains while Amtrak is whining about ridership it does make you suspicious.
 
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I more was referring to Long Distance in general that was just an example. There has been very negative language lately in Amtrak performance reports since Anderson began regarding long distance ridership and blaming LD exclusively for lower ridership this year however Northeast Corridor ridership is also down. Merely saying its interesting when you see sold out trains but that type of rhetoric.
 
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There is an interesting Post on today's (7/07)trainorders by the Vice Chair of the Rail Passenger Association, Carl Fowler.

In addition to discussing all of the the known and speculative info about Andersons proposal for chopping up the Chief Route into 2 Day Trains with a Bustitution bridge, he mentions that Amtrak is in negotiation with UP to reroute the Zephyr through Wyoming between Denver and Salt Lake City, thus eliminating the current routing through the Colorado Rockies between Denver and Salt Lake City!

"Say it ain't so Joe!"
 

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