Recent content by toddinde

That would presuppose some creativity that might not exist, but it’s an intriguing idea. Through cars could be offered from Boston on a Northeast Regional which would extend through Florida service to New England without needing to send a full train to Boston. If the train was late from Florida...

It’s not a cultural norm, it’s the US Constitution. All states pay fair market value, and as practical matter, usually more because the litigation can be very favorable to property owners. I suspect Texas law mirrors the laws of other states. Interestingly, in most states, transportation...

You can get off or not when you’re in the through cars. I’ve both slept through it and explored depending on my energy level. It’s not the best time to sightsee, but it can be interesting. There used to be a 24 hour Denny’s nearby, but that might be gone. I did that a couple of times.

Totally with you on the black bean burgers. Bring them back!

Britain is going to a new system called Great British Rail which will again have the government more involved. When Labour gets in, they’ll renationalize.

I agree they have to fix the equipment, but there’s a huge problem. They’re coming off line as fast as they’re being shopped leading to no net increase in available equipment. If we’re going to get new service, we need cars sooner. I used Ventures as an example. Anything they can get building...

Everything I’ve heard is bilevels. If you read the RFP, it doesn’t actually say bilevel, it says bilevel replacement meaning it’s a replacement for the Superliner fleet. But everything I’ve heard is they’ll be bilevels. However, they need more equipment today. They should order Ventures with...

There were changes to allow privatized operators and no takers. I don’t recall the details. I believe that Amtrak still had to franchise it. The dispatching issue is vastly overblown. It is interesting that the Sunset Limited has been running largely on time since the STB filing. There isn’t a...

Railroads were completely free to join Amtrak or not as they wished. But once they joined, they gave up their obligation and right to operate regularly scheduled, inter-city passemger trains. They can still run commuter trains, specials and extras, but they cannot run regularly scheduled...

There is no mechanism for a railroad to pull out of Amtrak. Even if UP said, for some bizarre reason, that they wanted out of Amtrak, they couldn’t get out without a federal, legislative fix. The Amtrak law says railroads can operate specials and extras, but cannot operate regularly scheduled...

There’s one fundamental problem with the Hyperloop; it doesn’t work and isn’t ever going to work. It was a pipe dream to suck funding away from workable transportation solutions like rail and rapid transit.

The current money awarded as the Corridor ID will provide an accurate cost estimate of the Picacho Jct to Buckeye segment. This might sound like a lot of money, but it pales in comparison to greenfield rail development or highway projects. A major freeway interchange can easily cost a billion...

Tipping goes back to the railroad days. In fact, the origin of tipping in general is largely linked to black workers being dependent on tips for their livelihood. Tipping Pullman porters was typical so this isn’t some new phenomena. I tip and it’s a tradition of long standing. Tipping in general...

There are enough Superliners for daily Sunset service. The inefficiencies in tri-weekly mean you almost have enough already.

Part of my comment got cut out so I’ll finish my thought. Amtrak has two grants pending before the FRA; one for a daily Sunset and the other to get the Sunset back through Phoenix. UP isn’t opposed with conditions. It’s easier to dispatch a daily train than a three day a week. There are many...