True. I should have looked up passenger counts, rather than just basing my comment on population numbers.
Nonetheless, if serving a relatively populated area during bad hours doesn't generate ridership, then serving far less populated areas during those same hours would do next to nothing.
Actually Fort Wayne would be served at about the same time as Toledo is (roughly speaking) and when Broadway ran through Ft. Wayne it was a significant traffic generator. So I would not be so sure that it will do worse than Cleveland
Having both the Lake Shore and Capitol Limited serve the same route saves Amtrak tons of money in crew costs (use a common crew base and not have to worry about qualifying crews on so many different lines), station costs, etc.
That is indeed true but minimizing crew cost is but one consideration. In the absurd limit that would suggest that the Cardinal should also run on the same route.
Actually it would very very significantly reduce the cost of running the Cardinal.
I think this again boils down ultimately to "what is the goal of running LD trains?". If it is just to connect New York to Chicago with no concern for how many communities are served on the way, then, yes, run all trains between those two points on the same route. But I don't believe that should be the primary goal of Amtrak LD trains.
The unique differentiator of trains from planes is that trains are good at serving en-route communities efficiently and I think Amtrak should strive to even at slightly higher operating costs to take advantage of that unique ability of trains. Otherwise they could just become another airline and I am sure they will fail spectacularly absent very significant increase in speeds and reduction of running times.
Coming back to rare miles, I'd throw in Alexandria to Richmond via Buckingham Branch RR, two possible alternatives:
1. Alexandria - Orange - Doswell - Richmond Staple Mill (Auto Train a few Silvers did this in the recent past and our own Rafi was on one of them)
2. Alexandria - Orange - Doswell (Doswell Sub) Richmond Main St.
3. Empire Builder on the route of the North Coast Hiawatha slightly modified through Billing and Helena in stad of Billings Butte,
4. Empire Builder through Stampede Pass (Spokane - Pasco - Yakima - Ellensburg - Seattle) has this line been reactivated again or is it still dormant?
Some rare miles that are impossible for use by any conceivable Amtrak reroutes and have never been served by Amtrak in the past:
1. Albany - Oneonta - Binghamton - Tuckahanock Viaduct - Scranton (done by Amtrak special to Steamtown)
2. Scranton - Pocono Summit - Delaware Water Gap (done a couple of times each year by Steamtown Special)
And some conceivable Amtrak restorations:
1. Sunset East.
2. Pioneer - Salt Lake City - Ogden - Pocatello - Boise -Nampa - Hinkle - Hood River - Portland.
3. Desert Wind - Salt Lake City - Las Vegas NV - Barstow - San Bernardino - Los Angeles
4. North Coast Hiawatha - Chicago - Minneapolis - Fargo - Miles City - Billings - Livingston - Helena - Missoula - Sandpoint - Spokane - Seattle.
5. The Lone Star - Kansas City - Newton - Wichita - Ponca City - Oklahoma City - Fort Worth (this might actually happen)
.....
