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    SW Chief (Train 3) busing due to flooding

    For what it is worth, 3 (21) appears to be moving again, an hour and a half behind schedule at Garden City. I will be boarding it at ABQ unless it drops a bunch more time. ainamkartma
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    Unsold sleepers

    I echo Jis's gratitude for the clarification. Ainamkartma
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    Unsold sleepers

    Excuse me?  Are you saying that airlines are in the habit of sending out planes with empty seats when people are waiting on standby, or with empty first class seats when people are waitlisted for an upgrade?  I have flown about 100K miles per year for the last 15 years, and I have never, not...
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    Comparing Historical Passenger Train Ridership

    Unlike most years, you might not find a unanimous hope that Amtrak increased across the board this year! I, for one, kind of hope that LSL, CL, and Silver Star ridership are down, while the long distance trains with real dining car service maintain their very high utilization rate. Ainamkartma
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    Comparing Historical Passenger Train Ridership

    You didn't specify long distance or intercity rail as a criterion for your question, so perhaps it is important to remember that US passenger rail travel (by trip numbers, excluding subways and LRT) is totally dominated by commuter rail, which is in turn dominated by the three New York City...
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    What would you add?

    Well over double the driving time, FWIW. You can drive and get there by lunch, or take the train and get there by dinner... Ainamkartma
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    Viewliner II Part 3: Bag/Dorm Car Production, Delivery, Speculation

    In the event of a bus bridge, Amtrak will obviously have to somehow transport the buses to each end of the bridge, duh. So since ridership and baggage checking will be way down, there will be plenty of room to transport the buses in the new baggage car capacity coming on line. I envision one...
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    Southwest Chief News & Future Operations

    I share your skepticism. Without having easy access to any facts, it seems beyond the bounds of credibility that a bus would be more expensive than train over the Raton route: 1) The right of way cost is 100% externalized for the bus, 100% internal for the train. 2) The vehicle capital and...
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    Southwest Chief News & Future Operations

    Modern US train travel is totally dominated, both in terms of ridership and passenger-miles, by commuter rail. For example, New York's Metro North alone has over twenty times as many annual boardings as Amtrak. It may well be true that Amtrak has "helped reverse the trend...", but that help...
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    Chicago Legacy Club Possible Closure - June 2019 or sooner

    Of course, but from day one of its existence its traffic was dominated by commuter passengers. According to "Grand Central Terminal" (Schlichting, 2001), "Commuter traffic... came to exceed [long distance] passengers by a considerable margin" between 1900 and 1913, when GCT opened, and commuter...
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    Chicago Legacy Club Possible Closure - June 2019 or sooner

    But Grand Central was never designed as a place to sit and wait for trains, or at least it wasn't famous for that aspect of its design. It was praised largely for the innovations in its design that allowed it to efficiently serve thousands of commuters during the rush hours. Ainamkartma
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    SWC Trip Report

    Can confirm, I saw the burrito lady meet the east bound Sunset Limited in El Paso a couple of weeks ago. She was doing pretty good business. Ainamkartma
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    Nice trip on Sunset and Crescent

    Hi all, A couple of weeks ago I made a nice trip from El Paso to New York on the Sunset Limited and Crescent, stopping for two nights in New Orleans. I had a roomette for both legs, upstairs on the Superliner. It was my first opportunity to ride both sections, so i was very pleased by the...
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    July Changes to Lake Shore and Capitol Limited Dining

    OK, I'm confused... how does one compare sales of Crown Royal between LD trains, on which it is not offered for sale, and Acela first class, on which it is offered for free? Seems like sales would be zero by definition in both cases... Ainamkartma
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    What would you add?

    I would suggest that the most practical way to implement a Front Range Flyer is on new right of way... because a passenger service which is busy competing with slow (and effectively unscheduled) freight drags can't compete effectively with the automobile. Colorado has proven it is willing to...
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    What would you add?

    Front Range Flyer is desperately needed, but should go Cheyenne-Fo Co-Longmont-Boulder-Denver-C Springs-Pueblo-Trinidad, not Denver to Albuquerque. Just look at the highways: from Pueblo to Cheyenne, I-25 and all secondary roads are chronically backed up; from Trinidad to ABQ, very...
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    July Changes to Lake Shore and Capitol Limited Dining

    The menu says they are "fresh prepared locally" or words to that effect. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ainamkartma
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    Climate Scientists Take the Train

    These are in-house policy implementations of GSA rules. So they often add additional local restrictions when desired, but the source documents are from the GSA. We are located nowhere near the NEC, so trains don't really get onto our local policy-makers' radar screen. Ainamkartma
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    Elimination of diners on western Amtrak long distance trains?

    At Hampton Inn, there is zero expectation that Food and Beverage operations will turn a direct profit. They are loss leaders to improve the overall hotel stay experience. Ainamkartma
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    Climate Scientists Take the Train

    I am a research, but not climate, scientist. At my employer, which follows US Government GSA rules, we are required to fly if any one stop or fewer flight is available, unless train (or bus) travel: 1) Is needed by mission requirements, or 2) takes less scheduled time than flying _and_ costs...
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