Track Work At Saint Paul Union Depot....

[Nathanael]

I'd guess that the EB keeps using the CP short line and then through the MNRR yard past the old Midway station for at least 5-10 years.

Don't get me wrong -- the Short Line routing makes perfect sense. It's actually the shorter route. It's cheaper to use. It's uncongested. If there's a worry about speed, it's going to be much easier to fix up the tracks there than it is to reroute the train. (The yard track could be sped up to 30 mph pretty cheaply; the entire route could be brought up to 60 mph at quite reasonable prices.)
The question is about *stopping at the Minnesota Commercial shops* at Midway. Running straight through makes so much more sense than stopping. But the rumors have all been that Amtrak will stop there and put the 707/808 coach there -- it just seems bizarre.

The other slow spot is the MNNR yard near Midway station. The cost kicks in again. For switching, all those old MNNR Alco's with their relatively cheap crews, and plenty low price storage tracks for PV and the seasonal MSP-CHI Amtrak coach. At SPUD -- lots of switchers at the yards two miles away -- but cost probably twice per hour, and have to get cleared through Hoffman to SPUD to even start working $$$.

At SPUD, it would be the Amtrak road crew doing the switching. And the question is, why not? It's even viable to add and drop private cars there, what with the extra track.
My best guess for a reason would be -- perhaps Amtrak has a contract with Minnesota Commercial and is waiting for contract renewal time before relocating. But I can't think of any other reason not to move the cutting & adding to SPUD, after which the train could move straight through the yards without stopping.

 

[mwmnp]

Makes December 7th sound like a reasonable date. It's a Saturday which would lend itself to a big ceremony designed to get folks down to the station. I would not be surprised if #8 makes it's stop at Midway on 12/7/13 with SPUD opening that afternoon in time for #7 to make the first stop at SPUD that evening.

Another huge clue that December 7th may be the day: the 40th anniversary exhibit train has been scheduled for a while to make a stop in St. Paul on that date. The Amtrak webpage has shown the stop to be at the current Midway station, but I can't imagine putting the train on display at SPUD instead would be that difficult. Or, I suppose the exhibit train could be used for some sort of a "farewell to Midway" event.

 

[NW cannonball]

Looked at the west end SPUD connection today, progressing very well. Saw a 6-man crew installing the power-switch on the derail east of Robert at 17:45 PM.

Looks like all the track tied in, most switch machines installed, signals being worked on - the west-facing signal at Robert been moved 30 yards west outside of the now tied-in connection to CP Main #1.

Maybe two more switches need their power installed, maybe 3-4 need heaters installed. Looks real good.

But -- if the derail they were working on ever has to derail cars out of spud rolling west -- looks like the cars will be dumped over a retaining wall onto automobiles in the parking lot near the tracks. Does this make sense?

 

[Nathanael]

But -- if the derail they were working on ever has to derail cars out of spud rolling west -- looks like the cars will be dumped over a retaining wall onto automobiles in the parking lot near the tracks. Does this make sense?

Probably a requirement of the Class I freight railroads, who seem to be genuinely allergic to passenger trains. They probably think this derail will reduce their liability if a car rolls loose out of SPUD. Presumably this would happen at low speed, so I suppose they don't expect a car to actually topple in such a situation. If it did, that would probably, um, increase their liability because they signed off on the design.

 

[Agent]

Not track work, but they're apparently also putting in a park for rail fans next to Saint Paul Union Depot.

 

[The Davy Crockett]

Not track work, but they're apparently also putting in a park for rail fans next to Saint Paul Union Depot.

Maybe they should call it "Foamer's Field?"

 

[dabrilloman]

Here are a few pictures of the "Park" area I assume they are refering to. Some interesting benches, platforms and native prarie grasses (I think). Also the trail from the Vento Nature area connects to this park. This area used to be the employee parking lot for the US Post Office when we (I am a postal clerk) were still in downtown Saint Paul.

 

[bgiaquin]

looks nice.

 

[Ispolkom]

The Star Tribune has an article about the new public art at St. Paul Union Depot. It would seem I will be able to play a musical ping pong table while waiting for a delayed Empire Builder.

 

[Bob Dylan]

Nice Park! Bet it's Great in the Summer! :lol:

 

[NW cannonball]

A detail to note -- the area with the benches and tables has a sort of roof over it. That cover over the bench and table area has a map of the tracks through Union Depot as they were 70-80 decades ago. Just lay back and look at the overhead. Don't know the artist, but it is an interesting detail. All done in little drill-holes through the overhead to outline the old-time track map.

 

[jebr]

Makes December 7th sound like a reasonable date. It's a Saturday which would lend itself to a big ceremony designed to get folks down to the station. I would not be surprised if #8 makes it's stop at Midway on 12/7/13 with SPUD opening that afternoon in time for #7 to make the first stop at SPUD that evening.

Another huge clue that December 7th may be the day: the 40th anniversary exhibit train has been scheduled for a while to make a stop in St. Paul on that date. The Amtrak webpage has shown the stop to be at the current Midway station, but I can't imagine putting the train on display at SPUD instead would be that difficult. Or, I suppose the exhibit train could be used for some sort of a "farewell to Midway" event.

Speaking of the 40th anniversary train...

 

[dabrilloman]

Makes December 7th sound like a reasonable date. It's a Saturday which would lend itself to a big ceremony designed to get folks down to the station. I would not be surprised if #8 makes it's stop at Midway on 12/7/13 with SPUD opening that afternoon in time for #7 to make the first stop at SPUD that evening.

Another huge clue that December 7th may be the day: the 40th anniversary exhibit train has been scheduled for a while to make a stop in St. Paul on that date. The Amtrak webpage has shown the stop to be at the current Midway station, but I can't imagine putting the train on display at SPUD instead would be that difficult. Or, I suppose the exhibit train could be used for some sort of a "farewell to Midway" event.

Speaking of the 40th anniversary train...

I sent an email to Amtrak Public Relations in Chicago on Nov. 2 asking for an update or if there was a date set yet for the move to SPUD. I received a reply on the 3rd that said quote

[SIZE=11pt]"Not this month. Ramsey County and we will announce the date at the appropriate time.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]Thanks for your interest. We’re looking forward to it, too."[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]Just a thought, but it would be cool if they were to use the 40th Anniversary Train stop at SPUD as the day for announcing the date of the move. [/SIZE]

 

[mwmnp]

The Ramsey County Regional Railroad Authority today approved operating and lease agreements for Amtrak to formally move into SPUD. Of note, both agreements are for an initial 20 years, the portions of the depot Amtrak will be leasing are to be handed over to Amtrak on December 1st, and Amtrak's rent limit (not necessarily what they will be paying) will be $144,586 per year, increasing 3% each year beginning in 2015, with an additional one-time increase of $44,357 if Amtrak sells or demolishes the current Midway station. No additional detail of when the Empire Builder will begin stopping at the station is noted, other than the "first quarter of 2014." There's also no mention, that I could find, of switching cars at the depot, but there is confirmation that there are electrical and plumbing facilities on the platforms for Amtrak to use in servicing trains.

 

[jebr]

I'm starting to think they're just wanting to kill two birds with one stone and have the huge grand opening with both the light rail and the Empire Builder!

 

[mwmnp]

On a different note, I just discovered the depot is now on Google Street View. This is really great. You can start here at the Amtrak end of the waiting room, where the tower leads down to the platforms, and "walk" straight ahead all the way to the 4th Street entrance. Go "downstairs" and you can also see the Kellogg Boulevard entrance where the Amtrak ticket and baggage facilities will be.

 

[mwmnp]

Speaking of the 40th anniversary train...

Hmm, take another look at the websites announcing upcoming exhibit train stops. All mention of a December 7th stop at SPUD appears to have been removed.

 

[rickycourtney]

So there's an interesting mention of an "Amtrak VIP Lounge" inside of Saint Paul Union Depot. I didn't remember seeing that elsewhere in our discussion (but this is getting to be a long topic!)

The improvements show a counter (presumably for coffee and snacks) with beverage refrigerator and a water cooler.

It will be interesting to see if this will be setup like the Metropolitan Lounges in CHI and PDX with an attendant or just as a private waiting area for Sleeping car passengers like the one at Midway.

 

[Nathanael]

It will be interesting to see if this will be setup like the Metropolitan Lounges in CHI and PDX with an attendant or just as a private waiting area for Sleeping car passengers like the one at Midway.

Yeah, it's not clear whether there will be an attendant, but I'd guess not. Amtrak doesn't tend to hire extra employees if it doesn't have to...

 

[rickycourtney]

Yeah, it's not clear whether there will be an attendant, but I'd guess not. Amtrak doesn't tend to hire extra employees if it doesn't have to...

There may need to be an extra employee considering the ticking office for Amtrak is downstairs. Unless they plan to use a door code that changes daily, someone will need to be there to check tickets before letting passengers into the lounge.

 

[Nathanael]

Hadn't thought of that. Well, an attendant would be a nice improvement.

The Strib says (as noted in the other thread) that the latest guess for the Empire Builder move is mid-February of 2014, because apparently the freight railroads expect to need three months to debug their signal system. (Why do I think they're not treating this as a priority?) That's only a year and three months late. It's still before the light rail line is scheduled to open (which is a vague "mid-2014"). But who knows what the next holdup will be.

 

[Bob Dylan]

Yeah, it's not clear whether there will be an attendant, but I'd guess not. Amtrak doesn't tend to hire extra employees if it doesn't have to...

There may need to be an extra employee considering the ticking office for Amtrak is downstairs. Unless they plan to use a door code that changes daily, someone will need to be there to check tickets before letting passengers into the lounge.

This is how it works in New Orleans for the "Magnolia Room" and in St. Louis for the Unstaffed Lounge! Since the Midway Station "Lounge" is Unstaffed I'd venture a Guess that the New Lounge will also be the Same!

 

[mwmnp]

The "VIP Lounge" is right here, and one of the entrance doors very clearly has a keypad entry.

 

[afigg]

The "VIP Lounge" is right here, and one of the entrance doors very clearly has a keypad entry.

With the advent of eTicketing, they could add a scanner with wireless internet access to the doors to unlock them for anyone with a valid eTicket. If someone does not have a eTicket, then they could enter their reservation number in the keypad. If they don't have that, then knock on the door and someone will let them in. Would not be a tight screening process, but it would generally keep those not riding on Amtrak out.

 

[Just-Thinking-51]

VIP lounge has glass walls.

Not sure I like that maybe some sort of window screen needed.

The name "VIP Lounge" is not going to work.

"Viking lounge" "Twin City's Lounge" "Ramsey Lounge"

For the record that is one fine looking station.