Philly Amtrak Fan
Engineer
I was responding to a post about the late departure/arrival times of the LSL. I am very sure that the late time is due to make sure passengers from the west coast don't get stranded in CHI if they get in late from the trains from the west. The LSL PRIIA in 2011 suggested a 6pm departure for the LSL and the 7:30pm departure for the CL. But could Amtrak live with the latest eastbound departure from CHI at 7:30pm? And if this is the case, will more passengers get stuck overnight in CHI? Will Amtrak be forced to not guarantee west/east connections?
So my thought was to see if it was possible to switch one or more of the eastbound trains from the west coast to arrive in Union Station earlier. This was my discussion:
http://discuss.amtraktrains.com/index.php?/topic/65974-amtrak-express-ld-trains/?p=632077
I found the Empire Builder was the only train that was possible to shift without a drastic effect to a "major" intermediate stop along the route. The shift wasn't an easy shift because of the need to schedule the MSP-CHI portion at reasonable hours. The only one that "worked" to me was shifting the EB 8 hours up. The train would travel overnight between MSP and CHI and arrive in CHI early morning (MSP 12:03am, CHI 7:55am). Instead of leaving the northwest before the evening rush hour they would then leave early in the morning (SEA 8:40am/ PDX 8:45am). So passengers from SEA/PDX will "lose the entire day" leaving for CHI but would get into CHI early so they would "get the day back" on that end. The best thing about my proposed shift would be that the train would then arrive/leave Spokane during the late afternoon and not late at night.
We would probably like all four trains to get into CHI around lunchtime and not middle of the afternoon to give enough time to connect east but I can't think of one train that would work for. I also don't think there's any way to "improve" the arrival times of the SWC, CZ, or TE. So the only train that we can do anything with would be the EB and admittedly it would be drastic. Anyone traveling from the EB to east Chicago would have to wait all day in Union Station until the eastbound trains leave. On the other hand, would you rather wait all day or be stranded overnight in CHI because the EB gets in after 9:30pm? Plus, if you add All Aboard Ohio's new Three Rivers route, then you can leave CHI earlier.
So if we can move just the EB would that be enough to do the CL/LSL time shifts without fear of stranded passengers in CHI? If the EB is causing the most problems coming into CHI, that might be enough to help eliminate the need for the LSL to leave so late and it would have a chance of arriving before the afternoon rush hour. The EB does have the latest arrival into CHI of the four major trains from the west coast/Texas.
So my thought was to see if it was possible to switch one or more of the eastbound trains from the west coast to arrive in Union Station earlier. This was my discussion:
http://discuss.amtraktrains.com/index.php?/topic/65974-amtrak-express-ld-trains/?p=632077
I found the Empire Builder was the only train that was possible to shift without a drastic effect to a "major" intermediate stop along the route. The shift wasn't an easy shift because of the need to schedule the MSP-CHI portion at reasonable hours. The only one that "worked" to me was shifting the EB 8 hours up. The train would travel overnight between MSP and CHI and arrive in CHI early morning (MSP 12:03am, CHI 7:55am). Instead of leaving the northwest before the evening rush hour they would then leave early in the morning (SEA 8:40am/ PDX 8:45am). So passengers from SEA/PDX will "lose the entire day" leaving for CHI but would get into CHI early so they would "get the day back" on that end. The best thing about my proposed shift would be that the train would then arrive/leave Spokane during the late afternoon and not late at night.
We would probably like all four trains to get into CHI around lunchtime and not middle of the afternoon to give enough time to connect east but I can't think of one train that would work for. I also don't think there's any way to "improve" the arrival times of the SWC, CZ, or TE. So the only train that we can do anything with would be the EB and admittedly it would be drastic. Anyone traveling from the EB to east Chicago would have to wait all day in Union Station until the eastbound trains leave. On the other hand, would you rather wait all day or be stranded overnight in CHI because the EB gets in after 9:30pm? Plus, if you add All Aboard Ohio's new Three Rivers route, then you can leave CHI earlier.
So if we can move just the EB would that be enough to do the CL/LSL time shifts without fear of stranded passengers in CHI? If the EB is causing the most problems coming into CHI, that might be enough to help eliminate the need for the LSL to leave so late and it would have a chance of arriving before the afternoon rush hour. The EB does have the latest arrival into CHI of the four major trains from the west coast/Texas.