Recent content by demonizedwater

I'd rather take my chances with one out of 6 people being completely nutzo than one out of 70 or 80. Also, haven't really experienced anyone dangerously unstable on Amtrak, at least in the Northeast ... this tends to be more of an urban public transit/subway issue. Doubly so with Europe ...

It's sad how anti-social and averse to sharing space with strangers many Americans are. Part of the joy of travel in Eastern/Central Europe is talking to strangers. I may add that if I take Acela in the US, I always book a table even when traveling alone, and I've had some amazing...

Yes and no .... PKP, ÖBB, and CD actually have some relatively new compartment stock (PKP ordered some brand-new ones this year, actually). It's actually great even as a solo traveler if you're not averse to talking to strangers a bit -- far more comfy and quieter than open-plan cars. Not in...

As far as _coaches_, not sleepers? I raise you a specific type of PKP or ÖBB compartment coach (Poland and Austria). Ten or so compartments with 2 rows of 3 seats facing one another. They recline almost completely with the seat bottoms moving forward to meet in the middle, so if you have only...

Why not hold 67 in Baltimore then?

For what it's worth, this looks to be related to some sort of work (Douglass Tunnel???) between Philly and DC rather than saving a few nickels and other sources aren't assuming it's permanent. Looks like nothing gets through there going south at night (hence 67 sitting for 3 hr in Philly going...

I'm not convinced that the plan is not to have any Regional service going south of Philly after 7:40pm. This will be a PITA for anyone who has to go south of Philly and has a working hour job in NYC. also, look at the new schedule of 65/67. 3 hour hold in Philly. is there also something...

In the late March schedule changes, they seem to have got rid of train 187 and cut 177 back to Philly, so there's no longer any through train service south of NYC at 9 or 10 pm (except on Sundays). They've also added more trains (3 more southbound for the whole day ), but killed anything after...

If they're going to be spending billions moving the line, they should electrify between San Diego and L.A.

Run to at least Plattsburgh, then bus. Don't bustitute from Saratoga or Albany. The more of the route is bustituted, the worse precedent is set for future return of full service. Or just use the old rail routing to Lucien l'Allier.

The problem is deeper than that. The whole US/Canada land border reeks of this kind of posturing -- 20 years is long enough for the post-9/11 security theater to last. Go back to cursory checks of driver's license/ID (especially now that Real ID is a thing), and occasional spot checks of...

Big difference between a 30 mile stretch between Rouse's and Candiac (if they decide to run into Lucien l'Allier) and a 600 mile stretch from New Orleans to Orlando. But yes, austerity is a sickness that most of North America is afflicted by.

Fortunately, NYS and its governor have far more reasonable attitude towards public transit than MS, AL, and FL (plus the Adirondack is state-funded), so there will be more pressure to restore it than there was for the Sunset East.

Looks like Boston->NYC service is getting a bit better after September. 65/67 are being run again, but leaving Boston around 8 pm vs 9:30pm as they did before they got cancelled due to Penn Access. The weird thing is that it holds for 3.5 hr upon arrival in NYC, instead of continuing to DC...

US needs to start enforcing laws against level crossing violations seriously. As in cameras, and loss of license/registration for a year or two if you run the gates plus fines equal to 10% of the value of your vehicle.