Amtrak to begin issuing full quarterly timetables

[Rafi]

Full story is here, complete with an exclusive shot of the Fall timetable cover.

I got wind the middle of last week that Amtrak was looking to put out a January timetable. I did some digging, and was able to pull together a relatively interesting (if noneventful) story on the matter. Here's the tease:

For the first time in its 36 year history, Amtrak will begin issuing quarterly timetables in response to a growing frequency of schedule changes that occur throughout the year, Amtrak spokesman Cliff Black confirmed today to Cox Newspapers.
Historically, Amtrak has followed a semiannual timetable format, updating its train schedules once in the spring and again in the fall. In recent years, however, the railroad has suffered from a number of schedule-changing events, such as trackwork and equipment failures, that have forced a re-issue of timetables specific to the affected lines. “We have found in the past couple of years that we frequently have midterm changes in our timetables, [and] we were finding ourselves having to publish and distribute changes during the middle of our timetable period.” Black said. “What we’re doing here is we’re splitting the press run down the middle. We’re not printing as many this fall, so we’re staying within our budget.”

Of note, Amtrak confirmed to me that the Talgos are coming back on the Cascades AHEAD OF SCHEDULE, this October or early November.

-Rafi

 

[john h]

Thanks for the news story, I'm curious, whenever this paper mentions Texas such as:

"Cox Newspapers reside in five Amtrak-serviced states: Colorado (California Zephyr), Florida (Silver Services), North Carolina (Silver Services and Carolinian), Ohio (Cardinal), and Texas (Sunset Limited and Texas Eagle)."

Theres never any reference to the Heartland Flyer, maybe it gets forgotten because it only goes from Oklahoma to Fort Worth.

EDIT: Maybe the Heartland Flyer is consider part of the Texas Eagle....

 

[Rafi]

Thanks for the news story, I'm curious, whenever this paper mentions Texas such as: "Cox Newspapers reside in five Amtrak-serviced states: Colorado (California Zephyr), Florida (Silver Services), North Carolina (Silver Services and Carolinian), Ohio (Cardinal), and Texas (Sunset Limited and Texas Eagle)."

Theres never any reference to the Heartland Flyer, maybe it gets forgotten because it only goes from Oklahoma to Fort Worth.

EDIT: Maybe the Heartland Flyer is consider part of the Texas Eagle....

John,

That was my mistake, sort of... We don't have any papers along the Heartland Flyer route, but our Austin and Longview papers have trains that connect, obviously. Made the correction; thanks for the heads-up.

-Rafi

 

[Sam Damon]

Rafi,

Nice job. Thanks for digging this story out of Amtrak PR.

 

[Rafi]

Rafi,
Nice job. Thanks for digging this story out of Amtrak PR.

"Digging" is putting it lightly. Took me almost a week to get that finished.

 

[Terry434]

Wow, look at that shot of the Capitol Limited at Harpers Ferry! Thanks Rafi.

Terry Tabb

 

[eliyahu]

"Digging" is putting it lightly. Took me almost a week to get that finished.

rafi: were you able to dig up when the fall timetable would be available to station personnel and the general public?

-- eliyahu

waterbury, ct

 

[Rafi]

"Digging" is putting it lightly. Took me almost a week to get that finished.

rafi: were you able to dig up when the fall timetable would be available to station personnel and the general public?

-- eliyahu

waterbury, ct

It should start shipping to stations in mid-October; right around Monday, the 15th. When any given station decides to put it out depends on the staff, from my experience. But if you don't see it out and ask for it, say, after the 22nd, I think odds are that someone could reach behind a counter and hand it to you (which is usually my practice at Baltimore's information desk).

-Rafi