Capitol - Pennsylvanian Connection?

[jis]

The problem is finding enough single level Coaches suitable for Long Distance service.

 

[afigg]

And if better calling times could be worked out with the Class Is, it should lead to a large increase in passenger travel and revenue between WAS and PGH!

The schedule for the CL is designed to match up to LD trains and corridor trains on either end, along with avoiding the peak commuter train traffic periods in WAS and CHI. PGH and CLE have to make do with the station stop times they get.

The WAS to PGH train market is always going to be limited because of the slow trip times between the 2 cities. The CL WAS to PGH leg has a 7 hours and 43 minutes trip time. The driving time from DC Union Station to Pittsburgh is roughly 4.5 hours according to Google maps. Pretty big difference.

 

[Alexandria Nick]

From my door in Alexandria to my parent's door 30 miles north of Pittsburgh, its almost an 11 hour trip (Metro accounts for nearly an hour). I drove it in four two weekends ago. Low bucket is actually cheaper than driving though.

Its not much of a surprise people ask me why I do it. The CL is for holiday trips where its too much of a pain getting in and out of the city on 270 and getting through Breezewood.

 

[neroden]

From my door in Alexandria to my parent's door 30 miles north of Pittsburgh, its almost an 11 hour trip (Metro accounts for nearly an hour). I drove it in four two weekends ago. Low bucket is actually cheaper than driving though.

Its not much of a surprise people ask me why I do it. The CL is for holiday trips where its too much of a pain getting in and out of the city on 270 and getting through Breezewood.

Having taken the Capitol Limited now, I don't think much of the route; the old B&O route was built before people knew how to design railroads, and it's embarassingly slow. Frankly if it came down to the CL or the Broadway, I'd be in favor of replacing the CL with the Broadway. Keeping the Pennsylvanian as a second frequency between NY and PIT.

 

[46Dover]

Bring back the Broadway Limited

 

[NW cannonball]

Bring back the Broadway Limited

for sure

 

[Philly Amtrak Fan]

PennDOT has been repeatedly told in many surveys by the primary riders of the Pennsylvanian that what they care about more is a corridor train that runs on a reliable schedule so that they can reliably get to their work or wherever they are going at a predictable time, rather than cater to connecting passengers from delayed LD trains and thus screw up the day for the regular riders. They still try to strike a bit of a balance, but they will go only so far. A corridor train becomes quite useless if its timeliness gets tied to that of an unreliable LD train.

I agree that there is not absolutely set rule and they try to balance all factors and come to a decision for each case.

BTW, this will become an issue of contention when there are connecting cars from the Cap to the Pennsy in the eastbound direction, as in whether Amtrak will need to have a supplementary agreement to handle an overly delayed train as a special move and keep adequate standby equipment handy etc. Trying to use corridor trains for through cars from LD trains does face this problem in many cases.

This is probably bad news for the Cap/Pennsy connection which bothers me a lot. I had recently taken the CL from Chicago to Philly (Trenton). I actually went to WAS because the layover was in a bigger station at a better hour and there are more trains from WAS to PHL/TRE. The CL was delayed and I missed my connecting NER train. I would love one train between CHI and PHL/TRE like the old days other than the Cardinal which takes more time in general than connecting with the CL or LSL. They really should have a daily train between the third and fourth largest Amtrak markets. But if that hurts the PGH to PHL/NYP train, Amtrak will have a hard time implementing the connection. Other than having a separate Pennsylvanian and a CHI to PHL/NYP (think old Broadway Limited/Three Rivers), there will be a problem with connecting the trains. Remember for a long time before they were two separate trains. Amtrak has said in a PIP they want to do the Cap/Pennsy connection but the fact that it's been 5 years since then I seriously doubt they will.

http://discuss.amtraktrains.com/index.php?/topic/65287-capitol-pennsylvanian-connection-progress/

 

[Philly Amtrak Fan]

Bring back the Broadway Limited

for sure

Amen!

http://discuss.amtraktrains.com/index.php?/topic/65307-broadway-limitedthree-rivers-history-why-its-important/

 

[Philly Amtrak Fan]

How about those people who live in Altoona (who last time I checked were PA residents and PA taxpayers) who just returned from a LD trip from DEN or LAX? :huh: I guess PA doesn't care about them either - because they're LD riders!

Amtrak doesn't care about Altoona. Or Harrisburg or Lancaster or Philadelphia. Apparently, they'd rather keep the slow as molasses Cardinal back in 1995/2005 because the people of White Sulphur Springs, WV are more important than anyone in Pennsylvania.

 

[Philly Amtrak Fan]

From my door in Alexandria to my parent's door 30 miles north of Pittsburgh, its almost an 11 hour trip (Metro accounts for nearly an hour). I drove it in four two weekends ago. Low bucket is actually cheaper than driving though.

Its not much of a surprise people ask me why I do it. The CL is for holiday trips where its too much of a pain getting in and out of the city on 270 and getting through Breezewood.

Having taken the Capitol Limited now, I don't think much of the route; the old B&O route was built before people knew how to design railroads, and it's embarassingly slow. Frankly if it came down to the CL or the Broadway, I'd be in favor of replacing the CL with the Broadway. Keeping the Pennsylvanian as a second frequency between NY and PIT.

I wonder if they would ever reroute the CL from CHI-PGH-HAR-PHL-BAL-WAS? Passengers from PGH to WAS would lose 2-3 hours but they'd gain many more connections than the few people living between PGH and WAS. I would say the biggest losers other than the people between PGH and WAS would be people connecting from PGH or CHI to southern trains.

 

[Philly Amtrak Fan]

As reliable as can be on Amtrak.

If the CL is not too late, they usually hold the Pennsylvanian. (There's 2 hours between them.) If you are going to PHL and the CL is very late, they may have you stay on the CL to WAS and go to PHL on a Regional.

I heard when I was on the CL that they were going to put the 42 passengers on a bus to HAR. I am assuming those who needed to go to LAN connected with a Keystone train. I heard nothing about passengers staying on to WAS which would have made more sense for PHL passengers. Of course, I probably was barely awake when they made the announcement.