Cardinal #51 just went thru CVS (ontime) with an extra sleeper (2) and an extra coach (4).
Actually, it depends and such decisions are not necessarily always political even though it might appear to be so. Often it is due to limited availability of resources, and if done right, can produce extremely good utilization of available resources.Tri-weekly trains are never a good idea from a utilization of rolling-stock consist. They happen for any number of political reasons... sort of like that awful year a decade-plus ago when they did things like run the CONO 5 or 6 days a week instead of every day.
Interesting take on less than daily service. However, where there is only one train a day on a route, it’s pretty ineffective. I hazard a guess that in India, there are many frequencies, or local trains so that it’s not that big a deal. In other words, on any given day, you can take the train, maybe just not an express. The Caledonian Sleeper only runs six days a week, but there are plenty of rail options every day between London and Scotland. The C&NW used to run a seasonal bus in place of the Flambeau 400 in the off season in the last few years in northern Wisconsin. I can’t think of a scenario where less than daily service without a daily option would be viable in the US. Surely not the Sunset or Cardinal. It is of course better than nothing. And you’re right; maybe as a way to introduce new routes, it might be an option.Actually, it depends and such decisions are not necessarily always political even though it might appear to be so. Often it is due to limited availability of resources, and if done right, can produce extremely good utilization of available resources.
In India it is not unusual for a service that is say 16 hour end to end running time, to be introduced tri-weekly with a single consist, which gives pretty good utilization for 6 days a week and the 7th day is used for maintenance. That way service can be started before one can line up 2+ consists. As more consists become available frequencies are increased.
Similarly, many single day round trip services are introduced 6 days a week, with the 7th days used for consist maintenance. That is how for example the new Vande Bharat EMU expresses are operated. Each service runs 6 days a week and uses a single consist. So such things have their place and are not necessarily political decisions.
You are arguing a different point. I was merely responding to the equipment utilization angle, and suggesting that using that as an argument against less than daily service is easy to knock down with many examples.Interesting take on less than daily service. However, where there is only one train a day on a route, it’s pretty ineffective. I hazard a guess that in India, there are many frequencies, or local trains so that it’s not that big a deal. In other words, on any given day, you can take the train, maybe just not an express. The Caledonian Sleeper only runs six days a week, but there are plenty of rail options every day between London and Scotland. The C&NW used to run a seasonal bus in place of the Flambeau 400 in the off season in the last few years in northern Wisconsin. I can’t think of a scenario where less than daily service without a daily option would be viable in the US. Surely not the Sunset or Cardinal. It is of course better than nothing. And you’re right; maybe as a way to introduce new routes, it might be an option.
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