Cardinal vs. Capitol Limited DC to Chicago

[cpotisch]

I agree with others that it’s largely the result of limited supply in relation to demand.

Thank you for indicating your approval.   hboy: 

 

[JRR]

How about the three of us split it 100-100-100. [emoji3]

Keep the money and use it to ride the Cardinal! [emoji3][emoji3][emoji3]

 

[niemi24s]

Don't take too much stock in the comparison done in Post #13 which revealed that the percent difference in low bucket Roomette fares was equal to the percent difference in their route miles.  That may be nothing more than pure happenstance.  Because a somewhat similar kind of comparison between routes with identical fares but different mileages has a much different result:

•  The SWC and TE have identical fare buckets and end points yet the route of the TE is 24% longer than that of the SWC 

•  The Card and the LSL (to NYP) have identical fare buckets and end points yet the route of the Card is is 51% longer than that of the NYP

All that leads to the tantalizing question of why (on a cost per mile basis) does the SWC cost 24% more than the TE and the LSL cost 51% more than the Cardinal? 

 

[Ryan]

You mean to say "on a price per mile basis".

Cost have absolutely nothing to do with price.

Businesses seek to minimize the former and maximize the latter.  Those that are successful enough to make the former smaller than the latter stay in business.  Those that don't fail (unless they are Amtrak and have a government subsidy to make up the difference  ).

 

[cpotisch]

Don't take too much stock in the comparison done in Post #13 which revealed that the percent difference in low bucket Roomette fares was equal to the percent difference in their route miles.  That may be nothing more than pure happenstance.  Because a somewhat similar kind of comparison between routes with identical fares but different mileages has the opposite result.

•  The SWC and TE have identical fare buckets yet the route of the TE is 24% longer than that of the SWC 

 •  The Card and the LSL (to NYP) have identical fare buckets yet the route of the Card is is 51% longer than that of the NYP

All that leads to the question of why (on a cost per mile basis) does the SWC cost 24% more than the TE and the LSL cost 51% more than the Cardinal? 

I think they just want to make it reasonably simple enough for someone looking at multiple trains between the same points. Most people probably don't care about the actual mileage of the route.

 

[Manny T]

On the scenery: When I go eastbound on the CL, wake up on a snowy morning and look out the window at the snow covered landscape, it's pretty. Harper's Ferry and all that.

On the price differential: I don't have a clue.

 

[neroden]

On the pricing questions?  People will usually pay more for faster trains. 

I guess it's sort of splitting the difference between "price by cost" and "price by what the market will bear" to have the same price between two cities whether you take the fast train or the slow train.  It is a traditional way to price railroad tickets, so frankly Amtrak probably does it on the TE/SWC and LSL/Cardinal out of habit rather than anything reasoned.

The extra price on the Cardinal roomettes from DC to Chicago is clearly due to short supply allowing Amtrak to jack the prices up.