Texan Eagle
Conductor
- Joined
- Aug 25, 2011
- Messages
- 1,705
I am totally in agreement with those who pointed out that this arrangement will be terrible for end to end passengers since they will have to change trains twice, but as I asked in my original post, how many people do travel that long anyway, except us railfans who do these trips as a vacation in itself? Look at the statistics Paulus provided-
"10.5% of passengers, nearly half of whom are coach, ride the Empire Builder in excess of 2000 miles. 28.5% ride less than 300 miles/"
So, the inconvenience of changing trains twice is probably going to exist for very small fraction of total riders.
I did not present my line of thinking behind this idea, so here goes- I love the LD trains as they are now as much as all of you, but looking at the state these trains are in, with all the cuts coming in, there will come a time soon when Amtrak will have to decide if thy want to project themselves as a luxury land-cruise experience, or a not-widespread but functional transportation service. If former, keep the LD trains as they are now, complete with the wine and cheese, flowers, champagne and what not, to attract the high paying long distance passengers who come for the experience more than as a practical mode of transport. If latter, like it or not, we have to think out of the box ways to make Amtrak survive, and one of them is to cut them into more manageable bits and pieces.
An 8 to 16 hour train route is easier to manage than a 45 hour mammoth in terms of scheduling, with padding and recovery times etc, logistics of food and catering supplies for such a long journey, planning for contingencies and so on. Also, since Amtrak heavily relies on third parties (host railroads), having trains running smaller segments is also better for passengers, since for example a derailment in North Dakota will delay the trip for Montana to Washington bound passengers if there is only one LD train running the entire length, but with three segments,the only ones affected are the ones traveling that segment only (and the few connecting ones, which are, as per statistics above just about 10%.. can't please everyone sorry!).
The Hi-Line may not be the ideal example for such an experiment, but a route like CZ that has major cities along the way can be run as multiple corridor services with lesser amenities than current LD, but still much more convenient than taking cross-country buses. With the state of the economy and government attitude towards rail in the US, sorry to say but we might have to live with this reality coming sooner or later.
California Zephyr could possibly run in segmented avatar as follows-
Zephyr One:
CHI 3.00pm
DEN 8.00am
DEN 1.00pm
CHI 6.00am
Zephyr Two:
DEN 3.00pm
SLC 6.00am
SLC 3.30pm
DEN 6.30am
Zephyr Three:
SLC 2.00pm
EMY 7.00am
EMY 5.00pm
SLC 10.00am
Notice something? These are all now single overnight trains, the type of services very popular in other parts of the world, and can be popular between these city pairs if advertised correctly. If you are really motivated enough to travel transcontinental by train you can still do it in 3 days, giving you nice little breaks in Denver and Salt Lake City to enjoy the cities along the way.
Another thing, since these are all just single overnighters, you can combine Dining Car and SSL into one. Yes, I know we all love to have a full Dining Car, but if the choice comes to having a full Diner vs having no LD trains at all, what would you choose? I would certainly vote for SSL with an improved Cafe that will actually serve you at those tables on the Upper level (and lower level too).
Does this make more sense now? Or does someone still need Advil? :wacko:
"10.5% of passengers, nearly half of whom are coach, ride the Empire Builder in excess of 2000 miles. 28.5% ride less than 300 miles/"
So, the inconvenience of changing trains twice is probably going to exist for very small fraction of total riders.
I did not present my line of thinking behind this idea, so here goes- I love the LD trains as they are now as much as all of you, but looking at the state these trains are in, with all the cuts coming in, there will come a time soon when Amtrak will have to decide if thy want to project themselves as a luxury land-cruise experience, or a not-widespread but functional transportation service. If former, keep the LD trains as they are now, complete with the wine and cheese, flowers, champagne and what not, to attract the high paying long distance passengers who come for the experience more than as a practical mode of transport. If latter, like it or not, we have to think out of the box ways to make Amtrak survive, and one of them is to cut them into more manageable bits and pieces.
An 8 to 16 hour train route is easier to manage than a 45 hour mammoth in terms of scheduling, with padding and recovery times etc, logistics of food and catering supplies for such a long journey, planning for contingencies and so on. Also, since Amtrak heavily relies on third parties (host railroads), having trains running smaller segments is also better for passengers, since for example a derailment in North Dakota will delay the trip for Montana to Washington bound passengers if there is only one LD train running the entire length, but with three segments,the only ones affected are the ones traveling that segment only (and the few connecting ones, which are, as per statistics above just about 10%.. can't please everyone sorry!).
The Hi-Line may not be the ideal example for such an experiment, but a route like CZ that has major cities along the way can be run as multiple corridor services with lesser amenities than current LD, but still much more convenient than taking cross-country buses. With the state of the economy and government attitude towards rail in the US, sorry to say but we might have to live with this reality coming sooner or later.
California Zephyr could possibly run in segmented avatar as follows-
Zephyr One:
CHI 3.00pm
DEN 8.00am
DEN 1.00pm
CHI 6.00am
Zephyr Two:
DEN 3.00pm
SLC 6.00am
SLC 3.30pm
DEN 6.30am
Zephyr Three:
SLC 2.00pm
EMY 7.00am
EMY 5.00pm
SLC 10.00am
Notice something? These are all now single overnight trains, the type of services very popular in other parts of the world, and can be popular between these city pairs if advertised correctly. If you are really motivated enough to travel transcontinental by train you can still do it in 3 days, giving you nice little breaks in Denver and Salt Lake City to enjoy the cities along the way.
Another thing, since these are all just single overnighters, you can combine Dining Car and SSL into one. Yes, I know we all love to have a full Dining Car, but if the choice comes to having a full Diner vs having no LD trains at all, what would you choose? I would certainly vote for SSL with an improved Cafe that will actually serve you at those tables on the Upper level (and lower level too).
Does this make more sense now? Or does someone still need Advil? :wacko: