Longest Run Between Stations?

[ExtonFlyer]

While looking at timetables recently - I started getting curious as to what might be the longest run between stations (mileage-wise) in the entire Amtrak system. Tried searching this board and don't believe the question has been asked before (if it has, my apologies).

Does anyone have any ideas? Longest run I have ever been on (148 miles) is between Savannah, GA (SAV) and Jacksonville, FLA (JAX) while on the southbound silver star. I'm certain there has to be a longer run out west though.

Thanks!

ExtonFlyer

 

[PetalumaLoco]

Just need to look at a few schedules.

Elko to SLC 263.

 

[DET63]

I would assume it would be the Auto-Train, which makes no intermediate station stops between Lorton, VA and Sanford, FL.

Some of the LD trains have long distances and/or times between scheduled station stops. The CS used to go all the way from Klamath Falls, OR to Eugene without a scheduled stop before the Chemult stop was added. I believe the CZ has some long gaps in Colorado, Utah and Nevada.

 

[AlanB]

I would assume it would be the Auto-Train, which makes no intermediate station stops between Lorton, VA and Sanford, FL.

Well, it makes no station stops where passengers can get off or on the train. But it does indeed stop at a station in the middle of the night to refuel the engines, rewater the cars, and to change the operating crew.

 

[cpamtfan]

I'd say Alpine-El Paso, TX. Over or near 300 miles.

 

[Donctor]

I'd say Alpine-El Paso, TX. Over or near 300 miles.

That is quite a long run on a train that doesn't feature "limited" or "express" (both obsolete terms in North American passenger rail) operation. The Auto Train, which does run non-stop, is 855 miles or so (at least as I recall).

 

[Bill Haithcoat]

I'd say Alpine-El Paso, TX. Over or near 300 miles.

That is quite a long run on a train that doesn't feature "limited" or "express" (both obsolete terms in North American passenger rail) operation. The Auto Train, which does run non-stop, is 855 miles or so (at least as I recall).

In this case it probably had more to do with low population density.

 

[afigg]

I'd say Alpine-El Paso, TX. Over or near 300 miles.

According to the Sunset Limited schedule, Alpine, TX is at MP 959 and El Paso, TX is at MP 1178. That is a distance of 219 miles, not near 300 miles. It just may SEEM like 300 miles when traveling through the vast west Texas countryside. :blink:

On the Sunset Limited schedule, there is a gap of 210 miles with no stops between Houston and San Antonio which is surprising as that is populated country

Unless, someone can find a longer gap, Elko, NV to Salt Lake City is the longest gap for a regular train on the Amtrak system. Which makes sense as central and Northern Nevada and western Utah are in the Great Basin which is the least populated area in the lower 48 states. The Autotrain has no passenger stops between Lorton and Sanford, FL, but I would regard it as a special case, not a regular LD train.

 

[Montanan]

Actually, the town of Wendover, on the Utah-Nevada line between Salt Lake and Elko, would be a great stop for the CZ, if it didn't pass through there in the middle of the night. It's a casino town that gets lots of visitors from adjacent states ... mostly on an endless parade of charter busses.

 

[the_traveler]

Actually, the town of Wendover, on the Utah-Nevada line between Salt Lake and Elko, would be a great stop for the CZ, if it didn't pass through there in the middle of the night. It's a casino town

... but being a casino town, Wendover is sure to be busy in the middle of the night! :lol:

 

[battalion51]

Regardless of whether you're going by timetable stop or scheduled stops (since Florence is technically a scheduled stop for Auto Train according to the employee timetable, not the public timetable) the Auto Train is still going to win hands down. The longer side (which is the South end) is 470 miles between stops. I doubt any other passenger train travels that distance without stopping in North America.

 

[Bill Haithcoat]

Regardless of whether you're going by timetable stop or scheduled stops (since Florence is technically a scheduled stop for Auto Train according to the employee timetable, not the public timetable) the Auto Train is still going to win hands down. The longer side (which is the South end) is 470 miles between stops. I doubt any other passenger train travels that distance without stopping in North America.

Expanding it to North America, the Canadian has very few stops the further west you go.

Uh oh, Sean, I remember from years ago somebody was constantly extolling the virtues of the Canadian down your throat, did not mean to do that!!

 

[battalion51]

DAMN YOU PAT!!! :lol: One of the few things that I don't miss about frequenting Silver Service, having to hear Pat and his frickin Canadian stories. My best friend still hasn't forgiven me for making him ride home one day on 97 and having to listen to him.

 

[DET63]

So, going back to how the question was worded in the OP, it looks like I was right about the Auto-Train.

As for The Canadian, I don't see any distances of more than 200 km (124 miles) between station stops in the western part of the country. Of course, many of those are flag stops (well, 48-hour advance notice), so if you ignore them, and the train is able to run through them without stopping, then there might well be some very long distances between regularly scheduled station stops.

 

[wayman]

... 470 miles between stops. I doubt any other passenger train travels that distance without stopping in North America.

It seems like a long ways to us, and yet, that's peanuts on the world scale. So far as I can tell, the Trans-Siberian Railway does not stop between Chita and Birobidzhan ... a distance of 2,152 km between station stops!!! It's a day and a half on the timetable. There must be crew changes, refuels, and such between these, but I believe there are no stops for passengers. That's roughly the distance from Chicago to Salt Lake City.

 

[jis]

If you are talking outside the US, and also do not consider technical crew change halts as stops, then there are the recently introduced Duronto Expresses in India that would be right up there. E.g. ChennaiCentral- Delhi Nizamuddin Duronto Express would be something like 2190km with no intermediate passenger stops. Mumbai CST - Howrah (Kolkata) Duronto Express would be 1968km etc. There are now such non-stop trains connecting several major cities across the country with more to come.

 

[battalion51]

I want to make an amendment to my post about Auto Train, no other current regularly scheduled passenger train in North America. :lol: I can see someone trying to throw a special like the trips that 4449 did out there and claim victory.

 

[colobok]

It seems like a long ways to us, and yet, that's peanuts on the world scale. So far as I can tell, the Trans-Siberian Railway does not stop between Chita and Birobidzhan ... a distance of 2,152 km between station stops!!! It's a day and a half on the timetable.

I don't know what timetable you are looking for, but timetable for the train No.1 "Russia" Moscow - Vladivostok which is the flagship train of Russian Railroads shows 20 (!) stops between Chita and Birobidzhan.

 

[wayman]

It seems like a long ways to us, and yet, that's peanuts on the world scale. So far as I can tell, the Trans-Siberian Railway does not stop between Chita and Birobidzhan ... a distance of 2,152 km between station stops!!! It's a day and a half on the timetable.

I don't know what timetable you are looking for, but timetable for the train No.1 "Russia" Moscow - Vladivostok which is the flagship train of Russian Railroads shows 20 (!) stops between Chita and Birobidzhan.

I was looking at Wikipedia, admittedly not the most authoritative source, but it seemed to be giving a fairly thorough treatment of the route. Perhaps it only listed major stops and left out many smaller ones... or perhaps those 20 stops are flag stops, not stopped at by every train?

 

[VentureForth]

For a good discussion, you almost have to always exclude the Auto Train from the rest of the system. It's it's own unique breed and has a very different business model than anything else in the system.

So - of the three other routes - Houston - San Antonio, El Paso to Alpine, and Savannah to Jacksonville...

Alpine to El Paso is 3hr:16m, 218 Miles, about 67 MPH. The return is much more drastic, with FIVE hours and 20 minutes allocated. That's an average speed of 40MPH. 200 miles is an awful long distance to go 40 mph...

Houston to San Antonio is 210 Miles. Eastbound takes 4hr 45m going 44 mph vs Westbound a@ 5hr 10m going 40 mph.

The Star of Long Distance, though is the Silver Star. It makes the 148 mile trip in 2:21 going South at an average of 63 mph and North 2:26 going 61 mph. Frankly, I think that the Star should stop at Jessup and that the Meteor should skip it. So the times would be a bit less desireable for those folks in Jessup (wah!) but it would really help make the Meteor the true "Express" train. And when they open up the FEC along the Coast, the Meteor should go down it instead of through Orlando (may make more people unhappy. OK - Extend the Palmetto through the FEC).

Note that the Empire Builder between Spokane and Ephrata WA ties with the JAX/SAV distance of 148 miles. It takes 30 more minutes to travel, too.

California Zephyr has a 177 mile run between McCook, NE and Fort Morgan, CO. It's takes 2:22 minutes, but the increased mileage bumps it to 75 MPH average. That's almost highballing it the whole way! That's the "real" express of the LD world. A TRUE alternative to driving.

I Think I have a winner! California Zephyr between Salt Lake City and Elko, NV is 263 miles of nothingness. It takes 5 hours to sojourn.

 

[colobok]

It seems like a long ways to us, and yet, that's peanuts on the world scale. So far as I can tell, the Trans-Siberian Railway does not stop between Chita and Birobidzhan ... a distance of 2,152 km between station stops!!! It's a day and a half on the timetable.

I don't know what timetable you are looking for, but timetable for the train No.1 "Russia" Moscow - Vladivostok which is the flagship train of Russian Railroads shows 20 (!) stops between Chita and Birobidzhan.

I was looking at Wikipedia, admittedly not the most authoritative source, but it seemed to be giving a fairly thorough treatment of the route. Perhaps it only listed major stops and left out many smaller ones... or perhaps those 20 stops are flag stops, not stopped at by every train?

I don't believe there are such things as "flag stops" in Russia, at least I have never heard about them. Those stations are definetely regular stuffed stations because in that area railroad is actually the only way to get there because there are no good auto roads in Siberia.

 

[battalion51]

For a good discussion, you almost have to always exclude the Auto Train from the rest of the system. It's it's own unique breed and has a very different business model than anything else in the system.
So - of the three other routes - Houston - San Antonio, El Paso to Alpine, and Savannah to Jacksonville...

Alpine to El Paso is 3hr:16m, 218 Miles, about 67 MPH. The return is much more drastic, with FIVE hours and 20 minutes allocated. That's an average speed of 40MPH. 200 miles is an awful long distance to go 40 mph...

Houston to San Antonio is 210 Miles. Eastbound takes 4hr 45m going 44 mph vs Westbound a@ 5hr 10m going 40 mph.

The Star of Long Distance, though is the Silver Star. It makes the 148 mile trip in 2:21 going South at an average of 63 mph and North 2:26 going 61 mph. Frankly, I think that the Star should stop at Jessup and that the Meteor should skip it. So the times would be a bit less desireable for those folks in Jessup (wah!) but it would really help make the Meteor the true "Express" train. And when they open up the FEC along the Coast, the Meteor should go down it instead of through Orlando (may make more people unhappy. OK - Extend the Palmetto through the FEC).

Note that the Empire Builder between Spokane and Ephrata WA ties with the JAX/SAV distance of 148 miles. It takes 30 more minutes to travel, too.

California Zephyr has a 177 mile run between McCook, NE and Fort Morgan, CO. It's takes 2:22 minutes, but the increased mileage bumps it to 75 MPH average. That's almost highballing it the whole way! That's the "real" express of the LD world. A TRUE alternative to driving.

I Think I have a winner! California Zephyr between Salt Lake City and Elko, NV is 263 miles of nothingness. It takes 5 hours to sojourn.

I'll have to dig it up, but I'd be willing to bet on the Meteor and Star there's at least a little bit of padding in there. I'll see if I can't find what the running time is according to the employee timetable.

 

[railiner]

If you would consider trains prior to Amtrak....At one time, other than technical (crew change and/or service) stops, anyone boarding the Twentieth Century Limited at Grand Central Terminal had to be going all the way to Chicago, some 960 miles. Later on, this became more relaxed with station stops at Englewood, then Toledo, and more and more other stations added, although there were always high restrictions to 'receive only' for distant points, or discharge only from distant points.

There were many examples on many railroads of 'conditional stops', designed to discourage local traffic on premier trains, when there were other lesser status trains on the routes.

 

[Bill Haithcoat]

Well then, with preAmtrak I would like to nominate for "honorable mention" a train not nearly as well known as the Twentieth Century Limited.

This was the winter season New Royal Palm. It was a quite nice streamliner with sleepers from Detroit,Cleveland,Buffalo and Chicago and Cincinnati to Miami. Coaches from Detroit and Cincinnati to Miami, and, at times, from Cleveland to Miami.

The Cincinnati to Jacksonville part of it only stopped at Lexington,Chattanooga,Atlanta and Macon. That is only four stops on 840 miles. If that does not seem very impressive note that the other two trains on that route, the year-around Royal Palm and the Ponce de Leon, each stopped up to about 30 times, some of them flag stops or conditional on that part of the route.

The biggest distances were Lexington to Chattanooga, 257 miles and Macon to Jacksonviille, 262 miles.

The New Royal Palm's stops north of Cincinnati and south of Jacksonville were a more ordinary number.

It is a real can of worms to open up preAmtrak, I just note the New Royal Palm because I do not think it ever got as much publicity as it deserved. Of course if I had been a little older I might have been aware of more publicity.

 

[the_traveler]

Alpine to El Paso is 3hr:16m, 218 Miles, about 67 MPH. The return is much more drastic, with FIVE hours and 20 minutes allocated. That's an average speed of 40MPH. 200 miles is an awful long distance to go 40 mph...

Between El Paso and Alpine is also the time zone change between the Mountain time zone and the Central time zone! So going eastbound, you lose an hour and that accounts for 1 hour of the extra "time"! And westbound, you gain an hour and that accounts for 1 hour of the extra "time"!

So the way I see it, one way is scheduled for 4:16 and the other way is scheduled for 4:20!