North Carolina - South Carolina Capital Cities connector

[McLeansvilleAppFan]

CAPT sent an email today proposing the following, which is basically an extension of the Piedmonts for some of the trips down to Columbia, SC. Hopefully the attached file works.

 

[Anderson]

I do like the idea of this. One thing worth considering, in the context of SEHSR, is that it would probably be plausible to extend the northbound morning/southbound afternoon pair through to Washington (if not New York). Per the SEHSR EIS, WAS-RGH (on the new alignment) would be 4:22 and NYP-RGH would be 7:25. Adding that to the 1500 departure from RGH would result in a 1030-ish departure from WAS and 0730-ish departure from NYP. (If these times seem vaguely like those of the Carolinian, that's because the SESHR project would shuffle the probable times for that service as well.) Northbound, adding this to the 1341 arrival into RGH would result in about an 1830 arrival into WAS and 2130 arrival into NYP.

 

[jis]

By the way, CAPT stands for Carolinas Association for Passenger Trains.

The Million Dollar question of course is will South Carolina step upto the plate with some money for subsidizing operations at least, leaving aside the cost of putting together the necessary stations and route improvements (that inevitably the host railroad will demand) assuming those will be covered by the feds.

 

[McLeansvilleAppFan]

I do like the idea of this. One thing worth considering, in the context of SEHSR, is that it would probably be plausible to extend the northbound morning/southbound afternoon pair through to Washington (if not New York). Per the SEHSR EIS, WAS-RGH (on the new alignment) would be 4:22 and NYP-RGH would be 7:25. Adding that to the 1500 departure from RGH would result in a 1030-ish departure from WAS and 0730-ish departure from NYP. (If these times seem vaguely like those of the Carolinian, that's because the SESHR project would shuffle the probable times for that service as well.) Northbound, adding this to the 1341 arrival into RGH would result in about an 1830 arrival into WAS and 2130 arrival into NYP.

Not a bad idea though the longer the route the more likely to have delays.

Also this would be running on NC owned equipment and I am not sure how much NC wants their equipment in other states. As a NC resident I am expecting SC to pay some upfront to offset the costs NC has put into the Piedmont years ago.

But more trains the better in this part of the country,

 

[McLeansvilleAppFan]

By the way, CAPT stands for Carolinas Association for Passenger Trains.

The Million Dollar question of course is will South Carolina step upto the plate with some money for subsidizing operations at least, leaving aside the cost of putting together the necessary stations and route improvements (that inevitably the host railroad will demand) assuming those will be covered by the feds.

I have my doubts but they have to see the success of the NC service and think to themselves it could work in their state as well. NC owning the NCRR certainly helps NC in ways that is hard to extend to other states.

 

[jis]

Also this would be running on NC owned equipment and I am not sure how much NC wants their equipment in other states. As a NC resident I am expecting SC to pay some upfront to offset the costs NC has put into the Piedmont years ago.

The attached article says that Capital Cities will use Amtrak equipment.

But more trains the better in this part of the country,

Wholly agreed.

 

[McLeansvilleAppFan]

The attached article says that Capital Cities will use Amtrak equipment.

I obviously can't read my own posts. It does indeed say that and not with an "AND" that I first read. Does Amtrak have the spare equipment realistically?
That would save some wear and tear on the NC owned equipment and that would be a side benefit for us NC residents.

I must ask, are you a CAPT member? I assume so, but will ask you to join if not.

 

[jis]

I obviously can't read my own posts. It does indeed say that and not with an "AND" that I first read. Does Amtrak have the spare equipment realistically?
That would save some wear and tear on the NC owned equipment and that would be a side benefit for us NC residents.

I must ask, are you a CAPT member? I assume so, but will ask you to join if not.

No I was not. I just joined.

 

[McLeansvilleAppFan]

Excellent to here!

 

[jis]

As for spare equipment, not currently, unless they choose to get some of those mothballed Horizons back on the road. But once ICTs start arriving they can always add on to the order. Basically they will require two sets for the Capital Cities and 2 sets for the Carolinian plus two sets, one for protect and one for PM/BO.

 

[Anderson]

As for spare equipment, not currently, unless they choose to get some of those mothballed Horizons back on the road. But once ICTs start arriving they can always add on to the order. Basically they will require two sets for the Capital Cities and 2 sets for the Carolinian plus two sets, one for protect and one for PM/BO.

The equipment would probably ultimately come from the new Regional equipment order, but the possibility of temporarily "cascading" some Amfleets/Horizons onto a corridor like this isn't unreasonable.

I'd note that while the equipment might be NC-owned, there will likely be some shuffling of equipment on a regular basis. SEHSR posits, IIRC, three CLT-WAS trains and one RGH-WAS train. Extending one of the CLT-WAS trains to Columbia seems plausible.

One thing which would probably also make sense is, if the Silver Star is re-routed over the S-line/SEHSR trackage, to reroute the Star via CLT. IINM the result would roughly "break even" in terms of overall runtime, just trading the faster run WAS-RGH off against the longer routing. The jam is, of course, the potential loss of three stations (Camden, SC; Hamlet, NC; and Southern Pines, NC), though direct service between Charlotte (and Greensboro, etc.) and Florida would likely be a significant net boost to ridership.

 

[Palmland]

One thing which would probably also make sense is, if the Silver Star is re-routed over the S-line/SEHSR trackage, to reroute the Star via CLT.

This does makes sense and has been discussed before. Charlotte is giving Atlanta a run for its money as fastest growing city in Southeast and the current routing to Florida is very convoluted requiring a trip to Cary/Raleigh.

However, it would take SEHSR money to make a Charlotte routing happen as SC isn’t like to invest a dime. And the line from Charlotte to Columbia is hilly and curvey. I don’t see HSR happening without boatloads of money.

I don’t recall if SEHSR is committed to the Charlotte routing. Until 2004 Raleigh/Hamlet to Columbia was 79mph, now 60mph. It has no through freights and just a few locals. It could be upgraded far more economically. After all, in the 60’s there were 4 trains each way on it plus through freights and locals.