I think that they would need a 7 to 8 hour layover time at a minimum in Birmingham before they could drop equipment off there for pickup by the northbound train. Need a big buffer to allow for a #19 delayed 4-5 hours by a grade crossing accident, freight train breakdown, weather, whatever. Then add several hours to drop off the equipment and move it to a sidetrack, maybe do a quick minimum service clean (by a local contractor?), and then connect to the northbound #20. Really want to avoid having #20 stalled at Birmingham waiting on a delayed #19, thus propagating a long delay from #19 to #20.
The Crescent trip time north of Atlanta should be able to be trimmed in 3-4 years as the ALX to LYH and GRO to CLT segments get upgraded by their respective states. But sliding #19 back to a 17:30 departure from WAS puts it right into the middle of peak rush hour. Hard to see how the schedule could be adjusted enough to make for a long enough layover at Birmingham without messing up the carefully constructed NYP to ATL overnight trip schedule. A later departure from NOL for #20 would be one option, but would, say a 10 or 11 PM departure from ATL and midday arrival at WAS hurt ridership?
BTW, the FY2013 audited financial statement for Amtrak has finally been posted. But there is a reason for the long delay as the previous FY financial statements have been pulled due to errors in the audited statements. See the statement on the website documents page. Have not yet figured out what it means.
