September Surprise from Amtrak

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jdcnosse

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Saw this posted on facebook. It's simply three pictures, with Amtrak stating "Stay tuned in September." There have already been many guesses, from the SL east of NOL returning to wifi in more areas, all of which whoever at Amtrak is responsible for running this page says is incorrect. So I open it up to you, what do you think it is?
 
Saw this posted on facebook. It's simply three pictures, with Amtrak stating "Stay tuned in September." There have already been many guesses, from the SL east of NOL returning to wifi in more areas, all of which whoever at Amtrak is responsible for running this page says is incorrect. So I open it up to you, what do you think it is?
Id say that perhaps the California Zephyr may start running again between Denver and Chicago?? (Fingers crossed!)
 
Amtrak on postage stamps? Won't last long since the postal service is "dying". :rolleyes:
 
Amtrak to Mars with a purple sky?
mosking.gif


It's probably the CZ returning, if anything.
 
Saw this posted on facebook. It's simply three pictures, with Amtrak stating "Stay tuned in September." There have already been many guesses, from the SL east of NOL returning to wifi in more areas, all of which whoever at Amtrak is responsible for running this page says is incorrect. So I open it up to you, what do you think it is?
I think Amtrak is going to announce that they are converting to an inter-city bus service (dba Amroad) as of October 1. They will announce that they arrived at the new name after discarding ideas such as Amdelay, Amdisruption, and Amcancellation. I expect they will also announce the place and time where they will be auctioning off all of that pesky rolling stock left over from their days as a passenger railroad service. Low, low rock-bottom prices on high-high mileage Superliners will start at $39.95, with a limit of 10 per customer, or cash in AGR points and get a free locomotive. Some P40s and single-level coaches will be retained for bus service once they weld on an outer flange to the wheels and mount tires on them.

NRPC will remain, but as a separate entity from the bus lines, and will convert to a fast food chain, serving up the same hot, tasty meals we were used to getting in the Diner and Lounge Cars.
 
Several people guessed the return of the Zephyr and the Sunset Limited coming back, & Amtrak responded with "Good guesses but so far no one has guessed correctly (although some of the guesses are on the horizon)!" It can't be that big of a deal, or all the rail-tuned people on this forum would already have heard about it, posted about it, discussed it ad nauseam, beaten the horse to death, and locked the thread. :blink: :ph34r: :rolleyes:
 
maybe it's just the new double points offer, announced today.
 
Maybe it's just adding a Viewliner sleeper on the Pennsylvanian to connect with the Capital Limited. A legendary route (The Broadway Limited) returns...

Anyway, I think that is about to happen. Not sure if this is about that...
 
Doubt if it the restoration of the California Zephyr. Why make a fuss about the restoration of a service that was temporarily suspended just a week or two back. Stuff like the restoration of the Sunset Limited to Orlando is not going to happen w/o a lot of advanced notice because Amtrak and the states needs money from the states & feds to rebuild stations, add crew, and so on. Same goes for running over the FEC in Florida.

Most likely it is the addition of WiFi to the Amfleet I equipped eastern trains. We know that is coming by October, could be added on October 1.

Other possibilities from semi-serious to not:

-8400 Diner will enter service and Amtrak wants to make a PR fuss about it.

-Cardinal will be going daily starting in October. Amtrak will go lean on spare Viewliner sleepers for 16 months until the Viewliner IIs enter service because they got ahead of the Viewliner sleeper overhaul cycle.

-Sunset Limited will go daily from New Orleans to San Antonio to LA. Amtrak found some seriously embarrassing or compromising photos of UP executives and UP caved in on their money demands to allow the SL go daily.

-The administration found some money behind the cushions in the government couch (it is a VERY big couch) and will use it to A) replace the Portal bridge (which possibly could qualify as near shovel ready project as part of the jobs initiative) or B) move ahead on other Amtrak related higher speed rail projects.

-Amtrak decided the heck with waiting for Congress and will exercise the 70 car option on the Viewliner II order, but with 50 coach cars and 20 in other configurations. Just the first part of a follow-on 220 car Viewliner II order to equip the eastern LD and medium distance fleets with all new equipment.

-Something to do with the Next GEN NEC 220 mph proposal.

-Congressman Mica will announce that he loves Amtrak, is dropping the take the NEC away from Amtrak proposal and thinks Amtrak should get their full FY2012 funding request (probability very, very small).
 
-Congressman Mica will announce that he loves Amtrak, is dropping the take the NEC away from Amtrak proposal and thinks Amtrak should get their full FY2012 funding request (probability very, very small).

Well, we can dream, can't we?

In any case, the baggage car makes me think that maybe it has something to do with long-distance service, which if true would be very surprising, given Boardman said they weren't planning on doing anything about that until Congress gave them an answer one way or another about funding, and given the political climate, I would have expected the answer to have been an emphatic "no!"
 
a few hours ago Amtrak said "Good guesses but so far no one has guessed correctly (although some of the guesses are on the horizon)!"

this excludes sunset east, wifi, e-tickting, the CZ restore, the FEC.

My bet this has something to do with the great dome in the east or the prototype dinner. At best we are talking about new corridor service. If it is anything bigger than that I will be shocked.
 
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The Heartland Flyer will become an all First Class train running from NYC to LAX via Norman OK and will feature the new Superliner 3 Fleet which was secretly built in a facility located about 150 miles north of Las Vegas! :lol: :lol: :p
 
Maybe it's just adding a Viewliner sleeper on the Pennsylvanian to connect with the Capital Limited. A legendary route (The Broadway Limited) returns...

Anyway, I think that is about to happen. Not sure if this is about that...
The problem with the Pennsylvanian extension on the CL is that it would require 3 Viewliner sleepers. Amtrak is likely to do this after enough Viewliner II sleepers have been delivered. But that could be 2 years. However, in my opinion, Amtrak should not tie the Pennsylvanian to the CL, but instead restore something on the order of the Three Rivers to Chicago which would provide a second daily frequency PHL-PGH.
 
Maybe it's just adding a Viewliner sleeper on the Pennsylvanian to connect with the Capital Limited. A legendary route (The Broadway Limited) returns...

Anyway, I think that is about to happen. Not sure if this is about that...
The problem with the Pennsylvanian extension on the CL is that it would require 3 Viewliner sleepers. Amtrak is likely to do this after enough Viewliner II sleepers have been delivered. But that could be 2 years. However, in my opinion, Amtrak should not tie the Pennsylvanian to the CL, but instead restore something on the order of the Three Rivers to Chicago which would provide a second daily frequency PHL-PGH.

It's my understanding that they already have enough Viewliners and they do intend to get this started very soon. Plus the costs are minimal - since they are just adding a Viewliner to an existing train, and adding a one car switching move in Pittsburgh. Apparently it is about to happen, but not really a big deal.

For all of us, It will allow us to have a much better ride with larger windows over a great route - from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia (Horseshoe curve, etc..). It will be a bit like the old 66/67 - no diner or anything special - just an addition of a through Viewliner sleeper on the end of the train.

It does make sense, after all - I think that the Lake Shore Limited is one of their most profitable LD trains.
 
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Great dome is a real good guess, although that isn't much of a surprise since they do it every year.

I'll go ahead and guess that the through sleeper on the Pennsy is the surprise. If that's the case, I'll be switching up my westbound leg of the Cardinal dome trip posthaste.
 
If e-ticketing and WiFi are already ruled out, there are only 3 possibilities:

-8400 launch

-Great Dome

-Resumption of Michigan service to normal schedule
 
I hear that It's in the final stages. I think that they just need to get CSX and the Buckingham Branch to work out the logistics. That is where the problem is. Not equipment, at this point.

They really need to make the Cardinal more profitable, and I think that the belief at Amtrak is simply, that the Cardinal must be a daily train.

I don't see that as a surprise, since it was already announced. That is not too big of a deal at this point. I don't really see how would that be a surprise?
 
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Here is my guess...

It's either the Viewliner sleeper on the Pennsylvanian - to be switched onto the Cap Limited in Pittsburgh. Or else, it's news that the Texas Eagle will become a daily Chicago to LA train, with no switching in San Antonio. The San Antonio to New Orleans run will become a daily train - but with no sleeper service (a daytime train), and just a cafe /lounge type of situation.

So that is my guess - one of those two will be announced. Or - maybe both.
 
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