Sneak Peek of 10/31/05 timetable

[Superliner Diner]

Western corridor trains

Cascades Corridor (500 through 517): No major changes.

San Joaquins (701 through 718): No major changes.

Capitol Corridor (518 through 551 and 720 through 751): No major changes.

Pacific Surfliners (562 through 597) and 763 through 799): Southbound evening service restructured. Train 590 (weekdays Los Angeles-San Diego 7:35 PM departure), 592 (weekends Los Angeles-San Diego 8:35 PM departure), and 798 (daily San Luis Obispo-Los Angeles train, 1:20 PM SLO departure) will be replaced by a Goleta-San Diego through daily through train, 792. This train will depart Goleta at 4:15 PM, arrive LAX 7:40 PM, depart LAX 8 PM, and arrive San Diego 10:45 PM. Train 798 will be moved to a later timeslot, originating in San Luis Obispo at 4:25 PM, and ending in Los Angeles at 9:45 PM. It will assume the current schedule of daily train 796, which now operates Goleta-San Diego. 798 will terminate in Los Angeles. 796 schedule south of Los Angeles will be covered by a daily Train 596, departing LAX at 10:10 PM as 796 does now.

 

[Trogdor]

Chicago hub trains
Hiawatha Corridor

On Trains 329 through 342, the trip time between Chicago and Milwaukee in each direction on most trains is being cut by three minutes.

I just picked up an October 31 timetable booklet from the station today.

I really wonder how they plan to pull this off. They're cutting one minute from the MKE-MKA trip (10 minutes instead of 11), which makes no sense. Trains that leave exactly on time from MKE (actually, a few seconds early, but I won't tell...oops, I just did!) still need the full 11 minutes to depart MKA on time. With winter coming up, the folks aren't going to be waiting in line on the platform for the train to arrive, so that will delay boarding by just a little bit. Plus, it seems that the Hiawatha's OTP has decreased ever so slightly since MKA opened, so the trimming of three minutes will really be an interesting thing to watch (not to say that it can't be done, because many Hiawathas still run early).

That said, they could trim a few minutes off the Empire Builder if they were so inclined. Today I watched 7 come and go, and the train was fully loaded at MKE and ready to go at 15:47, even though the scheduled departure time is 15:55.

 

[Allen Dee]

Pacific Surfliners (562 through 597) and 763 through 799): Southbound evening service restructured. Train 590 (weekdays Los Angeles-San Diego 7:35 PM departure), 592 (weekends Los Angeles-San Diego 8:35 PM departure), and 798 (daily San Luis Obispo-Los Angeles train, 1:20 PM SLO departure) will be replaced by a Goleta-San Diego through daily through train, 792. This train will depart Goleta at 4:15 PM, arrive LAX 7:40 PM, depart LAX 8 PM, and arrive San Diego 10:45 PM. Train 798 will be moved to a later timeslot, originating in San Luis Obispo at 4:25 PM, and ending in Los Angeles at 9:45 PM. It will assume the current schedule of daily train 796, which now operates Goleta-San Diego. 798 will terminate in Los Angeles. 796 schedule south of Los Angeles will be covered by a daily Train 596, departing LAX at 10:10 PM as 796 does now.

SD,

I believe the later departure of 798 from SLO is for two reasons:

1. All Surfliners, west of Moorpark, operate on UP track. The later departure of 798 will improve OTP. The UP was notorious for delaying this train, as it was a turn of 799.

2. The 425PM departure will attract more students from Cal Poly.

As an aside, your signature block reminds me of a blast from the past. The PRR timetables from the 1960s carried the following advertising jingle: "Nothing could be finer than a dinner in the diner on the Pennnnnnsy!"

 

[Superliner Diner]

I just picked up an October 31 timetable booklet from the station today.

Wow! B) They're out and available 17 days before they go into effect. That is astounding. I've had trouble finding them in major big city stations much closer to the effective date.

Interesting that they are out in print already and yet they appear to still be fiddling with things on the website.

 

[Guest]

well thank you. We bid jobs base on the new timetable. I havent to work so I was wondering...but I got my answer.

 

[Trogdor]

I just picked up an October 31 timetable booklet from the station today.

Wow! B) They're out and available 17 days before they go into effect. That is astounding. I've had trouble finding them in major big city stations much closer to the effective date.

Interesting that they are out in print already and yet they appear to still be fiddling with things on the website.

Don't know about other stations, but MKE has a bunch. In fact, I met a friend (who happens to be good friends with a good number of MKE employees, both on the train and in the station) on Friday and he told me about the new timetable, and had one of the agents give me one.

For those curious:

The Sunset Limited, City of New Orleans, and Crescent have their normal schedules shown up to San Antonio, Hammond, and Meridian, respectively. For all subsequent stations, there is a footnote indicating that service will resume on a date to be announced. So, obviously, these were sent to the printers more than two weeks ago, as that's when the City and Crescent were announced to resume NOL service beginning October 7.

And (also for those interested) the cover has something of a winter scene with the Empire Builder off in the distance (carrying an ExpressTrak refrigerated boxcar, no less).