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Why doesn't the Texas Eagle have any stops between Walnut Ridge, AR and Little Rock, AR, yet have so many stops south of LR?
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Possible reasons.... a community has to want/request a stop; Amtrak wants to put a stop there (is a sufficient amount of business available?); the host railroad has to sign off on it.
If a local politician got involved, that might increase the likelihood!
If a local politician got involved, that might increase the likelihood!
Basically there aren't many people North of Little Rock, hence no need to have stops thru the Ozarks. ( sort of like West Texas on the Sunset Route. We wonder why Sanderson is a scheduled stop, it used to be a FlagStop, with only Del Rio and Alpine being the other stops for the 600+ Miles between San Antonio and El Paso.)
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I'd be willing to give the Sanderson stop to Arkansas if they asked nicely. Distance wise Sanderson makes sense but since they have so few passengers and no local support it seems kind of silly to convert it to a scheduled stop. My guess is that Amtrak did that for operational reasons. In other words giving the host dispatcher the option to plan a meet that expects Train X to be in Siding Y at Time Z. Otherwise I can't figure what the reasoning was. If the Southern Pacific had brought their tracks just a little bit closer to where Van Horn is today that would probably be worth another scheduled stop.
Amtrak also requires local communities to fund any facilities needed, including an ADA platform. It won't pay for any facilities.
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The time of the day is also an issue as far as ridership, especially small communities.
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