Chief no longer running at 90 mph

I don't think I saw this posted on here yet, but as of November 1, the SW Chief no longer operates at 90 mph between Newton and Albuquerque. The new top speed on the route is 79 mph.

This change won't really affect the schedule more than a few minutes, though.

Robert Madison

Don Steffee will roll in his grave, but I'm surprised that authorized speed and the ATS system supporting it lasted as long as it did.

Lest we forget, the first "chink in the armor' occurred on A-Day when it was deactivated Chi-Ft Madison. The reason was that the detector "shoes' would not clear into CUS. They were installed/removed at Fort Madison (Shopton) service stop.

This is a lost piece of America Railroading.

AmtrakFan

why did they lower the speed?

MBTA F40PH-2C 1050 wrote:why did they lower the speed?

They want to take out the ATS so they can save a few bucks.

AmtrakFan

IMO, they should issue waivers for 90 mph on select sections of track. The 79 mph law is ridiculous, and trains in Canada operate at 100 mph with only CTC signaling.

Yet another step in the backwards direction. Had heard that Amtrak didn't have enough time between the announcement of discontinuing M&E and publishing the Nov 1 timetable to negotiate schedule changes with the freight carriers for its long distance trains. Hopefully one will see tightened schedules in the spring as a result of padding added due to M&E. Net effect - perhaps quicker schedules without increasing the train speed. Who would thought of that? Southwest Chief would benefit from this, particularly with the speed decrease. This train often sits waiting at stations for the scheduled departure.

jp1822 wrote:Yet another step in the backwards direction......

NO I don't agree it is step foward because Passenger Comfort will be better it is bouncy on that part I've ridden it in Sleeper and our car was in front the Mail Cars Also it will be good for me as an IL railfan I don't have to get there as early to see it.

AmtrakFan

1) I have a hard time believing that an 11 mph difference (79 to 90) will have a significant effect on comfort.

2) Which "mail cars" were you behind? Was this back when they had head-end cars (I assume)?

3) Amtrak schedules aren't made for the benefit of railfans, sorry.

I took the eastbound SW Chief last summer, and was "up and about" during the time that the train was running across a particularly nasty stretch of tracks at what seemed to be a higher than normal rate of speed. Not being a "railfan" I have no idea of what track we were on, or what speed we were going - I can just tell you it was breakfast time the morning after the day we left LA - we were on-time, and out in the desert somewhere.

Many of the elderly passengers and people with kids (who seem to be Amtrak's main market segment on the western LD trains) were having a rough go of it, particularly at the point where the cars joined together. I wasn't particuarly bothered by it, but the elderly lady across the hall from me was very scared about a fall (although I have to say she was a real trooper - we were in the sleeper that gets put behind the coaches, and she made her way to every meal through all the coaches - despite the attendant offering to bring her her meals)

I don't know if it was the 90mph section, and if slowing it down will help smooth things out, or if the Superliners need better shock absorbers or something else, but I really do think that it was a bit much for a lot of the passengers.

Sounds like what's needed is a track upgrade, not a lowering of speeds. There's no reason for the ride to be rough at 79, 90, or 150 mph on appropriately maintained track. The fact that the ride was so rough at 90 makes me wonder if FRA Class 5 specs for 90 mph track are stringent enough.

RMadisonWI wrote:1) I have a hard time believing that an 11 mph difference (79 to 90) will have a significant effect on comfort.

2) Which "mail cars" were you behind? Was this back when they had head-end cars (I assume)?

3) Amtrak schedules aren't made for the benefit of railfans, sorry.

Mr. Madison 11 MPH would make a differnce if you fell out of your bunk on the Train in the Roomette BTW This happened to me I was on the bottom in Room 9 by my self and my Mom and brother were in Room 7
2. Made a mistake I meant in front
3. Well it would make a differnce if my mom can drive me later but would be nice if Amtrak worked around Railfans but they never will unless it's the Sunset.

AmtrakFan

seems like lost opportunities to me . heres BNSF facing a transcon route running at capacity, downgrading an alternative route . they should be running 90 mph roadrailer trains over it , and encouraging amtrak to increase service too .

David Benton wrote:seems like lost opportunities to me . heres BNSF facing a transcon route running at capacity....,

Interesting aproach you have there. BNSF should doing that. I just cannot believe how BNSF is no longer a pro-passenger railroad. The Santa Fe once revoked the right of Amtrak to use the Chief Name.

Interesting aproach you have there. BNSF should doing that. I just cannot believe how BNSF is no longer a pro-passenger railroad. The Santa Fe once revoked the right of Amtrak to use the Chief Name.

Give me a break. That was about 25-30 years ago! The BNSF is certainly a pro-passenger railroad. The trains that run over BNSF track sometimes achieve higher on-time percentages than Amtrak trains travelling on Amtrak track!

http://www.bullsheet.com/news/current.html
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