Arlington wrote: ↑Sun Oct 20, 2019 8:20 am
CHI-MEM arrives at 6:40am
MEM-CHI departs at 10:40pm
Specifically, it is the night train both ways.
Imagine how much better a day (corridor)train timed for the convenience of both ends and all midpoints would do.
Here's some examples, because I have an imagination. Never-the-less, let's keep to realistic distance, speed, and time. That means getting those from the existing CONO schedule.
It's 528 rail miles between these two cities, southbound 10 hours and 20 minutes, northbound 10 hours and 40 minutes. The latter probably included some padding Amtrak always adds at the last station, so we'll use 10 hours and 20 minutes for realistic data.
A 7 am departure means a 5:20 pm arrival. Maybe a 9 am departure and a 7:20 pm arrival would work better for you. That is a very doable train.
How would these times affect the timing of the Saluki and Illini?
Northbound, 4.5 hours after leaving Memphis the train arrives in Carbondale, (11:30 or 1:30), 3 hours later the train arrives in Champaign-Urbana (2:30 or 4:30), 3 hours later arriving in Chicago (5:20 or 7:20).
Southbound, 3 hours after leaving Chicago the train arrives in Champaign-Urbana (10:00 or 12:00), 3 hours later arrives in Carbondale at (1:00 or 3:00) and 4.5 hours later arriving in Memphis (5:20 or 7:20)
As is, the am southbound Saluki returns as the pm northbound Illini, and the am northbound Saluki returns as the pm southbound Illini (am being the Saluki and pm being the Illini trains).
Looking specifically at Carbondale - realizing similar conditions along the entire route) the following schedules will occur.
Northbound
Saluki 7:30 am
Memphis day train (11:30-1:30)
Illini 4:15 pm
Southbound
Saluki 8:15 am
Memphis day train (7:00-9:00) am
Illini 4:05 pm
The southbound Saluki would run at approximately the same time as the southbound Memphis train. If we move it to around a noon departure from Chicago - it would not be in Carbondale for that afternoon's Illini return. That breaks the existing Saluki am and Illini pm return scheduling. Therefore, the train to move to the southbound noon departure from Chicago should be the Memphis train. So now it would have the following schedule times:
Chicago 12:00 noon
Champaign-Urbana 3:00 pm
Carbondale 6:00 pm
Memphis 10:20 pm
All this looks doable, until you reflect upon train efficiencies. With just two train sets, Illinois subsidies four trains daily (round trips Saluki and Illini). With another two train sets, Tennessee could subsidize two trains daily (just one round trip). Do you think Tennessee is that dumb?
Here's another kicker, most passengers boarding the train in Memphis would rather go to New Orleans than Chicago. Just check out the CONO statistics.
Top city pairs by ridership, 2018
1. Memphis, TN - New Orleans, LA
2. Champaign, IL - Chicago, IL
3. Jackson, MS - New Orleans, LA
4. Chicago, IL - Memphis, TN
5. Chicago, IL - New Orleans, LA
6. Chicago, IL - Jackson, MS
7. Carbondale, IL - Chicago, IL
8. Chicago, IL - Greenwood, MS
9. Chicago, IL - Mattoon, IL
10. Chicago, IL - Effingham, IL
While Chicago ranks very high making 8 of the top 10 city pairs, both Memphis and Jackson passengers wanted to go to New Orleans more than they did Chicago. Shouldn't Tennessee choose to subsidize another day train in the opposite direction instead?