Planned Reduced Winter Consists

The Fred Frailey blog at the TRAINS website, and which I believe is open content, reports that Amtrak is planning to reduce the normal consists of most Long Distance trains during the slow post holiday travel period until February 28. Of course we all know that anything Amtrak is subject to instant and immediate change.

According to the report, both the Zephyr and Chief will have their nine car consist reduced to six, eliminating the Baggage, T-Dorm, and one Coach. The Coach Baggage will be used as intended and the Dining Car crew will be accommodated in line space.

The Starlight will lose five cars, two Coaches, Sleeper, T-Dorm, and the Pacific Parlour.

Empire Builder: Loses one of the two Seattle sleepers and the Seattle baggage-coach; the Portland section is unchanged.

The Capitol Limited will have a five car consist; two Sleepers, CCC Diner Lounge, Coach, Coach-Bagg.

Crescent, Silver Star and Silver Meteor: Each single-level train drops one of its four coaches.

Lake Shore Limited: Both the Boston and New York section drop an Amfleet coach, leaving the Boston part with one and the New York section with three.

Cardinal: Instead of three Amfleet II coaches, it will make do with two.

All told, it appears that Amtrak is gearing up for reduced ridership owing to cheaper gas. The squeeze that Amtrak is confronting is quite analogous to what the railroads were confronted with during the 50's as the Interstate highways were built and the airlines re-equipped with jet aircraft. Of any commercial passenger transportation provider, Amtrak is most vulnerable to "gas is cheap; let's just drive" decisions that travelers will be making. There really not that many "fly or drive" decisions made and I must ask "when was the last time you were on a flight with empty seats?". Besides, if the airlines do lose some ridership, they have plenty of room to reduce fares owing to their cheaper gas. Greyhound passengers? they have no choice; how many of them own a roadworthy vehicle to begin with?

The 1973-74 "gas crisis" showed with its ridership levels that were not exceeded until about 1999 how sensitive ridership is to "pain at the pump"; I highly doubt if it will be any different in this inverse setting.

GIven that LD trains are a statistical anomaly in LD travel market share, hopefully the spare cars can be re-deployed to other trains such as corridor or medium-distance where there is actually variable demand and reasonable market share. Also, you know they'll never do it, but a KC or MSP second train would be great here...

No Parlour for the sleeper passengers on the Starlight? Lame. Glad I rode aboard it during the 2013 off season and was able to enjoy the Parlour, complete with wine tasting.

I also enjoyed the Sightseer Lounge on the Capitol Limited on that trip, I might add.

I don't know how the fleet was adjusted in prior winters. But there are two new factors this winter, as the freight oligopoly creates major delays and a decision looms from the Supreme Court. The theory, that carrying more passengers is better, comes under strain when you have to put them in Chicago hotels overnight. Mid-route boardings might decline as people don't want to wait in freezing weather for a late train. Finally, you might prefer to have cash-on-hand and a maintenance backlog of mothballed coaches after a favorable Supreme Court decision, than no cash and a fully operating fleet of well-oiled long-distance coaches on the day the Supreme Court vindicates the freights.

I read on https://csanders429.wordpress.com/2014/ ... nto-shops/ that at least in the case of the Capitol Limited it was for maintenance and overhaul, which would rule out redeployment elsewhere.

There are no set assigned cars, but hopefully the diners especially start getting new everything, getting rid of the carpeting and getting more efficient lighting into the cars. Seems like the cars in more need for heavy overhaul are the Superliner II cars, which are starting to show a lot of wear and tear after 20 years.

If the Pacific Parlour cars are facing retirement, I would hope Amtrak could come up with some sort of first class lounge car to replace them.

If there're in need of rehab,now's a good time to tend to it,by now under the heavy usage is taking it's toll,
some cars may have become "bad actors" needing major HVAC work or air brake work,or the only fix
is rehab the entire onboard plumbing,due to leaks in no access areas,etc....
The Pacific Parlors are the last remaining ex- ATSF El-Cap cars in service,may need a truck inspection/overhaul,
or have systems that no longer have spare parts avaible,forcing a trip to Beech Grove for re-engineered replacement systems
or regreatably "retirement"

As long as Amtrak did the math and realized that shortening trains and keeping prices unchanged is more "profitable" than keeping trains' consists unchanged and lowering prices, then I don't see the problem with this. Amtrak has had far too many unsold seats- much higher than airlines' unsold seat portions- for too long.

I don't know if they'll take advantage of it, but this would give Amtrak the opportunity to add capacity in certain high traffic situations. For, example they could add cars to the CONO or Crescent at Mardi Gras. It's something they should do.

From amtrak.com/service-alerts-and-notices:

Coast Starlight Trains 11 and 14: Parlour Car Temporarily Removed
Effective January 12 through March 12, 2015
Beginning January 12 through March 12, 2015, the Pacific Parlour Car will be removed from the Coast Starlight trains for maintenance. During this period, the Dining Car and Sightseer Lounge Car will continue to be available for passengers.
We appreciate your patronage and apologize for any inconvenience. Reservation and train status information is available on Amtrak.com, our free mobile apps and at 1-800-USA-RAIL (1-800-872-7245).
Thank you for traveling with Amtrak.
PSN 1114-34

Capitol Limited Trains 29 and 30: Temporary Equipment Change
Effective January 12 through February 28, 2015
Beginning January 12, 2015 through February 28, 2015, the Dining car and Sightseer Lounge car will be removed from the Capitol Limited for maintenance and replaced with a Diner/Lounge car. Meals normally provided in the Dining car will be provided on one side of the Diner/Lounge car and the opposite side will serve as the Lounge car.
We appreciate your patronage and apologize for any inconvenience. Reservation and train status information is available on Amtrak.com, our free mobile apps and at 1-800-USA-RAIL (1-800-872-7245).
Thank you for traveling with Amtrak.
PSN 1214-44

In the "peak" seasons Amtrak's coaches have been almost filled near capacity. I don't do LD travel in the winter, but it sucks for anyone who has gotten used to be bit extra room in coach.

I don't think gas prices have that much of an effect on Amtrak's ridership. Anyone that price conscious would have switched to a bus.

That to me does not look like a response to the change in oil prices so much as it does a further implementation of flexible consist management policies. I think it is very smart on Amtrak's part to do this and I am glad to see it happening during the slow season.

You know, it dawns on me, that if Amtrak really wanted to get aggressive, some of the Superliner Sleepers could be brought east and with the use of a Transdorm added on to some of the LD trains running through Washington.

It's one thing to adjust capacity to meet demand but not providing a lounge car that is normally provided is a downgrade in service. Do the sleepers come with a corresponding downgrade in fare?