Lynchburg VA NE Regional (ext. to Roanoke and Bristol)

If you're CSX you say two trains crossing the Long Bridge to/from WAS<->ALX count for two bridge slots and demand $50m worth of capacity improvements to compensate.

Mr. Benton and Arlington: I suppose you could station a brakeman at ALX to split the train, but since Canadian-style J-trains aren't FRA-legal in America, you're back to the same issue of complexity. The end result is still the same, unless you suggest leading ALX-NPN or ROA with a gallery cab car drilled into the train at WAS.

If the trains can't be connected physically (although I see distributed power on longer freight trains), perhaps they can be connected wirelessly so that the second train heels behind the first. Siemens is already working on the concept. http://w1.siemens.ch/mobility/ch/SiteCo ... raphic.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; They call it Rail2X.

Please define "J" train and where FRA regs do not allow it

A "J-train" is a "joined" train--2 full consists (loco + cars) that are coupled together and operated as a single consist for part of their routes. VIA runs joined Montreal and Ottawa consists out of Toronto. When they reach Brockville (IIRC), the consist separates and go the "sections" go their own ways. I keep reading that the FRA does not currently allow such in the US, but I'm not sure of the citation or the reason.

Amtrak still is able to split and combine the Empire Builder at Spokane, Wash. How do they get away with it?
While they don't seem to regularly split trains any more at New haven, Conn., there have been reports on this Group of entire Springfield Shuttle trains being used as extra leading locomotives between New Haven and New York's Penn Station on through trains between Boston, Mass. and Washington, D.C.

Your "J" train happens all the time in the US. Not scheduled but often VRE , MARC, Amtrak, and others will often bring up an operating train that couples to disable train and second train's loco in the middle or end of combined train will push.

JimBoylan wrote:Amtrak still is able to split and combine the Empire Builder at Spokane, Wash. How do they get away with it?
While they don't seem to regularly split trains any more at New haven, Conn., there have been reports on this Group of entire Springfield Shuttle trains being used as extra leading locomotives between New Haven and New York's Penn Station on through trains between Boston, Mass. and Washington, D.C.

Usually answers to switching questions end up with who owns the tracks where the switching occurs, and in New Haven that's CDOT - not Amtrak. MTA North needs much of the tracks at New Haven for its own operations, Amtrak is given just enough to make do. There's far more passenger train activity at the New Haven station than there will ever be in Spokane.

Spokane was the "traditional split/combine" point of the Empire Builder dating back to the GN era and has the track layout
needed to allow the switching needed.

east point wrote:Please define "J" train and where FRA regs do not allow it

MBTA runs what are referred to as "double drafts", and they are deadheads. If there's a rule, it must apply to trains occupied by passengers.

east point wrote:Your "J" train happens all the time in the US. Not scheduled but often VRE , MARC, Amtrak, and others will often bring up an operating train that couples to disable train and second train's loco in the middle or end of combined train will push.

Happened to me on the MBTA as well.

Backshophoss wrote:Spokane was the "traditional split/combine" point of the Empire Builder dating back to the GN era and has the track layout
needed to allow the switching needed.

To be overly precise, the current Amtrak station is the old NP station, where the North Coast Ltd.'s Seattle and Portland sections were split and combined. The GN station (except the tower) bit the dust during the construction for the 1974 World's Fair.

Now that I think about it, did NP trains split/join at Pasco rather than Spokane?

To bring this back on topic a bit, the J-train idea would be a clever way around the (somewhat artificial) limits on movements across Long Bridge while we wait for a new bridge to be built. Plus, it doesn't really involve any switching. Northbound would be a problem, however, given that we don't adhere to European timekeeping standards. And running two separate consist nb over the bridge gets back to the limited slots problem.

I have wondered how pushed to capacity the bridge really is . I've never seen a photo of it with 2 trains at once, when I went over it , there wasnt a train in sight for miles. Maybe its a case of CSX wanting one track avaliable at all times , which is fair enough I suppose.

Station Aficionado wrote:A "J-train" is a "joined" train--2 full consists (loco + cars) that are coupled together and operated as a single consist for part of their routes. VIA runs joined Montreal and Ottawa consists out of Toronto. When they reach Brockville (IIRC), the consist separates and go the "sections" go their own ways. I keep reading that the FRA does not currently allow such in the US, but I'm not sure of the citation or the reason.

Message quoted in its entirety as it appears on a previous page.

In Austria, the OBB regularly runs two seven car RailJet (their premium service) sets combined. An example: one set originates in Zurich and another in Munich. At Salzburg, they are combined to operate as a 14 car, two locomotive set (locomotives seem to face Westward) with one locomotive in the middle, to Vienna Hbf. There the sets are split with one operating to Budapest, or now that the Czech RY also has RailJet sets, to Prague.

I learned that neither the German nor the Swiss roads have any of these sets. The Germans provide equipment for "Euro City" service (standard trains) to "run off" in Austria and equalize "klicks". I know not how the Swiss "pay" for their use.

I'm certain there are many another example of such within Continental Europe