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Re: Amtrak in Virginia updates (and other transportation)

 by orulz ¦  Tue Feb 01, 2022 9:04 pm ¦  Forum: Amtrak ¦  Topic: Amtrak in Virginia updates (and other transportation) ¦  Replies: 114 ¦  Views: 18147

It is also likely due to the CSX/VA agreement , which was reached after the DC2RVA FEIS was delivered, will wind up being reopened and revised, or scrapped and started over, or else at least demoted from "permanent final solution", to temporary half-measure status. And that's just as well,...

Re: Amtrak in Virginia updates (and other transportation)

 by orulz ¦  Mon Jan 31, 2022 8:21 pm ¦  Forum: Amtrak ¦  Topic: Amtrak in Virginia updates (and other transportation) ¦  Replies: 114 ¦  Views: 18147

Thinking further about Ashland, the achievable throughput here takes a big hit if they keep a *station* (which it appears that they will not). A station, in a 2 mile long, 25mph, single track zone, on an otherwise double track, high speed line. Couldn't come up with a better way to kill capacity if ...

Re: Amtrak in Virginia updates (and other transportation)

 by orulz ¦  Mon Jan 31, 2022 3:48 pm ¦  Forum: Amtrak ¦  Topic: Amtrak in Virginia updates (and other transportation) ¦  Replies: 114 ¦  Views: 18147

Virginia recently posted detailed future track diagrams of the RF&P as part of their "Transforming Rail in VA" initiative. The document covers LE interlocking all the way down to where the S line diverges south of Petersburg VA. Below are 10 interesting things I found in the documents...

Re: North Carolina NCDOT-Amtrak Piedmont Service

 by orulz ¦  Wed Jan 12, 2022 2:27 pm ¦  Forum: Amtrak ¦  Topic: North Carolina NCDOT-Amtrak Piedmont Service ¦  Replies: 596 ¦  Views: 150266

Orulz, thanks for compiling all this info. What do you think accounts for the slow times? I'm going to guess dispatching or speed limits favorable to freight. The lowest hanging fruit as far as slow average speeds and poor reliability are concerned are, as far as I'm concerned: 1. Conflicts with fr...

Re: North Carolina NCDOT-Amtrak Piedmont Service

 by orulz ¦  Wed Jan 12, 2022 12:59 pm ¦  Forum: Amtrak ¦  Topic: North Carolina NCDOT-Amtrak Piedmont Service ¦  Replies: 596 ¦  Views: 150266

Why was CSX granted dispatching rights? Of the three major users (NCDOT, NS, CSX) they seem to be the one that would use that trackage the least given that it's almost at the end of their line in that area. The segment from Raleigh to Cary is part of the CSX S-line - the former Seaboard Air Line ma...

Re: North Carolina NCDOT-Amtrak Piedmont Service

 by orulz ¦  Wed Jan 12, 2022 12:43 pm ¦  Forum: Amtrak ¦  Topic: North Carolina NCDOT-Amtrak Piedmont Service ¦  Replies: 596 ¦  Views: 150266

I think what you'd wind up seeing by adding frequencies is more cannibalization of the existing frequencies than you'd see in stimulating new demand. There's a saturation point you can't ignore, especially if there's limited purpose for people to be traveling between two cities, and I just don't se...

Re: North Carolina NCDOT-Amtrak Piedmont Service

 by orulz ¦  Wed Jan 12, 2022 10:20 am ¦  Forum: Amtrak ¦  Topic: North Carolina NCDOT-Amtrak Piedmont Service ¦  Replies: 596 ¦  Views: 150266

Whether you believe this train is a success or a boondoggle, the reason the freight railroad companies have few objections of its growth over the years is because they do not own the railroad corridor, NCRR and eventually NCDOT does. As ridership and business have grown, state budgeted matching mon...

Re: North Carolina NCDOT-Amtrak Piedmont Service

 by orulz ¦  Wed Jan 12, 2022 9:18 am ¦  Forum: Amtrak ¦  Topic: North Carolina NCDOT-Amtrak Piedmont Service ¦  Replies: 596 ¦  Views: 150266

Expanding further on the idea of frequency/ridership elasticity: I have come up with a theory, which is completely unproven and half-baked, but makes a lot of sense to me, that I call "the rule of 3's" that applies here. The Rule of 3's states: In order to substantially meet the natural, l...

Re: North Carolina NCDOT-Amtrak Piedmont Service

 by orulz ¦  Wed Jan 12, 2022 6:48 am ¦  Forum: Amtrak ¦  Topic: North Carolina NCDOT-Amtrak Piedmont Service ¦  Replies: 596 ¦  Views: 150266

Maybe just maybe ridership has leveled off because that all there really is for natural demand?... You can't force or manufacture people to travel in a corridor, and that 7M isn't that impressive when you see it stretched out in a dogbone pattern over 170 miles long with huge rural gaps along the w...

Re: North Carolina NCDOT-Amtrak Piedmont Service

 by orulz ¦  Tue Jan 11, 2022 4:06 pm ¦  Forum: Amtrak ¦  Topic: North Carolina NCDOT-Amtrak Piedmont Service ¦  Replies: 596 ¦  Views: 150266

I recently spent some time gathering some thoughts and statistics about NCDOT's Piedmont service. -How it started, -What it was -What it is -Where it's going -Where it should go This is a rehashing of a Twitter thread ( https://twitter.com/oevans82/status/1480672509175513092 ) over the last day or s...

Re: Station Developments

 by orulz ¦  Wed Dec 22, 2021 12:41 pm ¦  Forum: Amtrak ¦  Topic: Station Developments ¦  Replies: 368 ¦  Views: 99051

In Raleigh they are getting set to start building a complex with a new bus hub and retail on the ground floor, a substantial parking facility next, and a 34 story residential tower/14 story hotel tower on top. This will be next to Union Station, and attached to it with a bridge over the tracks. http...

Re: Budd Amfleet I Replacement Discussion

 by orulz ¦  Wed Apr 21, 2021 1:46 pm ¦  Forum: Amtrak ¦  Topic: Siemens to manufacture 83 Airo Intercity Trainsets for Amtrak: Design, Delivery, Acceptance ¦  Replies: 600 ¦  Views: 107641

At this point it still seems ambiguous as to whether this will be loco-hauled or MU trainsets. Any information known about the specifics of the Siemens bid?

Re: Alstom Coradia Multilevel Coaches

 by orulz ¦  Wed Feb 17, 2021 8:31 am ¦  Forum: Chicagoland Commuter & Transit ¦  Topic: Alstom Coradia Multilevel Coaches ¦  Replies: 109 ¦  Views: 19493

My biggest question about these cars is, are they lighter? Do they adhere to the modern European-style alternate crashworthiness requirements, with crumple zones and crash energy management, or do they follow the old timey 1950s buff strength requirements that used to be the only way to get FRA appr...

Re: North Carolina NCDOT-Amtrak Piedmont Service

 by orulz ¦  Mon Dec 21, 2020 9:48 pm ¦  Forum: Amtrak ¦  Topic: North Carolina NCDOT-Amtrak Piedmont Service ¦  Replies: 596 ¦  Views: 150266

NCDOT will sell unrefurbished train cars (including the Ringling Bros circus train) that they no longer have a use for. https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article247987420.html The article says that they have $157 million in federal grants and plan to use that money to buy six new...

Re: Brightline Expansion - Tampa

 by orulz ¦  Mon Oct 26, 2020 12:57 pm ¦  Forum: Brightline Trains LLC (formerly All Aboard Florida and Virgin) ¦  Topic: Brightline Orlando (MCO) and Disney Extension - PHASE 2 ¦  Replies: 108 ¦  Views: 23406

A bizjournals article ( https://www.bizjournals.com/orlando/news/2020/10/20/sunrail-brightline-orlando-airport-route-florida.html ) from a few days ago includes an image (credited to Brightline) that includes the first concrete indication of how they will connect between MCO and WDW. It also mention...

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