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For Amtrak, the shutdown is all about cash flow. So long as they have enough cash on hand to finance their operations, there is no reason to suspend services during the government shutdown. Whether any particular route is profitable or not in an accounting sense should not be an issue unless the shu...

The Virginia Commonwealth Transportation Board approved $600,000 to fund environmental and preliminary engineering work on the extension to Roanoke. There is a short slide deck posted here: http://www.ctb.virginia.gov/resources/2013/apr/pres/Presentation_Agenda_Item10_Roanoke_Passenger.pdf This prel...

Via PGH, right? So we're basically saying the Pennsylvanian can be saved by turning it into the Broadway Limited? I don't think it is that simple. The language of PRIIA says that ‘‘(C) long-distance routes of more than 750 miles between endpoints operated by Amtrak as of the date of enactment of th...

I don't think that this was mentioned elsewhere, but Gov. McDonnell came out explicitly in favor of rail service to Roanoke as part of his big transportation funding proposal . Two relevant quotes from the linked fact sheet:  In addition, Virginia’s passenger rail and transit funding needs are also...

Yes, local opposition at the Grand Junction corridor could be a problem. However, MBTA is planning to do maintenance work on the Grand Junction, put in welded rail, signal system upgrades, better grade crossing gates so trains can get through there more quickly. There are several daily moves throug...

It is an extension of the "Railroad Track Maintenance Credit" for an additional two years: SEC. 306. EXTENSION OF RAILROAD TRACK MAINTENANCE CREDIT. (a) IN GENERAL.--Subsection (f) of section 45G is 22 amended by striking ''January 1, 2012'' and inserting 23 ''January 1, 2014''. 24 (b) EFF...

Under PRIIA s209, Amtrak will still not charge routes for equipment Amtrak does not own, and this will affect different routes differently. To the Carolinian, I believe this note will apply from page 8 of the Cost Methodology Policy linked above. Some routes make use of assets owned by third partie...

I'm also back to totally not buying that it should take 6 years to get to ROA. Admittedly, NFK was mulled starting in 2004 (http://www.rich2hrrail.info/pages/mp_Press.html), but once they got serious, NFK took almost exactly 3 years (6 days under 3, actually) from Draft EIS to launch of service (ht...

I second the appreciation for Mr. ThirdRail's posts (both here and elsewhere); I've learned a lot from them. To get back to the Roanoke extension, my recollection is that there are two major operational problems that explain most of the capacity improvements that NS is demanding for additional servi...

I thought those CSX-river-crossing slots/constraints only applied during peak times (AM/PM rush hour)? And I though there was one more left? But essentially this means that the whole Amtrak Virginia system (and therefore a vast majority of Virginia's population) will have an interest in seeing new ...

In addition to the Amtrak operational issues, there are a number of obstacles on the Virginia side that are going to delay additional service to CVS/LYH: 1) Access to DC: The stretch from CP Virginia to Springfield is still congested and will require additional capital improvements. The services tha...

I also found the "mostly empty" forecast strange. If Quincy can support two trains a day, which are running anything but mostly empty, certainly the Quad Cities can. For reference, the initial feasibility studies done 2007/08 by Amtrak estimated that a 79 MPH service with two round trips ...

All of the Auto Train passengers travel from endpoint to endpoint, so average revenue per passenger is very high. It isn't watered down by lots of passengers taking short trips, as is the case with Los Angeles. The Auto Train stations have the highest revenue per passenger by a wide margin.

Slightly OT, but it is also interesting to look at the revenue per station in addition to ridership. In this case, the number in parentheses is the FY12 ridership rank: 1. New York $862,934,610 (1) 2. Washington $499,859,817 (2) 3. Philadelphia $265,190,480 (3) 4. Chicago $208,128,852 (4) 5. Boston ...

Another thing I'm unclear on - if the Cap is 29/30, why is LSL 48/49? Shouldn't it be 47/48? Otherwise all eastbounds get the even number, and the even number is always higher. That did not used to be the case. In the original numbering scheme (Fall 1971), the Northeast-Midwest long-distance trains...