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I live around San Francisco and BART lines are named, not referred to by color or a letter designation. I understand Muni's naming structure of "Letter/Number-Street name" like N-Judah or 38-Geary, but just referring to a line by color or letter and not by where it goes is just confusing t...

Unfortunately I am writing a paper that will get picked apart on the basis of cost/benefit analysis and I can't really quantify the speed into a dollar amount. I'm going down the energy efficiency/maintenance costs/ wear and tear on the tracks of the two.

So let me explain, cause this is going to be a bit of a long one. I am writing a piece and I am evaluating the cost of rail travel and am trying to determine how much rail equipment would cost. So the question is, does an EMU have a significantly lower operating cost over a train hauled by an electr...

You also have to take into account that inter operation is happening due to the EU and the EU is dumping money into countries that have less developed rail networks. Mandating inter operation would be nice for people shipping freight, but its not going to help Amtrak. It will burden the railways bec...

My point was that Amtrak one go 1 new Viaggio car, 1 Amfleet in the scrap pile.

Well if the states are willing to pony up a few million to expand the capacity along some corridors, they could have improved services as well. Not to mention there are a lot of rail lines in this country. Its more about political pressure at this point that it is about lack of money. As mentioned a...

dp I if Siemens then has the bi level designs, could the option to buy be used and California and Illinois trade the used Siemens cars for bi levels and hand the single levels over to replace Amfleet or at least start replacing them? As for the Horizon cars, I say get creative. Do not replace Amfle...

Not to mention monetary. I would say it is largely that. There are plenty of lines that could be upgraded to deal with the capacity issues along the corridors outlined. (Short of building a crossing between Richmond and San Rafael and whenever the standard rail transbay tube gets built.) Given how t...

SR: it certainly did, but now Amtrak only has access to one slot/direction/day on most mains. Besides, today’s limited-stop mid-long distance trains have wings and TSA lines. My point of idea would be to allow people the ability to choose not to fly or offer better service in areas where flying isn...

Business travelers don't take trains off the NEC because Amtrak's trains are too slow. If they will not ride in long distance sleepers, they are not going to ride in lay flat seats. And don't forget, standard coach seats are already available for those who wish to ride a train in open seats. All sm...

I have just skimmed through this thread and am wondering, if the Siemens order works out and they finish their merge with Alstom (Assuming it hasn't happened, I wanted to type while the iron was hot and didn't google anything) if Siemens then has the bi level designs, could the option to buy be used...

This was an idea that I have had kicking around, which is what would a "useful" rail network be in California. California already has a "good" set of Amtrak lines, but I have thought up what could be a better map. Then I put it off cause I didn't have the time or photoshop skills...

I live in the San Francisco Bay Area and this state needs a far more expansive rail network. I want high speed, but we also need a network that has trans weaving their way around the state where 100 mph is normal instead of a distant dream. Hell getting 5,000 miles of upgraded track could be done fo...

Although I would like better corridor service in the US, I personally think Amtrak should have some sort of overnight seats on the regional trains being proposed. (Sorry if I'm missing something, I haven't been keeping up with everything due to work). This is going to be more what my idea as to what...

I know LA has its Metro service and there are a few light rail systems, but why not a heavy rail system like BART? When the commission that ultimately led to BART was created in the 1950's, the Bay Area's population was just over 1 million. The commission concluded that traffic would get so bad in t...