by Pacific 2-3-1
THE CARDINAL is more spiritual than physical, if train names mean anything.
Railroad Forums
Moderators: GirlOnTheTrain, mtuandrew, Tadman
Tadman wrote:Regardless of above comments about state-specific politics, it bugs me that current administration portends to be a friend of Amtrak and HSR and they haven't changed the rule where corridor states have to fund their trains. Shouldn't it be the other way around?The rule under discussion wasn't made by an executive order, it was made under legislation passed by Congress. Only Congress can change it.
Tadman wrote:There's a fifth option - letting NICTD run this train under contract with leased cars and power. ONR has a fleet of passenger cars becoming surplus as of this week.In 2010 NICTD received $15,292,171 from the state in operating funds (plus $21,730,676 from the state for capital funds). This in a year with 104,373,404 passenger miles. 14.6c per mile subsidized operating funds or 35.5c if capital funds are included? (Note: NICTD also received federal and local funds.)
Also, worth putting this in perspective - what funding does NICTD get per seat mile? The senator from Noblesville is throwing around nominal numbers and that's just useless.
electricron wrote:My largest concern about the Hoosier State train is its speed, it's much too slow even when it is on time.It's worse; Ron.
From Amtrak timetables, it takes 4 hours and 5 minutes to travel 196 rail miles, averaging 48 mph.
Gilbert B Norman wrote:Oops! I completely overlooked the time change. But the average highway speeds I listed earlier don't drop because the driving times listed by Google and Yahoo factored the time zone change in.electricron wrote:My largest concern about the Hoosier State train is its speed, it's much too slow even when it is on time.It's worse; Ron.
From Amtrak timetables, it takes 4 hours and 5 minutes to travel 196 rail miles, averaging 48 mph.
5hr 5min, averaging 38.6mph vice 4hr 5min; there is a time change to be factored.
Station Aficionado wrote:Unfortunately, there is no better route (at least in any practical sense). If the HS were run as a separate train, I'd guess they could tighten the schedule, as it would not have to factor in recovery times for delays further east on the Cardinal route. Also the various CREATE projects will ultimately speed the Chicago entry/exit a bit. But it's not going to be a fast route any time soon.No need to factor in additional recovery time for the Cardinal. That should be included in the hour of station time in Indianapolis.
jstolberg wrote:True, but sadly that's often not enough recovery time.Station Aficionado wrote:Unfortunately, there is no better route (at least in any practical sense). If the HS were run as a separate train, I'd guess they could tighten the schedule, as it would not have to factor in recovery times for delays further east on the Cardinal route. Also the various CREATE projects will ultimately speed the Chicago entry/exit a bit. But it's not going to be a fast route any time soon.No need to factor in additional recovery time for the Cardinal. That should be included in the hour of station time in Indianapolis.
Station Aficionado wrote:justalurker gave the times and distance for Chicago-Dyer earlier. Here are the distances and times for the all various segments of the HS route:What you guys are leaving out is the train is routinely late out of Dye. An hour and fifteen minutes to travel 30 miles, and the train is often in the bag....despite an on time departure from CHI. It is MIND BOGGLING!
Chicago-Dyer; 29 miles; 1:13 sb; 1:38 nb
Dyer-Rensselaer; 46 miles; 0:51 sb; 0:49 nb
Rensselaer-Lafayette, 47 miles; 1:11 sb; 1:05 nb
Lafayette-Crawfordsville, 27 miles; 0:30 sb; 0:35 nb
Crawfordsville-Indianapolis, 47 miles; 1:20 sb; 0:58 nb (this section is unsignalled)
If the train is on schedule, the intermediate times from Dyer to Rensselaer, and Lafayette to Crawfordsville aren't too bad, but everything else is pretty slow.
LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) - Some community members continue to work to make sure a rail line that stops in Lafayette doesn't disappear later this year.
The federal government announced last year it would stop funding shortfalls on rail lines that are less than 750 miles long. This means the Hoosier State Line, an Amtrak line running daily between Chicago and Indianapolis with a stop in Lafayette, could stop running in October.
The Indiana Department of Transportation was expected to pick up the slack in funding, but has not agreed to do that yet. But, INDOT has agreed to conduct a study, our sister station WLFI reports.