Amtrak Crescent Discussion

Such a double standard. If a private airline had done that for four hours, the FAA would be fining them five figures per passenger. Amtrak can do it 10 times as long with no repercussions

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Here's a case where being stuck at the airport would be preferable! (Still beats being stuck in a car in the snow...)

eolesen wrote: ↑Tue Jan 04, 2022 8:33 pm Such a double standard. If a private airline had done that for four hours, the FAA would be fining them five figures per passenger. Amtrak can do it 10 times as long with no repercussions

And in Europe you would be entitled to compensation (50% refund of the ticket price for a delay over 2 hours.)

https://www.europe-consommateurs.eu/en/ ... ights.html

Thought I might dust off this thread with a quick trip report.

Currently on the 20 (29). The consist is 2 P42s, 3 Amfleet coaches, a cafe, two VI sleepers and a VII bag-dorm in the rear. There is no diner, the sleeping car attendant said they don't have sufficient staff to provide diner service. Sleeper means are being delivered to rooms after being microwaved in the cafe. The sleeper passenger menu is the same as it was on the CoNO two days ago (Continental bfast, french toast, omlet. Beef short ribs, enchiladas, Chicken ala rosa, glazed salmon, pasta and meatballs).

The VI sleepers are pretty tatty, interiors really need a refresh. The new comforter/blanket is a very good improvement (was also seen on the CoNO a couple days ago).

I am making this trip from NO to Charlotte on points since the (long in advance) cost of a roomette was higher than I was willing to pay (north of $500 if I remember correctly). Had I paid cash I might be a bit more grumpy about room condition and the lack of a diner.

Having said that, it has been a very smooth ride (particularly in comparison to the CoNO) and delay free through Laurel. I am hoping that the train manages to loose a couple hours before Charlotte, a scheduled 5am arrival is going to make my wife a bit prickly if she needs to be at the station then.

Observed last night's Crescent 19(23) was operating with a VL2 diner instead of an Am Cafe/Lounge on Spartanburg railfan cam. Would be interested to see how they managed cafe service out of the new diners. Also interesting to see if this is something new they are trying or just a once off. 20(23) had the AmCan. Will have to check the cam Friday and see if 19(26) runs with a V2.

I didn't believe a lot of this stuff until last Friday. Got me a coffee, family asleep so I usually go down to Jamestown (between High Point and Greensboro) and watch the Crescent come through. It was running late, so I drove down into High Point.

This is what I saw:
1) Southbound freight stopped just north of Hoskins (High Point)
2) Southbound freight stopped south of High Point Station
3) Northbound Freight stopped south of High Point Station
4) Southbound freight stopping just outside of Thomasville

The Crescent was about 45 minutes late only.

Has precision railroading really messed things up this bad?

There have been other days where the northbound Crescent has stopped in High Point for 30-45 minutes due to being early (seems to make up a LOT of time usually between Charlotte and Greensboro and get held in High Point.

Have seen very late Crescents ,male up over an hour between CLT <> Danville.

More talk of splitting the Crescent in Meridian to provide Dallas-Atlanta service over the speedway.

Seems like a good way to make Crescent OTP even worse.

https://texasrailadvocates.org/post/thr ... il-service

I think the Dallas section would probably be better patronized than the New Orlean section, which is pretty light south of Birmingham. I don't think it would make the timekeeping much worse, but it would probably require an hour in Meridan which would make a slow schedule even slower.

dgvrengineer wrote: ↑Sat Nov 05, 2022 7:58 pm I think the Dallas section would probably be better patronized than the New Orlean section, which is pretty light south of Birmingham.

Maybe.
Anecdote is not data, but this Charlotte resident has lots of reasons to ride the rail to New Orleans (for fun) and absolutely zero reason to ride to Dallas (I am gonna fly on that trip).

If the timing worked right with the Eagle, you could even connect somewhere other than Chicago to get to LA...

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dgvrengineer wrote: ↑Sat Nov 05, 2022 7:58 pm I think the Dallas section would probably be better patronized than the New Orlean section, which is pretty light south of Birmingham. I don't think it would make the timekeeping much worse, but it would probably require an hour in Meridan which would make a slow schedule even slower.

To be honest, I would make this a corridor, from Ft. Worth through Dallas to Meridian, requiring a transfer to the Crescent. This would require an expansion of Meridian Union Station to handle transfer traffic and provide a freight bypass track (to sweeten the deal).

Would there be traffic on that stretch of rail? I know of at least one person who would love it (he's not on this forum). A study would be worth performing here.

STrRedWolf wrote: ↑Sun Nov 06, 2022 4:34 pm To be honest, I would make this a corridor, from Ft. Worth through Dallas to Meridian, requiring a transfer to the Crescent. This would require an expansion of Meridian Union Station to handle transfer traffic and provide a freight bypass track (to sweeten the deal).

IMO the correct service here would be for separate trains to be operated from Atlanta-New Orleans, Atlanta-Ft Worth, Atlanta-DC (part of the SEHSR plan). Such an arrangement would potentially create a usable corridor between Atlanta and Birmingham/Tuscaloosa as well.
(of course this suggestion is made without considering any of the practicalities of transferring, overnight segments or the Atlanta station situation)

Bob Roberts wrote: ↑Sun Nov 06, 2022 6:23 pm IMO the correct service here would be for separate trains to be operated from Atlanta-New Orleans, Atlanta-Ft Worth, Atlanta-DC (part of the SEHSR plan). Such an arrangement would potentially create a usable corridor between Atlanta and Birmingham/Tuscaloosa as well.
(of course this suggestion is made without considering any of the practicalities of transferring, overnight segments or the Atlanta station situation)

If you move the station to an area where you can get better transit plus four tracks (in addition to freight) then transfers and overnights solves itself. That's a "major lift" that needs a ton of money and some substantial track work to do.

This is why I say do it at Meridian, because there's a lot more room, and the money needed to make transfers happen (upgrade station and tweak some tracks) is much much less.

How much more traffic would this extension reach with logical conncetions with the CoNO in Jackson, MS?