More trains to Carbondale?

Illinois pols (here in the run-up to an election) call for Amtrak to add more trains between Chicago and Carbondale:

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Gov. Pat Quinn and U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin sent a letter Wednesday to Amtrak President and CEO Joe Boardman.
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Quinn and Durbin say ridership on the Chicago-to-Carbondale route grew 117 percent during the same period. That route includes stops in Champaign and several other cities.

They say: "To facilitate continued growth in passenger rail, we need to increase the number of opportunities available to riders."
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And Amtrak says it's more than happy to study the idea:

Amtrak says it's considering expanding its increasingly popular service from Chicago south to Champaign and Carbondale, but it's uncertain how the extra trains would be funded.
Acting in response to a request from Gov. Pat Quinn and U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-lll., Amtrak "will certainly" review whether to add one or more daily roundtrips to the three that now travel each weekday, according to spokesman Marc Magliari . "We're happy to do the work suggested by the governor and the senator."
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Mr. Magliardi said trains now are sometimes sold out. No schedule yet has been set as to when Amtrak will conduct the feasibility study.

I think there's probably sufficient ridership to justify more trains, but both cited articles omit any comment from CN, the owner of the track and not Amtrak's biggest fan of late. Perhaps this is just election-year blather, perhaps the beginning of a serious effort to add trains. Thoughts?

Station Aficionado wrote:I think there's probably sufficient ridership to justify more trains, but both cited articles omit any comment from CN, the owner of the track and not Amtrak's biggest fan of late. Perhaps this is just election-year blather, perhaps the beginning of a serious effort to add trains. Thoughts?

Given that it is Illinois, the possibility exists for either one to be true. But this turned up fortuitously in my Facebook feed:

Important fair use quote:

"The existing single-level trains are selling out on all three of these downstate routes, and the state has on order, to be built in Illinois, double-decker equipment which will have higher capacity," he says.

Full story here: http://northernpublicradio.org/post/ful ... ead-amtrak" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I'm tempted to believe this is real, particularly in light of the fact that Durbin isn't up for reelection. That said, I'm skeptical that getting double-decker cars won't solve a lot of the problem. Mind you, I'm not upset about increased frequency, but adding ~30% capacity for the price of train cars already on order seems like a better step for the Chicago-Carbondale service.

We need a meme with Claude Mongeau's head on Gene Wilder's body (in the purple willy wonka outfit) that said "Oh you're going to run four more trains on my tracks, tell me more about it".

Edit - here you go:

If a fourth train could be added, then a noon departure ex CUS, arriving around 1730 would nicely fit between the 0815/1605/2005 departure offerings. Could the train be turned in 60 minutes to get it back to CUS by midnight, or is that too ambitious?

sipes23 wrote:

Station Aficionado wrote:I think there's probably sufficient ridership to justify more trains, but both cited articles omit any comment from CN, the owner of the track and not Amtrak's biggest fan of late. Perhaps this is just election-year blather, perhaps the beginning of a serious effort to add trains. Thoughts?

Given that it is Illinois, the possibility exists for either one to be true. But this turned up fortuitously in my Facebook feed:

Important fair use quote:

"The existing single-level trains are selling out on all three of these downstate routes, and the state has on order, to be built in Illinois, double-decker equipment which will have higher capacity," he says.

Full story here: http://northernpublicradio.org/post/ful ... ead-amtrak" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I'm tempted to believe this is real, particularly in light of the fact that Durbin isn't up for reelection. That said, I'm skeptical that getting double-decker cars won't solve a lot of the problem. Mind you, I'm not upset about increased frequency, but adding ~30% capacity for the price of train cars already on order seems like a better step for the Chicago-Carbondale service.

Actually, Durbin is running for re-election this year. He's up against Republican Jim Oberweis, the milk and ice cream king. I'm certainly in favor of more service, but the CN can't seem to deliver on the existing schedule, for which Durbin had been criticizing the railroad. Maybe this is another way of putting pressure on the Canadians.

Watching NBC Local news; they just had a segment on increased CHI-CDL service citing a "feasibility study".

I love added frequencies, but it's much cheaper
to add capacity to the existing trains. With the
bilevels being built by Nippon-Sharyo, just $5
million might cover two more coaches, one each
for the state-supported trains.

And no hassle with CN.

The CONO is overnight and would require more
coaches; not likely.

But launching a new frequency would require
half a dozen coaches and a couple of locomotives.
It will be a while before we see that.

Until the new bi-levels are ready, couldn't Amtrak shift the Hoosier State Horizons to the Illini/Saluki after October 1, when either the Hoosier State dies an ignominious death or Corridor Capital replaces them?

Woody wrote:I love added frequencies, but it's much cheaper
to add capacity to the existing trains. With the
bilevels being built by Nippon-Sharyo, just $5
million might cover two more coaches, one each
for the state-supported trains.

And no hassle with CN.

The CONO is overnight and would require more
coaches; not likely.

But launching a new frequency would require
half a dozen coaches and a couple of locomotives.
It will be a while before we see that.

Well, if the head of the FRA and the Governor of IL are right, the Midwest will be getting an additional 34 bi-levels for a total of 122 cars. Which will nicely expand fleet capacity. Appears that it was overlooked in this forum, but there was a ribbon-cutting ceremony at a new Shop 3 at the Nippon-Sharyo Rochelle plant on Wednesday, July 30 with the head of the FRA and the Governor of Illinois present. Both the Governor and the FRA issued press releases that stated they were in negotiations to place an option order for 45 additional cars. The option would have 34 cars for the Midwest and 11 to CA. So the total order will be for 175 corridor bi-level cars which will provide a pretty big boost in seat capacity for the Midwest and CA corridors.

FRA Administrator Joe Szabo prepared remarks. (FRA eLIbary page)
Illinois press release: Governor Quinn and Company Officials Open Nippon Sharyo Expansion in Rochelle

Quote from the Illinois press release:

Caltrans and IDOT will soon finalize an additional option order with Nippon Sharyo that will enable Illinois to add another 34 cars to its fleet, for a total of 122 cars coming to the Midwest. Caltrans will buy an additional 11 cars, bringing their allocation to 53. This procurement will result in 175 new railcars being produced at Nippon Sharyo.
 
The 122 Midwestern railcars will allow all existing Midwestern routes to be equipped with new railcars, including service to St. Louis, Milwaukee, Carbondale, Quincy, Chicago-Pontiac, Chicago-Grand Rapids, Chicago-Port Huron and St. Louis-Kansas City. In addition, the new Moline and Rockford corridors will also be outfitted with new equipment.

It is also worth noting that the IL press release included Milwaukee service as getting the new bi-levels. Which may be a typo, but the Hiawatha service could easily be accommodated with 34 additional cars. The funding for the 45 cars appears to be from the FRA using the remaining funds allocated to the bi-level order that were leftover by the low Nippon-Sharyo bid for the 130 baseline units.

The reality is likely that the state DOT wants to get the process started on looking at adding a third daily Carbondale corridor train, but knows it will be a long process waiting on new equipment and perhaps for the Grand Crossing project to be built and completed.

CHTT1 wrote:Actually, Durbin is running for re-election this year. He's up against Republican Jim Oberweis, the milk and ice cream king. I'm certainly in favor of more service, but the CN can't seem to deliver on the existing schedule, for which Durbin had been criticizing the railroad. Maybe this is another way of putting pressure on the Canadians.

And now you know how much time I spend watching local TV news or reading newspapers to not know that.

Has routing some trains CHI-EFG-East St Louis-STL ever been looked at, or is most of the Illini/Saluki demand south of Effingham?

Routing some trains to STL would be a good idea, but not via EFG. For much more ridership potential, I would say to use routing via CN-Tolono-NS, with new stops of Decatur, Taylorville, Litchfield, and Edwardsville (home of SIUE). This would return Amtrak service to Decatur while providing new Amtrak service to the other points southwest of there.

Maybe you're right. That is 160 miles of "new" road whereas the EFG route is about the same total length but only 100 new miles.

If Illini/Saluki run long train consists because of CN signals, what's going to happen when they go bilevel? Or is the thinking that CN will have upped their game by then so that consists can run shorter?

Midlands Steve wrote:Routing some trains to STL would be a good idea, but not via EFG. For much more ridership potential, I would say to use routing via CN-Tolono-NS, with new stops of Decatur, Taylorville, Litchfield, and Edwardsville (home of SIUE). This would return Amtrak service to Decatur while providing new Amtrak service to the other points southwest of there.

I can think of much higher priorities in the Midwest than another train to Carbondale. Chicago-Champaign-Decatur-St. Louis is one of them. Others might be a second train Chicago-Minneapolis, an AM Chicago-Cleveland/PM Cleveland-Chicago, or a train Chicago-Ft. Wayne-Columbus.

Agreed, but Quinn and Durbin are the one coughing up the funds so Illinois gets the trains.