MACTRAXX wrote:
This Super Bowl could be an event attracting numerous private car owners (Mr. Deasy answers
this question further) as has been the case depending on game location in the past.
The Super Bowl is an event that has always attracted private cars. This includes cars from railroad business fleets providing corporate hospitality, and privately owned cars making the trip for their owner and/or a private charter client.
NS can provide parking for their own executive cars, for those of their shortline partners, and for those of other Class I railroads. I doubt NS is interested in dealing with individual private car owners.
Amtrak's current (1-01-2019) private car tariff allows them to levy a Special Event Surcharge for private car parking associated with a special event, and a major sporting event such as the Super Bowl falls in that category. It used to be published in the tariff as $500, but they no longer publish a fixed number and it is whatever amount Amtrak feels like they should charge for the given location/dates/event.
I have not spoken to any other PV owners who are planning a trip to Atlanta for the Super Bowl. If someone is going, I'm not sure how they will get there, where they will park and how they will get back home.
Jeff Smith wrote:
I’ve seen Amtrak use the former Atlantic Steel siding when they annul the Crescent at Atlanta. The siding is right next to the station. They would wye it just north of the station on the former Belt Line IIRC. I’m not sure if they still do that or if it’s still possible. If the siding is still there, I’d assume it has ground power and decent storage, but I don’t know if it’s set up for PV access. Another question for Mr. Deasy.
Atlanta is not on Amtrak's current (11-01-2018) list of locations where private cars can be switched on/off their trains. The scheduled dwell time at ATL is less than 30 minutes for both trains 19 and 20.
Over the past decade, before Amtrak imposed their 2018 switching restrictions on private cars at certain locations, I declined at least 2 charter requests where the client wanted to visit Atlanta. The cost of NS switching the car off the Crescent and onto the Crescent was quite high, and Amtrak had no parking available for PVs in Atlanta. I could have dropped the client at Atlanta and picked them up at Atlanta on their way back home, but the car would have been required to deadhead south from ATL to NOL, turnaround at NOL and then come back to ATL, thus canceling the cost advantage and convenience of using the car as your hotel at the destination (Atlanta).