by dgvrengineer
Excellent schedules for both routes, Arlington. I totally agree with the times and reasoning behind them.
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Moderators: GirlOnTheTrain, mtuandrew, Tadman
Arlington wrote:All seems okay until one realizes you forgot the trains Virginia subsidizes on your list.mtuandrew wrote:Arlington: that sounds like the nucleus of a NYP-ATL day train akin to the Palmetto.I'll save that for another thread
I think a case can be made that Virginia would be the main beneficiary of perfectly-timed trains that started in NC "a little too early" and got back "a little too late" At the same time, Virginia has proven that State supported trains can work at these fringes-of-the-day timings, and essentially starts its own services on the hours that I'm recommending NC adopt. So the win-win is:
Virginia should pay the bulk because it is
(1) making perfect trains for Virginia
(2) has the bulk of the stations,
NC would justify its role by
(1) making useful trains for CLT & RGH
(2) making *very* useful trains for Salisbury, High Point, & Greensboro-Winston-Salem
And part of the premise here is that RGH and CLT have the ability to overnight trains, crew them, and launch them in a way that Danville VA and Emporia VA never will or should.
Roughly something like these in bold.
RALEIGH (new Va+NC train on Star route)
Northbound from RGH
6:00A Va+NC (WAS 12:00 NYP 4:10p) (too early to start on NCRR, and time to get to Boston)
8:45A Silver Star (WAS 2:40p NYP 6:50p)
10:13A Carolinian (WAS 4:30p NYP 8:40p)
Southbound to RGH
7:25A Carolinian from NYP (WAS 10:45 RGH 5:10p)
11:02A Silver Star from NYP (WAS 3:05p RGH 9:00p)
2:00P Va+NC NYP (WAS 6:05p RGH 12mid) (and could have come from Boston, not worth going onward on NCRR)
CHARLOTTE (new Va+NC train on Crescent route)
Northbound from CLT
1:46am Crescent (WAS 10am, NYP1:45p) (painful for NC & Virginians on Crescent Route)
5:46am Va+NC (WAS 2pm, NYP 5:45pm...and time to get to BOS)
6:45am Carolinian (WAS 4:30p NYP 8:40p) (not useful to Virginians on Crescent route)
12:46pm Va+NC#2 (WAS 8pm NYP 11:45p) (COULD EVENTUALLY BE THE 6AM from ATL)
Southbound to CLT
6:15a Va+NC from NYP (WAS 10:00a CLT 6:20pm) (COULD EVENTUALLY BE THE DAY TRAIN TO ATL)
7:25a Carolinian from NYP (WAS 10:45a CLT 8:42p) (not useful to Virginians on Crescent route)
11:15am Va+NC#2 from NYP (WAS 3p CLT 11:20pm) (3hrs ahead of the Crescent)
2:15p Crescent from NYP (WAS 6:00p CLT 2:20am) (painful for NC & Virginians on Crescent Route)
east point wrote:Arlington: Yes serve the larger populations areas first!That does make sense, but if I'm not mistaken, the second NFK - PTB - RVR - WAS train was added because the first is making money. Both are scheduled for commuting hours to WAS, as is the new earlier schedule for NPN - RVR - WAS. Few people want to make that drive, since it has the worst traffic in the state on both ends. There's military and related business between NFK/NPN and WAS, as well as tourism and entertainment. It's a classic example of the middle distance trip that can displace air traffic.
Arlington wrote:But two weak magnets (Tidewater and Blue Ridge) can't merit a trip between them yet, especially with WAS still "pulling harder" as the destination of additional service.I wonder if a revived James Whitcomb Riley (CVS-RVR via Gordonsville) might break even because university people favor rail. Yet there's limited bandwidth to wrangle with the freights for access, so maybe it's not the most important battle.