Amtrak NEC Virginia Regional Service

Although this video is only a snapshot in time for me it feels like a metaphor for Amtrak Virginia as a whole. A busy, growing service that is providing more service to the Commonwealth with every passing year.

Noticed no 4 quadrant gates. Seems like the rail and auto layout would help ?

east point wrote: ↑Sun Oct 27, 2019 8:14 pm Noticed no 4 quadrant gates. Seems like the rail and auto layout would help ?

Ashland is a quiet zone without 4 quadrant gates. There have been "incidents" and near-misses (and if you search YouTube you'll find them) but none have been serious. Keep in mind track speed through town is 35mph until head end clears.

I thought that 4-quadrant gates are a requirement for a QZ. And in the situation that this video shows, I would have blown the horn if I were the engineer on the overtaking train [Silver Star, I think] when approaching the head end of the stopped train.

Rockingham Racer wrote: ↑Mon Oct 28, 2019 6:09 am I thought that 4-quadrant gates are a requirement for a QZ. And in the situation that this video shows, I would have blown the horn if I were the engineer on the overtaking train [Silver Star, I think] when approaching the head end of the stopped train.

IIRC a risk analysis is done before a quiet zone can be implemented. If the historical accident rate and other risk factors are low, a quiet zone can be approved. If not, mitigation is required such as 4 quadrant gates or a median barrier.

The left turns that cross the tracks are signed with a lit up "NO LEFT TURN" sign that lights up on gate activation.

As an aside, the orange jersey wall going up is the first stage of platform reconstruction alluded to in the station improvements thread.

gokeefe wrote: ↑Sun Oct 27, 2019 7:07 pm Although this video is only a snapshot in time for me it feels like a metaphor for Amtrak Virginia as a whole. A busy, growing service that is providing more service to the Commonwealth with every passing year.

Also, a "teachable moment" about "expect a train on any track, in any direction, at any time."

This line really caught my attention:

Amtrak representatives tell 10 News Roanoke's ridership is the highest of any individual line in the commonwealth. Since launching in 2017, that's more than 110,000 passengers coming in and out of Roanoke.

That is an absolutely astonishing result.

gokeefe wrote: ↑Thu Oct 31, 2019 9:03 pm This line really caught my attention:

Amtrak representatives tell 10 News Roanoke's ridership is the highest of any individual line in the commonwealth. Since launching in 2017, that's more than 110,000 passengers coming in and out of Roanoke.

That is an absolutely astonishing result.

I’m pretty satisfied with that result! Back of envelope, that’s a mean of 75 passengers departing RNK daily, and another 75 arriving (110,000 pax divided by 2 for arrival & departure, divided by 730 days); the year-over-year average is probably a lot higher for 10/31/2018 to 10/31/2019. The eventual New River Valley extension will reduce those numbers probably (just like the Brunswick extension did for Portland), but I expect it and the proposed Bedford infill to raise numbers overall for west-of-Lynchburg traffic.

How did LYH ridership do over that same interval? How many RNK riders were new (vs taken from LYH?).

gokeefe wrote: ↑Thu Oct 31, 2019 9:03 pm This line really caught my attention:

Amtrak representatives tell 10 News Roanoke's ridership is the highest of any individual line in the commonwealth. Since launching in 2017, that's more than 110,000 passengers coming in and out of Roanoke.

That is an absolutely astonishing result.

DOUBLE-ASTONISHING! I sense a railfan trip for myself coming on...

Per the stats on the Virginia DRPT site, it looks like Roanoke ridership was 53,000 in FY18. Their monthly numbers for FY19 go only through June. But assuming the 110,000 number cited in the new report George linked to, that results in 57,000 riders in FY19. But, IIRC, the service started on like 10/31/17, meaning the FY18 numbers cover only 11 months. That equates to average monthly ridership being slightly lower in FY19 than FY18. Hopefully, FY20 will show some growth.

Jeff Smith wrote: ↑Fri Nov 01, 2019 9:16 amDOUBLE-ASTONISHING! I sense a railfan trip for myself coming on...

Agreed. We've come so far since the days of the Mountaineer and the Hilltopper. The wiki quotes ridership figures of something like 32 passengers per train let alone ridership at individual stops.

If the numbers are that good in Roanoke one can only imagine what they would be at other stops previously assumed to be "marginal".

Lynchburg numbers were down by 24,000 in 2018, working out to roughly half of the number of new riders at Roanoke (these numbers may cover a slightly different time period than those quoted above):
https://www.railpassengers.org/site/ass ... 219/va.pdf

Lynchburg
2017 - 80,856
2018 - 56,866

Roanoke:
2017 - 0
2018 - 51,727

Take another look at that fact sheet. Roanoke is producing more passengers than Norfolk. Unreal ...

gokeefe wrote: ↑Fri Nov 01, 2019 7:31 pm Take another look at that fact sheet. Roanoke is producing more passengers than Norfolk. Unreal ...

Likely to reverse with a second frequency (M-F) to Norfolk. Also, less air competition from Roanoke.