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  • Hoosier State Discussion (both Amtrak and Iowa Pacific)

  • Discussion related to Amtrak also known as the National Railroad Passenger Corp.
Discussion related to Amtrak also known as the National Railroad Passenger Corp.

Moderators: GirlOnTheTrain, mtuandrew, Tadman

 #1546836  by justalurker66
 
Pensyfan19 wrote: Tue Jun 30, 2020 9:34 pmSo it's been officially one year since this route went into the history books of Amtrak. Any talk of restoring daily Chicago to Indy service, or any passenger rail proposal for the corridor?
At this point Amtrak is considering (temporarily) reducing service on other routes to three a week in October. So I'd have to say that it would be a firm NO to any increase of service for the Cardinal or resumption of service for the Hoosier State.

The state of Indiana is spending our money elsewhere funding grade separation projects throughout the state as well as improvements to NICTD service that will last a lot longer than throwing money at Amtrak.

(Signed: Indiana Taxpayer - yep it is my tax dollars they are spending.)
 #1546849  by Pensyfan19
 
Thought so. I'm assuming there are no such plans with the current plans for Amtrak and the government. The thing that's disgraceful about this is that they couldn't spare $3 million of a billion dollar budget to save this train, but they gave even more towards a Paris to Indy flight. :(
 #1546885  by Gilbert B Norman
 
Mr. Pennsy, the MSP-IND-CDG flight operated by DL allows Wier-Cook to be an Intercontinental airport; and "that means something" when compared with a train arriving and departing at useless hours and taking 5hrs to run where it takes 3.5 to drive to Chi-town.

Post COVID, God willing, I hope to again visit the wonderful long standing friends I have in the Indpls area (Lawrence). But somehow, I doubt if, should I lose my Driver's License during 21, it will be "damn the cost" and I'll fly down there with Livery Cars on both my end and there to a hotel near where they live.
 #1546888  by justalurker66
 
The subsidized flights carried more passengers than the train did. Delta was paid $55 per passenger the first year and $35 per passenger the second year of their two year deal up to the maximum incentive covered by the subsidy. The Hoosier State carried 27k passengers in 2018 ... Delta carried 23k in their first six months of operation. Since their subsidy was per passenger carried, Delta needed to carry over 63k passengers the first year and over 57k the second year to earn their full incentive. The state got their money's worth.
 #1546898  by gokeefe
 
Pensyfan19 wrote:So it's been officially one year since this route went into the history books of Amtrak. Any talk of restoring daily Chicago to Indy service, or any passenger rail proposal for the corridor?
Nothing whatsoever that I have seen, heard or read of elsewhere. Prior to COVID it might have been "a few years out" ... Now you would be lucky to speculate on "sometime this decade".

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

 #1546903  by mtuandrew
 
gokeefe wrote: Wed Jul 01, 2020 6:17 pmNothing whatsoever that I have seen, heard or read of elsewhere. Prior to COVID it might have been "a few years out" ... Now you would be lucky to speculate on "sometime this decade".

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk
This is one of those services that even a pro-train politician would have trouble supporting as it stands. It sounds like the main affinity group for the Hoosier State is railfans.

Brightline service would be appreciated, though I think it’s a pipe dream to imagine a privately-funded railroad between these two particular points in no small part because of the Chicago terminal access issues. Besides, I-65 is busy but isn’t THAT crowded with either cars or buses. (Semis, absolutely, and any future CHI-IND rail investment would be best to include freight access.)
 #1546905  by Pensyfan19
 
This is one of those services that even a pro-train politician would have trouble supporting as it stands. It sounds like the main affinity group for the Hoosier State is railfans.

Brightline service would be appreciated, though I think it’s a pipe dream to imagine a privately-funded railroad between these two particular points in no small part because of the Chicago terminal access issues. Besides, I-65 is busy but isn’t THAT crowded with either cars or buses. (Semis, absolutely, and any future CHI-IND rail investment would be best to include freight access.)
The main problem with this train is that it was a tri-weekly service which ran at undesirable times of the day. This problem is also common among Amtrak's numerous LD routes (that is, arriving at undesirable times of the day for small towns and major cities such as Cleveland and Salt Lake City). In order to solve this, I feel either a state ran service with devoted funding (possibly NICTD) or a private corporation (NOT Iowa Pacific) should provide daily service with numerous frequencies at reasonable times of the day. This way there would be support a valuable part of a major corridor in the Midwest, and could attract more riders to the train instead of the car or plane.
 #1546909  by Gilbert B Norman
 
Volks, we're addressing a route over which there is simply no way to be speed competitive with auto and bus - not even close.

The Big Four, route of the James Whitcomb Riley has been chopped up since C-Day, and maybe prior to that. Had that route been resurrected, there might have been a game.

But Mr. Stephens, I-65 is becoming more drivable. It is being widened to three lanes in both directions through Indiana. That still doesn't address Indiana's "thing" having one speed of 70 for autos and 65 for >14K GVW trucks, but three lanes "helps".

Who knows how long it will take COVID to run its course, and when it does, will I still be able to drive ? In short, COVID is not going away anytime soon, and being 79, I must have a driving test every two years as well as an eye test.

I fear my days behind the wheel for road trips are numbered, but after recent experiences, I would not expect to become an Amtrak rider, as my joyride days are over.
 #1546930  by Arborwayfan
 
It was a slow train whose schedule was set up to take people from Indiana to Chicago for the day -- not exactly what Indiana wanted to subsidize. I got the sense there were some B&B owners etc in a couple of the intermediate stop towns that thought the train brought them business -- something like that, anyway, since the online communities were paying part of the subsidy, but obviously no one used the train for a day trip into Indiana, and probably very few people used it for day trips within Indiana.

As an Indiana taxpayer I am not pleased at the huge highway expansions that started with Mitch Daniels leasing the Indiana Toll Road for something like 75 years for a single lump-sum payment. There should not be a new I-69 tearing up the area from Bloomington to Vincennes, and there should not be so much highway expansion around Indy when Indy itself had to scratch and bite, more or less, to be allowed one bus rapid transit line (a pretty cool one, at that, which seems to use the tech to good effect, but still just one line). The Indy metro area has grown a lot lately, and maybe the new growth didn't have to be quite so completely based on cars.

BUT I don't think the Hoosier State was a big loss. Commuter rail expansion in NW Indiana will probably bring in or retain enough residents who work in Chicago to more than cover it's operating subsidies with their income taxes, and make a decent stab at the capital costs. The Hoosier State wasn't that useful. We always drove to Illinois stations, not to Crawfordsville, to catch trains.

If the state were to subsidize an Amtrak route it might do better to try for Indy-Cincinnati at useful times (just one host RR, for a start). Or else Indy-TH-Vincennes-Evansville or Indy-Greencastle-TH-Effingham-St L (which will never happen because it's in 3 states). But those are mostly routes through lightly-populated places with not much traffic on the roads and pedestrian-unfriendly cities around the stations, so I don't really see the point.
 #1546935  by eolesen
 
Yep, people traveling IND-CHI aren't starting downtown and ending downtown. I used to commute this route a couple times a week, and door to door I could make it from the NW suburbs to Butler's campus in about three hours, and that was including a pit stop for gas (way cheaper in IN than in IL).

The train will never be competitive with that unless someone builds new (or on old) ROW just for passengers, and at a minimum of $1M per mile, that will never happen.
 #1546956  by Gilbert B Norman
 
Volks, let's be honest; for all too many, the train ride was simply a seat into which you sat down, plugged in the headphones (understand those things are wireless nowadays, but how would I know), fired up the laptop and hoped they were more or less on time.

Such passenger could care less if the car was stainless with a Blue stripe or "Two Tone Brown" and that there was a high level of on board service available "under the Dome" for which you paid extra.

Since everything Ellis touched hardly turned to Gold, who knows what he lost on that venture. For Amtrak and the State, it was a documented loser. No wonder it's gone and it's not coming back anytime soon - even if there are to be Donkeys at 1600 and 200 W. Washington.
 #1546961  by mtuandrew
 
west point wrote: Thu Jul 02, 2020 12:40 am Had wondered if using NICTD to Dyer would speed up Amtrak when that is finished but have to wonder if Superliners would clear the wires especially on the IC portion ?
Two notes there:
A) Amtrak wouldn’t use the Metra Electric lines north of Kensington, it would use the parallel non-electrified IC freight line that’s essentially unused but in great shape.
B) unknown about the clearance on NICTD proper; if that worried about clearance, Amtrak could pay for poles that are 1 foot taller :wink:
 #1546963  by GWoodle
 
Two notes there:
A) Amtrak wouldn’t use the Metra Electric lines north of Kensington, it would use the parallel non-electrified IC freight line that’s essentially unused but in great shape.
B) unknown about the clearance on NICTD proper; if that worried about clearance, Amtrak could pay for poles that are 1 foot taller :wink:
[/quote]

You could compare Superliners with Highliners on Metra Electric or South Shore. I doubt if clearance would be any different.
The Cardinal uses all low level equipment since it ends in New York City. All you need is 2 coach & 1 cafe. Amtrak should be able to have Amfleet or Horizon cars out of the Chicago Midwest pool.
The train may also be a victim of the failure to do Chicago St Louis, Chicago Detroit high speed rail upgraded with new high level equipment to run the routes. Has it been 20 years for the promise of a nice Midwest High Speed Rail system? Too bad one of the Milwaukee-Chicago trains can't be sent to Indy then return on a daily schedule.
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