Amtrak: Connects US // American Jobs Plan Infrastructure Legislation

The Meridian, MS - DAL / Ft Worth should be an extension of the Crescent. Meridian - Ft Worth is approximately530 - 550 miles apart. That probably means 11- 13 hours enroute.
The present Crescent schedules at Meridian are -------
1. southbound 1611. Northbound 1337.
2. If departure from Meridian to FTW at 1800 - 1900 then end points of DAL and FTW would be early morning. Delay departures from Meridian to about 1800 - 1900, then arrivals at DAL and FTW can be about 0600 - 0700.
3. East bound a 2100 - 2200 departure would give a Meridian arrival of about 0900 -1100' That would give a 2-1/2 hours connection time at Meridian. Or the Crescent could return to its 0700 or even 0630 departure from NOL, Then departures from FTW about 1900. That could be a more reasonable connection at Meridian. That way the old ATL departure could be at 2000. That will guarantee connections to Carolinian at CLT and to STAR at Raleigh for Florida destinations.
4. IMO the passenger demand will be much more on the FTW segment than NOL. Either way train numbers will be 219 and 220 for the stub section either NOL or FTW?
5. It may be better if the NOL section leads the combined train. It can pull clear of back section. A front loco(s) can back onto the FTW section, have a full class 1 brake test, potable water top offs, and Lav serviced. Then be ready to proceed to FTW.
6. Consists: ____ _ NOL Bag dorm 1 coach 2nd coach a coach snack car. 1 sleeper. When special events in NOL then 2 or 3 more coaches. FTW baggage, 3 - 4 coaches, diner, lounge, 2 - 4 sleepers. Combined north of Meridian will make a very long train. Possible of 11 to 16 cars meeting NYP capacities. Maybe by dropping some cars at WASH? Then Reduced to 7 - 12 cars. WASH drops can be assigned back to southbound Crescent or on Silver service trains. This number of cars will need at least 3 locos for Crescent to maintain schedule BHM - WASH with the many steeper climbs.

Stations:
11. Meridian can have added back the 2 station tracks to the west of the NS main track. That is if nothing has changed since last there? The ideal way would be for connection switches at the midpoint between the 2 tracks. Train comes in from north, drops rear section and pulls clear of connection. Lead Loco(s) can then pull away from train and back onto rear section. Makes best minimum time in Meridian.

Northbound FTW section pulls in short of connection switches drops train. NOL section pull through connection and then backs onto FTW section. Then NOL loco backs onto train.
12. Jackson, Ms. As I have heard a switch needs placement at station. Not familiar of how station is laid out. How connections to CNO would be interesting.
13. Vicksburg station know absolutely nothing.
14, Shreveport. Is the Shreveport station there or just a cleared area?
15. Now the routing from here has some doubts. The UP track to DAL may be quicker. Would only need UP to Marshal then on Eagle route. The KCS route from there appears longer and slower. That might be desirable to have a slower schedule time? If KCS is used the Eagle would cross at Jefferson. That might be idea if either route blocked from there to DAL.

Note this would allow for connections to Eagle on west causing no layover in NOL for passengers west of SAS.

A big problem is the yearly cancellation of the Crescent south of ATL M- Thursday from early Jan to mid-March by NS.

Interesting article in the WSJ on the loss of small town air service due to a) the pilot shortage and b) fuel costs. While Amtrak was not mentioned I could not help to think that rail seems an obvious solution to this dilemma in some cases. Given the size of essential air service subsidies, Amtrak could probably provide passenger service more cheaply as well.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/airlines-f ... _lead_pos5
(Paywalled)

Even though there is a paywall for the article, I absolutely agree that short distance air routes should be replaced with intercity rail. Look at the whole Flygskam (flight shaming) movement in Europe where airlines are cooperating with railways to get more people on trains instead of flying. Such an incentive should be brought to the U.S. and would drastically reduce emissions from one of the most polluting nations in the world because of its car/place addiction. With that said, these intercity routes should be funded and started in a timely manner and not delayed into oblivion due to political backlog and over-contracting, so depending on the state I would prefer a privately financed model such as Brightline instead of a state or federally owned service.

Many of the places losing EAS service aren't anywhere near live rail, and if they are, it's not necessarily going to provide the same value -- the whole point of EAS was to connect those towns to a national AIR network.... not just the nearest big city.

Actually all but one of those towns in on active rail lines (one exception I see is Houghton, MI ... 25 miles to nearest live rail.)

Amtrak is seeking more than $200 million in federal funding, along with money from state and local sources, in an attempt to fix a series of long-standing deficiencies, capacity limitations, and how trains from the south and east enter Chicago.

https://www.trains.com/trn/news-reviews ... perations/

Bob Roberts wrote: ↑Tue Jun 07, 2022 12:40 pm Interesting article in the WSJ on the loss of small town air service. Given the size of essential air service subsidies, Amtrak could probably provide passenger service more cheaply as well.

Only am now I realizing the USDOT EAS subsidy program's similarity with the USRA subsidy program of the late 1970s.

EAS was enacted in the same timeframe in response to air industry deregulation and concern from smaller
communities about possible loss of air passenger service.

The USRA subsidy allowed smaller lines (usually branches or connecting routes) not included in the Conrail
network to be transferred to states or local/regional agencies, which would be eligible for USRA subsidy to
maintain local freight service with a contract carrier.

I’m going to wait for Amtrak’s 2023 appropriation. Congress has a vote.

Somehow this topic turned into a discussion of President Biden riding Ukrainian rails as well as Presidential mental and physical fitness. Except for his return to Amtrak after leaving office the subject matter bore no relation to railroads or Amtrak’s expansion plans. If one wishes specifically to discuss his Ukrainian rail ride, security, conditions, and consist of the Presidential train may I suggest the Worldwide Railfan forum? Reminder: political discussion MUST be directly related to railroads.

A strange article from a source of unknown quality reports that Tennessee is very interested in eight passenger routes within (and outside the state). The article does say that TennDOT representatives sent a letter to the FRA saying they are very interested in route development, but they won't meet the deadline for the current wave of route expansion grants.

The article mostly appears to cherrypick a few quotes from enthusiastic urban area dems and one state DOT representative. No mention is made of the heavily right-wing state legislature agreeing to fund any projects that are mostly seen as 'urban'

Shrug, I guess some interest is better than no interest.

The state study is looking at eight possible routes:

Nashville to Chattanooga
Nashville to Memphis
Chattanooga to Knoxville
Knoxville to Bristol, Tennessee
Chattanooga to Atlanta
Memphis to Carbondale, Illinois
Bristol, Tennessee, to Roanoke, Virginia
Nashville to Louisville

https://www.route-fifty.com/infrastruct ... ch/384299/

Bob Roberts wrote: ↑Fri Mar 24, 2023 11:20 am

The state study is looking at eight possible routes:

Nashville to Chattanooga
Nashville to Memphis
Chattanooga to Knoxville
Knoxville to Bristol, Tennessee
Chattanooga to Atlanta
Memphis to Carbondale, Illinois
Bristol, Tennessee, to Roanoke, Virginia
Nashville to Louisville

Lets re-order things:

• Carbondale to Memphis
• Memphis to Nashville
• Nashville to Chattanooga
• Chattanooga to Knoxville*
• Knockville to Bristol
• Bristol to Roanoake

Ooops, long-distance route, DC to Chicago or New Orleans via Tennessee.

Everything else is connective to other parts of Amtrak and may serve a Chicago/Jacksonville route.

[*]

What happened to the new leg of the Crescent to Texas that Amtrak has been promoting? Maybe the map I just found has been updated. Sorry if that is the case.

Look for the Meridian topic.

Article: Bloomberg

What Would an Amtrak Revival Look Like?
...
Soon, however, Pacific Northwest residents could see what’s really possible. Under the national rail carrier’s proposed 15-year, $75 billion expansion plan, Portland-to-Seattle service would be more than tripled to 13 trips a day.

The Cascades upgrade is just a taste of what could be coming for huge expanses of the American landscape that have been underserved or unserved entirely, thanks to a historic $66 billion investment in passenger rail via the federal Infrastructure Bill.

“There’s never been funding like this before,” said Marc Magliari, an Amtrak spokesperson. “It’s the largest amount of funding for passenger rail ever in the 52 years of Amtrak.”
...