Long engine changes at Washington Union Station

For the past few years southbound thru trains have been spending a lot more than scheduled dwell time at Washington.
There were several instances of this on Saturday June 8. Is this usually because the diesel intended for the train is not ready, signal problems, waiting on crew, or something else? Northbounds seem to get out much closer to expected dwell time than southbounds.
Andy

I don’t know, but another answer could be that it’s better to wait in Union Station than stop with passengers in the 1st St tunnel while waiting on CSX to allow the train onto their tracks.

This slide details all of the southbound delays at WAS during the month of April 2024.

The slide appears on page 18 of this presentation deck
https://vapassengerrailauthority.org/wp ... eement.pdf
VPRA Board of Directors meeting, June 2024

Crew shortages, especially on the weekends.

Diesel shortages, which are compounded heavily when the northbound trains are double digit hours late

How the heck are there diesel shortages when there is an entire new fleet of 125 ALC42 plus the midwest and california have an additional 60 SC44??? Did they really retire 1-for-1?

Also is there no possibility to lease 10-20 freight motors short term like Metrolink did a few years ago to lead long distance trains if we are really that short?

Page 20 shows throat switches to the 1st street tunnel are being replaced. It may be that those switches have been causing delays by intermittent non-operating and / or slow operation.?

https://vapassengerrailauthority.org/wp ... eement.pdf

twropr wrote: ↑Sun Jun 09, 2024 3:33 pm For the past few years southbound thru trains have been spending a lot more than scheduled dwell time at Washington.
There were several instances of this on Saturday June 8. Is this usually because the diesel intended for the train is not ready, signal problems, waiting on crew, or something else? Northbounds seem to get out much closer to expected dwell time than southbounds.
Andy

I experienced slow northbound engine changes on the Crescent twice, in July 2023 and February 2024. Both times it was on a Sunday, and both times it was 30-50 minutes. I didn't think to ask for an explanation.

I'll add to this topic that on 79 (15) we were held at K Tower for 30+ minutes for lack of track capacity. The other trains in the area were an on-time 82 and 88 and a very late 98 (all northbound).

Rather than worrying about a new station for One-A-Day vitamin service in Atlanta, Amtrak should be underwriting additional trackage to NS southbound our of DC…

John_Perkowski wrote: ↑Sat Jun 15, 2024 1:37 pm Rather than worrying about a new station for One-A-Day vitamin service in Atlanta, Amtrak should be underwriting additional trackage to NS southbound our of DC…

There's no trackage southbound out of DC owned by NS to underwrite. It's CSX or State of VA only through Alexandria to get to NS, and VA is negotiating to buy that trackage to Manassas (and truth be told most of the delays in the southeast on Amtrak seem to occur under CSX dispatching, not NS dispatching).

Additionally, most of the trackage on NS with more than 1 Amtrak train a day south of DC is already double tracked or doesn't have frequent freight use.

RandallW wrote: ↑Sat Jun 15, 2024 5:47 pm
Additionally, most of the trackage on NS with more than 1 Amtrak train a day south of DC is already double tracked or doesn't have frequent freight use.

True but Va is getting NS from ALX to Manassas. Suspect that VA will probably add 2 complete CPs to improve speeds and fluidity. Are all VRE station platforms on that section on the south track??

RandallW wrote: ↑Sat Jun 15, 2024 5:47 pm
Additionally, most of the trackage on NS with more than 1 Amtrak train a day south of DC is already double tracked or doesn't have frequent freight use.

True but Va is buying NS track from ALX to Manassas. Suspect that VA will probably add 2 complete CPs to improve speeds and fluidity. Maybe even increase MAX speeds? Are all VRE station platforms on that section on the south track??

west point wrote: ↑Wed Jun 19, 2024 12:33 am

RandallW wrote: ↑Sat Jun 15, 2024 5:47 pm
Additionally, most of the trackage on NS with more than 1 Amtrak train a day south of DC is already double tracked or doesn't have frequent freight use.

True but Va is buying NS track from ALX to Manassas. Suspect that VA will probably add 2 complete CPs to improve speeds and fluidity. Maybe even increase MAX speeds? Are all VRE station platforms on that section on the south track??

VA is buying a double track line that sees at most 26 trains a day (8 VRE in each direction, 4-5 AMTK in each direction, and one local freight) and all VRE platforms are on the south side of the track. The real bottleneck and source of delays on that line is waiting on traffic on the ex-RF&P to clear when joining the ex-RF&P in Alexandria. Both Amtrak and VRE use platforms on the south track (Amtrak Virginia trains stop at Burke Center). I don't know if VRE used both platforms in Manassas or not. I'm under the impression the real bottlenecks to improving passenger services on NS lines in VA would be solved by fixing fluidity problems on CSX property between DC and Springfield.

west point wrote: ↑Wed Jun 19, 2024 12:33 am

RandallW wrote: ↑Sat Jun 15, 2024 5:47 pm
Additionally, most of the trackage on NS with more than 1 Amtrak train a day south of DC is already double tracked or doesn't have frequent freight use.

True but Va is buying NS track from ALX to Manassas. Suspect that VA will probably add 2 complete CPs to improve speeds and fluidity. Maybe even increase MAX speeds? Are all VRE station platforms on that section on the south track??

CP== Crossing Point?
Do we know if northbound platforms will be part of the package?

Were all VRE stations given two platforms, the existing platforms would be northbound platforms. Virginia would have to separately fund constructing those platforms. I think this purchase is actually trading the 28 miles of ex-Virginian ROW ("V Line") owned by the state west of Roanoke for the ROW east of Manassas, not a cash transaction.