Traingeek3629 wrote:Do you know if this will apply to the Vermonter?Isn't the Vermonter already suspended or am I thinking of Ethan Allen Express?
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Traingeek3629 wrote:Do you know if this will apply to the Vermonter?Isn't the Vermonter already suspended or am I thinking of Ethan Allen Express?
prokowave wrote: ↑Tue Jun 16, 2020 10:26 am Absolutely outrageous. This is clearly an attempt to either extort more money from congressWell, good. With legitimately worthwhile programs demanding money to avoid service reductions, maybe Congress would stop throwing away money on everything else and finally spend on something that's actually socially useful.
Matt Johnson wrote: ↑Tue Jun 16, 2020 1:18 pm For what it's worth (maybe not a lot), going from daily to triweekly would make travel by train go from being a viable option to something I'd likely pass on.This is a good point. What is the threshold that makes Amtrak viable? I know when trying to schedule a trip between LA and Tucson to see family, it aggravates the heck out of me because the train runs only every other day. In other words, in order to pretend run a 1920 business model, we sacrifice any practicality on the route between the 2nd, 10th, and 53rd largest metro areas to cover the emptiest parts of the country. I have skipped the train ten times in the last five years because I can't sit in one city and twiddle my thumbs for a day or two when I only have a day or two free.
mtuandrew wrote: ↑Tue Jun 16, 2020 4:21 pm First, this is pretty terrible but also expected.Agreed. I was thinking that instead of running a LD train with 2 locomotives and 6-7 cars, just run 2 separate trains, each with one locomotive, a coach and a hybrid coach/cafe and a sleeper and see if having 2 shorter trains per day helps.
Second, this sounds like something of an opportunity. Perhaps Amtrak would consider keeping the opposite-day schedule for part of their routes - for instance CHI-MSP and DAL-SAN - and also running a half-distance Capitol Limited WAS-CLE interchanging at CLE with the regular, daily Lake Shore Limited. See if anyone will use corridor travel.