Amtrak Midwest: What Will It Become?

[WesternNation]

This is true, the worst problems happen between CUS and Gary. That said, it's infuriating to be east of Porter on 110mph lines doing 20. WTF man, not cool.

I'm shifting back to South Shore for the summer, and I even drove into the city last week. I just don't have time to screw with this.

If you don't mind me asking, what was your train number on the 26th? I checked out both 350 and 352 and while they had a slow start on the Michigan Line, they got up over 100 MPH after MCI. Those slowdowns on the very west end of the MI Line seem to have been corrected, as this morning's 350 got to CP 482 at 8:36 and ~10 minutes later was running at 100 MPH into MCI.

That being said, the Michigan Services still have a timekeeping problem. It mystifies me how Amtrak could get delayed on a line with very little conflicting traffic during the day anywhere between Dearborn and Porter, other than Battle Creek. An example of this comes from today's 352. They got held by Wattles Park, on the Amtrak main. Then they were held again on the west side of Albion. There's no other Amtrak train in the vicinity, and NS runs two trains over that line: one from BC to Kalamazoo and back (B34) and another from Jackson to Kalamazoo and back (B33), and B33 doesn't go on duty until later in the evening! That leaves MOW, but from what I understand all the major trackwork from BC to the east was completed already. So I have no idea what could be causing these delays.

[Tadman]

It was indeed 352(26), ride was Chicago to New Buffalo. If I recall correctly, we went pretty slow to the 79th bridge over the Dan Ryan, where we just sat. By the time we crossed the state line, we were within half hour of carded arrival time in New Buffalo. We then sat again in East Chicago (although I could be confusing this with an inbound ride where we sat forever in the same general area). We finally get through the switch at Porter and then loaf at 20-30mph in that section where it parallels US20. The train finally sped up around the west end of Michigan City, but MAS appears to be something like 50-60 at that point.

The train is carded for 1:08 which is very good compared to drive time, especially on a summer weekend. It's a $12 ride in coach. That's a 2-2:30 drive. We got in 45-60 minutes late, which takes it back to drive time. Still not bad considering I can read or work, but if I have a family member sitting in NBU waiting for me, it's aggravating. I'd gladly pay $30/ride and get there on time, let the railroad use that coin to improve service or something.

[Steve B]

WesternNation wrote, "The only interference between Kzoo and AA that wouldn't be from Amtrak would be Grand Elk in KAL and perhaps some NS action."

Don't forget the 2 miles in Battle Creek where Amtrak has to run on CN's mainline. Many times I've rode Amtrak when we've had to stop west or east of downtown, waiting for the CN dispatcher to give us a green signal.

Until 1981 Amtrak ran on the old MC through downtown, now gone, crossing GTW at Nichols Tower.

[WesternNation]

WesternNation wrote, "The only interference between Kzoo and AA that wouldn't be from Amtrak would be Grand Elk in KAL and perhaps some NS action."

Don't forget the 2 miles in Battle Creek where Amtrak has to run on CN's mainline. Many times I've rode Amtrak when we've had to stop west or east of downtown, waiting for the CN dispatcher to give us a green signal.

Until 1981 Amtrak ran on the old MC through downtown, now gone, crossing GTW at Nichols Tower.

Yeah I clean forgot about CN over at Battle Creek when I wrote that. Not really sure how, I’ve been over there many a time!

Tadman: It definitely sounds like NS has something going on in that section of the Chicago Line, specifically around Grand Crossing. If I’m not mistaken, I think CREATE has a project in that area involving the reroute of the Illini, Saluki, and CONO from the Airline to the Chicago Line, but according to their website they haven’t started construction yet.

[Rockingham Racer]

Who controls the diamond in Michigan City? Or is it automatic?

[Tadman]

Who controls the diamond in Michigan City? Or is it automatic?

Amtrak. I've sat on South Shore trains for 15+ minutes waiting for the silver snail to show up. Automation would be way too good of a solution for a diamond that doesn't see 10 trains on the Amtrak side and sees virtually no long freights on either side. It's almost like you're making sense now.

[ryanch]

Can anyone clarify the performance issues Tadman mentioned on the Wolverine a year ago? Are they still having as much trouble with time-keeping? it looks horrendous in the SLustig thread. Single-digit on-time percentages with an average delay of over 40 minutes, meaning a third of the time you must be more than an hour late. I'm contemplating a family trip to my wife's alma mater in Ann Arbor over a long weekend, but I'm wary of my rambunctious kids outlasting their ability to stay still. The difference between 5 hours and 6 could be a problem. (And we'd start with a 35-minute Metra trip, too.)

They improved the timetable in January 2018. Are they basically operating the same as always, except it looks worse today b/c it's theoretically faster?

[Gilbert B Norman]

Mr. Dunville can only be characterized as a "masochist" for his willingness to use Amtrak Midwest. I "gave up on it" during 2012 when I darned near missed a concert at Ann Arbor thanks to a late 352 back then. It's simply more painless to hop on the 294 near my home, thence be on the 94, factor in a Dinner stop at Win Schuler's in Marshall, and if late, no one to blame but myself.

True, millennials seem to favor city life without auto ownership, but this "silent generation" Suburbanite who has never resided within a city is simply not one of such.

[ryanch]

The Amtrak Blue Ribbon Panel on the Chicago Gateway mentions a Chicago Transportation Coordination Office, set up by the freights after the blizzard of 1999 created a "crisis", that produces a daily scorecard of performance metrics.

How I would love to see that scorecard!

The CTCO has the authority to require individual roads to reduce freight traffic "where metrics indicate congestion beyond agreed levels."

If most of the 2-6% OTP of the Michigan trains is attributable to NS in Chicago (and maybe that's a big if, but that seems to be where most people point), it's hard to understand how they're meeting their agreed levels. But who knows.

CREATE's next major phase is now funded - the first one/third or so of the 75th St. Corridor project. But they're going forward with $400 million in projects at the west end of that corridor. Amtrak had asked for the eastern segment to be prioritized (getting Metra Southwest trains off the NS line and out of Union Station.) That portion is another $227 million currently unfunded and just entering a 3-year design phase.

And Amtrak looks for major improvements only after Grand Crossing is complete. That's after the full 75th St. project, including another $300 million I didn't mention above, currently unfunded but in design phase.

Is there hope of improvement in the Michigan corridor before these things are complete? Single-digit OTP is a disaster.

[mtuandrew]

I wish that CREATE had picked a different Amtrak eastern approach to Chicago than the stakeholders eventually chose, and had prioritized it more. Could have even been a triple-track South Shore, though I personally like some combination of the Michigan Central (CSX Porter Branch), the Pennsylvania (Chicago Ft Wayne & Eastern), the former Indiana Harbor Belt Dunes Branch (don’t know the name), and the CN (ex-IC) Lakefront Line.

[ryanch]

If I understand, CREATE has made some decisions which amount to a primary/likely path within Chicago, which may constrain the Indiana choices. But the FRA is responsible for providing the "Decision of Record" on a South of the Lake route. That was expected in 2018, but I can only find draft environmental analyses. Have they made a decision, or are they still dawdling?

[ryanch]

Hmm. Amtrak's Chicago Gateway page directs readers to the Michigan DOT page for more information on "South of the Lake." But clicking through, you actually go to the MDOT Chicago/Detroit Corridor page, where you find this:

As an update to the work that was anticipated, MDOT as lead state, in consultation with the FRA, has concluded that continued work at the corridor level would not be beneficial in the longer term and that advancement of work at the project level identified in this plan would be more beneficial. As such, on November 30, 2018, the FRA rescinded the Notice of Intent to prepare an EIS for the Chicago-Detroit/Pontiac corridor originally published in the Federal Register on August 31, 2012.

So "advancement of work at the project level" ... What does that mean? I would have thought that the individual "projects" for the Detroit corridor would include the components of CREATE, plus the South of the Lake plan (plus smaller improvements in Michigan). But I'm only reaching this page via a pointer saying this is where to look for South of the Lake. Certainly, the FRA has not published anything further on South of the Lake, though it was clearly expected to happen in early 2018.

But this actually looks like the cancellation of all on-going South of the Lake planning. Is there no longer any planning for a better route from Porter to the Illinois line? Is it on hold till more of CREATE has been completed? Or has Michigan given up, and no one else was interested in picking up the mantle?

The MDOT page also continues:

The FRA will not issue a Final EIS or Record of Decision. They also concluded that this does not prevent future National Environmental Policy Act review of projects within the corridor, if federal funding is received, as defined under the work to date in the Level 1 Alternatives Analysis dated April 2014 and the SDP dated August 2017.

Does that mean the Draft Analysis can be the basis a final analysis at some future point?

[mtuandrew]

I’d been under the impression that the NS Chicago Line had been designated the permanent Amtrak approach by agreement of Norfolk Southern, Amtrak, the FRA, and the various states involved. Maybe that isn’t settled after all?

There’s a lot of routes Amtrak could take, and NS doesn’t have to be the landlord for all of them.

[ryanch]

The FRA's draft Environmental Impact Statement held open 4 options. I don't think CREATE forecloses any of them, though it seems to privilege the NS route. They seem to be moving towards abandoning the St Charles Air Line river bridge.

[mtuandrew]

The FRA's draft Environmental Impact Statement held open 4 options. I don't think CREATE forecloses any of them, though it seems to privilege the NS route. They seem to be moving towards abandoning the St Charles Air Line river bridge.

Shame, the SCAL is almost unused and connects seamlessly to multiple potential Amtrak routes to the south and east. With CN essentially not using the route anymore, Amtrak would be in a good position to purchase the entire line from west of the river to Kensington or beyond - that gives it direct access to the City of New Orleans, Saluki, Illini, and Cardinal routes. If South of the Lake uses a NICTD or Michigan Central route, this Lakefront-SCAL route also connects to five daily Michigan round-trips and both the Lake Shore Limited and Capitol Limited. Twenty-one trains a day is a pretty good, I think. (Ten round-trips plus the 3x-weekly Card.)

The bridges themselves are the problem since they aren’t pointed the right way. Could be a billion-dollar project to remove and replace the St. Charles Air Line bridges, realigned in the right direction, and rebuild the approaches on both the east and west sides of the river.