Can AMTRAK make this map a REALITY???
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- Опубликовано: 3 июл 2024
- In this video, I share my thoughts on Amtrak's new "Vision 2035" map and the prospect of Congress appropriating more money to Amtrak so they can actually expand and modernize.
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#Amtrak #Modernization #Expansion
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Sprint originally stood for Southern Pacific Railroad Internal Networking Telephony
Fascinating! Thanks for the info!
That partially explains why Sprint owns a train station!
Lol I thought this was a joke at first but it's true
To keeping its failing railroad and their fat careers going, self-serving greedy Southern Pacific executives sold off the best part SPRINT for a billion dollars in the 80's.
Amtrak has talked about reopening the tunnel to Canada for service from Detroit to Toronto (and from there, the entire Windsor-Quebec City corridor). That would allow you to take the train from, say, Omaha to Montreal.
@Tom Servo Mostly rail passengers who wish to travel between the two cities.
@Tom Servo Couldn't agree more. I LOVE (freight) trains, but no one takes the train anymore. The railroads figured that out in the 50s. I used to work in Harrisburg and watch the Pitt/Philly train (1 daily) roll by. About 6-8 workers and 2-3 passengers on average. It's such a waste of money.
@@KeeperKen30 Clearly never ridden the Hiawatha between Milwaukee and Chicago.
@@KeeperKen30 yes. Highways are a waste of money
Living in San Jose it would be cool to have a regular passenger service to lake Tahoe/ Reno
I’m sure it would. It’s kind of like a huge tourist destination that’s not super friendly to cars lol
I really think the State could start pushing for this. They’ve redone the Capitol Corridor schedule to link San Jose and Auburn because Covid has changed commuting patterns, now people are starting to commute longer distances because they can work from home, so they are starting to buy cheaper or nicer homes outside the city centers and they commute in long distances (50-100 miles) only one or two days a week. It’ll be interesting to see if this trend keeps up after Covid, and how it changes train service long term.
For sure it will be interesting to see if that trend continues!
Someday Truckee will get the mixed-use development it deserves, might be worthwhile to passenger if the Casinos run connecting shuttles?
You’d hope...
I’d guess the reason the Phoenix station is owned by Sprint is that it was clumped in with the rest of the old SP infrastructure they now own. Might be because of their was an important cable junction or control room they needed. Somewhat uncommonly known is that Sprint is an acronym. Southern Pacific Railroad Internal Network Telecommunications. S.P.R.I.N.T.
For sure that makes sense. I had no idea about the history of Sprint!
wow that’s incredibly interesting
Sprint was originally started by the Southern Pacific as a way to capitalize on its communications infrastructure. I guess the company felt that telecommunications was potentially more profitable than railroading.
Would that mean the station is now owned by T-Mobile legally, since Sprint was purchased by and merged into them?
@@pokemonred2005
I don't know. The Sprint brand is still used, and it's possible that Sprint took over T-Mobile but kept its brand name. In any event, Sprint was started by the SP.
They really need to follow Brightline's strategy of building around the station, or at least making the station itself a massive development with retail space and such. That way they basically guarantee the usage of the train for at least a few hundred people.
I agree, it would definitely be great to replace the Amshacks. I just wish every freight railroad was as accepting as the FEC. The other giants won’t even let Amtrak get priority. I can’t imagine them letting Amtrak build massive development projects over their property.
For sure that is the best way to go, but Brightline service was only possible because they already had the land for the stations, and the FEC and Brightline were owned by the same company when the service was being setup. That's not the case in most other markets.
Maybe not sell it but rent it out for even more money like own the appt and do rents
Yup
This is what Japan/JR does really well.
I hope Canada follows in Amtrak's footsteps in bringing back passenger service to cities that used to have train service. There's so much untapped potential such as Calgary to Edmonton. Great video as always!
For sure. I’m definitely not going to throw stones, but I can’t believe Calgary doesn’t have any intercity train service!
@@TheFourFoot It's especially sad to see the old Via Rail platforms crumbling away as a Calgarian... Sleeper trains need to make a comeback in NA like in Europe (such as the OBB Nightjet), especially after the pandemic. We can only dream!
I’ve been doing a lot of dreaming lately lol
Canadian should be what Amtrak looks at, it may use 50s passenger cars but thats what makes that train so unique and so loved by everyone
Hello from Arlington, VA just outside DC. The state gov't here in VA has just committed to a big expansion over the next several years of state-supported Amtrak services, including laying a bunch of triple-track between DC and Richmond and (most importantly) building a new bridge between Alexandria and DC. That'll disentangle Amtrak & commuter services from CSX freight. I am SUPER excited--more frequent trains to Richmond will mean I won't have to drive down there. I-95 is no fun.
Amtrak should be funded at least as much as the federal highways, and should be empowered to build or take over as much rail as necessary to provide priority passenger rail service (no waiting on freight), electric-powered, on every line on that map _and more_ . This is necessary just to bring the USA up to late-20th century standards, and is the bare minimum required to prove that anybody really has a clue about what's necessary to decarbonize our economy.
Absolutely!
Only two percent of Americans have ever traveled on an overnight Amtrak train. Some 90 percent of Americans have flown. One hundred percent of Americans use highways. This is a reality many ignore...
@@ronclark9724 People accept the reality with which they are presented. People use the modes that are available and convenient to them, as they exist at the moment. This is all true. It is also banal.
Is your statement meant to argue for keeping things the way they are, because that's what people are used to? Is your argument that nothing should ever change?
The government should just take over your house and put as much stuff in it as they want. Freight Rail Roads spend billions on repairs and upgrades every year and the government will tell them how to run their Railroads right. They can’t run anything the government is supposed to run and that would be a total failure.
@@dwc1964 This only works if places are about 350-500 miles apart from each other, also Amtrak is private owned and doesn't own any tracks outside the NEC.
The rest are controlled by Freighter companies such as Union Pacific and CSX
I have visited the United States once (from Australia), and used Amtrak exclusively to get from Point A to Point B . . . Coast Starlight, Cascades, Cardinal, California Zephyr. The services were - without fail - excellent, and the news that they are likely to receive additional funding is great. I DO want to visit again once this COVID silliness is sorted out, and try one or three other services - The Empire Builder, Southwest Chief, Sunset Limited and maybe the Texas Eagle.
Amtrak - more power to you!
Try Florida's Brightline if you want to experience the future in American passenger rail.
@@davidjackson7281 simp
Even this supposed dream map misses obvious services, eg: the entire Pittsburgh-Columbus-Indianapolis-St Louis cooridor.
Probably the major barrier for that route is the line from Pittsburgh to Columbus. It would need likely 10s of millions to even billions to upgrade it to support reasonable passenger service; as it stands now the majority of it (The Columbus & Ohio River Railroad, owned by Genesee & Wyoming since 2008) is unsignaled, single track I'd estimate to be no more than FRA Class III rated (meaning passenger trains would be restricted to 60mph maximum, or 30mph if it's actually Class II). There's no way G&W will invest in the needed upgrades to support passenger service along it (they pretty certainly can't justify the cost relative to their actual operating revenue from the line), and Amtrak sure as hell can't afford it.
So for now that route remains a pipe dream...
@@OhioCentralModeler As practical problems go, the fact that most of the right-of-way from Dayton to Indy has been detracted probably trumps the issues east of Columbus lol.
There is a fairly easy way to restore service between Indy and Columbus. Using the ex-B & O west of Dayton to Hamilton, install a track connection with the line to Indy used by the Cardinal. Two switches and a few hundred feet of track and a new station.
I’m excited about the Los Angeles-Phoenix line
Even if a bill for increased funding is passed, because how America is, bureaucracy will still misplace the funds by either getting them prioritized elsewhere or mismanaged in some other form
Like my city of NYC costing 2 billion dollars for a 4 miles of subway line
I am most excited for the 3-C Rail in Ohio coming to life serving Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati. Columbus, Ohio is the largest metro area in the United States with no Amtrak service. I live in Galion, Ohio, which is projected to have an Amtrak stop on this line also. Galion would serve the north-central area of the state, serving nearby Mansfield, Ohio.
Getting the routes is easy, staying on time is the challenge!!
One odd thing I see on the map is that the new line to Louisville (my hometown) does not connect to Nashville and beyond. It goes only north to Chicago.
I'm glad for the Amtrak proposals. I'm disappointed no Chicago - Florida line proposed. Even better if an Auto Train was added.
@@jackamelar1455 Speaking of the AutoTrain between Virginia and Florida, with the way CSX slows down traffic on its tracks to less than 70 mph, shouldn't AMTRAK be thinking of building NEW and HIGH SPEED lines along that route? Costly? Yep! DC to Florida in hours? Priceless!
@@MikeWiggins1235711 Us: "It would only cause a small sum of a billion dollars..." 🤭🤓
Congress: 🤚🧐 "Yeah, no thanks."
That Ronkonkama line confuses me. Long Island Rail Road already provides frequent service from New York Penn Station. I think Amtrak should concentrate its resources on unserved and underserved places.
I love the current events videos....happy to see more!
Really cool! I hadn't heard much about this, glad to have your descriptions.
I’m excited to see the connection to Reading, Pa. it’s the nearest to me, and I honestly thought it would SEPTA when the idea was first released. After time it was said it was Amtrak and the bill that was proposed to fund the project. It would operate over Norfolk Southern trackage and as you said they aren’t liking the idea so well.
Super great video!
Thanks! Informative!
Go Chicago!
Thanks for the info!
Thank you for the video
Fingers crossed. Many people will be disappointed that the old Northern Pacific route through south Dakota and southern Montana is not in the plans. This would serve many large cities which have been long removed from the passenger map.
Excellent video!
Thanks a lot!
As a Fresnan, I was kinda bummed not to see any new San Joaquin’s service proposed. Guess we’ll have to wait for HSR in 2030.
I assure you it will be worth the wait, as long as the wait isn't too long! lol
Hello fellow Fresnan!
San Juaquin service is getting new trains from Semins
@@G-546 Unfortunately the new trains aren't bilevel, which means reduced peak capacity unless they lengthen platforms. =/ Plus the new trains are designed for high platforms but they're not going to raise the platforms, so there's going to be some extending stair thing, with a single wheelchair platform for level boarding at the end (which means that the platform can't be extended without rebuilding the wheelchair platform). The cars themselves are nice, but the implementation is half-assed.
NozomuYume the new cars can actually do both high and low level boarding and the wheelchair car has a lift. Also the new cars can go faster as they plan on using the California High speed rail tracks for the years when CHSR won’t be connected to Los Angeles or San Francisco. Since the new trains are faster they can increase schedules on the line. The new trains are also have 5 passenger cars so capacity should not be an issue. Now the San Juaquin Joint Powers Board is also planning some changes for the San Juaquin service and ACE service. ACE is getting extended to Modesto and eventually plans on going to Merced. Second Amtrak will apparently operate a train from Stockton to Oakland once daily for commuters. Also apparently they plan on going form 8 trains a day to 9 trains a day. One existing service and the new service are planned to be re routed through Sacramento but the Stockton-Oakland train will have a timed transfer. One big thing that they want to do is reduce the travel time so they don’t have to do a crew change.
Hi Four Foot, Truly enjoyed this presentation.
I'm all for it... I'd like to see a line run from DC to St. Louis without having to go through Chicago.
Subscribed !!!
Great video
Ive been looking at the map for days now and I hope some parts of it come to fruition.
Absolutely!
Thank you for this excellent report. I’m in full support of these proposals. I would appreciate the service between Milwaukee and Madison WI.
Depending on how long ago Amtrak dropped service to Phoenix, Sprint was actually originally made as part of the Santa Fe Railroad. I wonder if they took over the station because it was originally owned by Santa Fe and therefore is a legacy building.
Otherwise great video!
Edit: it was Southern Pacific, I was remembering wrong
I believe Sprint was part of SP, not Santa Fe.
Southern Pacific Railroad Internal Networking Telephony
For sure. I had no idea about the history of Sprint, but fortunately the commenters have educated me. Can you imagine a railroad nowadays running a cellphone network? Personally I like have phone service that works lol.
@@TheFourFoot Ha maybe BNSF if it could be considered value investing for the Big Buffett. I bet there's a special section of hell that has "Precision Scheduled" cell tower usage lmao
God no lol. I’m sure Buffett’s already got plenty of money in cell companies, but BNSF sure ain’t going to improve anything lol
Great 👍 report
I am really hyped for the improvements coming specifically to the Michigan routes, especially in my area of Detroit. The map shows that Amtrak intends to enhance service on the Chicago-Detroit-Pontiac Wolverine, and wants to add service to Toledo and even Toronto. I think the Wolverine is in a really good position for continued service enhancement because, as another comment mentioned, Amtrak owns most of the line and has upgraded/is in the process of upgrading their track to 110 mph capability. While the Wolverine was cut back from 3 trains a day in each direction to just 1 during the pandemic, I think Amtrak will rebound and do even better with the money they're getting if the bill passes.
It would be a dream if I could take a train from my home town of Toledo to Toronto where I plan on moving. Although I don’t see this bill passing as it’s being filibustered like crazy
The suspended section of the Sunset Limited should be reinstated ASAP because it's the only efficient train route from Florida to New Orleans, Texas and beyond.
i’m very happy about them bringing service back to phoenix. with all the growth out here, the tucson - phoenix corridor growing, transit between the two cities needs an upgrade i hope this helps a little
I would love to see a Nashville to Atlanta line its long overdue
Tennessee in-state line I'd love: Memphis, Jackson, Nashville, Cookeville, Knoxville, Bristol
Other Tennessee stations I'd like to see: Dyersburg/Newbern, Savannah, Columbia, Lynchburg, Chattanooga, Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg/Sevierville, Murfreesboro, Clarksville, Paris
Nashville out-of-state lines: Birmingham, Jackson (MS), Atlanta, Louisville, Bowling Green, Evansville (IN), Paducah, Carbondale (IL)
We need these
@@Nobar_JKO That is a great idea if all of those towns are between Memphis or Chattanoga which Georgia would be responsible for extending to Atlanta. Improve the speed of the City of New Orleans to Chicago and going through Kentucky etc. would not be so important.
Great video, please make more…
I'd love to travel by rail more frequently, lets just pray something happens, Awesome video!
Thanks a lot!
So according to the National Rail Passenger Service Act of 1970, Amtrak's founding document, freight railroads cannot say no if Amtrak wants to start a new service as that right was given up in exchange for taking over their passenger trains. Freight railroads can throw fits with the Surface Transportation Board saying that it would impede their business. Amtrak does negotiate with the freight railroads as a courtesy and to help foster better relations but as we see on the New Orleans - Mobile service, Amtrak is not afraid to go to the STB to cement its right to new routes.
Which doesn't mean that the railroads will dispatch any Amtrak trains anywhere near on time...
Route I'm most excited for? East-West rail in Mass. Physical improvements and an agreement with CSX would enable corridor service west out of Boston to Springfield, continuing on to points north, west and south including Vermont, Montreal, Pittsfield, Albany, Hartford, New Haven, and NYC. Whereas the existing NEC hugs Long Island Sound through CT and RI, the "inland route" (this section between New Haven and Boston) would bring Intercity rail into the major inland population centers and link the newly enhanced Hartford Line to Boston, essentially doubling that line's utility. There's lots of opportunity for TOD and infill in the urban core of these cities as well as nearby smaller cities like Waterbury, New Britain, and Holyoke that are / could be connected to feed into this corridor via existing freight branch lines. This investment would position southern New England as among the most transit dense and best connected places to live nationwide.
Well said! I hope those lines can come together! Springfield to Boston isn't that far; high frequency service across the state is a no brainer!
Fingers crossed for some better rail transport in WI. I-41 to Green Bay is an utter mess most of the time, the Beltline in Madison needs some major relief. Plus you get to use old Milwaukee Road and CNW right-of-way, whom _really_ overbuilt their trackage here for high-speed passenger service.
For sure! I’d love to see this line built out!
I hope they get the money to put the Seaboard Mainline back in between richmond and Raleigh, NC The states already own the right of way for most of the route.
@Tom Servo The plan is for more than that. they will New York to Charlotte and possibly extended to Atlanta as well as some of the Florida trains using that route as well from what I understand. I think the plan is up to 16 daily trains. It has been shown that you get higher ridership numbers when you have a higher frequency of train trip available. Passengers like multiple options.
Very informative!
I'm really concerned about the Amtrak service from LA to San Francisco and Sacramento. High speed!
Great information. This is way overdue. I hope they implement the dining cart/food because that is the high light of a train trip.😍
As someone in Cincinnati, a line to Columbus and Cleveland, along with more frequent service to Indianapolis and Chicago, would be one of my rail pipe dreams come true.
Though Imo the lack of a Louisville-Nashville connection is a big miss. It could connect Chicago (and Ohio's 3C cities if the line gets extended from Cincy to Louisville) to places like Atlanta and Florida in the southeast. Also, Nashville is a fast growing metro area, so itself would benefit from a connection to the midwest.
I think there used to be a couple trains that ran between Louisville and Nashville lol. You’re right though about connecting to the southeast.
They had a train that ran from Chicago to Florida back when Amtrak started. It was called the Floridian. I believe it ended in 1979. One of the reasons it ended was because it was slow, which made ridership fall. CSX didn't/doesn't take care of their tracks. Nashville had a very nice station, but it's a hotel now. Wonder where the new station would be.
Amtrak likely wants to avoid adding a long distance train, and a full Chicago-Atlanta run would definitely fall into the long distance category. They are likely expecting low ridership northbound from Nashville and southbound from Louisville, making it difficult to justify extending services from either Chicago or Atlanta until the two cities get accustomed to train travel again.
The light blue line on the gulf coast is scheduled to start around January of 2022
I live in Maine and frequent the Downeaster. I would LOVE to see the extension to Rockland. I would be on it all the time.
Yes, then a restoration of the Rockland ferry to Stonington on Deer Isle.
I'm pretty excited about the Minneapolis - Duluth line. I'd love to be able to take the train up to Duluth on a weekend day trip since I'm currently a student at the University of Minnesota and don't own a car.
I gotta love the proposed line to my home city of Green Bay.
Should the name of the one of the rail services on that line be the "Cheesehead Limited"? :-)
Having gone to elementary school with nothing but cheeseheads and being confused by cheesehead day, I’m not sure there would be much opposition to it lol
@@MikeWiggins1235711 It would be an extension of the Hiawatha.
What I find interesting, is that before Amtrak, the freight railroads all used to run all the passenger trains on their corridors with much more frequency than Amtrak is proposing and they did a good job doing it. So why is it a problem for them now?
One of the reasons Amtrak has so many problems with the freight railroads today versus years ago is due to the many cutbacks in multiple track sections of main line routes. They are also running longer heavier trains that can not fit into many of the existing sidings that were used in the past for faster passenger trains overtake and pass slower freight trains. Not to mention some lines were totally abandoned or downgraded to branch line status. So Amtrak has less options to improve service without paying for upgrades in key areas and junctions.
@@johnchambers8528ft wayne line west of crestline *cough cough*
The MAJORITY of those route proposals ALSO require STATES to participate in cost sharing.
SPRINT was Southern Pacific Railroad Intelligent Network of Telecommunications. Railroads were early implementaters of telecommunications to control their trains. As time went on Railroads had the right of way to lay cable to make connections. My employers used to rent bandwidth on SPRINT to connect various locations. It helped that one of those locations was next to an SP yard so we didn't have to rent bandwidth from the phone company to reach an SP right of way. When SPRINT and SPRR went their separate ways there was a division of property. That is why SPRINT ended up with some rail facilities that SPRR didn't want and SPRINT did.
In order for the Northeast Corridor to get better, they MUST replace the B&P Tunnel and build a new Susquehanna River bridge. Anything less and they're wasting more money.
The first and easiest way to expand service to the Lake Shore Ltd's route is to split 48 & 48 into separate trains from New York and Boston. The Boston - Chicago train would pretty much keep to its present schedule, with only 15 min. station dwell in Albany. The New York - Chicago train would leave NYP at about 8PM, Cleveland at 7AM, Chicago at Noon. Eastbound, depart Chicago at 3PM, Cleveland at 10PM, NYP at 9AM. This would plug some gaps in service to the west of Cleveland segment of the Lake Shore Ltd. route.
Still no plan to bring back passenger train's to Knoxville Tennessee . The last regular one ran in 1970
My closest station is in Brunswick, Maine, and it’s around an hour+ drive. However they’ve proposed extending service up to the terminus of the old Maine Central Railroad “Rockland Branch” which would only be a 20 minute commute for me, and would actually make it more practical than driving when I need to go down to southern New England.
I can remember back in the 2000s they were talking about breaking a section of the crescent off at meridian ms and running over to dallas tx and calling it the texas star , you would have had service from the north east , va ,the carolina's and atlanta sounded like a good idea even back then , now they got new diners and sleepers , why not ?
The DFW section of 19 & 20 would need more coaches and food service cars. An order for Viewliner coaches and grill-cafe cars would be needed, as well as exercising options with CAF for Bag-Dorm, diners and sleepers.
Private companies were bankrupted by the mail being put on trucks in October 1967. Many of the last trains were mail trains overnighters. Mail must return to passenger rail and done right.
Also the PRIA law of 2008 that requires States pay for routes under 750 miles needs to be changed. I certainly don't see most of these states paying for them.
You're absolutely right. We all know states like Alabama and Wyoming have no interest in paying for passenger rail lol
I travelled on the "All Aboard America" program in 1986, where you could travel all over the western half of the country (west of Chicago) allowing for three stopovers (and layover terminal stations did not count as stopovers, meaning that you could have many more stops depending on the route). In the space of about six weeks, I started from Pomona CA and made my first stopover at Phoenix... so I was mildly shocked that Phoenix has no service now and the station is closed. I rode the same line on to San Antonio TX... so is that line completely out of service?? My route was Pomona-Phoenix, Phoenix-Dallas (via San Antonio), Dallas-Milwaukee (via Chicago), Milwaukee-Seattle; after travel in Canada and Alaska, got a new ticket and travelled Seattle-Portland, Portland-San Jose, San Jose-Simi Valley, Simi Valley-Fullerton (via LA). I had to go where the rails took me; Dallas was the nearest station to Tulsa OK, so I had to rent a car from there and come back (stayed in Tulsa a week). I just missed the train from Dallas on the return (caught in rush hour!), and since there was only one train every two days, I had to stay with friends for two nights. My friends mentioned that they had once thought it would be fun to take a train to Fort Worth and back for a nice day trip, until they realized you would have to stay two nights! Such was Amtrak and now it sounds even worse. I have lived in Japan several decades and rail travel in US is like going back in time, and into a third-world country at that! Hoping for better times ahead.
Sunset Limited definitely still runs, as a train. Still stuck with that annoying 3 days a week(and not daily) dilemma, to this day. The only change today (though it occurred back in the mid 90s) was that Union Pacific downgraded the Phoenix to Wellton, AZ track to being a secondary track (IIRC), so Amtrak had to reroute that train to now stop in Maricopa, AZ instead. I wish downtown Phoenix service could come back, but I worry Union Pacific would probably demand a crapton of money to improve the track from Phoenix to Wellton, in order to ever see Sunset Ltd. stop in Phoenix once again.
@@BoratWanksta So at least I can still ride to San Antonio, right? It's insane not to stop in the middle of the largest city in the state; no thought of tourist or other human potential at all...
Regarding Denver, the north-south freight corridor runs right past the light rail stop just west of Union Station. I suspect this is where the stop for the Cheyenne-Pueblo train would be. It can be reached by walking through the underground bus terminal right next to where they park the Zephyr.
@8:40, my understanding is that Sprint stands for Southern Pacific Railroad Internal Network of Telephones (or at least it did a long time ago), so if the Southern Pacific railroad owned that station before, it wouldn't even have to change hands.
There is no SP now though
I work at a museum on the sunset limited so it’s cool seeing Amtrak a few times a week
I've taken the Portland, ME train. Its still faster to take my car to go from Portland to "Boston" or Portland to Brunswick or any stop along the way. And the train is always late and hope you don't get stuck behind a cargo train. That being said Amtrak needs to have dedicated lines so they can increase speed. And I think a Portland to Bangor to Bar Harbor would be a good line to cut down the tourist traffic on the highways, there's isn't even a highway to Bar Harbor so in the summer the drive is hours long when in the offseason its an hour.
Want the Iowa City, Iowa Line, southern line through Osceola, Iowa is to far the large population of Ames, Des Moines, Iowa City, Waterloo, Cedar Rapids. It is so important after seeing how in a Pandemic it is to have more public transportation instead of just Airports. Good job.
A Conservative Republican here who very much likes and sees the logic of Amtrak. Great video. I only wish there had been a slightly longer pause on the entire map. The gap that I see in the map? Hige gap between Fort Wort, TX and the new service up around Denver & Pueblo. That one might could actually be a money maker. All the skiers certainnfomes of the year up into the ski areas, with connection bus services to each of the high profile areas, etc. Also, the long talked about, never implemented service (east-west) from DFW through Shreveport--Bossier City, LA (with its riverboat gaming casinos) on east to a connection point with the Crescent. This service could actually be just one Locomotive and a few cars cut off the Texas Eagle in Marshall, TX, an existing crew change point for said train. On the UPRR. In Shreveport-Bossier City, the train would swap over to the Kansas City Southern. All trackage along this route is a high speed intermodal corridor.
Rail service to Auburn from ATL is MASSIVE. War Eagle y’all
I would love to have passenger service right through the center of central KY -- from Cincinnati down to points south like Chattanooga and Atlanta! Lexington KY and surrounding area is growing and can use passenger service.
Columbus OH has not had Amtrak since 1977. Having Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati connect would bring plenty of business.
Thanks for the video I’ve been on the California Zephyr route several times and I love it it would be nice to see the sunset limited return again as it once was before Katrina I’ve never traveled that route I have traveled on the southwest chief and the Lakeshore limited and a few other routes I hope AMTRAK receives the funding that it definitely deserves compared to other countries AMTRAK is just a baby in real service and the United States is way behind and passenger wheel service compared to other countries as well
I mean he's not wrong: the Sunset Limited will be up and running before Amtrak starts providing new lines (sarcasm)
Yes, they definitely need to reopen the line between Jacksonville, FL, and New Orleans, LA! An important link if you're going to continue to
San Antonio and Los Angeles. Look on the Amtrak map to see what you have to do to travel from Miami to New Orleans!!!
You didn't mention the beautiful old train station in San Antonio. It's been abandoned for a very long time.
The Louisville Union Station was taken over by the city's bus authority (TARC) and no longer have the rail connections to it. Don't know how that's gonna happen.
They removed those rails over a decade ago too and several buildings have been erected along the path of the entrance track. There is another station that was torn down that sits on a viaduct the platforms remain though and they closed off the entrance steps, it used to serve the Pennsy and the old trolly line back in 1the 20's
I know this is about railroads, but to me, high speed passenger boats connecting Seattle to San Francisco and Los Angles seems more practical.
YES INDEED !! THEY PLAN TO START A SEA- PLANE SERVICE BETWEEN, NEW YORK and BOSTON !!
I think for the SLO to San Jose proposal, they want to bring the Coast Daylight back. I am all for that and very excited for it, but kinda wish they would bring back a night train between the bay area and socal. It just seems like a much more easily marketable train for people, especially if you want a day trip to San Fran or LA
Alright, so 60% of the funding goes to long distance trains, and 40% goes to the NEC. So no extra funding for Amtrak Midwest, Amtrak Cascades, Amtrak California and the Pacific Surfliner
I know it sounds bad, but if there’s dedicated funding for those services, Amtrak could divert a bit more of their current funds to the western routes
Those are state funded
I really do hope Amtrak finally receives the upgrades it deserves
same here!
Me votes for return of the Desert Wind.
I’m hoping Allentown is able too do so. We just got our remaining rail lines modernized and new signaling installed. We don’t have as many lines as we used too have but we do have one line too nyc that Norfolk southern uses, so I’m hoping they’ll allow it too share the line or build a dual line.
Probably the biggest issue is that we don’t have many railroad stations left from the day. Thier either demolished or in severe states of disrepair.
For sure. Let’s hope!
Need to add one from Dallas-Fort worth through Denver and all the way to Billings, MT. Another one from Montana to Salt Lake and down to LA through Las Vegas.
While we are dreaming let's extend it through Great Falls to Shelby and connect to the empire builder.
Madison to Milwaukee Wisconsin was supposed to have a high-speed rail, but our governor killed the project in 2010. I wonder how well that line would have worked.
Not well because it ended at the airport. Given there is nothing of interest within walking distance of there it made no sense. I can see why the project died.
And it was NOT a true 'high speed rail', only and enhanced speed restored service.
And for $800M in 2009 money. That was nearly *five times* the estimated cost of restoring service in the I-(then US) 41 corridor to GRB (about $175M in 2009 money). No wonder that proposal was so unpopular outstate.
@@dvferyance They didn't really pitch it well either. Milwaukee and madison might be the two most hated cities in the state. They should have advertised it as a future connection from Milwaukee to MSP. Or at least made sure that there was a bus to transfer people from Madison airport.
@@mgk920 Also that Madison & Milwaukee are not that well liked. Even if the train was going 70 mph-ish. That still beats sitting in traffic on that awful stretch. But I think killing it was a good and bad idea at the same time. It would have been nice for them to extend it to MSP.
Restoration of the New York to Reading and to Scranton would be great. Right now, Eastern PA is inaccessible from New York. A few years ago I met someone from Allentown who reminded me it is only 80 miles from New York, but without transportation there, it seems as far away as China. I haven't been to Eastern PA in decades, simply because there is no tranportation to there from New York.
Yeah that’s crazy lol
For the front range corridor, I'd recommend adding a new platform by the light rail station for through running trains to avoid the tedious reversing maneuvers.
They absolutely should!
The Pacific Surfliner uses push-pull between San Diego and San Luis Obispo every day with no problem at LA Union Station, which is currently a terminus with no run-through tracks. Cheyenne to Pueblo is definitely doable using the same method.
The Chicago-Milwaukee Hiawathas are also push-pull (pull northbound, push southbound)
NYC to Allentown PA would be great
I wanna see the sunset limited go all the way to Florida. And the one to Wichita
The new routes & enhanced routes, especially in the Midwest are to towns & cities with universities. Genius to get a new & younger ridership!
Need to add stop in Williams or Ashfork, Arizona. Have to go to flagstaf or Phoenix to even catch it. Phoenix is 120 miles away and Flagstaff is 75 miles away. No way to get to Flagstaff by public transit or Only to PHX airport. so isolated.
Regarding your question about SPRINT and the train station, look up the history of SPRINT. It started as Southern Pacific Railroad Internal Networking Telephony.
Wooohooo!!!! There has not been a train from Chicago to Green Bay since I was a little kid! It ended when Amtrak formed.
Nice! Lol I’d love to see it happen.
The problem is there is now a gap in track between Rockwood and Denmark.
@@dvferyance it would via FDL, OSH and ATW
@@mgk920 They just ripped out the CP/CN connection at Duplainville junction.
@@dvferyance The discussions that I have seen for many years now has that service using WSOR's ex MILW trackage southeast of Slinger/Rugby Junction through Richfield and Germantown. I never liked the idea of using Duplainville because that curve was so sharp and it was a bit out of the way.
OTOH, I do consider it to be an at least short term shame that the former CNW track between West Bend and Eden is now a state trail.
Living in Minneapolis/St Paul, I would just like a second daily train to Chicago. It would also be great to take the train to Madison, WI
I believe that line between San Jose and San Luis Obispo is intended to be the proposed Coast Daylight train between San Francisco (city proper, not East Bay like the Capitol Corridor) and either LA or San Diego. There was a 2014 study by SLOCOG that considered essentially extending one Pacific Surfliner train daily past SLO and all the way up to SF. This would likely split the one train that turns around in SLO mid-day (arriving 2:30pm, leaving 4:15pm) into two trains, so instead of traveling SD-SLO-SD each day, the trains would travel SF-SD or SD-SF each day, alternating days.
Interesting. That would definitely be better than nothing...
Unless the speed is increased to an average of 75 mph and a new tunnel built through the Cresta Grade I do not see any demand. Not even a nighttrain. I do not understand the train split idea of yours. Other than that there is some merit.
For the cheyenne to pueblo via Denver route why not just use a cabcar? It would solve the backing into Denver Union Station problem. It seems like a push pull configuration would be best for that route.
We need fast train that owns its own tracks and goes to every state
In regards to California High speed rail, is the ramp in cost simply a result of start and stop funding?
If you gave A single lump sum how much time do you think they could save if any?
I don't have a great answer for you there. Certainly the funding uncertainty and endless lawsuits (to be able to use their own funding) has driven up the cost, but the Authority isn't perfect either. Over reliance on outside consultants has also driven up the price and led several redesigns/change orders. A check for tens of billions of dollars would likely lower the cost, but I don't know by how much...
Well, to be sure, the approach the Authority has been pursuing has been an attempt to hedge against that by advancing the EIS for the tunnels & bookended programs.
Otherwise, the major issues I’ve observed has been scope creep as a result of demands from the public regarding the alignment (eg. Santa Clarita essentially forcing their hands to study the tunnel under the Angeles National Forest) or otherwise the weird early behavior of Metrolink (who refused to pursue a similar corridor improvement program that CalTrain has, and yet has been angling for the HSR funding to be redirected towards them now that they have decided electrification would be a good idea).
In any case, the Authority’s plan for the IOS is workable - people seem to forget that there are existing/planned services that will allow connections at Madera/Merced to ACE/Capitol Corridor/San Joaquin services or otherwise allow for interlining in the interim; especially if the southern crossing between the Peninsula and the East Bay is advanced allowing CalTrain to reach the service area and interim HS service to reach the Peninsula.
Likewise, the glaring problem to me is that the Sepulveda Pass program isn’t considering a Metrolink extension of the Antelope Valley line from Santa Clarita (in collaboration with Amtrak and possibly Brightline) to bring those services to the West Side of LA and potentially also work together to fund the new tunnel under the Tehachapis to Bakersfield...if they did so, the IOS could immediately have service to LA, the Brightline project would get the option to as well,
Metrolink could serve Bakersfield to jumpstart station-area improvements in the city, and Amtrak could finally get restored service between LA and the Central Valley.
It’s a no-brainer, but Metro is set on advancing a monorail or LRT line ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Ronkonkoma for Amwreck? NIMBYs are going to love that. We couldn’t even get decent service East on the main line to Greenport because of them. Also LIRR is almost highspeed well faster then brightline so far in electric territory! How much upgrades will be needed to go East on the Island?
Sprint actually started as a subsidiary of the Southern Pacific railroad with the name meaning Southern Pacific Railroad Internal Networking Telephony. Sprint took the station after the Sunset Limited derailment permanently closed the line from Phoenix to Yuma and caused the train to bypass Phoenix.
Thanks for the info!
Amtrak didn’t pull out of PHX because of the derailment - it was because of lousy track conditions that SP/UP wouldn’t repair. The sabotage was 10/95 - Amtrak stopped serving PHX 6/96. To this day, UP has no plans to improve the track.
For moline the station has been built for a couple years but Iowa interstate is the only one that needs to upgrade there track for Amtrak but then as soon as that gets done moline will be done but Iowa city will most likely be a few years later