My brother and I surprised my dad with this trip for his 80th. Excited to ride!
43 Hours on the Amtrak Southwest Chief
81–90 of 267 posts
Re: 43 Hours on the Amtrak Southwest Chief
#82The post suggests that "freight trains have priority." By law, passenger travel is expected to have "precedence." Read: https://www.amtrak.com/content/dam/projects/dotcom/english/p...
Interesting! Your link suggests that legally passenger trains are supposed to have priority, but that in practice freight trains are given priority. I didn't know this, and it makes me even madder! But as far as an explanation for why Amtrak trains are so often delayed (which is how it appeared in OP?), it appears to be correct that it's because freight trains are given priority. It's just that... they're not suppose…
The problem is that the DoJ is the one with the power to enforce said regulations, and DoJ is about as interested as a patrol officer being asked to do parking enforcement.
There have been bills to allow Amtrak to file civil suits but as far as I know they haven’t passed.
Re: 43 Hours on the Amtrak Southwest Chief
#83I think I recognize that section of Chicago's train station from my favorite scene of all time. That shootout scene from the movie The Untouchables. Correct me if I am wrong.
You are correct, but they’ve done a lot of restoration since then; it’s a lot nicer in person.
Re: 43 Hours on the Amtrak Southwest Chief
#84If you enjoy cycling I highly recommend riding Amtrak somewhere you'd like to explore by bicycle with your whip checked "trainside" where it's fully assembled and ready to ride.
There's something magical about getting off the train in a different state with your bicycle ready to go no worse for wear. Especially at smaller stations, where the conductor or luggage handler will directly hand you the bicycle from the luggage car. It's just such a personal and practical experience compared to flying.
This fall I rode the Zephyr from CHI to SAC with my Ibis Mojo checked, with just a backpack and helmet. The conductor handed me my bike at the luggage car in SAC, and I immediately pedaled right out the station, through town, and along the American River for a beautiful day of riding east into the Sierra Nevada towards my friends' home in Pollock Pines. No TSA, no implications of being some kind of terrorist or criminal, it was rather incredible by today's standards... especially considering it cost me like $120 for the ticket+checked bike.
Edit: I also just wanted to remind folks that train stations have the luxury of residing smack dab in city centers. Good luck de-planing with a bicycle directly into an urban center. On a train it's basically the default.
Re: 43 Hours on the Amtrak Southwest Chief
#85Earlier quoted context omitted.
Interesting! Your link suggests that legally passenger trains are supposed to have priority, but that in practice freight trains are given priority. I didn't know this, and it makes me even madder! But as far as an explanation for why Amtrak trains are so often delayed (which is how it appeared in OP?), it appears to be correct that it's because freight trains are given priority. It's just that... they're not suppose…
There is something called "Precision Scheduled Railroading" (PSR) which ultimately means that freight trains are longer than they used to be. ( https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-23-105420 ) The result is that these long trains (even 3 miles long) can't fit on sidings, which means that they can't practically give way to, say, Amtrak, when there's only a single track. (Which is a lot of routes!) In other words, freight…
The real solution is to eliminate private ownership of track. Corporate-owned track makes as much sense as corporate-owned highways, ie none. The rails should belong to the people, and companies allowed to use them as the government allows, not the other way around.
Re: 43 Hours on the Amtrak Southwest Chief
#86Earlier quoted context omitted.
Interesting! Your link suggests that legally passenger trains are supposed to have priority, but that in practice freight trains are given priority. I didn't know this, and it makes me even madder! But as far as an explanation for why Amtrak trains are so often delayed (which is how it appeared in OP?), it appears to be correct that it's because freight trains are given priority. It's just that... they're not suppose…
The TLDR is that most of the US is single tracked and the freight trains are bigger than the passenger train has to wait even if it has priority because the freight train is too big to wait.
Also, because Wall Street is so obsessed with making the balance sheets as efficient as possible, they have pretty much no interest in capital improvements like longer sidings or additional tracks.
Re: 43 Hours on the Amtrak Southwest Chief
#87My obligatory reminder of what we lost when Stevie went to the great club car in the sky, where he's playin' cards with the old men, ain't nobody keeping score. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4ztWNJYFrU The greatest train song of all time. Arlo Guthrie talking about how Steve came to him with that song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZx7xCK6yfo . (at 2:09)
Oh my goodness. Id fever heard of Steve Goodman before this and that clip intrigued me.
That city of New Orleans song was great but his ‘would you like to learn to dance’ was hauntingly beautiful.
And such a tragic loss so young.
Re: 43 Hours on the Amtrak Southwest Chief
#88Are these niche Amtrak routes profitable or just political pork necessary to get politicians on board with funding Amtrak?
One interesting thing to note is that because of the way they were built, the rural communities on these routes are not near major roads, so cutting the railroads would cut some of them off significantly.
Greyhound as a de facto everywhere to everywhere bus service has declined as well.
Re: 43 Hours on the Amtrak Southwest Chief
#89Earlier quoted context omitted.
There is something called "Precision Scheduled Railroading" (PSR) which ultimately means that freight trains are longer than they used to be. ( https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-23-105420 ) The result is that these long trains (even 3 miles long) can't fit on sidings, which means that they can't practically give way to, say, Amtrak, when there's only a single track. (Which is a lot of routes!) In other words, freight…
The real solution is to eliminate private ownership of track. Corporate-owned track makes as much sense as corporate-owned highways, ie none. The rails should belong to the people, and companies allowed to use them as the government allows, not the other way around.
Britain seems to have a better system than the US. In the US the rails are privately owned, but the train service is operated by the government. In Britain the rails are owned by the state but the operators are private. That seems to make for a better experience.
Re: 43 Hours on the Amtrak Southwest Chief
#90In college my friend and I took the Amtrak from Austin, TX to NYC for New Year’s Eve. The journey took 50 hours riding in coach plus an 8 hour layover in Chicago. Amazing memories and a fun way to see the country.
i did almost the same trip in the 90s, as a newly-arrived foreigner in the USA. NYC --> Chicago --> Little Rock. as you say, amazing memories and a great way of seeing your new home [country]!