Quote:
Originally Posted by Mister Uptempo
While Memphis isn't exactly in the Midwest, this story from the Memphis Business Journal dovetails nicely with Quinn's and Durbin's attempts at getting another train to Carbondale.
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No it doesn't quite dovetail into getting another train to Carbondale, what it does dovetail is extending one of the trains already servicing Carbondale to Memphis.
Adding the CONO timing differences with the existing regional trains to see when they would depart and arrive at Memphis.....
CONO (59) 6:27 am arrival southbound (58) 10:40 pm departure northbound
Southbound Illini (393) runs ~4 hours ahead, would arrive in Memphis at 2:27 am
Northbound Illini (392) runs ~12 hours ahead, would depart Memphis at 10:40 am
Southbound Saluki (391) runs ~12 hours ahead, would arrive in Memphis at 6:27 pm
Northbound Saluki (390) runs ~ 4 hours behind, would depart from Memphis at 2:40 am
Extending either regional train to Memphis wouldn't work better than the CONO, time wise. These trains are setup to run between Chicago and Carbondale during peaks. Using the southbound Saluki and the northbound Illini would achieve better results at Memphis than extending just one of the trains, but they would not be against the CONO, because these times would be reversed from the CONO ~ 12 hours.
A Chicago to Memphis train trip or vice versa takes 10 to 11 hours. It would take two train sets to have a day train in both directions every day. If you're only going to use one train set, one direction will have to be a night trip anyways. That would be slightly better than the CONO, because it's a night trip in both directions. Now which direction do you wish the regional train using one train set to be a day trip, meaning the opposite direction it'll be a night trip?
It's easy for politicians in election years to come out in favor of better train services, it's all talk. But once they take the time to actually study and take a good look at their proposal and try to make it work, it all falls apart.