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  #681  
Old Posted Mar 27, 2023, 6:33 PM
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Originally Posted by Crawford View Post
That will happen. Brightline is trying to scam off Amtrak's infrastructure improvements, and right-wing rhetoric over privatizing everything. They also have a nasty habit of killing people, since they lobbied for special exceptions for rail-crossing rules, and this being Florida, people are regularly dying trying to cross the tracks. Brightline won't exist in a few years.
This is wildly inaccurate. Brightline is not using any of Amtrak's infrastructure. They run on FEC tracks or new-build "greenfield" tracks, Amtrak uses the CSX corridor that runs further inland. To date, the only government resources they've used are loan programs that are also available to other private companies like toll road operators.

They are set to take taxpayer grant money for part of the Orlando-Tampa expansion, but only because Orlando leaders demanded a more expensive route past the convention center and Universal Studios. Brightline had an alternate cheaper routing that they were going to self-fund, but it only served Disney World. In return for the taxpayer investment, SunRail will get access to run publicly-funded commuter service on the tracks along with Brightline. Down in Miami, Brightline has also agreed to let publicly-funded TriRail use its gorgeous new privately-funded downtown terminal.

The grade crossing issue is a problem, but Brightline doesn't have any special exceptions. They follow the exact same rules that Amtrak uses to run 90mph trains over grade crossings in Illinois, Michigan, Virginia or California. Florida drivers just seem to have a death wish and don't respect grade crossings for whatever reason. An unholy combination of hordes of seniors who should have lost their licenses long ago, plus younger people who never had a proper driver's ed and aren't used to frequent train crossings like you would see in suburban LA, NJ, Chicago, Boston, etc.
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  #682  
Old Posted Mar 27, 2023, 8:00 PM
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Still, Brightline shouldn't exist.
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  #683  
Old Posted Mar 27, 2023, 11:04 PM
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I guess I'm in the camp that isn't particularly impressed with Brightlines "product" in Florida but at the same time doesn't have a problem with a private company taking at stab at a market that didn't exist before. Do i think they've made a decent attempt at a stylish experience in the trains and facilities - yes. Do I think those things are also a bit half-assed as well as the undeniable reality that the entire service is basically just dressed up conventional speed rail with a fun paint job - also yes. I think the grade crossings are doomed to be widow makers until the state agrees to the quad-gate investment. Blah blah blah... I could keep talking but it doesn't really matter. Ultimately the state was robbed of a true electrified HSR by the same quack rightwing ilk that run the place now in favor of a private sector "solution" and Brightline is what they got. It's not great, but it's not horrible. Maybe it's just what Florida deserves.

I just hope the company's attempt in the desert at true HSR will be the real deal.
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  #684  
Old Posted Mar 28, 2023, 3:18 PM
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I think it's both, not either/or.

Yes, if you started from scratch, Allentown should be a higher priority than Scranton since Allentown area is more populous, more prosperous, closer to NYC, and more economically tied to NYC.

The reason that Scranton plans are more talked about is bc the line has been in planning for decades, and bc NJ Transit is already extending the line towards PA. They're doing work on the Lackawanna Cutoff, right now, and soon beginning construction on the Andover, NJ station. Then, on the PA side, they already have stations planned, and have a Scranton intermodal terminal half-built.

And the Lackawanna Cutoff is one of the most epic train lines on earth. It's begging to be restored. When completed, it was the most advanced line on the planet. Basically the whole line is on a massive raised culvert, and there are many impressive bridges and tunnels. They apparently thought the NYC-Scranton-Binghamton route was going to be something like the Acela line today.

Also, I think both routes will more likely be used as commuter lines, not intercity lines. For Scranton, yes, the distance to Manhattan is quite long, but there are major business hubs in North Jersey that are much closer, and right on the rail line. For example, Morristown is a very important business hub, and major corps are clustered around the rail station. French pharma firm Sanofi, one of the largest pharma firms on earth, just announced it's building its North American HQ in Morristown, right next to the rail station. The biggest bank in NJ is also building a new HQ right next to the Morristown station.
I think the PA/NY Amtrak expansions need to be redone in its current state it won't attract the numbers there saying.

Restore the Southern Tier Rail Network, upgrading the tracks to 110mph,
  • Amtrak Lackawanna Service - Hoboken - Scranton - Binghamton - Buffalo : 4x daily
  • Amtrak Southern Tier Limited - Hoboken - Scranton - Binghamton - Jamestown - Erie - Cleveland : 1x daily
  • Amtrak Finger Lakes Limited - Hoboken - Scranton - Binghamton - Ithaca - Syracuse - 2x daily
  • Amtrak Erie Limited - Hoboken to Binghamton via the Port Jervis Line to Chicago - 1x daily
  • NJT Lackawanna Service to East Stroudsburg from Hoboken - every 90mins


Create a dedicated Passenger Rail corridor alongside the NS Lehigh Line from Harrisburg to NJT Raritan Valley line upgrade the tracks to 110mph
  • NJT Service extended to Allentown with hourly service
  • Amtrak Lehigh Service : New York - Newark - Allentown - Reading - Harrisburg : 4x daily
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  #685  
Old Posted Mar 28, 2023, 3:21 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Crawford View Post
That will happen. Brightline is trying to scam off Amtrak's infrastructure improvements, and right-wing rhetoric over privatizing everything. They also have a nasty habit of killing people, since they lobbied for special exceptions for rail-crossing rules, and this being Florida, people are regularly dying trying to cross the tracks. Brightline won't exist in a few years.
Floridians Stupidity around the tracks isn't limited to Brightline , Sunrail has a similar issue.
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  #686  
Old Posted Mar 28, 2023, 3:27 PM
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Originally Posted by ardecila View Post
Florida drivers just seem to have a death wish and don't respect grade crossings for whatever reason.
This is accurate and I've seen it with my own eyes. It's something cultural down there.
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  #687  
Old Posted Mar 28, 2023, 6:27 PM
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Originally Posted by Busy Bee View Post
I guess I'm in the camp that isn't particularly impressed with Brightlines "product" in Florida but at the same time doesn't have a problem with a private company taking at stab at a market that didn't exist before. Do i think they've made a decent attempt at a stylish experience in the trains and facilities - yes. Do I think those things are also a bit half-assed as well as the undeniable reality that the entire service is basically just dressed up conventional speed rail with a fun paint job - also yes. I think the grade crossings are doomed to be widow makers until the state agrees to the quad-gate investment. Blah blah blah... I could keep talking but it doesn't really matter. Ultimately the state was robbed of a true electrified HSR by the same quack rightwing ilk that run the place now in favor of a private sector "solution" and Brightline is what they got. It's not great, but it's not horrible. Maybe it's just what Florida deserves.

I just hope the company's attempt in the desert at true HSR will be the real deal.
Amtrak's user experience is so terrible. This is partly an issue of branding and stations/railcar design, but also the piss-poor reliability of trains and schedules.

Brightline's real superpower is their close alignment with FEC to run reliable service, and it's not easy to replicate because FEC runs very unusual freight patterns (almost entirely double-stack container service on a very predictable schedule from Miami to Jacksonville). It's pretty easy to slot passenger trains onto those tracks, whereas other freight railroads just run trains whenever they feel like it.

The public HSR that was proposed awhile back would have been faster, it's true, but it would have run mostly along expressways in South Florida with little integration to existing urban centers in Miami, Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale, etc. Brightline is set to become pretty well-integrated with those existing downtowns which is a huge advantage, and it may even lead to more walkable development in sprawl hellscapes like Aventura.
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  #688  
Old Posted Apr 9, 2023, 10:22 PM
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Transferring at Memphis would make it possible to take Chicago to Atlanta by train! Although the projected times for just Atlanta to Nashville looks horrendous

TN: Chattanooga, Atlanta, Nashville, Memphis seek route study for passenger train revival
Quote:
The infrastructure law Congress passed in 2021 made billions of dollars available for the development of passenger rail, and Amtrak is pushing for a massive expansion nationwide. This week Chattanooga took an early step toward getting a route of its own.

In partnership with Atlanta, Nashville and Memphis, the city of Chattanooga applied through a federal program for funding to study potential routes between the cities.

In the half-century since the last commercial passenger train left downtown Chattanooga, the area's train advocates have seen plan after plan and study after study fail to deliver.
....
Amtrak estimated that, with $1.4 billion in infrastructure investment, the Atlanta-Chattanooga route would take just over three hours, while traveling from Atlanta to Nashville would take about six and a half hours, according to the application.
https://www.masstransitmag.com/rail/...-train-revival
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  #689  
Old Posted Apr 9, 2023, 10:28 PM
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Surprised to see Mitch McConnell supporting this proposal

Money sought for Amtrak rail service between Louisville and Indianapolis
Quote:
Officials in Kentucky and Indiana are moving forward with seeking federal funds that could one day help connect Louisville, Indianapolis and Chicago via Amtrak rail service.

The Kentuckiana Regional Planning and Development Agency, in conjunction with Metro Government, submitted an application for a $500,000 planning grant Monday with the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Federal Railroad Administration to attempt to bring back rail service between Louisville and Indianapolis, said Greg Burress, community outreach specialist for KIPDA.

The Indiana Department of Transportation is submitting a similar plan regarding service between Indianapolis and Chicago, Burress said, adding KIPDA is in "full support of INDOT's plans."
....
For the planning grant, KIPDA also received letters of support from the offices of Gov. Andy Beshear, Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg, Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett, U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, U.S. Rep. Morgan McGarvey, Kentucky Transportation Secretary Jim Gray, Transit Authority of River City, the town of Clarksville, Indiana, Greater Louisville Inc. and others in the Hoosier State, according to Burress.
https://www.courier-journal.com/stor...e/70053546007/
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  #690  
Old Posted Apr 14, 2023, 3:15 AM
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How long till we hear which corridors are chosen?
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  #691  
Old Posted Apr 14, 2023, 3:23 PM
aprice1828 aprice1828 is offline
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Two Trains .com articles concerning Siemens Venture Cars

Venture business-class cars debut in Midwest: Trip report
https://www.trains.com/trn/news-revi...t-trip-report/

More Midwest Venture cars enter service; California still waits
https://www.trains.com/trn/news-revi...a-still-waits/
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  #692  
Old Posted Apr 14, 2023, 4:59 PM
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Originally Posted by waltlantz View Post
How long till we hear which corridors are chosen?
States are seeking $500k planning grants. That's peanuts. Virtually all of them will be "chosen".

In 12-18 months' time, FRA will receive a flurry of studies from across the country that evaluate the ridership potential for each corridor, put hard/realistic startup costs together, and inform decisions for the next round to fund preliminary engineering.

This will also be a wake-up call for states, who will have to decide if they're willing to commit state funding once the ridership potential has been shown in a study.
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  #693  
Old Posted Apr 14, 2023, 8:10 PM
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Originally Posted by aprice1828 View Post
Two Trains .com articles concerning Siemens Venture Cars

Venture business-class cars debut in Midwest: Trip report
https://www.trains.com/trn/news-revi...t-trip-report/

More Midwest Venture cars enter service; California still waits
https://www.trains.com/trn/news-revi...a-still-waits/
Does anybody know which Hiawatha runs have the venture cars? The old coaches don't have diaper changing tables, which is quite annoying when traveling with a baby...
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  #694  
Old Posted Apr 15, 2023, 12:23 PM
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Originally Posted by ardecila View Post
States are seeking $500k planning grants. That's peanuts. Virtually all of them will be "chosen".

In 12-18 months' time, FRA will receive a flurry of studies from across the country that evaluate the ridership potential for each corridor, put hard/realistic startup costs together, and inform decisions for the next round to fund preliminary engineering.

This will also be a wake-up call for states, who will have to decide if they're willing to commit state funding once the ridership potential has been shown in a study.
I think we'll see more routes funded then what's posted on the Amtrak connects us and FRA study...
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  #695  
Old Posted May 3, 2023, 1:47 PM
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Amtrak press release for 110 mph service between St. Louis and Chicago: https://media.amtrak.com/2023/05/110...ouis-corridor/

Time tables won't be adjusted for "several weeks". For those who haven't been following this, the State of Illinois has been working on this for over a decade. There was some 110 mph service tested in 2017.
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  #696  
Old Posted May 3, 2023, 2:22 PM
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NYC’s $16 Billion Gateway Tunnel Wins Key Access at Hudson Yards


By Elise Young
May 2, 2023
Bloomberg


"The construction of New York City’s new $16.1 billion rail tunnel took a major step forward Tuesday when the commission overseeing the project awarded a contract that preserves a key right-of-way.

The vote by the Gateway Development Commission puts Amtrak, the future owner of the tunnel, in charge of $292 million in construction for the right-of-way. The timing of the deal skirts a potentially dire engineering conflict with the expanding Hudson Yards waterfront neighborhood on Manhattan’s West Side.

President Joe Biden’s administration, which announced a federal grant for the job in January, said the right-of-way, known as concrete casing, must be finished prior to the next round of Hudson Yards construction. New foundations, if they were to be built prior to the casing, “would likely impede the path of the tunnel and make the project extremely difficult,” according to a statement..."

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...t-hudson-yards
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  #697  
Old Posted May 3, 2023, 3:10 PM
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This is cross the t's and dot the i's legal agreement formality - the r.o.w. was never in any danger of inadvertently being lost or squandered.
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  #698  
Old Posted May 6, 2023, 3:00 PM
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110 mph Schedules Coming for Amtrak Chicago-St. Louis Corridor

https://media.amtrak.com/2023/05/110...ouis-corridor/

Quote:
.....

- Amtrak and the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) have received federal approval for maximum speeds up to 110 mph for most of the Chicago-St. Louis corridor, primarily between the Amtrak stations in Joliet and Alton. This will help establish shorter schedules for the four Amtrak Lincoln Service round-trips and the Texas Eagle. There are no timetable changes at this time for the 10 daily Amtrak trains on the route.

- “Trains will continue to operate at 110 mph for several weeks without a change in schedule to ensure everything on the system is running properly and to monitor the actual travel time between stations,” said John Oimoen, IDOT Deputy Director, Rails. Until now, 90 mph has been the maximum authorized speed on the tracks owned by Union Pacific Railroad. Amtrak operates Lincoln Service and other trains under a contract with IDOT.

.....
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  #699  
Old Posted May 6, 2023, 3:17 PM
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Slightly less slow and steady progress.
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  #700  
Old Posted May 24, 2023, 3:17 PM
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Shortlist Released for $16B NY-NJ Hudson River Tunnel


By James Leggate
Engineering News-Record
May 23, 2023

"Gateway Development Commission has shortlisted three teams in its search for a project delivery partner to help it deliver a $16-billion rail tunnelproject connecting New York and New Jersey under the Hudson River.

The commission selected a joint venture of Bechtel-HNTB; Hudson Delivery Partnership, a team of Atkins North America Inc., Arup US Inc. and The McKissack Group Inc.; and MPA Delivery Partners, consisting of Parsons Transportation Group of New York Inc, Arcadis of New York Inc. and Mace North America Ltd. to submit proposals, according to a May 22 notice.

Representatives from the teams did not immediately share comments on their inclusion..."

https://www.enr.com/articles/56499-s...n-river-tunnel
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