My Bio and This Blog's Purpose

Saturday, March 16, 2013

Addendum: Fixing the Albany-Saratoga Springs gap

This is all based on the possibility of the Ethan Allen Express being rerouted. Extending an existing Empire Service route to at least Saratoga Springs and maybe to Fort Edward would alleviate such a blow.

The schedules are based on Amtrak's current Winter schedule and S&NC's Summer schedule.


S&NC
New York Express
186
S&NC
Adirondack Limited

188
S&NC
Saratoga Flyer

190
Name of Operator
Train Name


Train Number
S&NC
North Creek Express
189
S&NC
Adirondack Limited

187
S&NC
Hudson Explorer

185
Fri-Mon
Fri-Mon
Daily
Frequency
Daily
Fri-Mon
Fri-Mon
7:00
13:00
15:45
North Creek
12:18
14:43
21:18
9:18
15:18
18:03
Saratoga Springs
10:00
12:25
19:00
Amtrak
Empire Service
238
Amtrak
Adirondack

68

Name of Operator
Train Name

Train Number

Amtrak
Adirondack

69
Amtrak
Empire Service
235
Daily
Daily

Frequency

Daily
Daily
11:15
15:48

Saratoga Springs

11:57
17:50
12:05
18:00

Albany-Renesselear

10:03
17:00
14:35
20:40

New York Penn Sta.

8:15
14:15

Random thoughts #10


  1. The news out of Ohio is not surprising given who's in office. Yawn. Moving on. There's nothing to see here. Get back to me in 2019.
  2. This Vancouver Sun article reminds me of people here in the States who want Amtrak to focus on only the Northeast Corridor. Both thoughts are preposterous. Furthermore, the writer has ties to the Rocky Mountaineer. Long distance travel should not be limited to the ultra wealthy.
  3. The state of Oklahoma is about to make a grand mistake and thwart any private effort to launch intercity rail service. 

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Peach State Ramblings: Abandoned S-Line


Parts of the S-Line between Savannah and Jacksonville have been abandoned. Shortline railroads use the area between Kingsland and Yulee, FL, and as a result, extra tracks would have to be built to accompany future passenger service (a commuter rail route is planned from Jacksonville's Union Terminal to Yulee). If the right of way is still available to be restored, the line could be used for SEHSR service between Raleigh and Jacksonville and Midwest-Florida service by an independent operator, bypassing potential conflicts with CSX and Amtrak. Now, on the other hand, if eminent domain is a major issue, then, a new route should be placed in the median of I-95 or parallel to the interstate.

Sunday, March 3, 2013

Tackling the Headlines 48

Possible Ethan Allen rerouting a likely detriment to eastern New York

There's trouble in paradise because the state of Vermont is leaning towards rerouting the Ethan Allen Express via Mechanicville, skipping Saratoga Springs in the process.

Take: This would be an egregious example of killing the goose that laid the golden eggs. Saratoga & North Creek's service would take a big hit as it would only connect to the Adirondack. Assuming that Vermont opts for an Ethan Allen reroute over a brand new train route to Rutland, the state of New York has to step up to extend one or two Empire Service roundtrips to Saratoga Springs to maintain and maximize ridership. My solution is for Amtrak to extend Trains #236 or #238 and #235 (the train that currently runs on #290's schedule would become an Albany-NYP only train while the extended trains in question become daily if they are not already so and #239 would add Friday service).


All Aboard Florida announces new station location

Florida East Coast's passenger entity cleared a major hurdle in South Florida as it got the go ahead to build a new station on Evernia Street. 

Take: Now, they need to resolve the Cocoa-Orlando Airport conflict with the Mormon Church.

More delays with the Amtrak-FEC route


Take: Florida did everything it could, Amtrak wants this service, but the feds' refusal to fund the route in the midst of Fast Train Fever three years ago is the real culprit. As a result, my open bet is still out there.

Lawsuit against CAHSR tossed out

This stretched back to about five years ago where the issues were centered over whether the HSR route should even be along the Caltrain route north of San Jose as well as the routing between the Central and Silicon Valleys.

Take: Hopefully, all of the other lawsuits will meet the same fate.