Amtrak - News, updates, upgrades, etc

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https://www.masstransitmag.com/rail/infrastructure/press-release/21270066/amtrak-amtrak-advances-northeast-corridor-improvements

https://www.masstransitmag.com/rail/infrastructure/article/21271063/amtrak-to-run-150-mph-trains-along-16mile-segment-of-nec

https://www.masstransitmag.com/rail/infrastructure/article/21230540/connect-nec-2035-lays-out-15year-map-to-deliver-better-rail-service-on-the-northeast-corridor

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.planetizen.com/news/2022/06/117469-amtrak-seeks-200-million-chicago-improvements%3Famp

https://www.google.com/amp/s/philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2022/06/15/amtrak-acela-trains-northeast-corridor-philadelphia-boston-washington-dc/%3Famp

Amtrak needs to make an entirely new, seperated high speed track so we can get actual high speed service on this corridor. But even by their own estimates that would cost $151 billion, money Amtrak doesn’t have and the federal government is unlikely to give them. Sigh, if only I had the money to give.

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The “Ethan Allen Express” train, which currently goes from Moynihan Station to Rutland, VT, will finally be extended to Burlington, VT at the end of next month.

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Thanks for starting this thread! I’m most excited about the NYC-Scranton line, as it seems to be closer to shovel-ready than many of the other extensions & has huge potential to unlock development across NEPA. Glad to see Rep. Cartwright & Sen. Casey continue pushing this hard.

I think it will (eventually) spur NJ-scale development around the stops. I’m really rooting for a boom & revitalization of Scranton & East Stroudsburg especially.

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Yeah can’t wait! NJ is going crazy with big projects, on a per captia basis they put up probably the most units in the nation.

Would love for true high speed rail to go through here, but Amtrak doesn’t have the money for it rn. Maybe that maglev project will go through, who knows.

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Amtrak no longer publishes timetables, so it’s a bit of a challenge to figure out what’s changing on July 11.

But from digging around on Amtrak’s scheduling website, I was able to surmise the following:

  1. The overnight trains on the Northeast Corridor ran between Boston and Newport News, VA before the pandemic. I think at one point last year they may have been restored but only ran overnight between Boston and DC. They apparently even had sleeper cars, but the whole overnight operation was suspended during Omicron. Now, the news this week is that on July 11 they’ll reintroduce overnight trains in the Northeast Corridor, but the northbound will be between Roanoke (not Newport News) and Boston. And that’s a doubling of service to Roanoke as they just have a single daytime train now. Effective July 11, train 66 will depart Roanoke at 4:30pm, make a bunch of intermediate stops including Washington DC (9:28pm-10:00pm), Philadelphia (12:04am-12:09am) and NY Penn Station (1:55am-2:04am), arriving Boston South Station at 7:58am.

  2. The southbound overnight train (train 67) will run from Boston to Newport News (not Roanoke). It will leave Boston South Station at 9:30pm, make a bunch of intermediate stops including NY Penn Station (2:34am-3:20am), Philadelphia (4:48am-4:56am) and Washington DC (7:00am-7:20am), arriving Newport News at 11:33am. So this is a new train for Newport News, or at least a restoration of a previous train.

  3. Amtrak’s early morning southbound train (train 151), which apparently at one time ran from NY to DC but was discontinued during the pandemic, will effective July 11 run from NY Penn (departing 4:20am) to Roanoke (arriving 1:00pm), making most of the Amtrak stops along the way.

  4. There will also be a new departure from Norfolk on July 11. Train 138 currently runs from Washington DC (leaving 5:55pm) to NY Penn (arriving 9:36pm). On July 11, this train will be extended to Norfolk, beginning there at 1:00pm and arriving NY Penn at the usual 9:36pm.

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Amtrak no longer publishes timetables? I thought we were supposed to be open and transparent? That was like the most basic layer of openness and transparency one could possibly provide, something so simple as a timetable!

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The rail passengers’ association publishes its own set of PDF timetables - unfortunately they don’t have any for the Northeast Corridor:

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https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.vice.com/amp/en/article/wxn8qx/amtrak-spent-11-years-and-dollar450-million-to-save-acela-riders-100-seconds

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Per busy bee:

Dump truck causes major derailment at unsafe grade crossing in Missouri. This comes less than a day after another idiot got 3 people killed after an Amtrak train hit a car in California.

Today’s deadly derailment:

3 killed and 50 injured when Amtrak train from Los Angeles to Chicago derails in Missouri

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Here is inside the chief train

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Amtrak has resumed service to Toronto, the first cross-border route to be reactivated since the pandemic began

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Why do you think Americans across the country are compulsively committing “suicide by Amtrak”?

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Idk. Maybe they think their cars are faster than the train or the train is weaker than it looks.

Though that dump truck accident was really more the city’s fault rather than the train or dump trucks fault.