Capitol Limited

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Plannerdad
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Capitol Limited

Unread post by Plannerdad »

In my observation of the Elkhart railcam, the Capitol Limited is down to 3 passenger cars over the past couple weeks. I assume 1 sleeper, 1 food service, and one coach. Does anyone know why? Lack crew or equipment or riders? Thanks

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Saturnalia
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Re: Capitol Limited

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Plannerdad wrote:
Sun Jan 29, 2023 9:55 pm
In my observation of the Elkhart railcam, the Capitol Limited is down to 3 passenger cars over the past couple weeks. I assume 1 sleeper, 1 food service, and one coach. Does anyone know why? Lack crew or equipment or riders? Thanks
Lack of Equipment, caused by lack of Foresight.

Who knew that cancelling recurrent certifications of brake equipment on your passenger fleet during a temporary slump in traffic would end up putting you years behind on inspections, and thus short of equipment.
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Plannerdad
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Re: Capitol Limited

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Great! At least they seem to routinely have a baggage car. Thank you.

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justalurker66
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Re: Capitol Limited

Unread post by justalurker66 »

Three passenger cars plus baggage seems to have been the winter consist for at least the last couple of years. The baggage car allows them to run with regular coach instead of a coach-baggage car. I'd prefer two coaches (one coach plus one coach-baggage) but I don't run the railroad.

The baggage car doesn't impress me since most intermediate stations do not have baggage service and often the door is wide open on the baggage car when it passes Elkhart.

Chip
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Re: Capitol Limited

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Saturnalia wrote:
Sun Jan 29, 2023 10:23 pm
Plannerdad wrote:
Sun Jan 29, 2023 9:55 pm
In my observation of the Elkhart railcam, the Capitol Limited is down to 3 passenger cars over the past couple weeks. I assume 1 sleeper, 1 food service, and one coach. Does anyone know why? Lack crew or equipment or riders? Thanks
Lack of Equipment, caused by lack of Foresight.

Who knew that cancelling recurrent certifications of brake equipment on your passenger fleet during a temporary slump in traffic would end up putting you years behind on inspections, and thus short of equipment.
A government operation with zero foresight? I’m shocked. Shocked I say!

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Schteinkuh
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Re: Capitol Limited

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Saturnalia wrote:
Sun Jan 29, 2023 10:23 pm
Who knew that cancelling recurrent certifications of brake equipment on your passenger fleet during a temporary slump in traffic would end up putting you years behind on inspections, and thus short of equipment.
Amtrak is out-CPMY'ing the CPMY.
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Re: Capitol Limited

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Amtrak took over a money loosing service at the behest of a legislature that on one hand according to a recent Trains Magazine expects it to serve every American (whatever that means) and on the other expects it to meet financial performances goals.

Within the constraints Amtrak is given what would you do differently?

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Saturnalia
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Re: Capitol Limited

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PatAzo wrote:
Tue Jan 31, 2023 6:21 pm
Amtrak took over a money loosing service at the behest of a legislature that on one hand according to a recent Trains Magazine expects it to serve every American (whatever that means) and on the other expects it to meet financial performances goals.

Within the constraints Amtrak is given what would you do differently?
Well, they can start with not falling so far behind on equipment inspections that they cannot adequately serve what ridership demand they have, in the service of the above goal.

I bet they're losing many times the revenue now compared to what they saved by furloughing a couple shop folks during the pandemic.

It's like Amtrak took the same next-quarter shortsightedness that other businesses had and cut way too deep. But they're a government agency!
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PatAzo
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Re: Capitol Limited

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What service or activity would you have cut instead to fund inspections an maintenance when traffic slumps and money is drying up?

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Saturnalia
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Re: Capitol Limited

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PatAzo wrote:
Wed Feb 01, 2023 5:06 pm
What service or activity would you have cut instead to fund inspections an maintenance when traffic slumps and money is drying up?
On what Earth did Amtrak seriously think that they wouldn't be funded to make up the difference? From like literally week two of the pandemic the government already was clearly going to back-fund private sector jobs and government agencies impacted by the sudden changes.
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PatAzo
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Re: Capitol Limited

Unread post by PatAzo »

In a world where the party ego circus is increasing more important than the nation as a whole. Set aside if they would get extra funding then it's still how much, when and with what strings attached? Even with Congress doling out money it isn't immediate. Lawyers have to hash out the details. The Fed has to go out and borrow the money. Then prioritize who gets paid. Redefine the rules once the news people move to the next sound bite. The wheels over government grind along at it own pace. Had Amtrak burnt through it's cash before getting additional funding and how do they pay for fuel, food, wages?

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Saturnalia
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Re: Capitol Limited

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PatAzo wrote:
Thu Feb 02, 2023 9:51 am
In a world where the party ego circus is increasing more important than the nation as a whole. Set aside if they would get extra funding then it's still how much, when and with what strings attached? Even with Congress doling out money it isn't immediate. Lawyers have to hash out the details. The Fed has to go out and borrow the money. Then prioritize who gets paid. Redefine the rules once the news people move to the next sound bite. The wheels over government grind along at it own pace. Had Amtrak burnt through it's cash before getting additional funding and how do they pay for fuel, food, wages?
The rescue act money was being sent out within weeks.
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GP30M4216
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Re: Capitol Limited

Unread post by GP30M4216 »

The brake certifications issue is 100% a lack of reasonable foresight issue. Sidelining sightseer lounges made sense. There shouldn't be revenue generating equipment (coaches & sleepers) sitting around awaiting certification - including transition dorms. Does passenger equipment require a different set of tests and certifications than freight equipment? A side note that I've also wondered why the Capitol Limited's Viewliner II baggage car sometimes has at least one set of doors open. BUT, with a regular sleeper instead of a transition dorm, the crew on the Superliners can't physically access the baggage car to close the doors when the train is in motion. I assume someone aboard knows the doors aren't closed.....but you also know what happens when you assume.

What has been out of Amtrak's control are two major derailments which sidelined two complete Superliner trainsets, both at track speed: The Sept, 25, 2021 derailment of the Empire Builder in Montana, (77mph, 9 Superliners) and the June 27, 2022 collision and derailment of the Southwest Chief in Missouri (89mph, 7 Superliners). This is enough for 2 full consists (obviously), or 3 winter consists, now totally out of the picture. It's possible some of these cars are back in service already, but a recent photo of a portion of the Beech Grove facility showed a couple lines of Superliners hanging out at the facility, some with obvious exterior damage. Of course, some portion of the fleet is always out for major rehab, mechanical or wreck repair, but these incidents affected two consists of Superliners representing over a dozen revenue generating cars.

One thing I learned while riding on the Capitol Limited was, in the warmer months, how popular the route is with mountain bikers seeking to ride over the Western Maryland Rail Trail and various other trails in the mountains of Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Maryland. Pittsburgh and Cumberland were particularly busy stops and in June when I rode they needed both a full baggage car and a Superliner Coach Baggage for all the bikes along with other checked baggage. It is too bad Amtrak keeps reducing the number of staffed stations and therefore the number of places this important service can be offered.

The current consist provides one full coach (allowing the ADA-required lower level seating....when you can buy a ticket), a single sleeper (not a trans dorm) and a Cross Country Cafe-style food service car. Looking ahead in the next few days there are various seats still available but the costs are fairly high. Some days have no lower level seats available over portions of the route.

A fair amount of Capitol Limited traffic connects with the Pennsylvanian at Pittsburgh. It's unfortunate there isn't another coach, for at least the Chicago-Pittsburgh leg, to accommodate this crowd while not emptying out a bunch of the seats from Pittsburgh east.

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justalurker66
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Re: Capitol Limited

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GP30M4216 wrote:
Fri Feb 03, 2023 6:33 pm
A side note that I've also wondered why the Capitol Limited's Viewliner II baggage car sometimes has at least one set of doors open. BUT, with a regular sleeper instead of a transition dorm, the crew on the Superliners can't physically access the baggage car to close the doors when the train is in motion.
Theoretically they could close it at the next station stop. But I have seen them make the stop at Elkhart and roll away with the baggage door open (and there is no checked baggage at Elkhart so no reason to open the door there).

From Chicago the first checked baggage station is Toledo, then Cleveland, then Pittsburgh, then DC. So the trains I have seen with an open door at Elkhart have been open since Chicago (or Toledo - but I normally don't see the westbound).

Plannerdad
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Re: Capitol Limited

Unread post by Plannerdad »

On the Elkhart cam, Capitol Limited was back to 4 passenger cars including food service and one baggage, and was on-time!

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Re: Capitol Limited

Unread post by ConrailDetr​oit »

One thing I learned while riding on the Capitol Limited was, in the warmer months, how popular the route is with mountain bikers seeking to ride over the Western Maryland Rail Trail and various other trails in the mountains of Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Maryland. Pittsburgh and Cumberland were particularly busy stops and in June when I rode they needed both a full baggage car and a Superliner Coach Baggage for all the bikes along with other checked baggage. It is too bad Amtrak keeps reducing the number of staffed stations and therefore the number of places this important service can be offered.
Other trains still allow for bikes to be brought on board the train as a carry on, many but not all require a reservation and a $5 to $20 fee.

A ski or snowboard can be brought onboard as a carry on with no additional charge as long as in a transport bag. Although more convenient to utilize the free checked baggage service if the station offers the service, and to not take up an odd space in the luggage racks due to excessive length.

The difference with Amtrak and the airlines is needing to drop or claim checked bags at the layover station that offers the service, versus at the origin of destination where the service is not offered.

Plannerdad
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Re: Capitol Limited

Unread post by Plannerdad »

Capitol Limited had 1 baggage and 5 passenger cars tonight. Spring Break??

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