100 replies to this topic

[Sloan]

http://www.journalne...ocal/news02.txt

[KevinKorell]

Certainly good news, if it comes to fruition. Hopefully from its outset it will run 7 days a week rather than the 3 days a week it operated before its demise. I assume it would run as a section of the California Zephyr, as it did before, either as far west as Denver or Salt Lake City. If the former happens then that "rare" detour route we took across Wyoming for the Fest this past summer would once again host regularly scheduled passenger trains. Better yet, a second frequency could not hurt either, between Denver and Chicago, potentially bringing service during decent hours to places in Nebraska and Iowa that currently only have the CZ at very late night or very early morning hours. As far as a western terminus is concerned, it could either end in Portland (with convenient connection to/from a Cascades train), or it could provide another frequency between Portland and Seattle as it did before. Bottom line as always is the need for equipment and funding, but it's nice to at least be talking about it.

[ICGsteve]

Hummmmmm....No. This strikes me as using offense as defense. There is a push to cut the LD division, and what better way to fight that off then redirect the debate towards possible service additions. Also, all pushes to add new LD service weakens the position of those who call for Amtrak to run as a private company, to have market decisions and loss reduction planning override political considerations. A "reformer" who signs on will have the cover of saying that he/she is only calling for market study, however if they really believed that Amtrak should run as if private then even the call for study would be out of bounds. Amtrak's friends are trying to lure the opposition into a trap. Good politics.

[KevinKorell]

..what better way to fight that off then redirect the debate towards possible service additions.

OK, but define "service additions". This would be the restoration of a route that ran under Amtrak, so I would not call it new.

[ICGsteve]

addition: something more than what currently exists. All or almost all rail lines had passenger service on them at some point, saying that service once existed so doing it again is not an addition means that no service additions are possible. That is nonsense.

[EvergreenRailfan]

I rode the Pioneer 13 years ago, but sad to say, did not see much of Idaho(we passed through in the middle of the night). Two cars, one coach, one sleeper were sent onto Chicago at Denver with the California Zephyr. Now, I could go for bringing it back, perhaps if in return for some money for track improvements, Union Pacific can be persuaded to allow two frequencies. One a daily Portland-Boise-Salt Lake City run that runs through Idaho in Daylight(what a novel idea, have at least one Amtrak train pass through during the day, might get some good ridership), and another timed to connect with the California Zephyr in Denver. By the way, do the people at Beech Grove, if they had the funding, have the skills and the ability to produce the Superliners themselves? Just wondering, might provide some options for new equipment.

[KevinKorell]

Evergreen, One proposal floating around both before and after the Pioneer and Desert Wind were cancelled was to run a single train from Los Angeles to Seattle covering the routes of both.... sort of the long way around when compared to the Coast Starlight. I'm not sure how this would have helped with equipment needs or such. It would be timed to connect with the CZ to/from the east at Salt Lake City, but most likely it would have been too complicated for this train and the CZ to exchange cars at SLC. I've always been an advocate of running multiple frequencies on any LD route, covering station stops in daylight that are served in the wee hours by existing trains. But I doubt that Amtrak would go from zero trains to two in one shot like that. I do think that with Pocatello being a college town, it would be a good passenger generator with service that calls at good times of the day.

[EvergreenRailfan]

I would like to see an Empire Builder 2nd Section to provide extra service in the communities along the line that are dependent on them, as well as hitting Sandpoint, Libby, Spokane, in daylight, but that might not happen. I am not sure if it is still there, but one summer when I was at EWU, I went to Silverwood Amusement Park in Athol, Idaho. I believe Athol is on both the BNSF and UP lines, but there is no stop. Also, down in Southern Idaho, Pocatello being a college town did not prevent Greyhound from dropping it.(The cuts they made, just don't make any sense in a few cases. Like dropping Sioux Falls, South Dakota). Rimrock Stage Lines/Rimrock Trailways picked Pocatello up though. I still remember a joke I heard about my parents trying to arange a Greyhound ticket for my brother coming home from Caroll College once. Greyhound did not serve Helena, Mt, the passengers bound for Helena transfered at Missoula, and the joke was the response on whether the Rimrock would get to the connection on time. I forget if it was my father or the ticket agent that said it, but the response was if the horses don't die first! They supposedly fell out of their chair laughing!

[CNJRoss]

AP via "Montana's Newes Staition(s), 10/14:

Pioneer route passenger train might someday return to Idaho

POCATELLO, Idaho (AP) - U.S. Senator Mike Crapo says he might get on board a plan to return passenger rail service to Idaho by Amtrak by signing on as a co-sponsor to a Senate bill.

Continue.

[jis]

One a daily Portland-Boise-Salt Lake City run that runs through Idaho in Daylight(what a novel idea, have at least one Amtrak train pass through during the day, might get some good ridership), and another timed to connect with the California Zephyr in Denver.

You can pretty much forget about service to Boise from the East unless someone finds the money to restore the track that was used by the Pioneer to get to Boise from the east. That track was abandoned a while back. All you will get is a stop in the middle of nowhere with a bus connection to Boise, somewhat like Maricopa for Phoenix or in the past Borie for Cheyenne.