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Amtrak service to Roanoke starts 10/31/17


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#21 KevinKorell

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Posted 31 October 2017 - 10:26 AM

Roanoke, VA Times, 10/30/17:

 


 

 

A guide to using Amtrak in Roanoke

 

 

Tickets can be purchased via Amtrak.com, the Amtrak mobile app, on board or by calling 800-USA-RAIL.

 

Guide



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#22 Sloan

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Posted 01 November 2017 - 09:55 AM

 

 

First Roanoke Amtrak ride draws rail fans from all over

Roanoke’s new passenger train platform teemed with railroad buffs Halloween morning, two hours before the sun crested the horizon.

Many had arranged or rearranged their schedules for the week so that when an Amtrak train left a Roanoke station for the first time in 38 years, they could say they were on board.

http://www.roanoke.c...2d7cc058f7.html



#23 KevinKorell

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Posted 01 November 2017 - 12:34 PM

WDBJ-TV, Channel 7 in Roanoke, VA, 10/30/17:

 


 

 

Hotel Roanoke sees Amtrak boost before first passenger train

 

 

Hotel Roanoke staff say they are already seeing an Amtrak effect.

 

"We're definitely seeing some activity from the leisure standpoint," Michael Quonce, Hotel Roanoke Public Relations Manager, said. "We also had our sales team up in different markets pitching Roanoke, to take the train to come on down."

 

This story

 

Hotel Roanoke (Curio) is just north of the station, while there is a Hampton Inn several blocks to the south.  Hotels can and will do well with this train and its schedule.  However, what I said in the thread about Port Huron, MI is also true here. Other businesses in the downtown area won't be open when the train arrives between 9 and 10 PM, or before it departs in the 6 AM hour on weekdays or the 8 AM hour on weekends.  Another frequency would be the key here, with a midday arrival and departure available.  

 

I think that will be tough to accomplish, however.  The schedule tells us it takes approximately 5 hours to travel between Washington, DC and Roanoke.  So to have a morning arrival in Roanoke, such a train would have to depart Washington fairly early in the morning, which if that train were to originate in New York or Boston would mean another overnight train like the Newport News run (65/66/67). Ditto for an afternoon northbound Roanoke departure.



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#24 KevinKorell

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Posted 02 November 2017 - 12:37 PM

Roanoke, VA Times, 10/31/17:


 

First Roanoke Amtrak ride draws rail fans from all over

 

Roanoke’s new passenger train platform teemed with railroad buffs Halloween morning, two hours before the sun crested the horizon.

 

 

Read



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#25 KevinKorell

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Posted 10 November 2017 - 02:26 AM

More information on Amtrak service in Roanoke, from that city's point of view:

 

 

https://www.visitroa...tform=hootsuite

 

Note that besides the accessible platform,  the station does not have an enclosed area, no checked baggage, no rest rooms, and no ticket office.



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#26 LouP

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Posted 11 November 2017 - 10:41 AM

Normally one doesn't think of the Vatican bureaucracy as a fount of wisdom but once when an American university submitted plans for a new building the Vatican bureaucrats sent the plans back with a simple sentence in Latin: Suntne angelis?/ Are they angels? The plans forgot to include bathrooms.

#27 KevinKorell

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Posted 11 November 2017 - 12:31 PM

Huh?

 

This is not the first nor the last Amtrak station that does not have modern facilites.  In this digital age with online ticketing, they are saving money by not having a ticket office.  To pay a ticket agent to handle one daily departure and to be there as caretaker when the train arrives is not cost worthy.    If you consider other newer stations, such as many along the Downeaster route you won't find those amenities.

 

One can simply use the rest room before they leave their home or hotel, or at those places after arrival. And, each coach on the Amtrak train comes with 2 bathrooms.  On a 7-car train you have 14 toilets at your disposal.

 

In the past 10 hours I have both arrived and departed at the Roanoke Train Platform, and rest assured I did not have any "accidents".   



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