Ahh, gotcha. Read that wrong - was looking from the left, somehow missed NYC saw Buffalo and thought "Chicago to Buffalo? Hmm." My bad!
The Long Track Ahead
- Thread starter Usili
- Start date
- Status
That was pretty much answered by TheMann, but Amtrak did acquire the Crescent from Southern Railway.
Indeed. There isn't such a direct need based on population numbers, but the Southeast will be getting more passenger rail soon. Don't worry.
So in essence, altering the North Coast Hiawatha to terminate in Portland, while the EB terminates in Seattle? (I am slightly confused about this Western Star)
The big issues there as I see it, are fiscal numbers and if it would meet the criteria to be kept in operation.
Its fine. But I wonder how you thought the Empire State goes to Chicago when it terminates in Buffalo.
(There is the LSL of course)
OOC: Here is Chapter IV. With major thanks to TheMann for helping me in organizing the freight companies and how they might differ here.
IV: American Freight (1971-1980)
The declaration of bankruptcy by the Erie Lackawanna Railway on June 26th, 1972 following Hurricane Agnes would once more be another blow against railroads in the Northeast, ever since the bankruptcy of the Penn Central in 1970. The Erie Lackawanna going under would spell even further issues in the matter of railroads, as the bankruptcy of the Reading Railroad on November 23rd, 1971 and other economic issues saw a struggle of the survival of railroads in the Northeast and Midwest. What would force immediate government action would be the threat of Penn Central moving to a Chapter 11 bankruptcy (in essence liquidating its assets) and in turn the passing of the Regional Rail Reorganization Act of 1973 which would create the United States Railway Association, whose mission was to rebuild the rail network from the bankrupt railroads. The United States Railway Association would be left with the task to create a Final System Plan for the “Consolidated Railroad Corporation” as the idea behind it was planned, but the issues encountered would prove troublesome. As stipulated by government, there needed to be a direct competitor for “Conrail” as the Consolidated Railroad Corporation became known as, but the issue of how or who was the issue. Decisions would be assumed and the Erie Lackawanna Railway would as part of the Final System Plan be recapitalized, refinanced, and assume additional rail lines added to its management operations.
This would be met with annoyance by Congress, claiming that they didn't want to fund for two different railroads operating by the government, but would be pointed out that it would be supported by the government while remaining a public company. There was still concern in the United States Railway Association, as their main goal was to keep Conrail stable but with Erie Lackawanna present, that would be a challenge in and of itself in such a case. In such a case though, the Final System Plan for the creation of the Consolidated Railroad Corporation would be on track for the most part, until the announcement of bankruptcy proceedings by the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (also known as the Milwaukee Road) in February of 1975 suddenly. The Milwaukee Road had been in significant trouble ever since the failure of the planned merger with the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad which the railroad had been planning for throughout the 1960s. Then came the Burlington Northern being founded from a merger of four railroads and the Milwaukee Road doing little to attempt to stop or get any conciliatory actions due to it. The Milwaukee Road representatives however would manage to get eleven “Gateways” setup between the Milwaukee Road and the Burlington Northern for traffic to run through either/or of their lines by changing operations. Nonetheless, this did little to change the course of the Milwaukee Road as it struggled to keep afloat. More and more, the company was suffering significant issues present with the existing finances moving further and further south. One of the few bright business decisions made would be accepting a proposal by General Electric to overhaul the main electrification of the Pacific Extension along with fully completing it and ending the gap present.
Unfortunately, this would be one of the few business decisions last done by the Milwaukee Road, as on February 11th, 1975, Worthington Smith, the President of the Milwaukee Road would announce a Chapter 7 bankruptcy for the immediate liquidation of all assets. The action of this, surprisingly sudden saw immediate efforts to countermand this, and a ruling by the United States Court of Appeals of the Seventh Circuit to immediately halt the liquidation of it on March 3rd, 1975. These actions would lead to immediate reactions across the United States as the Interstate Commerce Commission, Internal Revenue Service, Federal Bureau of Investigations, and Securities and Exchange Commission would open up investigations on the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad, the Milwaukee Land Company (a subsidiary of the railroad), and the Chicago-Milwaukee Company (a holding company on the railroad) over what had happened. The actions of this were well-publicized and the debate over the future of the Milwaukee Road would already begin as the United States Railway Association was left with what to do with the railroad at the current situation. Five options were presented on the table for the railroad to be debated on. The first option would be to let the railroad go bankrupt and see its assets liquidated, with a monopoly being created in the northern Great Plains states. The second option would see an immediate recapitalization of the Milwaukee Road (similar to the Erie Lackawanna) for continued operations in the northern Great Plains states. The third option would be to create a Consolidated Railroad Corporation “West” separate from the existing Consolidated Railroad Corporation from the brunt of Penn Central. The fourth option would see the Milwaukee Road brought into the Consolidated Railroad Corporation, forming the first “transcontinental” railroad in American history (the United States Railroad Administration seeing the nationalization of the railroads in World War I would not count for this). The fifth option would also see the dissolution of the Burlington Northern immediately, and a readjustment of all lines along with the Milwaukee Road to see two railroads operating for traffic in the Northern Great Plains. After a discussion over nearly three weeks, option one, and option three would both be removed quite rapidly (with option one rejected in full by the ICC, and option three being rejected due to issues of funding). Option four did have its own concerns, with Conrail essentially having a monopoly from coast-to-coast shipping from the Ports of New York-Newark, Philadelphia-Camden, and Boston on the East Coast to the Ports of Seattle and Portland on the West Coast. Nonetheless, a commission would decide nearly seven weeks after to suggest the recommendation that the Milwaukee Road be included within the Consolidated Railroad Corporation.
The release of the recommendation by the United States Railway Association led to criticism and threats of lawsuits against the USRA, and the ICC for the proposal of creating a “trans-continental” railroad. Such a measure had never been done in full practice (not counting the United States Railroad Administration during WWI) and for an existing corporation. This would go against everything that had been forced before with railroad traffic and corporate control of mainlines divided by the Mississippi River. Now, with the precedent set by the inclusion of the Milwaukee Road into Conrail, it could open the floodgates for further creation of transcontinental railroads in the United States. An article released by the Wall Street Journal, called The Future of American Railroads? outlined how the American railroad industry might look in the year 2000 based off the proposal for the merger of the Milwaukee Road and Conrail. The article outlined “four” main transcontinental railroads in the United States, Conrail running along the northern Great Plains to the Mid-Atlantic states, the Burlington & Chessie running through the Northern Great Plains to Virginia and the southern Mid-Atlantic states (the B&C would also control the Norfolk & Western Railway), the E&SF (Erie & Santa Fe Railroad) running from the Southwestern United States to the Mid-Atlantic and New England, and the United Southern Railroad (from Southern Pacific and Southern Railway) running all along the Southern United States. The Family Lines System was still an independent railroad, with control divided between the E&SF and the B&C extending heavy traffic flows to compete with the United Southern Railroad. Union Pacific also still operated essentially west of the Mississippi, but fully independent (when compared to the Family Lines System for operations). This presented a very interesting picture of how the railroads might be shaped, with competition having changed from control on either side of the Mississippi, to which offered in some cases the fastest Eastern-Western route, or which served the most major destinations and control present.
Despite the public opinion, the Interstate Commerce Commission would rule in favor of handing over the Milwaukee Road to the Consolidated Railroad Corporation, as a state entity. However, there were mandates stating that Conrail was to have no government preference was not to be directed at Conrail, Conrail in the Pacific Northwest would see that rail traffic from Tacoma and Seattle would be brought onto Burlington Northern lines until 1990, and other components. This would continue the preparation of Conrail's Final System Plan to be published in November of 1976, which would see the Erie Lackawanna given the Jersey Central Railroad, the Lehigh & Hudson River Railway, the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, the Big Four line from Chicago to Louisville (via Indianapolis), the former New York Central Secondary Mary Line from Indianapolis to Cleveland, all of Conrail's lines (including the Maybrook Line) east of the Hudson River, and the Oak Island Yard owned by the Lehigh Valley Railroad just north of Newark. The Chessie Systems was authorized to be given the Reading Railroad, which would expand their coal mining operations present along the Appalachians in West Virginia and Pennsylvania. The Lehigh Valley Railroad was to be sold to the Canadian National Railway after an offer was put forth by them to acquire the LVR. This had painted a radical new picture of how the Northeast and Midwest looked in railroads, with three separate major railroads operating, Conrail, the Erie Lackawanna Railway, and Chessie Systems.
An Erie Lackawanna SD45 for Fast Freight
The Erie Lackawanna Railway would on January 1st, 1977 begin under new management, with Perry M. Shoemaker, who was both the former (and last) President of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railway, and Jersey Central, along with being the initial Vice-Chairman of the Erie Lackawanna Railway taking over the company as the new CEO, under directive by the federal government and the Railway Association. Mr. Shoemaker saw a need to recapitalize the EL under a new direction in order to maintain the direct profit margins for operating the company. The main competitors for East-West traffic from Chicago to New York City were the Consolidated Railroad Corporation, and the Canadian National Railway with the recent purchase of the Lehigh Valley Railroad. Compared to both other companies however, the EL had a significant hold on north-south traffic in the Midwest along with a relatively “straight” traffic through operation from Chicago to New York City. The orientation that was best seen for the company was straight forward, handling fast freight and time-sensitive traffic that needed to be moved quite rapidly, but the need to upgrade much of the tracks to handle such operations were also required. Bethlehem Steel and Heidelberg Cement (both of which were located in Northeast Pennsylvania) were contracted by the Erie Lackawanna to supply the materials to begin upgrading their available lines for high-speed freight traffic (70-80mph compared to the normal 55-65mph) and in addition replacing track that deferred maintenance had led to them being unusable. The plan initially for their main line from New York City to Chicago (via Scranton, PA and Marion, OH) to be fully brought for high-speed operations and then other lines along the north-south operations to be done so. The funding for much of the new capitol programs (for the most part) were coming directly from the Federal Government in the form of the United States Railway Association, which was helping both Conrail and the Erie Lackawanna (to the annoyance of its head).
The Consolidated Railroad Corporation as they began operation on January 1st, 1977 be faced with significant issues as the first “transcontinental” American railroad. Significant amounts of deferred maintenance had occurred for the Milwaukee Road, Penn Central, and the other railroads that Conrail had acquired. Then there was the issue of a major variety of rolling stock present (the Milwaukee Road being the biggest issue there) and the need for consolidation. The first CEO, Edward Jordan, was not someone who had worked in the railroad industry, but had been chosen by the Secretary of Transportation to lead the company in operations. Issues of management, differing pay structures, and organizational structure were ever present in the need for company-wide reorganization to a “standard” for managing the company. Edward Jordan saw a need for the company to organize itself and to “lean” it down, along with working with the associated companies who would wish to move goods that would be prime customers for Conrail. Traffic had constantly been increasing for the Milwaukee Road with the merger based off the eleven gateways authorized, and it was still increasing for the Pacific Northwest-Chicago aspect of the lines. Mr. Jordan did see that in some operational sense, the line running from Seattle to Chicago would be one of the most important and financial components of the system, and begin to strip down the former sidelines and branches in the West, while beginning heavy work on repairing the deferred maintenance. The initial priorities of this were huge, with major orders for new cement ties and continuously-welded rail to begin replacing older sections of track and significantly deferred sections. Mr. Jordan however, saw a major capitalization program that could start to improve the Pacific mainline of Conrail, and would outline a significant expansion with new sidelines authorized, improvements in track conditions, expansion of hump-yards, and the creation of a branchline from Terry, Montana down into the Powder River Basin to start being worked on immediately.
Senator Harley Orrin Staggers, Main Proponent of the Staggers Rail Act
As both Conrail and the EL were making their moves following their creation (or recreation depending upon the company), Congress was already beginning measures that would help the railroad industry. The railroad industry, like much of the American transportation was highly regulated (in some cases too regulated) and impacting the movement of goods throughout the United States. The debacle over the railroads throughout the first half of the nineteen seventies, with the creation of Amtrak and Conrail, and the recapitalization of the Erie Lackawanna had placed significant blame upon the over regulation of the railroad industry for causing the failure of Penn Central and what had happened. This would in the start of 1977 lead to the beginnings of the deregulation of much of the internal freight transportation in the United States, starting with the Motor Carrier Regulatory Reform and Modernization Act (commonly known as the Motor Carrier Act of 1977) which began a significant deregulation of the trucking industry, and as President Ford said when he signed the bill, “This measure will drastically reduce inflation at home, by up to as much as eight billion dollars... Furthermore, it will conserve hundreds of millions of gallons of fuel used by the trucking industry...” The Motor Carrier Act of 1977, had begun in some essence the final stages of deregulation of the movement of internal American freight begun under Nixon in the start of the decade. The next major deregulation bill passed would be the Staggers Rail Act of 1977, which would move to deregulate the rail industry following the Railroad Revitalization and Regulatory Reform Act of 1976 intended to help ensure it could remain profitable. In essence for both of the main deregulation acts passed in 1977, it had removed the Interstate Commerce Commission entirely from the scope of dealing with purview over contracts signed between companies in the railroad or trucking industry to their customers.
As the deregulation acts were put into play by Congress (and then signed by President Ford), the other railroads were also working on keeping themselves operating, taking over other railroads, and cooperating with other railroads. The Burlington Northern and the Southern Railway would begin talks over this period for a future acquisition of the St. Louis-San Francisco Railway (commonly known as the Frisco) and to divide it between them, with the lines running to Kansas and then the line from Kansas City to Memphis and the rest of the lines east of the Mississippi being sold to the Southern, while the rest of the Frisco would be bought and owned by the BN. Such an acquisition would allow Southern to haul grains, livestock and other goods from the Plains, while the Burlington Northern would gain additional access into the Texan markets. The Southern Railway would further than that begin talks with Southern Pacific for movement of transcontinental goods from the West Coast to the East Coast, with New Orleans functioning as the main transfer point between cargo between the Southern Railway and Southern Pacific.
The Family Lines System (situated as the main competitor to the Southern Railway) would also work on competing with the Southern Railway for traffic operations with goods from the West Coast (and Texan) markets to flow into the East Coast markets and vice versa. They would begin talks with the Missouri Pacific for moving goods via the Family Lines east-bound, however the issues of a direct east-west connection over the Appalachians would impact operations (the Family Lines in comparison had strong south-north bound operations). The Erie Lackawanna and the Family Lines would engage in talks, with fast freight cargo at times being connected to the Family Lines and then brought southwards, however often it was the opposite as cargo from the Family Lines was brought to the EL and shipped via them. The issues were troublesome, but it was hopeful with an increasing market in the Southeastern United States they could profit off that and the railroad deregulation.
The Erie Lackawanna had a significant advantage as they had began to work on full optimization into fast freight service (primarily from New York City to Chicago at the moment) as railroad improvements were under way for their entire system. Traffic was at times issues, but with a strong control on north-south routes in the Midwest (and increasing traffic from the Family Lines Systems) it was proving in some cases to be a profitable move done by the company. They would begin discussions with the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad to allow cargo shipped via them to be primarily brought through the Erie Lackawanna rather than other railroads (such as Conrail) and the deal would see increased Santa Fe traffic through the EL, and EL traffic through the Santa Fe showing an increased capacity in traffic. In addition, the EL would begin talks with the Norfolk & Western Railway for traffic opportunities present along with working to deal with the Chessie Systems and competing with them in the movement of coal from Appalachia. The market share was decreasing, and it was seen as the best way to compete with the Chessie at the moment via aiding the N&W.
All in all, the American freight railroad operations had drastically changed over the 1970s, and they would be poised to change even further over the 1980s as the ripples from what had happened were roaring outwards. The future of freight railroads were bright however, as deregulation had ensured its survival and increased movement of goods.
Zachanassian
Gone Fishin'
I would be lying if I said I knew a lot about the layout of American freight rail companies, but Giant Conrail combined with the continued existence of EL was not something I would have expected. It also looks like CSX might never come about.
I
EL's existence is because the American government wouldn't be too keen on having its government-owned company be the single huge player in the rail market in any part of the country. EL fixes that problem, and EL has the single best route between New York and Chicago and here can serve most of the big markets of the Northeast, thus serving as Conrail's competition. And yes, the plan mentioned in that post would stop CSX from existing.
EL's existence is because the American government wouldn't be too keen on having its government-owned company be the single huge player in the rail market in any part of the country. EL fixes that problem, and EL has the single best route between New York and Chicago and here can serve most of the big markets of the Northeast, thus serving as Conrail's competition. And yes, the plan mentioned in that post would stop CSX from existing.
I have hit a bit of a bump with the next Amtrak chapter, and work is slow there.
On the other hand, here is this. An Amtrak 'route' map of their current systems, it isn't 'truly' representative of the network for where the routes precisely go, but I'll move to fix it in the next version.
Map Guide:
2x Pixels (Daily train)
3x Pixels (2-3x Daily Train)
4x Pixels (4-6x Daily Train)
5x Pixels (7x+ Daily Train)
Also for the ten largest cities, they are five by five pixels, while cities in the top one hundred cities by population are three by three pixels. Cities below that are two by two pixels. Montreal and Vancouver which terminate Amtrak trains are not pictured, and they 'run' to the border and halt there to indicate this is just for the United States. I will work for the next map to figure out how to best include Montreal and Vancouver as pictured for Amtrak connections there.
EDIT: Fixed the Crescent and George Washington routing; added the Albany-Boston segment of the LSL I forgot.
On the other hand, here is this. An Amtrak 'route' map of their current systems, it isn't 'truly' representative of the network for where the routes precisely go, but I'll move to fix it in the next version.
Map Guide:
2x Pixels (Daily train)
3x Pixels (2-3x Daily Train)
4x Pixels (4-6x Daily Train)
5x Pixels (7x+ Daily Train)
Also for the ten largest cities, they are five by five pixels, while cities in the top one hundred cities by population are three by three pixels. Cities below that are two by two pixels. Montreal and Vancouver which terminate Amtrak trains are not pictured, and they 'run' to the border and halt there to indicate this is just for the United States. I will work for the next map to figure out how to best include Montreal and Vancouver as pictured for Amtrak connections there.
EDIT: Fixed the Crescent and George Washington routing; added the Albany-Boston segment of the LSL I forgot.
Last edited:
OOC: And here is the next Amtrak chapter done and ready.
The inauguration of President Kennedy in 1981 was seen by many as the dawn of a “new age” that could arise. The 1980 Election had been one that was hard fought to some degree in terms of the ads, but it was an eventuality that saw the election of Democrats after twelve years of being out of the White House. The inauguration speech of President Kennedy was one that was met primarily to inspire and to get Congress to go ahead. He called for a 'detente' with the Soviet Union, a warming of relations between both powers and to let the next generations live without the fear of nuclear war. He spoke of promises to better allow the funding of public transportation and to lower the dependency upon crude oil for the United States. The focus of public transportation had been to some degree one of the growing trends of both the Democrats and Republicans over the 1970s, with the high prices of oil. The trend of increasing public transportation would be faced in the 1980s and the results that would occur from it.
The first initial pro-public transportation bills that would proceed through Congress in the start of the 1980s would initially be sponsored in some part by the Junior Senator from Delaware, Joe Biden. The first bill, the Public Transportation Renewal Act of 1981 was envisioned by the Senator as a way to be able to help struggling public transportation agencies and also allow funding to be able to create new public transportation agencies (with the help of the state) and provide initial capitol funding for new major projects. In addition, the act also was intended to be able to provide funding for large new capitol programs if required (that the state could not provide). By the time the bill had passed through both houses, new provisions and old provisions had been struck from it, redefining portions of the bill. When the bill arrived in the White House, it still kept the three initial provisions as defined by the Senator, however it was changed in terms of the funding and how it could be done. The bill would eventually be signed, and made law on August 13th, 1981. The first usages of the bill would be by SEPTA (the Southeast Pennsylvania Transport Authority) to provide continued funding for service to Bethlehem. The Southeast Pennsylvania Transport Authority would be a continued issue for the new bill, with a hostile governor for much of the 1980s. The first usages of financing to assist a state (multiple states in this case) with a new public transportation agency would be the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Transit Authority (OKIRTA), based off the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments. OKIRTA was financed primarily by the state of Ohio (in part due to Governor Dick Celeste) with Indiana and Kentucky providing more minimal amounts of funding. OKIRTA was funded by the federal government to help provide development of commuter rail around Cincinnati (65% funding for capitol programs by the Federal government, 35% funding by all three states).
The second pro-public transportation bill that would proceed through Congress would be the American High Speed Rail Act of 1983, sponsored by Senator Thomas Eagleton seen by him as a significantly pro-environmental bill. The AHSRA (as proponents called it), was intended to finance the development of high speed rail within the United States with oil prices still expensive, and an ongoing trend of Americans seeking to “buck” the automobile with high gasoline prices still present. The development of high speed rail even beyond that was seen as a general economic investment that would pay off with its usage along with the experience gained from working on such projects. Furthermore, the AHSRA would work to finance projects even beyond Amtrak allowing private and public companies who fit the assigned credentials to received funding to work on building high speed rail with funding assistance from the Federal government. The bill would proceed quite rapidly through Congress, and be signed by the President on February 9th, 1983. By 1984, financing from the AHSRA would begin to companies (which includes Amtrak) who fit the required criteria for the high speed rail lines present.
The start of the 1980s for Amtrak left it in a somewhat reasonable status in comparison to the beginning of the 1970s when having been formed from the amalgamation of different passenger operations run by the railroads. In terms of financing, it was up compared to 1971 from the Federal government, with higher amounts of patronage contributing to additional income present, however the budget had yet to be balanced. It was still a major issue, with the funding limited for one capitol program (such as acquiring new rolling stock, new major track work, et cetera) available for funding every year to three years available, and the line for capitol programs was never ending. Rolling stock shortages were significant, and a major issue for Amtrak with some routes still not having enough available trains or cars for service and existing passenger overloads. One of the major issues were available coach cars, and the usage of the Amfleet cars for long distance runs were cited as a way to be able to lessen the shortages by taking them out of LD service, and reconfiguring them for service along short to medium runs rather. The issue with that however was what was to replace those cars used in LD service then?
Mr. Volpe would with the extensive rolling stock issues plaguing Amtrak begin having Amtrak's engineers drafting out the proposed “1981 Single Level Car” in March of 1981. The Single Level Car design was intended as the draft called out for a general car design capable of reaching one hundred and twenty five miles per hour, intended for HEP, and a single uniform frame to fit multiple designs under the proposal. The intended variants of the car as Mr. Volpe envisioned it, were to have baggage, bag-dorm, coach, diner, lounge, slumbercoachs, and slumber cars in a single main car design present. The waste disposal systems would of course differ via car design, but design work would begin for the new cars in 1981, taking nearly three years to design the initial car frames and how they might work in general layout for each proposed design. The initial Viewliner order numbers were unclear, and to be dealt with in the second half of the 1980s once suitable funding had been acquired to begin the capitol program. A contract with the Budd Car Company would arrange for components to build a baggage model, diner model, slumbercoach model, and slumber model would be done in 1985. The plan was for the workers at the Beech Grove shops to assemble the models, and to test the initial prototypes in service throughout the East Coast and to fix those errors before arranging the production order.
Richard Ravitch
The removal of John A. Volpe in office in February of 1983, would usher in the next President of Amtrak, being existing MTA chairman Richard Ravitch (he would resign from the MTA to take up the mantle of running Amtrak once offered the job). Mr. Ravitch would once taking up office see the issues present and the massive amount of different operations running in Amtrak at this point. While the Midwest was in some cases still having losses (and the off chance of profitability), the Northeast Corridor was where much of the existing 'profits' on train lines running was located. As such, Mr. Ravitch saw an intent to work on first fully upgrading the Northeast Corridor and increasing profits there in major efforts, while in lesser efforts working on the rest of the system when able with the freight railroads. In his mind, while the existing NEC running from Washington to Boston was acceptable, the possibility of expanding it further both north and south could allow increased finances along the lines (in his mind, the first 'steps' of expansion of the NEC would be to Richmond and Portland (Maine)). Of course, the groundwork to upgrade the NEC further had to be done and then expand, but if there were possibilities that could be taken to start doing the work now, it would be done.
The possibility of actually starting the work to expand northwards would be done when Mr. Ravitch heard word of the MBTA to start planning a tunnel between North and South Street Station for subway operations. He would immediately approach the MBTA to have Amtrak assist in co-funding the proposed tunnel in 1983. The proposed tunnel would expect a four year design study, and was named at the start as the “Cross Boston Tunnel” which would finally connect full revenue passenger traffic without diversion and the expected closure of the above-ground rail that connected both. Such a proposal for the funding saw Amtrak to provide 30% of the funding for it, with the MBTA providing the remaining 70% of the planned funding. President Ravitch saw the construction and operation of the CBT as a necessary step towards expanding to Portland for the Northeast Corridor in the North, and had placed a significant portion of the proposed capitol expenditures for the future funding of the CBT.
While Amtrak was helping the MBTA to fund the Cross Boston Tunnel (CBT), they were working on further capitol improvements in drafting and designing in the first half of the 1980s. The first major capitol program that was being drafted was called the “Empire Connection”, which was intended to connect all passenger traffic in New York City into Penn Station, rather than having traffic from the Water Level Route going into Grand Central and forcing passengers to transfer between two different stations. The Empire Connection was expected to require new tunneling to be able to accomplish the operations, while engineering studies began over how to best proceed on the task. The design study, would begin in 1983 and expected to be completed by 1988. Unbeknownst to Amtrak, the Long Island Railroad was working on the same program to connect their trains into Penn Station at this time.
Beyond the Empire Corridor, work was underway by Amtrak to fully grade separate the Northeast Corridor from Washington D.C. all the way up to Boston. With the mandate of grade separation, this would prevent any major risks of train accidents with automobiles, and guarantee the usage of high speed rail along the entire operating corridor. The initial plan was by 1986 to fully grade separate the Washington-New York City segment of the NEC, and by 1990 to fully grade separate the New York City-Boston segment. With the plan for the full grade separation, an intent by Amtrak was to also work on purchasing two additional right of ways (in addition to the three operating mainlines of the NEC) dedicated for high speed rail operation. The Amtrak Railroad Anacostia Bridge, Baltimore & Potomac Tunnel*, Portal Bridge*, North River & East River Tunnels, and the Niantic River Bridge* were expected to be some of the more growing concerns for HSR operations in the future, with the Baltimore & Potomac, Portal Bridge, and the Niantic River Bridge expected to need replacement by the end of the millennium for increased passenger traffic and HSR operations. The Thames River Bridge, located in Rhode Island was planned to include the construction of the second span for HSR operations solely with the base work for it already complete and operational.
The alignment of the "Great Circle Tunnel" in comparison to the Presstman Street proposal and existing Baltimore & Potomac Tunnel
Unfortunately, a derailment incident in the Baltimore & Potomac Tunnel would force immediate action for its replacement. An MRC commuter train running along the B&P Tunnel would on April 17th, 1983 derail in the middle of the tunnel halting all passenger traffic causing significant backups for all passenger services and a major headache for Amtrak. The next day, with the train moved out, Track No. 2 would need major repairs to be brought back to operations, while Track No. 1 could handle passenger traffic at a reduced flow. This was a major situation and the site of a major constraint in Amtrak's system. Pleading to Congress, Mr. Ravitch would manage to secure an additional one point two billion USD over the next five years to finance, study, and build a new tunnel to serve alongside the B&P tunnel being used. The study, lasting nearly sixteen months would see the plan of a 'grand circle' tunnel to be built, at nearly 10,800 feet long to be the primary 'replacement' for main Amtrak traffic to operate through. The biggest issue for the planning of construction was the placement of Baltimore Pennsylvania Station which ran north-south rather than an east-west which would facilitate development better. The plan for construction was estimated to take nearly five and a half years to dig out the tunnel using a single tunnel boring machine, and would be reduced to two and a half years with a pair of tunnel boring machines being used. The capitol cost of this would be debated on, stretching into late 1985 when eventually the decision to fund for two tunnel boring machines would be approved upon by Congress in the funding for it.
Of course, the matter of routes at this point would also be considered as over the first half of the 1980s, despite issues of rolling stock shortages on the short and medium distance trains, additional long distance trains would be funded for with state and federal funding. Two new routes added in the long distance operation west of the Mississippi would be the Desert Wind and the Pioneer. The Desert Wind was intended to connect Las Vegas to the Amtrak train network, but would alongside the Pioneer be attached with the California Zephyr from Chicago up until Salt Lake City where it would be disconnected and run towards Las Vegas and then towards Los Angeles. The Pioneer in comparison, would run north from Salt Lake City towards Boise, Portland, and then finally Seattle. Both additional trains ran on Vistaliner equipment (which unlike the single level cars, there was a surplus of) for the operational service present. Both the Pioneer and the Desert Wind ran as a triweekly train due to the way the connections were setup.
While Amtrak was working domestically, other issues were starting to sprout up internationally. In the Middle East, tensions were rife between Iran and Iraq to some degree as word had started to arrive of increased Soviet munitions present throughout Iraq, which started to worry Iran to some degree. In Europe, tensions were increasing ever since Andropov had become the new General Secretary in 1982. But it had been reported on by a few reports of things slowly starting to break down in the Warsaw Pact, such as rumors of full on strikes in Poland by factory workers, and other issues even inside the Soviet Union. The shoot down of KLM Flight 417 by Libya, would distract the ongoing events in the Warsaw Pact by the public, resulting in Operation Northern Tempest. The takeover by Grigory Romanov in 1985 from Andropov shocked many intelligence analysts and forced an immediate investigation into the matter there going on.
The 1984 Presidential Elections would see a change from 1980, with Vice President Cliff Finch asking to be removed from the ticket and Reubin Askew from Florida would be selected as the next Vice President. The run through of the Presidential election against the Republican ticket would see a ticket of John B. Anderson and Harold Stassen to run against the Kennedy/Askew ticket for the Democrats. It would see a win by the Democrats in '84, keeping the White House intact. The future of public transportation was clear, but as the first half of the 1980s drew to a close, rumbles were being made in national politics which could threaten Amtrak itself...
Northeast Corridor
Colonial: Boston-New York City-Washington D.C.-Richmond-Newport News (2x Daily)
Night Owl: Boston-Washington D.C.* (1x Daily)
Northeast Corridor Service: Washington D.C.-Philadelphia-New York City-New Haven-Boston (10x Daily Local, 3x Daily Express)
*Night Owl operates with sleepers
Water Level Route
Empire State Express: New York City-Albany-Syracuse-Rochester-Buffalo (2x Daily)
Keystone Corridor
Pennsylvanian: New York-Philadelphia-Harrisburg-Pittsburgh (1x Daily)
Silverliner Service: New York-Philadelphia-Harrisburg (2x Daily)
Valley Forge: New York-Harrisburg (4x Daily)
Northeast
Adirondack: New York City-Albany-Poughkeepsie-Montreal (1x Daily)
Montrealer/Washingtonian: Washington D.C.-New York-Hartford-Springfield-Montreal (1x Daily)
Midwest
Abraham Lincoln: St. Louis-Chicago-Milwaukee (2x Daily) (Service Eliminated to Milwaukee)
Black Hawk: Chicago-Dubuque (1x Daily)
Bluegrass: Cincinnati-Louisville-Bowling Green-Nashville (1x Daily)
Buckeye: Cincinnati-Dayton-Toledo-Detroit (2x Daily)
Hiawatha Service: Chicago-Milwaukee (4x Daily)
Illini: Chicago-Champaign (1x Daily)
Illinois Zephyr: Chicago-Quincy (1x Daily)
International Limited: Chicago-Port Huron-Toronto (1x Daily)
James Whitcomb Riley: Chicago-Indianapolis-Cincinnati (2x Daily)
Ohio State Limited: Cincinnati-Columbus-Cleveland-Buffalo (2x Daily)
Pere Marquette: Chicago-Grand Rapids (1x Daily)
River Runner: Kansas City-St. Louis-Cincinnati (2x Daily)
Shawnee: Chicago-Carbondale (1x Daily)
Wolverine: Chicago-Detroit (2x Daily)
Southeast
None
Texas
Texan Ranger: Dallas-Austin-San Antonio (1x Daily)
West
Mount Rainier: Seattle-Portland (1x Daily)
Pacific International: Seattle-Vancouver (1x Daily)
Puget Sound: Seattle-Portland (1x Daily)
San Diegan: San Diego-Los Angeles (7x Daily)
San Joaquin: Oakland-Emeryville-Sacramento-Fresno-Bakersfield-Los Angeles (4x Daily)
Long Distance Trains
Broadway Limited: New York City-Philadelphia-Harrisburg-Pittsburgh-Columbus-Fort Wayne-Chicago (1x Daily) (Routing altered to stop in Columbus)
California Zephyr: Chicago-Omaha-Denver-Salt Lake City (Separation of Desert Wind, Pioneer)-Reno-Sacramento-Oakland (1x Daily)
Champion: New York City-Washington D.C.-Charleston-Savannah-Jacksonville-St. Petersburg/Miami (1x Daily)
Cincinnati Limited: Cincinnati-Columbus-Pittsburgh-Harrisburg-Philadelphia (1x Daily)
Coast Starlight/Daylight: Seattle-Portland-Oakland-Los Angeles (1x Daily)
Crescent: New York City-Washington D.C.-Greensboro-Atlanta-Birmingham-New Orleans (1x Daily)
Desert Wind: (Attached to California Zephyr)-Las Vegas-Los Angeles (3x Weekly)
Empire Builder: Chicago-Minneapolis-Spokane-Seattle/Portland (1x Daily)
George Washington: Cincinnati-Charleston-Newport News (1x Daily)
Lake Shore Limited: Chicago-Toledo-Cleveland-Buffalo-Albany-New York City/Boston (1x Daily)
Lone Star: Kansas City-Oklahoma City-Dallas-Houston (1x Daily)
North Coast Hiawatha: Chicago-Minneapolis-Bismarck-Butte-Spokane-Seattle (1x Daily)
Panama Limited: Chicago-Memphis-New Orleans (1x Daily)
Pioneer: (Attached to California Zephyr)-Boise-Portland-Seattle (3x Weekly)
Silver Meteor: New York City-Washington D.C.-Charleston-Savannah-Jacksonville-Orlando-Miami (1x Daily)
Silver Star: New York City-Washington D.C.-Raleigh-Columbia-Savannah-Jacksonville-Orlando-Miami (1x Daily)
Southwest Limited: Chicago-Kansas City-Albuquerque-Los Angeles (1x Daily)
Sunset Limited: New Orleans-Houston-San Antonio-Los Angeles (1x Daily)
V: A New Future? (1981-1985)
The inauguration of President Kennedy in 1981 was seen by many as the dawn of a “new age” that could arise. The 1980 Election had been one that was hard fought to some degree in terms of the ads, but it was an eventuality that saw the election of Democrats after twelve years of being out of the White House. The inauguration speech of President Kennedy was one that was met primarily to inspire and to get Congress to go ahead. He called for a 'detente' with the Soviet Union, a warming of relations between both powers and to let the next generations live without the fear of nuclear war. He spoke of promises to better allow the funding of public transportation and to lower the dependency upon crude oil for the United States. The focus of public transportation had been to some degree one of the growing trends of both the Democrats and Republicans over the 1970s, with the high prices of oil. The trend of increasing public transportation would be faced in the 1980s and the results that would occur from it.
The first initial pro-public transportation bills that would proceed through Congress in the start of the 1980s would initially be sponsored in some part by the Junior Senator from Delaware, Joe Biden. The first bill, the Public Transportation Renewal Act of 1981 was envisioned by the Senator as a way to be able to help struggling public transportation agencies and also allow funding to be able to create new public transportation agencies (with the help of the state) and provide initial capitol funding for new major projects. In addition, the act also was intended to be able to provide funding for large new capitol programs if required (that the state could not provide). By the time the bill had passed through both houses, new provisions and old provisions had been struck from it, redefining portions of the bill. When the bill arrived in the White House, it still kept the three initial provisions as defined by the Senator, however it was changed in terms of the funding and how it could be done. The bill would eventually be signed, and made law on August 13th, 1981. The first usages of the bill would be by SEPTA (the Southeast Pennsylvania Transport Authority) to provide continued funding for service to Bethlehem. The Southeast Pennsylvania Transport Authority would be a continued issue for the new bill, with a hostile governor for much of the 1980s. The first usages of financing to assist a state (multiple states in this case) with a new public transportation agency would be the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Transit Authority (OKIRTA), based off the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments. OKIRTA was financed primarily by the state of Ohio (in part due to Governor Dick Celeste) with Indiana and Kentucky providing more minimal amounts of funding. OKIRTA was funded by the federal government to help provide development of commuter rail around Cincinnati (65% funding for capitol programs by the Federal government, 35% funding by all three states).
The second pro-public transportation bill that would proceed through Congress would be the American High Speed Rail Act of 1983, sponsored by Senator Thomas Eagleton seen by him as a significantly pro-environmental bill. The AHSRA (as proponents called it), was intended to finance the development of high speed rail within the United States with oil prices still expensive, and an ongoing trend of Americans seeking to “buck” the automobile with high gasoline prices still present. The development of high speed rail even beyond that was seen as a general economic investment that would pay off with its usage along with the experience gained from working on such projects. Furthermore, the AHSRA would work to finance projects even beyond Amtrak allowing private and public companies who fit the assigned credentials to received funding to work on building high speed rail with funding assistance from the Federal government. The bill would proceed quite rapidly through Congress, and be signed by the President on February 9th, 1983. By 1984, financing from the AHSRA would begin to companies (which includes Amtrak) who fit the required criteria for the high speed rail lines present.
The start of the 1980s for Amtrak left it in a somewhat reasonable status in comparison to the beginning of the 1970s when having been formed from the amalgamation of different passenger operations run by the railroads. In terms of financing, it was up compared to 1971 from the Federal government, with higher amounts of patronage contributing to additional income present, however the budget had yet to be balanced. It was still a major issue, with the funding limited for one capitol program (such as acquiring new rolling stock, new major track work, et cetera) available for funding every year to three years available, and the line for capitol programs was never ending. Rolling stock shortages were significant, and a major issue for Amtrak with some routes still not having enough available trains or cars for service and existing passenger overloads. One of the major issues were available coach cars, and the usage of the Amfleet cars for long distance runs were cited as a way to be able to lessen the shortages by taking them out of LD service, and reconfiguring them for service along short to medium runs rather. The issue with that however was what was to replace those cars used in LD service then?
Mr. Volpe would with the extensive rolling stock issues plaguing Amtrak begin having Amtrak's engineers drafting out the proposed “1981 Single Level Car” in March of 1981. The Single Level Car design was intended as the draft called out for a general car design capable of reaching one hundred and twenty five miles per hour, intended for HEP, and a single uniform frame to fit multiple designs under the proposal. The intended variants of the car as Mr. Volpe envisioned it, were to have baggage, bag-dorm, coach, diner, lounge, slumbercoachs, and slumber cars in a single main car design present. The waste disposal systems would of course differ via car design, but design work would begin for the new cars in 1981, taking nearly three years to design the initial car frames and how they might work in general layout for each proposed design. The initial Viewliner order numbers were unclear, and to be dealt with in the second half of the 1980s once suitable funding had been acquired to begin the capitol program. A contract with the Budd Car Company would arrange for components to build a baggage model, diner model, slumbercoach model, and slumber model would be done in 1985. The plan was for the workers at the Beech Grove shops to assemble the models, and to test the initial prototypes in service throughout the East Coast and to fix those errors before arranging the production order.
Richard Ravitch
The possibility of actually starting the work to expand northwards would be done when Mr. Ravitch heard word of the MBTA to start planning a tunnel between North and South Street Station for subway operations. He would immediately approach the MBTA to have Amtrak assist in co-funding the proposed tunnel in 1983. The proposed tunnel would expect a four year design study, and was named at the start as the “Cross Boston Tunnel” which would finally connect full revenue passenger traffic without diversion and the expected closure of the above-ground rail that connected both. Such a proposal for the funding saw Amtrak to provide 30% of the funding for it, with the MBTA providing the remaining 70% of the planned funding. President Ravitch saw the construction and operation of the CBT as a necessary step towards expanding to Portland for the Northeast Corridor in the North, and had placed a significant portion of the proposed capitol expenditures for the future funding of the CBT.
While Amtrak was helping the MBTA to fund the Cross Boston Tunnel (CBT), they were working on further capitol improvements in drafting and designing in the first half of the 1980s. The first major capitol program that was being drafted was called the “Empire Connection”, which was intended to connect all passenger traffic in New York City into Penn Station, rather than having traffic from the Water Level Route going into Grand Central and forcing passengers to transfer between two different stations. The Empire Connection was expected to require new tunneling to be able to accomplish the operations, while engineering studies began over how to best proceed on the task. The design study, would begin in 1983 and expected to be completed by 1988. Unbeknownst to Amtrak, the Long Island Railroad was working on the same program to connect their trains into Penn Station at this time.
Beyond the Empire Corridor, work was underway by Amtrak to fully grade separate the Northeast Corridor from Washington D.C. all the way up to Boston. With the mandate of grade separation, this would prevent any major risks of train accidents with automobiles, and guarantee the usage of high speed rail along the entire operating corridor. The initial plan was by 1986 to fully grade separate the Washington-New York City segment of the NEC, and by 1990 to fully grade separate the New York City-Boston segment. With the plan for the full grade separation, an intent by Amtrak was to also work on purchasing two additional right of ways (in addition to the three operating mainlines of the NEC) dedicated for high speed rail operation. The Amtrak Railroad Anacostia Bridge, Baltimore & Potomac Tunnel*, Portal Bridge*, North River & East River Tunnels, and the Niantic River Bridge* were expected to be some of the more growing concerns for HSR operations in the future, with the Baltimore & Potomac, Portal Bridge, and the Niantic River Bridge expected to need replacement by the end of the millennium for increased passenger traffic and HSR operations. The Thames River Bridge, located in Rhode Island was planned to include the construction of the second span for HSR operations solely with the base work for it already complete and operational.
The alignment of the "Great Circle Tunnel" in comparison to the Presstman Street proposal and existing Baltimore & Potomac Tunnel
Unfortunately, a derailment incident in the Baltimore & Potomac Tunnel would force immediate action for its replacement. An MRC commuter train running along the B&P Tunnel would on April 17th, 1983 derail in the middle of the tunnel halting all passenger traffic causing significant backups for all passenger services and a major headache for Amtrak. The next day, with the train moved out, Track No. 2 would need major repairs to be brought back to operations, while Track No. 1 could handle passenger traffic at a reduced flow. This was a major situation and the site of a major constraint in Amtrak's system. Pleading to Congress, Mr. Ravitch would manage to secure an additional one point two billion USD over the next five years to finance, study, and build a new tunnel to serve alongside the B&P tunnel being used. The study, lasting nearly sixteen months would see the plan of a 'grand circle' tunnel to be built, at nearly 10,800 feet long to be the primary 'replacement' for main Amtrak traffic to operate through. The biggest issue for the planning of construction was the placement of Baltimore Pennsylvania Station which ran north-south rather than an east-west which would facilitate development better. The plan for construction was estimated to take nearly five and a half years to dig out the tunnel using a single tunnel boring machine, and would be reduced to two and a half years with a pair of tunnel boring machines being used. The capitol cost of this would be debated on, stretching into late 1985 when eventually the decision to fund for two tunnel boring machines would be approved upon by Congress in the funding for it.
Of course, the matter of routes at this point would also be considered as over the first half of the 1980s, despite issues of rolling stock shortages on the short and medium distance trains, additional long distance trains would be funded for with state and federal funding. Two new routes added in the long distance operation west of the Mississippi would be the Desert Wind and the Pioneer. The Desert Wind was intended to connect Las Vegas to the Amtrak train network, but would alongside the Pioneer be attached with the California Zephyr from Chicago up until Salt Lake City where it would be disconnected and run towards Las Vegas and then towards Los Angeles. The Pioneer in comparison, would run north from Salt Lake City towards Boise, Portland, and then finally Seattle. Both additional trains ran on Vistaliner equipment (which unlike the single level cars, there was a surplus of) for the operational service present. Both the Pioneer and the Desert Wind ran as a triweekly train due to the way the connections were setup.
The prototype Viewliner sleeper "Indianapolis"
In the east, the short and medium distance trains were also modified with the Abraham Lincoln (already operating as a bidaily service) intended to run from St. Louis to Chicago as a bidaily train, with the River Runner increased to a bidaily service between Cincinnati, St. Louis and Kansas City. This was in some part straining the single level cars available for regular service, and the addition of the Black Hawk as a single daily train (funded by the Illinois State Government) between Chicago and Dubuque, Iowa, and the Pere Marquette (funded by the Michigan State Government) between Chicago and Grand Rapids, Michigan did no part to add to the issues. The addition of the International Limited to run between Chicago and Toronto via Port Huron, Michigan was to some relief operated with VIA Rail (which provided 60% of the cars for usage) and did strain the system despite that. Despite funding requests to increase service from the state of Ohio, Amtrak would refuse to increase service. This would be met in 1983 with threats of cutting all funding from Ohio out entirely unless service could be increased on both the Buckeye and the Ohio State Express. This would be met with the proposal to fully “Vistalinerize” the main Ohio trains, which would be the Buckeye and Ohio State Limited. The bilevel cars could fit in operational schedules at Buffalo with some modifications. The movement of the Buckeye and the Ohio State Limited saw a slight ease of additional single level rolling stock available. In addition, the schedule (and routing) of the Broadway Limited was altered to fit to arrive with the evening Ohio State Limited (from Cincinnati) into Columbus. The release of the prototype Viewliner models (baggage, diner, and slumbercoach) would to some degree release up additional usage with all three models initially being used on the George Washington in late 1985 from Cincinnati to Newport News. The modifications of the schedules of the Broadway Limited along with the scheduling of the Cincinnati Limited would between the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and Amtrak lead to a 'cancellation' of the Valley Forge and the Silverliner Service in 1982, to be replaced by at the start of the 1983 with the Pennsylvanian train service running as a daily service between Pittsburgh and New York City. The modified equipment arrangements freed up additional cars for other trains if needed, and the possibility of increasing the Pennsylvanian to a bidaily service if so done.
While Amtrak was working domestically, other issues were starting to sprout up internationally. In the Middle East, tensions were rife between Iran and Iraq to some degree as word had started to arrive of increased Soviet munitions present throughout Iraq, which started to worry Iran to some degree. In Europe, tensions were increasing ever since Andropov had become the new General Secretary in 1982. But it had been reported on by a few reports of things slowly starting to break down in the Warsaw Pact, such as rumors of full on strikes in Poland by factory workers, and other issues even inside the Soviet Union. The shoot down of KLM Flight 417 by Libya, would distract the ongoing events in the Warsaw Pact by the public, resulting in Operation Northern Tempest. The takeover by Grigory Romanov in 1985 from Andropov shocked many intelligence analysts and forced an immediate investigation into the matter there going on.
The 1984 Presidential Elections would see a change from 1980, with Vice President Cliff Finch asking to be removed from the ticket and Reubin Askew from Florida would be selected as the next Vice President. The run through of the Presidential election against the Republican ticket would see a ticket of John B. Anderson and Harold Stassen to run against the Kennedy/Askew ticket for the Democrats. It would see a win by the Democrats in '84, keeping the White House intact. The future of public transportation was clear, but as the first half of the 1980s drew to a close, rumbles were being made in national politics which could threaten Amtrak itself...
Amtrak Routes
Northeast Corridor
Colonial: Boston-New York City-Washington D.C.-Richmond-Newport News (2x Daily)
Night Owl: Boston-Washington D.C.* (1x Daily)
Northeast Corridor Service: Washington D.C.-Philadelphia-New York City-New Haven-Boston (10x Daily Local, 3x Daily Express)
*Night Owl operates with sleepers
Water Level Route
Empire State Express: New York City-Albany-Syracuse-Rochester-Buffalo (2x Daily)
Keystone Corridor
Pennsylvanian: New York-Philadelphia-Harrisburg-Pittsburgh (1x Daily)
Silverliner Service: New York-Philadelphia-Harrisburg (2x Daily)
Valley Forge: New York-Harrisburg (4x Daily)
Northeast
Adirondack: New York City-Albany-Poughkeepsie-Montreal (1x Daily)
Montrealer/Washingtonian: Washington D.C.-New York-Hartford-Springfield-Montreal (1x Daily)
Midwest
Abraham Lincoln: St. Louis-Chicago-Milwaukee (2x Daily) (Service Eliminated to Milwaukee)
Black Hawk: Chicago-Dubuque (1x Daily)
Bluegrass: Cincinnati-Louisville-Bowling Green-Nashville (1x Daily)
Buckeye: Cincinnati-Dayton-Toledo-Detroit (2x Daily)
Hiawatha Service: Chicago-Milwaukee (4x Daily)
Illini: Chicago-Champaign (1x Daily)
Illinois Zephyr: Chicago-Quincy (1x Daily)
International Limited: Chicago-Port Huron-Toronto (1x Daily)
James Whitcomb Riley: Chicago-Indianapolis-Cincinnati (2x Daily)
Ohio State Limited: Cincinnati-Columbus-Cleveland-Buffalo (2x Daily)
Pere Marquette: Chicago-Grand Rapids (1x Daily)
River Runner: Kansas City-St. Louis-Cincinnati (2x Daily)
Shawnee: Chicago-Carbondale (1x Daily)
Wolverine: Chicago-Detroit (2x Daily)
Southeast
None
Texas
Texan Ranger: Dallas-Austin-San Antonio (1x Daily)
West
Mount Rainier: Seattle-Portland (1x Daily)
Pacific International: Seattle-Vancouver (1x Daily)
Puget Sound: Seattle-Portland (1x Daily)
San Diegan: San Diego-Los Angeles (7x Daily)
San Joaquin: Oakland-Emeryville-Sacramento-Fresno-Bakersfield-Los Angeles (4x Daily)
Long Distance Trains
Broadway Limited: New York City-Philadelphia-Harrisburg-Pittsburgh-Columbus-Fort Wayne-Chicago (1x Daily) (Routing altered to stop in Columbus)
California Zephyr: Chicago-Omaha-Denver-Salt Lake City (Separation of Desert Wind, Pioneer)-Reno-Sacramento-Oakland (1x Daily)
Champion: New York City-Washington D.C.-Charleston-Savannah-Jacksonville-St. Petersburg/Miami (1x Daily)
Cincinnati Limited: Cincinnati-Columbus-Pittsburgh-Harrisburg-Philadelphia (1x Daily)
Coast Starlight/Daylight: Seattle-Portland-Oakland-Los Angeles (1x Daily)
Crescent: New York City-Washington D.C.-Greensboro-Atlanta-Birmingham-New Orleans (1x Daily)
Desert Wind: (Attached to California Zephyr)-Las Vegas-Los Angeles (3x Weekly)
Empire Builder: Chicago-Minneapolis-Spokane-Seattle/Portland (1x Daily)
George Washington: Cincinnati-Charleston-Newport News (1x Daily)
Lake Shore Limited: Chicago-Toledo-Cleveland-Buffalo-Albany-New York City/Boston (1x Daily)
Lone Star: Kansas City-Oklahoma City-Dallas-Houston (1x Daily)
North Coast Hiawatha: Chicago-Minneapolis-Bismarck-Butte-Spokane-Seattle (1x Daily)
Panama Limited: Chicago-Memphis-New Orleans (1x Daily)
Pioneer: (Attached to California Zephyr)-Boise-Portland-Seattle (3x Weekly)
Silver Meteor: New York City-Washington D.C.-Charleston-Savannah-Jacksonville-Orlando-Miami (1x Daily)
Silver Star: New York City-Washington D.C.-Raleigh-Columbia-Savannah-Jacksonville-Orlando-Miami (1x Daily)
Southwest Limited: Chicago-Kansas City-Albuquerque-Los Angeles (1x Daily)
Sunset Limited: New Orleans-Houston-San Antonio-Los Angeles (1x Daily)
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OOC: And here's the next chapter done. Questions and comments are appreciated.
The start of the second half of the 1980s for Amtrak was one of more organized 'solace' in terms of funding as they had set out in their initial plans to move through and complete. The existing major programs were underway and in satisfactory condition. Operational funding was at the same amounts as it was before and in the required amounts. Annual ridership had reached 29 million people in 1985, with the Southeast and Texas showing some of the biggest areas of growth of ridership at this point. All was fine for Amtrak as smooth sailing continued.
The Northeast High Speed Rail Program (NEHSRP) had officially begun in 1983 with the initial purchases of the rights of way between Washington and New York City (intended as Phase I of the NEHSRP). In February of 1986, construction would begin just north of Philadelphia for the first high speed track (the right of way purchases was ongoing along with discussions with the Federal Railroad Administration over the exact classification of the tracks). The expected time of completion was expected to take nearly three and a half years until both high speed lines were fully completed, with Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York City intended to be the initial stations for usage on the high speed lines. Some of the chief complaints that were addressed as to why Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York City were chosen for the first stations to use high speed rail was primarily addressed as to the major centers of population and points where commuter rail fed into the stations. The expected time with the planned 175mph high speed rail between Washington and New York City was expected to be an hour and a half to two hours including stops at all stations and traffic for entering the major stations. While construction was ongoing, Amtrak would begin looking at possible trains to be used along the new high speed route. Siemens (the manufacturer of the planned InterCity-Express), ABB (the manufacturer of the X 2), a Bombardier (manufacturer of the Via Rail LRC)-Alstom (manufacturer of the TGV) consortium, and Hitachi (manufacturer of the Shinkansen bullet train) would all be chosen as the final bids for the contract by Amtrak. The final bid designs all had to work with the NEC high-speed rail grid, work with high-level platforms, and finally it had to be built domestically within the United States. While Amtrak was looking over the proposed designs, other matters were taking precedence at the national level...
The 1986 mid-term elections would see a significant political shift with the Republicans taking control of the House of Representatives. Poor economic results over 1986, along with numerous comments made about President Kennedy being “weak on defense” with increasing tensions saw a route to gain, with the Republicans taking control of the House with 231 seats versus the Democrats with 204 seats. The Republicans had cited a desire to lower some of the existing government funding in programs which they cited as “overspending” or not using the money properly. In this case, one of the initial agencies targeted would be Amtrak and the NEHSRP. In a session with the appropriations' committee and President Ravitch over the progress of the high speed rail program he did acknowledge that, “Yes, the work on the high speed rail is expensive. But it is not the hardware or rails that are the cost. It is merely the cost of the right of ways and having to purchase the land for being used...” With nearly 90% of the right of ways purchased between Washington and New York City, the next funding bill for Amtrak would continue to fund the completion of the Washington-New York City segment, but for an indefinite future halt funding for the New York City-Boston segment. In addition, it provided funding for the planned fifteen trainsets to be bought by Amtrak for usage (the appropriations committee had failed to note the fifteen trainsets requested were for the entire segment from Washington D.C. to Boston when they had funded that). The funding bill also provided more allocations for clarifications and definitions on funding for state-operated routes and the funding levels that it clarified. The primary purpose of this was to reduce the funding level required by Amtrak, and to place it more upon states. This in addition was met with a lowered funding level for managing existing routes and it had been bluntly suggested by the chairman of the appropriations committee to reduce the amount of routes operating.
The Palmetto leaving Ashland, VA
The change in the budget forced newer decisions to be done, especially with increased demands for passenger services in the Southeast and Texas. Significant considerations had to be placed with plans to start the operations before the new Congress convened post-midterm elections. Initially, starting in October of 1986 discussions had begun between Amtrak, and the state governments of Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia for expanded Amtrak service in the Southeastern United States. By July of 1987, deals had been reached for two new Amtrak trains to start running in the Southeastern United States which were to be named the Carolinian and the Palmetto. The Carolinian was intended to run from Charlotte to Raleigh to Washington and was to receive a significant subsidy from the state government of North Carolina with it running as a daily train. The Palmetto was intended to run from Savannah to Charleston to Fayetteville to Washington with lesser subsidies from Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina as a full day-time train running once a day. The intent with both trains arriving in DC was for passengers if necessary to transfer to Northeast Corridor Service trains, or the as of yet unnamed high speed line once completed if proceeding to New York City. Furthermore, the creation of both lines was hoped to lessen demand on the main long distance trains for those wishing to head to the Northeast from the Southeast via train.
A smaller overhaul program had begun with the addition of the new corridors for Amtrak operations. The overhaul program would see the 69 “Amcafe” and 103 “Amcoach” being sent to Beech Grove in small numbers to be reconverted into regular coach cars to be used for moving the older Heritage Fleet coach cars onto long distance trains. The cuts for the New York City-Boston segment of the high speed rail allowed those funds already put away to be directed towards the long-planned and never initiated overhaul program. It was expected to take three years to fully modify all 172 cars and bring them into service as coach cars. The overhaul program would also judge the wear and tear of the cars as the debates over the amount of initial Viewliner cars to be ordered were waged. A consensus for an initial order were for the purchase of thirty baggage cars, twenty bag-dorms, ninety coaches, twenty diners, twenty lounges, forty slumbercoaches, and sixty sleepers, a total of 280 cars. The amount of new cars ordered were for select routes to fully convert to new 'Viewliner' consists and being able to shore up reserves with the Heritage Fleet cars for routes already running with the Heritage Fleet consists. The usage of the Vistaliners in the Midwest, and the recent additions of the Desert Wind and the Pioneer were also of debate if a second order of Vistaliners should be sought by Amtrak or not.
By the end of the first half of 1987, the first new 'trains' began to be run on the Northeast Corridor to gauge public view of them. The ICE (InterCity-Express), X 2, TGV, and Shinkansen (all of which were modified to run on the NEC) would be shipped to begin testing and gauging public opinion on them. From July of 1987 to December of 1988, all four separate trains ran along the Northeast Corridor from Washington to Boston with public opinion of all the trains being gauged along with regular performance on the tracks in question. In terms of public opinion, the ICE and the TGVs were the ones most seen as “popular” for usage, while the X 2s performed remarkably well with the active tilt system in play to help with the curves on the regular Northeast Corridor tracks (most in particular between Boston and New York City). The decision would be debated as to how best to proceed, and eventually a decision was made for the German ICE to be selected for the Northeast Corridor high speed rail. As part of the contract signed between Amtrak, General Electric, and Siemens, a total of thirty power cars, one hundred and twenty eight 'second-class' cars, sixty-four 'first-class' cars, sixteen service cars, and sixteen restaurant cars would be bought for by Amtrak. General Electric was designated to build the entire order at their domestic plants, per the contract signed. It was estimated to take nearly eighteen months from the signing of the contract from March of 1989 to see the first ICE cars arrive in the Northeast. It was thought that by the start of 1992, official service would begin for high-speed rail along the Northeast Corridor with the new service operating.
The second half of the 1980s also saw a new transition with the emergence of 'state' Amtrak operations, with states managing the full financing and operations of routes solely within their own states. The first service would be the “Amtrak California” service which would start on 1/1/1986, which was intended to start handling and taking over all California operating routes (the San Diegan and San Joaquin). It was intended by 1995 to fully run their fleet with state operated rolling stock and locomotives with funding provided to begin initial studies to identify the best type of rolling stock for the network, and to look at the initial locomotive for usage. In 1988, the F59PH being built by General Electric fit a planned criteria, however Amtrak California would begin discussions for a modified variant of the F59PH with an improved engine, a dedicated HEP generator, and a “smoother” look (to make it appear more like a passenger locomotive than a freight locomotive). It was expected by the start of 1990 for the “F59PHI” (as internal documents for Amtrak California said) to be ready to start being built and begin orders by Amtrak California. Meanwhile, discussions were still occurring for the best rolling stock configuration to be used with the only thing made clear as a “bilevel” car similar to the Vistaliners.
The second state Amtrak operation that would emerge would be the Amtrak Texas service on 1/1/1987, following the passing of Proposition 19 in the 1986 elections. Amtrak Texas had been funded for with the initial payments of 1.7 billion in state bonds to support state passenger service within the state of Texas. The initial plan of action was the handover of the Texan Ranger route being operated by Amtrak once new initial locomotives and rolling stock had been acquired. For Amtrak Texas, they would seek to purchase eighteen F40PHs from General Electric (which were intended to be modernized for better fuel economy) along with plans for the purchase of sixty Vistaliner coach cars, and fifteen modified 'coach-cafe' cars intended to have coach seats on the lower level and a cafe on the upper level. A contract would be sought with Bombardier (who had bought the patents and designs from Pullman Standard in 1986) for the order. The details over the contract and specifications saw a modified coach car to be designed and built for Amtrak Texas which saw the removal of eight of the twelve lower coach seats for expanded baggage space (due to the lack of any baggage cars being bought by Amtrak Texas), and saw seventy-five of the modified Vistaliners being bought along with fifteen of the 'coach-cafe' cars totaling ninety Vistaliners being bought by Amtrak Texas in all. By the start of mid-1988, the first new Amtrak Texas F40PHs began to arrive for crew training along with the first new Vistaliners models dubbed the “Texas Vistaliners”. Amtrak Texas initially envisioned two main routes operating, the new Dallas Belle, and the existing Texan Ranger. Both trains were intended to be bidaily operations, with the Dallas Belle intended to be from Dallas to Houston (the main crew hub and maintenance hub of Amtrak Texas was envisioned being in Dallas). Both trains would be operating by the end of the 1980s either on a single-daily or bidaily operation (depending on the amount of cars available that day with the new cars being brought from the Bombardier plants in upstate New York).
The changing of additional organization into Amtrak also found themselves using something rather different than they had in the past... The usage of a private railroad company along certain routes in operations. The railroad in question, the Missouri Southern Railway (MSR) was originally founded more as a heritage fleet carrier in the early 1980s for passenger service. In this case, they would find themselves with a contract in 1983 with the Tennessee Department of Transportation to provide service for a bidaily operation between Memphis, Nashville, and Knoxville with the services designed to arrive for the morning (departing) Bluegrass and the evening (arriving) Bluegrass from Cincinnati. Unfortunately, there was no direct communications between Amtrak and MSR with tickets usually being required to be bought at Nashville Union Station for both services. Eventually in 1986 following 'discussions' between Amtrak and MSR, the MSR would be considered part of Amtrak's 'route map' and operate services for them as an auxiliary passenger carrier. The MSR's sole operating train would be designated the Tennessean, and all trains being operated by the MSR would be given the 200-series of numbers to identify that.
This would show itself as in November of 1986, Amtrak would request that the Missouri Southern Railway operate the Bluegrass route with single-level car shortages present. They would takeover full operations on January 1st, 1987 initially as a daily train like what Amtrak had maintained. The lack of a direct Chicago-Florida train was to some degree an issue, and the Missouri Southern would begin drafting out a proposed plan for passenger service from the Midwest to Florida while also looking at other ventures that could be adopted. They would in 1988 start a third passenger operation running from St. Louis to New Orleans as an all day train following studies based off passenger services and transfers. The name of the train would be the Log Rider, intended to meet with both the arriving and departing midday Tennessean trains arriving at the station. For the three routes that the Missouri Southern operated, they were generating a profit (albeit small and limited). The pride of the railroad and indication of 'their' operations were the dome cars used on all of their lines. This would be shown with the 'streamlined' appearance of the MSR's heritage trains which usually consisted of either a pair of E7s, E8s, or E9s, followed by one baggage car, four coach cars, one cafe car, one business car, and one dome car (always on the rear).
Routing for trains would also find themselves impacted in the late 80s due to incidents that would occur both at the hand of Amtrak, and also by force of nature. In 1987, the Newport News Amtrak station would find itself burned down. Despite criminal investigations, no cause was found for it being burned down. Following the incident, Amtrak would announce that the George Washington would be rerouted that after Charlottesville, Virginia instead of heading towards Newport News, it would head northwards instead and terminate at Washington DC. The Colonial would also be canceled with the rerouting of the George Washington and decreasing passenger counts. The Pacific International would also be cut in 1987 with declining passenger amounts, and traffic issues with increasing freight operations along the Seattle-Vancouver corridor. The Night Owl would be cut in 1988 as part of a plan to increase the amount of “local” Northeast Corridor Service trains running per day (poor performance on its part was another factor), along with proposed plans to extend service to Portsmouth, Maine with the opening of the Cross-Boston Tunnel. The Pennsylvanian would also with increased traffic be brought to a bidaily train, while on the other hand, decreased traffic saw the cancellation in 1988 of the Mount Rainier between Seattle and Portland (with the long distance trains finding themselves carrying short-haul passengers occasionally). The Sunset Limited on the other hand would see a route expansion from New Orleans to Jacksonville going through Mobile, Pensacola, and Tallahassee but being brought down to a triweekly train with the additional cities covered and the schedule rearranged to accomplish the task in 1989. The Panama Limited and the Southwest Limited would in addition be renamed in 1989 to the City of New Orleans and the Southwest Chief respectively as part of a slowly changing Amtrak. The Montrealer/Washingtonian would be the last train cut near the end of 1989 due to lower passenger counts on both the Adirondack and the Montrealer/Washingtonian. On the other hand, the Maple Leaf, a train intended to run from New York City to Toronto along the Water Level Route would be added at the end of 1989 with service to begin at the start of 1990.
Lynn Martin (R-IL)
By the end of the 1980s however, another Presidential election was coming up once more. In this case, the Democrats had managed to turn the United States around and lead to an upswing in public faith, although an emerging recession was to play havoc on the political field. For the Democrats, there would be a heavy battle between who the nomination might fall to, with Reubin Askew (Kennedy's Vice President) being one of the major figures in the nominations along with Jesse Jackson, Michael Dukakis, and Gary Hart in the leadup to the election. The Republicans also saw a heavy battle between their own candidates, with Jack Kemp, Alexander Haig, and George H. W. Bush being the leading figures in the run up to the national convention. The 1988 Democratic National Convention, held in Richmond saw a keynote speech by Mario Cuomo, followed with another by Joe Biden. The delegates would eventually choose to nominate Gary Hart as their Presidential nominee with Al Gore chosen as the Vice Presidential nominee. The 1988 Republican National Convention, held in Cincinnati saw a keynote speech by Elizabeth Dole and another by Tom Kean. The delegates would choose to nominate George H.W. Bush as their Presidential nominee with Lynn Martin as his Vice Presidential nominee. Thus the stage had been set for the 1988 Presidential Election, the Democratic ticket with Hart/Gore and the Republican ticket with Bush/Martin.
The ongoing events as part of the rapidly emerging “Solidarity” movement in Poland and protests in East Germany and Czechoslovakia would seek crackdowns made on them by East German, Polish, and Czech troops along with Soviet troops to keep them in line (no doubt orchestrated by Grigory Romanov as many said). The events occurring in Eastern Europe combined with the shoot down of an Iranian F-15 Eagle by an Iraqi Su-27 Flanker in May set the tone for much of the election centered around international geopolitics, defense, and the economy. The ignition of the Third Taiwan Strait Crisis in October set the final tone for the elections with both Gary Hart and George H. W. Bush neck and neck for who would win. Eventually, it would come down to the wire as everyone watched their televisions screen for who would win the election. The news would come in, with George H. W. Bush winning the election by eleven electoral votes and by 514,319 votes in the popular elections. The orientation of Bush for Amtrak was one that was more indifferent than anything else, not caring either way for Amtrak. The election of Bush also saw a change within Amtrak itself. President Richard Ravitch after having been in charge for six years had resigned near the end of 1989, forcing a choice to have to be made at the start of 1990. The board of directors would begin discussion though for whom could work best as the next President of Amtrak.
An Iraqi Su-25; one of a recent set of purchases by the Republican Guard
The end of the 1980s were more of a slowdown than anything else as people continued on their way and struggles continued. Tensions continued to ratchet upwards between the Warsaw Pact and NATO as Eastern Europe appeared to be in flames. The Middle East was in near hellfire as the Iranians and Iraqis glared at each other, both of their own military forces readying. In the Pacific, the end of the Third Taiwan Strait Crisis had blunted Chinese opinion as emerging attempts to open up foreign investment had been impacted hard by the recent Crisis. What else could happen that could lead to new situations? That news would come as major news networks around in the world on the start of December 25th announced attacks throughout Iran by Iraqi forces and struggling attempts to mobilize. The Iraqi-Iranian War had begun...
Northeast
Adirondack: New York City-Albany-Montreal (1x Daily)
Colonial: Boston-New Haven-New York City-Philadelphia-Washington D.C.-Newport News (2x Daily)
Empire State Express: New York City-Albany-Syracuse-Rochester-Buffalo (2x Daily)
Maple Leaf: New York City-Albany-Syracuse-Rochester-Buffalo-Toronto (1x Daily)
Montrealer/Washingtonian: Washington D.C.-Philadelphia-New York City-New Haven-Springfield-Montreal (1x Daily)
Night Owl: Boston-New Haven-New York City-Philadelphia-Washington D.C. (1x Daily)
Northeast Corridor Service: Washington D.C.-Philadelphia-New York City-New Haven-Boston (16x Daily Local, 4x Daily Express)
Pennsylvanian: New York City-Philadelphia-Harrisburg-Pittsburgh (2x Daily)
Midwest
Abraham Lincoln: St. Louis-Chicago (2x Daily)
Black Hawk: Chicago-Dubuque (1x Daily)
Buckeye: Cincinnati-Dayton-Toledo-Detroit (2x Daily)
Hiawatha Service: Chicago-Milwaukee (4x Daily)
Illini: Chicago-Champaign (1x Daily)
Illinois Zephyr: Chicago-Quincy (1x Daily)
International Limited: Chicago-Port Huron-Toronto (1x Daily)
James Whitcomb Riley: Chicago-Indianapolis-Cincinnati (2x Daily)
Ohio State Limited: Cincinnati-Columbus-Cleveland-Buffalo (2x Daily)
Pere Marquette: Chicago-Grand Rapids (1x Daily)
River Runner: Kansas City-St. Louis-Cincinnati (2x Daily)
Shawnee: Chicago-Carbondale (1x Daily)
Wolverine: Chicago-Detroit (2x Daily)
Southeast
Carolinian: Charlotte-Raleigh-Washington D.C. (1x Daily)
Palmetto: Savannah-Charleston-Fayetteville-Washington D.C. (1x Daily)
Texas (Amtrak Texas)
Dallas Belle: Dallas-Houston (2x Daily)
Texan Ranger: Dallas-Austin-San Antonio (2x Daily)
California (Amtrak California)
San Diegan: San Diego-Los Angeles (8x Daily)
San Joaquin: Oakland-Emeryville-Sacramento-Fresno-Bakersfield-Los Angeles (4x Daily)
Northwest
Mount Rainier: Portland-Seattle (1x Daily)
Pacific International: Seattle-Vancouver (1x Daily)
Puget Sound: Portland-Seattle (1x Daily)
Missouri Southern Railway Routes
Bluegrass: Cincinnati-Louisville-Nashville (2x Daily)
Log Rider: St. Louis-Memphis-Baton Rouge-New Orleans (1x Daily)
Tennessean: Memphis-Nashville-Knoxville (2x Daily)
Long Distance Trains
Broadway Limited: New York City-Philadelphia-Harrisburg-Pittsburgh-Columbus-Fort Wayne-Chicago (1x Daily)
California Zephyr: Chicago-Omaha-Denver-Salt Lake City (Separation of Desert Wind, Pioneer)-Reno-Sacramento-Oakland (1x Daily)
Champion: New York City-Washington D.C.-Charleston-Savannah-Jacksonville-St. Petersburg/Miami (1x Daily)
Cincinnati Limited: Cincinnati-Columbus-Pittsburgh-Harrisburg-Philadelphia (1x Daily)
City of New Orleans: Chicago-Memphis-New Orleans (1x Daily) (Former Panama Limited)
Coast Starlight/Daylight: Seattle-Portland-Oakland-Los Angeles (1x Daily)
Crescent: New York City-Washington D.C.-Greensboro-Atlanta-Birmingham-New Orleans (1x Daily)
Desert Wind: (Attached to California Zephyr)-Las Vegas-Los Angeles (3x Weekly)
Empire Builder: Chicago-Minneapolis-Spokane-Seattle/Portland (1x Daily)
George Washington: Cincinnati-Charleston-Washington D.C. (1x Daily)
Lake Shore Limited: Chicago-Toledo-Cleveland-Buffalo-Albany-New York City/Boston (1x Daily)
Lone Star: Kansas City-Oklahoma City-Dallas-Houston (1x Daily)
North Coast Hiawatha: Chicago-Minneapolis-Bismarck-Butte-Spokane-Seattle (1x Daily)
Pioneer: (Attached to California Zephyr)-Boise-Portland-Seattle (3x Weekly)
Silver Meteor: New York City-Washington D.C.-Charleston-Savannah-Jacksonville-Orlando-Miami (1x Daily)
Silver Star: New York City-Washington D.C.-Raleigh-Columbia-Savannah-Jacksonville-Orlando-Miami (1x Daily)
Southwest Chief: Chicago-Kansas City-Albuquerque-Los Angeles (1x Daily) (Former Southwest Limited)
Sunset Limited: Jacksonville-Tallahassee-Mobile-New Orleans-Houston-San Antonio-Los Angeles (3x Weekly)
VI: Leaner and Stronger (1986-1989)
The start of the second half of the 1980s for Amtrak was one of more organized 'solace' in terms of funding as they had set out in their initial plans to move through and complete. The existing major programs were underway and in satisfactory condition. Operational funding was at the same amounts as it was before and in the required amounts. Annual ridership had reached 29 million people in 1985, with the Southeast and Texas showing some of the biggest areas of growth of ridership at this point. All was fine for Amtrak as smooth sailing continued.
The Northeast High Speed Rail Program (NEHSRP) had officially begun in 1983 with the initial purchases of the rights of way between Washington and New York City (intended as Phase I of the NEHSRP). In February of 1986, construction would begin just north of Philadelphia for the first high speed track (the right of way purchases was ongoing along with discussions with the Federal Railroad Administration over the exact classification of the tracks). The expected time of completion was expected to take nearly three and a half years until both high speed lines were fully completed, with Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York City intended to be the initial stations for usage on the high speed lines. Some of the chief complaints that were addressed as to why Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York City were chosen for the first stations to use high speed rail was primarily addressed as to the major centers of population and points where commuter rail fed into the stations. The expected time with the planned 175mph high speed rail between Washington and New York City was expected to be an hour and a half to two hours including stops at all stations and traffic for entering the major stations. While construction was ongoing, Amtrak would begin looking at possible trains to be used along the new high speed route. Siemens (the manufacturer of the planned InterCity-Express), ABB (the manufacturer of the X 2), a Bombardier (manufacturer of the Via Rail LRC)-Alstom (manufacturer of the TGV) consortium, and Hitachi (manufacturer of the Shinkansen bullet train) would all be chosen as the final bids for the contract by Amtrak. The final bid designs all had to work with the NEC high-speed rail grid, work with high-level platforms, and finally it had to be built domestically within the United States. While Amtrak was looking over the proposed designs, other matters were taking precedence at the national level...
The 1986 mid-term elections would see a significant political shift with the Republicans taking control of the House of Representatives. Poor economic results over 1986, along with numerous comments made about President Kennedy being “weak on defense” with increasing tensions saw a route to gain, with the Republicans taking control of the House with 231 seats versus the Democrats with 204 seats. The Republicans had cited a desire to lower some of the existing government funding in programs which they cited as “overspending” or not using the money properly. In this case, one of the initial agencies targeted would be Amtrak and the NEHSRP. In a session with the appropriations' committee and President Ravitch over the progress of the high speed rail program he did acknowledge that, “Yes, the work on the high speed rail is expensive. But it is not the hardware or rails that are the cost. It is merely the cost of the right of ways and having to purchase the land for being used...” With nearly 90% of the right of ways purchased between Washington and New York City, the next funding bill for Amtrak would continue to fund the completion of the Washington-New York City segment, but for an indefinite future halt funding for the New York City-Boston segment. In addition, it provided funding for the planned fifteen trainsets to be bought by Amtrak for usage (the appropriations committee had failed to note the fifteen trainsets requested were for the entire segment from Washington D.C. to Boston when they had funded that). The funding bill also provided more allocations for clarifications and definitions on funding for state-operated routes and the funding levels that it clarified. The primary purpose of this was to reduce the funding level required by Amtrak, and to place it more upon states. This in addition was met with a lowered funding level for managing existing routes and it had been bluntly suggested by the chairman of the appropriations committee to reduce the amount of routes operating.
The Palmetto leaving Ashland, VA
A smaller overhaul program had begun with the addition of the new corridors for Amtrak operations. The overhaul program would see the 69 “Amcafe” and 103 “Amcoach” being sent to Beech Grove in small numbers to be reconverted into regular coach cars to be used for moving the older Heritage Fleet coach cars onto long distance trains. The cuts for the New York City-Boston segment of the high speed rail allowed those funds already put away to be directed towards the long-planned and never initiated overhaul program. It was expected to take three years to fully modify all 172 cars and bring them into service as coach cars. The overhaul program would also judge the wear and tear of the cars as the debates over the amount of initial Viewliner cars to be ordered were waged. A consensus for an initial order were for the purchase of thirty baggage cars, twenty bag-dorms, ninety coaches, twenty diners, twenty lounges, forty slumbercoaches, and sixty sleepers, a total of 280 cars. The amount of new cars ordered were for select routes to fully convert to new 'Viewliner' consists and being able to shore up reserves with the Heritage Fleet cars for routes already running with the Heritage Fleet consists. The usage of the Vistaliners in the Midwest, and the recent additions of the Desert Wind and the Pioneer were also of debate if a second order of Vistaliners should be sought by Amtrak or not.
By the end of the first half of 1987, the first new 'trains' began to be run on the Northeast Corridor to gauge public view of them. The ICE (InterCity-Express), X 2, TGV, and Shinkansen (all of which were modified to run on the NEC) would be shipped to begin testing and gauging public opinion on them. From July of 1987 to December of 1988, all four separate trains ran along the Northeast Corridor from Washington to Boston with public opinion of all the trains being gauged along with regular performance on the tracks in question. In terms of public opinion, the ICE and the TGVs were the ones most seen as “popular” for usage, while the X 2s performed remarkably well with the active tilt system in play to help with the curves on the regular Northeast Corridor tracks (most in particular between Boston and New York City). The decision would be debated as to how best to proceed, and eventually a decision was made for the German ICE to be selected for the Northeast Corridor high speed rail. As part of the contract signed between Amtrak, General Electric, and Siemens, a total of thirty power cars, one hundred and twenty eight 'second-class' cars, sixty-four 'first-class' cars, sixteen service cars, and sixteen restaurant cars would be bought for by Amtrak. General Electric was designated to build the entire order at their domestic plants, per the contract signed. It was estimated to take nearly eighteen months from the signing of the contract from March of 1989 to see the first ICE cars arrive in the Northeast. It was thought that by the start of 1992, official service would begin for high-speed rail along the Northeast Corridor with the new service operating.
The second half of the 1980s also saw a new transition with the emergence of 'state' Amtrak operations, with states managing the full financing and operations of routes solely within their own states. The first service would be the “Amtrak California” service which would start on 1/1/1986, which was intended to start handling and taking over all California operating routes (the San Diegan and San Joaquin). It was intended by 1995 to fully run their fleet with state operated rolling stock and locomotives with funding provided to begin initial studies to identify the best type of rolling stock for the network, and to look at the initial locomotive for usage. In 1988, the F59PH being built by General Electric fit a planned criteria, however Amtrak California would begin discussions for a modified variant of the F59PH with an improved engine, a dedicated HEP generator, and a “smoother” look (to make it appear more like a passenger locomotive than a freight locomotive). It was expected by the start of 1990 for the “F59PHI” (as internal documents for Amtrak California said) to be ready to start being built and begin orders by Amtrak California. Meanwhile, discussions were still occurring for the best rolling stock configuration to be used with the only thing made clear as a “bilevel” car similar to the Vistaliners.
The second state Amtrak operation that would emerge would be the Amtrak Texas service on 1/1/1987, following the passing of Proposition 19 in the 1986 elections. Amtrak Texas had been funded for with the initial payments of 1.7 billion in state bonds to support state passenger service within the state of Texas. The initial plan of action was the handover of the Texan Ranger route being operated by Amtrak once new initial locomotives and rolling stock had been acquired. For Amtrak Texas, they would seek to purchase eighteen F40PHs from General Electric (which were intended to be modernized for better fuel economy) along with plans for the purchase of sixty Vistaliner coach cars, and fifteen modified 'coach-cafe' cars intended to have coach seats on the lower level and a cafe on the upper level. A contract would be sought with Bombardier (who had bought the patents and designs from Pullman Standard in 1986) for the order. The details over the contract and specifications saw a modified coach car to be designed and built for Amtrak Texas which saw the removal of eight of the twelve lower coach seats for expanded baggage space (due to the lack of any baggage cars being bought by Amtrak Texas), and saw seventy-five of the modified Vistaliners being bought along with fifteen of the 'coach-cafe' cars totaling ninety Vistaliners being bought by Amtrak Texas in all. By the start of mid-1988, the first new Amtrak Texas F40PHs began to arrive for crew training along with the first new Vistaliners models dubbed the “Texas Vistaliners”. Amtrak Texas initially envisioned two main routes operating, the new Dallas Belle, and the existing Texan Ranger. Both trains were intended to be bidaily operations, with the Dallas Belle intended to be from Dallas to Houston (the main crew hub and maintenance hub of Amtrak Texas was envisioned being in Dallas). Both trains would be operating by the end of the 1980s either on a single-daily or bidaily operation (depending on the amount of cars available that day with the new cars being brought from the Bombardier plants in upstate New York).
The changing of additional organization into Amtrak also found themselves using something rather different than they had in the past... The usage of a private railroad company along certain routes in operations. The railroad in question, the Missouri Southern Railway (MSR) was originally founded more as a heritage fleet carrier in the early 1980s for passenger service. In this case, they would find themselves with a contract in 1983 with the Tennessee Department of Transportation to provide service for a bidaily operation between Memphis, Nashville, and Knoxville with the services designed to arrive for the morning (departing) Bluegrass and the evening (arriving) Bluegrass from Cincinnati. Unfortunately, there was no direct communications between Amtrak and MSR with tickets usually being required to be bought at Nashville Union Station for both services. Eventually in 1986 following 'discussions' between Amtrak and MSR, the MSR would be considered part of Amtrak's 'route map' and operate services for them as an auxiliary passenger carrier. The MSR's sole operating train would be designated the Tennessean, and all trains being operated by the MSR would be given the 200-series of numbers to identify that.
This would show itself as in November of 1986, Amtrak would request that the Missouri Southern Railway operate the Bluegrass route with single-level car shortages present. They would takeover full operations on January 1st, 1987 initially as a daily train like what Amtrak had maintained. The lack of a direct Chicago-Florida train was to some degree an issue, and the Missouri Southern would begin drafting out a proposed plan for passenger service from the Midwest to Florida while also looking at other ventures that could be adopted. They would in 1988 start a third passenger operation running from St. Louis to New Orleans as an all day train following studies based off passenger services and transfers. The name of the train would be the Log Rider, intended to meet with both the arriving and departing midday Tennessean trains arriving at the station. For the three routes that the Missouri Southern operated, they were generating a profit (albeit small and limited). The pride of the railroad and indication of 'their' operations were the dome cars used on all of their lines. This would be shown with the 'streamlined' appearance of the MSR's heritage trains which usually consisted of either a pair of E7s, E8s, or E9s, followed by one baggage car, four coach cars, one cafe car, one business car, and one dome car (always on the rear).
Routing for trains would also find themselves impacted in the late 80s due to incidents that would occur both at the hand of Amtrak, and also by force of nature. In 1987, the Newport News Amtrak station would find itself burned down. Despite criminal investigations, no cause was found for it being burned down. Following the incident, Amtrak would announce that the George Washington would be rerouted that after Charlottesville, Virginia instead of heading towards Newport News, it would head northwards instead and terminate at Washington DC. The Colonial would also be canceled with the rerouting of the George Washington and decreasing passenger counts. The Pacific International would also be cut in 1987 with declining passenger amounts, and traffic issues with increasing freight operations along the Seattle-Vancouver corridor. The Night Owl would be cut in 1988 as part of a plan to increase the amount of “local” Northeast Corridor Service trains running per day (poor performance on its part was another factor), along with proposed plans to extend service to Portsmouth, Maine with the opening of the Cross-Boston Tunnel. The Pennsylvanian would also with increased traffic be brought to a bidaily train, while on the other hand, decreased traffic saw the cancellation in 1988 of the Mount Rainier between Seattle and Portland (with the long distance trains finding themselves carrying short-haul passengers occasionally). The Sunset Limited on the other hand would see a route expansion from New Orleans to Jacksonville going through Mobile, Pensacola, and Tallahassee but being brought down to a triweekly train with the additional cities covered and the schedule rearranged to accomplish the task in 1989. The Panama Limited and the Southwest Limited would in addition be renamed in 1989 to the City of New Orleans and the Southwest Chief respectively as part of a slowly changing Amtrak. The Montrealer/Washingtonian would be the last train cut near the end of 1989 due to lower passenger counts on both the Adirondack and the Montrealer/Washingtonian. On the other hand, the Maple Leaf, a train intended to run from New York City to Toronto along the Water Level Route would be added at the end of 1989 with service to begin at the start of 1990.
Lynn Martin (R-IL)
The ongoing events as part of the rapidly emerging “Solidarity” movement in Poland and protests in East Germany and Czechoslovakia would seek crackdowns made on them by East German, Polish, and Czech troops along with Soviet troops to keep them in line (no doubt orchestrated by Grigory Romanov as many said). The events occurring in Eastern Europe combined with the shoot down of an Iranian F-15 Eagle by an Iraqi Su-27 Flanker in May set the tone for much of the election centered around international geopolitics, defense, and the economy. The ignition of the Third Taiwan Strait Crisis in October set the final tone for the elections with both Gary Hart and George H. W. Bush neck and neck for who would win. Eventually, it would come down to the wire as everyone watched their televisions screen for who would win the election. The news would come in, with George H. W. Bush winning the election by eleven electoral votes and by 514,319 votes in the popular elections. The orientation of Bush for Amtrak was one that was more indifferent than anything else, not caring either way for Amtrak. The election of Bush also saw a change within Amtrak itself. President Richard Ravitch after having been in charge for six years had resigned near the end of 1989, forcing a choice to have to be made at the start of 1990. The board of directors would begin discussion though for whom could work best as the next President of Amtrak.
An Iraqi Su-25; one of a recent set of purchases by the Republican Guard
The end of the 1980s were more of a slowdown than anything else as people continued on their way and struggles continued. Tensions continued to ratchet upwards between the Warsaw Pact and NATO as Eastern Europe appeared to be in flames. The Middle East was in near hellfire as the Iranians and Iraqis glared at each other, both of their own military forces readying. In the Pacific, the end of the Third Taiwan Strait Crisis had blunted Chinese opinion as emerging attempts to open up foreign investment had been impacted hard by the recent Crisis. What else could happen that could lead to new situations? That news would come as major news networks around in the world on the start of December 25th announced attacks throughout Iran by Iraqi forces and struggling attempts to mobilize. The Iraqi-Iranian War had begun...
Amtrak Routes
Northeast
Adirondack: New York City-Albany-Montreal (1x Daily)
Colonial: Boston-New Haven-New York City-Philadelphia-Washington D.C.-Newport News (2x Daily)
Empire State Express: New York City-Albany-Syracuse-Rochester-Buffalo (2x Daily)
Maple Leaf: New York City-Albany-Syracuse-Rochester-Buffalo-Toronto (1x Daily)
Montrealer/Washingtonian: Washington D.C.-Philadelphia-New York City-New Haven-Springfield-Montreal (1x Daily)
Night Owl: Boston-New Haven-New York City-Philadelphia-Washington D.C. (1x Daily)
Northeast Corridor Service: Washington D.C.-Philadelphia-New York City-New Haven-Boston (16x Daily Local, 4x Daily Express)
Pennsylvanian: New York City-Philadelphia-Harrisburg-Pittsburgh (2x Daily)
Midwest
Abraham Lincoln: St. Louis-Chicago (2x Daily)
Black Hawk: Chicago-Dubuque (1x Daily)
Buckeye: Cincinnati-Dayton-Toledo-Detroit (2x Daily)
Hiawatha Service: Chicago-Milwaukee (4x Daily)
Illini: Chicago-Champaign (1x Daily)
Illinois Zephyr: Chicago-Quincy (1x Daily)
International Limited: Chicago-Port Huron-Toronto (1x Daily)
James Whitcomb Riley: Chicago-Indianapolis-Cincinnati (2x Daily)
Ohio State Limited: Cincinnati-Columbus-Cleveland-Buffalo (2x Daily)
Pere Marquette: Chicago-Grand Rapids (1x Daily)
River Runner: Kansas City-St. Louis-Cincinnati (2x Daily)
Shawnee: Chicago-Carbondale (1x Daily)
Wolverine: Chicago-Detroit (2x Daily)
Southeast
Carolinian: Charlotte-Raleigh-Washington D.C. (1x Daily)
Palmetto: Savannah-Charleston-Fayetteville-Washington D.C. (1x Daily)
Texas (Amtrak Texas)
Dallas Belle: Dallas-Houston (2x Daily)
Texan Ranger: Dallas-Austin-San Antonio (2x Daily)
California (Amtrak California)
San Diegan: San Diego-Los Angeles (8x Daily)
San Joaquin: Oakland-Emeryville-Sacramento-Fresno-Bakersfield-Los Angeles (4x Daily)
Northwest
Mount Rainier: Portland-Seattle (1x Daily)
Pacific International: Seattle-Vancouver (1x Daily)
Puget Sound: Portland-Seattle (1x Daily)
Missouri Southern Railway Routes
Bluegrass: Cincinnati-Louisville-Nashville (2x Daily)
Log Rider: St. Louis-Memphis-Baton Rouge-New Orleans (1x Daily)
Tennessean: Memphis-Nashville-Knoxville (2x Daily)
Long Distance Trains
Broadway Limited: New York City-Philadelphia-Harrisburg-Pittsburgh-Columbus-Fort Wayne-Chicago (1x Daily)
California Zephyr: Chicago-Omaha-Denver-Salt Lake City (Separation of Desert Wind, Pioneer)-Reno-Sacramento-Oakland (1x Daily)
Champion: New York City-Washington D.C.-Charleston-Savannah-Jacksonville-St. Petersburg/Miami (1x Daily)
Cincinnati Limited: Cincinnati-Columbus-Pittsburgh-Harrisburg-Philadelphia (1x Daily)
City of New Orleans: Chicago-Memphis-New Orleans (1x Daily) (Former Panama Limited)
Coast Starlight/Daylight: Seattle-Portland-Oakland-Los Angeles (1x Daily)
Crescent: New York City-Washington D.C.-Greensboro-Atlanta-Birmingham-New Orleans (1x Daily)
Desert Wind: (Attached to California Zephyr)-Las Vegas-Los Angeles (3x Weekly)
Empire Builder: Chicago-Minneapolis-Spokane-Seattle/Portland (1x Daily)
George Washington: Cincinnati-Charleston-Washington D.C. (1x Daily)
Lake Shore Limited: Chicago-Toledo-Cleveland-Buffalo-Albany-New York City/Boston (1x Daily)
Lone Star: Kansas City-Oklahoma City-Dallas-Houston (1x Daily)
North Coast Hiawatha: Chicago-Minneapolis-Bismarck-Butte-Spokane-Seattle (1x Daily)
Pioneer: (Attached to California Zephyr)-Boise-Portland-Seattle (3x Weekly)
Silver Meteor: New York City-Washington D.C.-Charleston-Savannah-Jacksonville-Orlando-Miami (1x Daily)
Silver Star: New York City-Washington D.C.-Raleigh-Columbia-Savannah-Jacksonville-Orlando-Miami (1x Daily)
Southwest Chief: Chicago-Kansas City-Albuquerque-Los Angeles (1x Daily) (Former Southwest Limited)
Sunset Limited: Jacksonville-Tallahassee-Mobile-New Orleans-Houston-San Antonio-Los Angeles (3x Weekly)
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And what is the routing for the new high speed train service? Is it different than the existing NEC? Or the same?
In some areas, yes it is different from the NEC and others along the similar main track lines as the NEC. Right now, Amtrak is still working more on the best routing into New York City, with the high speed trains intended to take the regular lines into the city from just before the vertical lift bridge west of Newark. Currently, there are two princies of thoughts for the high speed lines into NYC. Proposal one would be to route all major trains into Penn Station, abandoning Grand Central in entirety. Proposal two would see the redirection of the high speed rail traffic in NYC into Grand Central via either a round about way heading north of Newark then crossing the Hudson to use a high speed line along the Hudson into Grand Central or designing a new set of tunnels for HSR traffic with it going south of the existing tunnels and then curving into Grand Central.
Proposal two goes with a future proposal for HSR traffic to be along a similar route as the ex-New York Central Maybrook Line from just south of Albany to Boston stopping at Springsfield along the way. Of course, funding is still the issue for Amtrak in any future planning fir high speed rails with the right of ways as the most expensive part.
Orville_third
Banned
A few questions:
With rail in Texas, how is this affecting Southwest Airlines?
Has this affected any train games, be they board (Avalon Hill's "Rail Baron") or computer (Sid Meier's "Railroad Tycoon")?
With rail in Texas, how is this affecting Southwest Airlines?
Has this affected any train games, be they board (Avalon Hill's "Rail Baron") or computer (Sid Meier's "Railroad Tycoon")?
For the areas that are different I would say around Philadelphia and Wilmington most likely. I'm not really sure as to the exact clarifications there since
I haven't thought much about the effects on airlines, but based off the way Southwest originated and initially secured their base it does seem to be likely. I would expect it starting to become more problematic for Southwest Airlines with the creation of Amtrak Texas. At maximum, each train could carry about ~340 passengers, and per a bidaily amount for both lines handling roughly 1.3k passengers a day (presuming each person goes from end point to end point). I wouldn't expect that to affect Southwest much at this point, but once frequency begins to increase (or the usage of higher speed rail then high speed rail) it will most likely start to affect Southwest more and more.
In regards to train games... I don't know. I haven't thought about that component really. For Rail Baron, perhaps it might start some changes. For Transport Tycoon that most likely will be the case although I am not sure of the full extent there.
You mean Boardman or Biden?
(Never heard of the Ol' Hansome part to either before so tad confused there)
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