Amtrak's 2035 map has people talking about the future of U.S. train travel

Re:Amtrak's 2035 map has people talking about the future of ... by crazygringo on Sunday April 25, 2021 @01:41PM (#26934667)

That would seem rather circular, since Amtrak delays are almost always caused by freight trains. (Unless it's horrible snow blizzard weather or something.)

My personal experience is that having taken Amtrak from NYC a huge number of times, it's never been meaningfully delayed leaving Penn Station. But that it will get delayed en route, as the train comes to a halt and the conductor announces we're waiting for a freight train. We wait for 10 or 15 minutes, the freight train takes a couple minutes to whiz by, and then we start moving again.

So I don't know what priority Amtrak has on paper, but in reality Amtrak trains that leave on time are delayed by freight.

So much so that for my return trip where I catch a train that's already been en route for 8+ hours, it's virtually always 30-90 minutes late.

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Re:Amtrak's 2035 map has people talking about the future of ... by anaerobicover on Sunday April 25, 2021 @01:49PM (#26934774)

I want to corroborate this. I have ridden between NYC, Boston, and Chicago dozens of times, a very nice trip. Heading west, we generally to Albany-Renssalear on time, make the connection, and proceed on time. Even in winter snow.

The number of times it has not been delayed by freight after that, crossing upstate New York, numbers in the single digits.

For some reason eastbound seems to fare better, but still no guarantees.

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Re:Amtrak's 2035 map has people talking about the future of ... by gimmeThaBeet on Sunday April 25, 2021 @03:39PM (#26935884)

100% agree. The Late Shore Limited is in fact not a lazy joke.

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