Quote:
Originally Posted by ardecila
Seems like a waste to operate through Canada without stopping in a few major cities like Windsor, London, or Hamilton. The train won't get slots on CN/CP track without the strong support of VIA, and why should they support a train that makes no stops?
If you want to connect Michigan to the East Coast and connecting at Toledo (or Chicago) is too hard, why not partner with VIA to bring their Toronto-Windsor trains into Detroit? Apart from setting up customs and moving the Windsor station, the expense would be negligible, would not require additional slots on Canadian trackage and Detroiters could transfer to the Maple Leaf at Hamilton. Plus Detroit could essentially free-ride on Canada/Ontario's efforts to improve speed and reliability rather than relying on Amtrak's broken-dreams budgeting.
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1). The
Cascades operates between Vancouver and Bellingham, WA without making any stops for Burnaby, Surrey, and New Westminster. A rerouted LSL would provide a single seat trip to the East Coast without having to change from Amtrak to VIA and then back to Amtrak. At the same time, it's not just hard to connect in Toledo or anywhere else along that route; it's a bloody pain. Trains get in early in the morning or late at night. There's no corridor connection, meaning you have to drive. It's a crappy situation. There was a sample schedule put out in 2016 for a planned reroute via Dearborn along the Michigan Line and those station stop times were a lot better than the current times. Right now, 449 makes 6 stops between 12-7 AM. Those stops and their annual riderships as of 2017 are:
Bryan: 5,825
Sandusky: 10,009
Cleveland: 53,528
Elyria: 7,104
Toledo: 56,275
Total: 132,651
Replacement stops as outlined by the reroute timetable found here:
http://railroadfan.com/gallery/album...51/DADS122.jpg
Detroit: 62,168*
Dearborn: 72,656
Ann Arbor: 146,613
Jackson: 23,373
Battle Creek: 42,301
Kalamazoo: 115,231
Niles: 17,526
Hammond-Whiting (IN): 11,321
Total: 491,189
*Detroit isn't on the original reroute paperwork, as it would require a lengthy reverse move. However, since it would be included in a Canada reroute, I have incorporated those numbers here.
As you can see, the Michigan Line would have almost 3 times as many potential riders than the current routing. Factoring in the Indiana stops, which amount to another 66,924 passengers, you only get up to 199,575. That still puts the Michigan Line at almost 2.5x that of the current route. Factor in the Canadian running (in the neighborhood of 4.5 hours compared to the almost 6 hours on the current route) and it could give the LSL a major boost in service. However, the schedule would need to be altered in order to try and make the Canada portion occur overnight, that way you aren't having to drop off/pick up passengers who are already tired and you have available capacity on CN/CP.
The other issue is that if VIA were to extend to Detroit, equipment would have to carry PTC. As of 5/4/18, there has been no mandate for PTC installation in Canada. I doubt VIA would be willing to install the needed components on their equipment just for one cross-border stop.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lrt's friend
...Of course, there is a Detroit River rail tunnel that could connect Windsor to Detroit (as I am sure it did in the past) and there is a Canada-US agreement for customs pre-clearance for trains that already exists at a number of Canadian airports. I am sure there are many details still to be worked out to bring customs pre-clearance to a reality. The great delays for customs is the number one reason why cross-border rail service is not likely to be improved anytime soon.
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The Detroit River tunnel is already used to connect CP to NS so that CP from eastern Canada has access to Chicago without having to travel around the lakes. I think there is also Customs preclearance on the Cascades service. I doubt it would be too difficult to transplant that to Detroit and Niagra Falls.