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Originally Posted by Busy Bee
^Welcome and thank you for the info!!!
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Thank you, and you’re welcome!
This is a preliminary plan I drew up on another board. I’d love some feedback.
Quote:
MICHIGAN SERVICES:
Bring the International back, routed via Detroit to Toronto.
Add 356/357 and 358/359 to the Wolverine route on the holiday schedule. Utilize the renovated MCS in Detroit as a "mini-hub" for Amtrak, with 350-355 and 360-363 terminating there and 356-359 continuing to Pontiac.
Add 366/367 to the Blue Water route to provide mid-day service to that region. It's a real pain to get up on the weekend to go home and you aren't able to take CATA to LNS (since they don't start running until 10). Additionally, the 8:40 AM WB arrival interferes with class schedules.
Add 372/373 between DET and GRR over the CSX Plymouth Sub. This line sees very little traffic (a couple road trains, a local, and as occasional unit grain). Hand 'er over to MDOT/Amtrak and upgrade it for 110 MPH.
Turn MCS into a mini-hub. Sure, Ford owns the building, but since they're only keeping four passenger tracks, there's sufficient space to make an addition and move Amtrak's offices from Pontiac to the MCS. That would all have to be negotiated though.
360/361 and 362/363 as DET-TOL-CIN, connecting with the CL in Toledo and Cardinal in Cincinnati.
368/369 for a Detroit* to Traverse City service under the "Michigander" name, calling at Howell, Durand, Mt. Pleasant, Cadillac, and Traverse City.
*I say Detroit instead of GR because, although GR is closer, the infrastructure doesn't exist to operate directly between GR and Traverse City. Plus, GR is a stub-end station.
NATIONAL NETWORK:
Reroute the LSL via the Michigan Line and Canada to ALB and then split to BOS/NYP.
Broadway Limited between NYP and Chicago, in LSL's old time slot.
WISCONSIN/MINNESOTA SERVICES:
North Coast Limited (instead of North Coast Hiawatha to avoid confusion with the current Hiawatha), CHI-MSP on a schedule akin to the Wolverine's current schedule.
Expand the Hiawatha schedule to include two more pairs.
ILLINOIS SERVICES:
Reinstatement of the Black Hawk, Chicago to Dubuque, IA, under numbers 374-377
Implementation of service to the Quad Cities under the "Quad Cities Zephyr" banner, number 385-388.
Additional trains for the Lincoln Service.
WESTERN SERVICES:
An additional pair for the Missouri River Runner
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Some edits that I’m going to make here instead of in the original post (to see which you guys like better):
356-359: Terminate in Detroit and institute DMU service or other computer rail between the Detroit suburbs and MCS. Doesn’t make much sense to be to run a whole train to Pontiac when it can be handled by DMU at a cheaper rate.
368/369: Renamed from
Michigander to
Lake Cities.
Additional
Pere Marquette services: one additional round trip between GRR and CHI and two between DET and GRR.
Lake Shore Limited: Forget splitting into two sections at Albany. Renumber 448/449 to 48/49 and make the LSL run CHI-BOS only and continue the reroute via the Michigan Line and Canada, giving MI a direct long-distance connection to the East Coast. Use the old LSL time slot on the Chicago Line to bring back the
Broadway Limited or
20th Century Limited. If the latter is chosen, rename it to
21st Century Limited.
North Coast Limited: Rename to either
Arrowhead or
Twin Cities.
This is still a work in progress. Please feel free to suggest any changes!
Thanks,
-NSC1109