Hello everyone and welcome to Train Talk!
In this episode, we are going to discuss Amtrak Corridor trains, often referred to as intercity
trains.
As you probably already know, Amtrak is the National Railroad Passenger Corporation, and
they operate various passenger trains all across the continental United States.
We’ll start off by talking about what a corridor train is and then we’ll take a
brief look at the various Amtrak corridor trains throughout the U.S. Let’s dive right
in!
Amtrak passenger train service can, for the most part, be broken down into two categories:
Corridor or Intercity trains and Long Distance Trains.
Corridor trains are generally defined as passenger rail services that run multiple times a day
in each direction and travel distances of 750 miles or less.
In contrast, long distance trains operate at most once per day in each direction and
travel distances of over 750 miles.
In previous episodes of Train Talk, I have defined the cutoff between corridor and long
distance trains as 500 miles.
However, I recently discovered in Amtrak’s new five year service line plan that they
define this cutoff as 750 miles, rather than 500.
Now, those of you Amtrak experts out there may have noticed that there are some other
Amtrak services that travel less than 750 miles but only run once a day.
By Amtrak’s definition, these still fall under the “Intercity” service category,
but I think they are best placed into a separate group, which I am calling “Low Frequency
Intercity Trains”, as these trains do not really run often enough to fit into the “corridor
trains” category.
So, we will save “Low Frequency Intercity Trains” for yet another video.
Let’s now take a look at each of the the major Amtrak corridor services.
Amtrak corridor trains run in several different places in the United States and service varies
from corridor to corridor.
In general, corridor trains consist mostly of coach cars and a cafe car.
Some corridors also offer business class seating and checked baggage.
Equipment varies from route to route but in general, trains in the Midwest and the east
use Amtrak Amfleet and Horizon single level cars while services in the west use bilevel
cars.
We will start in the Northeast and work our way west.
The Northeast Corridor is the busiest passenger rail corridor in North America.
The two major services that travel along this corridor are the Amtrak Acela Express and
the Northeast Regional.
Combined, these two trains carry over 12 million passengers a year, as of 2017.
The Acela is a limited stop express train that travels at the maximum authorized speeds
in the corridor while the Regional is a slightly slower service that makes additional stops.
The core route travels between Washington, D.C. and Boston, Massachusetts making stops
at many cities in between including Baltimore, Maryland, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Trenton,
New Jersey, Newark, New Jersey, New York City, New Haven, Connecticut, and Providence, Rhode
Island.
From Boston to Washington, the distance is 457 miles.
In addition to the main corridor, some Northeast Regional trains extend south of Washington,
DC. to various locations in Virginia.
There is also a shuttle train service that travels between New Haven, Connecticut and
Springfield, Massachusetts.
As an express service, the Acela only offers business class and first class seating while
Regionals offer business class and coach seating.
Train sets used for the Acela Express are semi-permanently connected cars along with
a power car on each end of the train.
The trains are 6 cars in length and usually include a cafe, one first class car, and 4
business class cars.
Regional trains use Amtrak’s Amfleet 1 passenger cars and vary in length.
Locomotives used are ACS-64 "Cities Sprinter” locomotives, built by Siemens.
Trip times vary by service, but the approximate trip length from Washington DC to Boston is
7 hours, 10 minutes on Acela and 8 hours, 20 minutes on the Regional.
The next Amtrak Corridor train that we will take a look at is branded as Amtrak’s Empire
Services.
These trains travel from New York City northward along the Hudson River to Albany, New York
and in some cases, beyond to locations in upstate New York as far as Niagara Falls.
Some trains that run on this corridor extend even farther and would fall under my “low
frequency intercity trains” category.
Service is funded in part by the state of New York.
Equipment used for this service is usually a set of Amfleet cars pulled by a P32ACDM
“dual mode” locomotive.
Some of the trains that run beyond Albany switch to a P42DC diesel electric locomotive
for the remainder of the trip.
Trains typically have business class and coach seating as well as a cafe car.
The distance between New York City and Albany is 141 miles, with an additional 319 miles
to Niagara Falls.
Over 1.5 million riders a year travel on Empire Service trains as of 2017.
There are an average of 12 trips a day in each direction.
Top speed for the route is 110 MPH with an average trip time of 2 hours, 30 minutes from
New York to Albany.
Keystone Service connects the Northeast with central Pennsylvania.
Trains run along the Northeast Corridor from New York to Philadelphia and then on a separate
route from Philadelphia to Lancaster and Harrisburg.
The Pennsylvanian, which also runs on this corridor, extends past Harrisburg all the
way to Pittsburgh.
Service on the corridor is partially funded by the state of Pennsylvania.
Top speed for trains is 125 miles per hour along the Northeast Corridor and 110 between
Philadelphia and Harrisburg.
Trains typically consist of 5 coach cars, the last of which is a cab car, converted
from a self propelled electric metroliner car.
They are pulled by ACS-64 electric locomotives.
Multiple trips are made daily, with as many as 14 each way on weekdays.
The entire route length from New York to Harrisburg is 195 miles.
Over 1.5 million riders annually travel aboard the Keystone, as of 2017.
Trip time from New York to Harrisburg averages to about 3 hours and 30 minutes.
The Downeaster runs in upper New England from Boston, Massachusetts to Brunswick, Maine,
passing through the south eastern portion of New Hampshire and Portland, Maine.
From Boston to Brunswick, the route is 145 miles in length.
As of 2017, ridership was just over a half million a year.
The service is in part subsidized by the state of Maine.
Trains are usually 5 cars in length and consist of coach, business class, and cafe cars.
The typical locomotive used is an Amtrak P42DC diesel electric.
A Non Powered Control Unit is placed at the other end of the train as a cab and baggage
car for quick turnarounds.
Top speed is 79 miles per hour on the route and there are 5 trips in each direction a
day.
Trip time from end to end is approximately 3 hours, 20 minutes.
The Piedmont runs between Charlotte and Raleigh, North Carolina, a distance of 173 miles.
The trains are largely funded by the state of North Carolina and all train equipment
is owned by the state.
There are two trips in each direction each day and this number is expected to increase
to as many as 5 in the near future.
Trains are pulled by F59PH and F59PHI locomotives and are usually 3 to 4 cars in length featuring
single level coach cars and a lounge car with vending machines.
Amtrak also runs a low frequency intercity train along the Piedmont route called the
Carolinian.
This train continues past Raleigh, extending all the way to New York City and is run with
all Amtrak equipment.
In 2015, ridership for the Piedmont was over 150,000.
Average trip time from Charlotte to Raleigh is 3 hours, 20 minutes.
Top speed on the corridor is 79 miles per hour.
The next corridor we’ll take a look at is Amtrak Midwest.
These services can be broken down further into a few separate corridors that make up
the larger midwest system.
Trains mostly operate out of Chicago, Illinois, connecting to other large nearby cities.
Equipment used on these trains was until recently Amtrak P42DC locomotives with horizon and
Amfleet coach and cafe cars, along with a non powered control unit on some routes.
However, all of this equipment is being replaced with Siemens SC-44 charger locomotives and
single level passenger cars, purchased by the state of Illinois.
The trains that make up the Midwest System include the Hiawatha, running between Chicago
and Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the Wolverine, Pere Marquette, and Blue Water, which run between
Chicago and various points in the state of Michigan, Lincoln Service, running between
Chicago and St. Louis, Missouri, the Illinois Zephyr and Carl Sandberg which run between
Chicago and Quincy, Illinois, the Illini and Saluki, running between Chicago and Carbondale,
Illinois, the Missouri River Runner, traveling between St. Louis and Kansas City, Missouri,
and finally, the Hoosier State, which travels between Chicago and Indianapolis, Indiana.
Train frequencies vary from route to route.
On the most popular route, the Hiawatha, trains run as many as 8 times a day in each direction.
Other services are much less frequent, in some cases only running once or twice a day
in each direction.
Funding comes from a variety of sources including the state of Illinois, Michigan, Indiana,
Wisconsin, and Missouri.
Trip times and top speeds also vary greatly by route.
Some have a top speed as high at 110 miles per hour while one is as low as 60.
In total, the Midwest Services attract over 2.8 million riders each year, with the Hiawatha
alone reaching over 800,000.
Amtrak Cascades is a service that runs in the Pacific Northwest between Eugene, Oregon,
Portland Oregon, Seattle Washington, and Vancouver, Canada.
The service is financially supported by the states of Oregon and Washington.
These two states also own most of the equipment used for the service.
The trains use very unique passenger car sets called “Talgos”, and are currently the
only trains in North America to operate with this equipment.
These cars are semi-permanently connected and wheel sets are placed in between cars.
This design allows talgos to travel at a faster speed than traditional equipment.
Train sets are usually 12 to 14 cars in length and include a baggage section, a cafe, business
class, and coach class seating.
Trains are pulled by Siemens SC44 charger locomotives.
Some talgo sets that do not have a built in cab car use a non powered control unit on
the opposite end of the train.
Trip time from Eugene to Portland is 2 and a half hours, from Portland to Seattle it
is 3 and a half hours, and from Seattle to Vancouver, Canada it is 4 hours.
The total route length from Eugene to Vancouver is 467 miles.
Ridership for the service was over 800,000 in 2017.
Our last set of corridor trains that we will take a look at today are located completely
within the state of California and are branded as Amtrak California services.
Like Amtrak Midwest, these services can be broken down further into 3 main corridors
that make up a larger system: Capitol Corridor, San Joaquin, and Pacific Surfliner.
These are some of the busiest routes in the Amtrak system and all see well over a million
riders a year with the Pacific Surfliner attracting almost 3 million riders annually.
These trains are completely funded by the state of California and most trains operate
with Bilevel “California Cars”.
Pacific Surfliner trains run in southern California, traveling between San Diego, Los Angeles,
Santa Barbara, and San Luis Obispo.
Capitol Corridor trains connect Auburn and Sacramento with the San Francisco Bay Area
and the San Joaquin travels between Bakersfield and Oakland as well as Bakersfield and Sacramento.
The equipment used for the San Joaquin and Capitol Corridor is completely owned by the
State of California while equipment used for the Pacific Surfliner is only partially owned
by the state with the rest owned by Amtrak.
As of spring 2018, the primary locomotive used for all of these trains is the EMD F59PHI.
However, all of the Surfliner F59s will soon be replaced with Siemens charger locomotives,
purchased by the state of California.
There are already 6 Charger locomotives in service on San Joaquin and Capitol Corridor
trains.
Trip times on the Pacific Surfliner are 2 hours 50 minutes from San Diego to Los Angeles
and about another 5 and a half hours between Los Angeles and San Luis Obispo.
The total route length is 350 miles.
Capitol Corridor takes just under 2 hours to travel from Sacramento to Oakland and another
hour and 25 minutes to reach San Jose, a total distance of 133 miles.
San Joaquin trains travel 315 miles between Bakersfield and Oakland, taking 6 hours and
15 minutes.
From Bakersfield to Sacramento, the trip is 282 miles and takes 5 hours and 20 minutes.
We have come to the end of our discussion on Amtrak Corridor trains.
I hope you had fun!
To find out more on any of these Amtrak trains, please visit the Amtrak website - amtrak.com
or call 1800-872-7245.
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That’s it for now.
Until next time, I’m Mike Armstrong.
I’ll see you down the line.
Thanks for watching!