this post was submitted on 03 Jul 2025
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[–] litchralee@sh.itjust.works 1 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

If I understand correctly, the proposal would:

  • terminate the Southwest Chief and Pennsylvanian service
  • add a train with mixed consist of passenger cars and flat cars that will transport whole 18-wheelers, cab plus trailer, or charter buses
  • will aim to do NYC to LA in 72 hours, or an average speed of at least 40 MPH (64 kph)
  • introduce renovated or new bilevel passenger cars
  • does not propose where or what facilities would be needed to drive vehicles onto the flat cars
  • and somehow this can all be done by May 2026

What planet has this company been inhabiting that they think this is a reasonable proposal?

Just from the freight perspective, surely it would be simpler and easier to send intermodal freight by rail and then have short-haul trucking at the bookends, rather than what seems to be a boneheaded plan to put long-haul trucking on rails.

The shrinking interest in working long-haul truck routes will not be alleviated by spending rest time on a train, since the root complaint about the job is how much time is spent away from home and family. And I can't see why the host railroads would be fine with Amtrak -- aka the National Railroad Passenger Corporation -- carrying freight.

I sense something deeply amiss or even quite possibly scammy about this.