1998-2001
The late 1990s were an economic boom for most of the world, and the United States were no exception to this. Rising employment and mobility led to an increased demand for Amtrak passengers both directly and indirectly - increased wealth also lead to more cars, and more cars meant more congestion on road networks which further stimulated demand. It also became known, amongst other changes in Amtrak, as the "Return of the Sleeper". President Clinton's trip on a special Amtrak sleeper service was a major PR coup for Amtrak, and they responded by introducing a network of special point-to-point express services (rather then the traditional stopping service style), allowing fast access between major cities. Advertised as "the quick and convenient" way to travel, they were primarily marketed for business people and wealthy travellers, with it being mostly attractive to travellers who hated the early start for a flight between the cities.
"Presidential" would later become the best known of Amtrak's new sleeper routes, with a service running non-stop in both directions over night between Chicago and Washington DC. The service usually took 12-13 hours, departing from Washington DC at about 8pm (EST), with dinner served on board. Sleeping coaches provided plenty of beds for the travellers, before arriving into Chicago at around 8am (CST) with breakfast served both before and after arrival, to cater for both those travellers who needed to leave immediately upon arrival and those who wanted some extra sleep and would eat after arriving. A similar service "Broadway" linked New York City to Chicago, and a revamped "Chief" service ran from Chicago to Los Angeles (which although it took well over a day, was still timed to depart in the evening and arrive early morning). The Chief service though stopped at a few stations en route, which were timed to fit in with the overall style of being an express sleeper service. "Auto Train" was also subsumed into the sleeper service system, although this train also carried cars from Virginia down to Florida and back.
Couple to this new imagery of Amtrak as the fast way to travel, the first batch of Amtrak's new North East Corridor trains - the Amtrak X2 (from the Swedish X2000; the X2 label was supposed to be reminiscent of the original Swedish model, as well as denoting "twice as comfortable, twice as convenient", although critics said it would be "twice the cost"). Trains spent most of late 1998 in trials up and down the NEC to ensure compatibility, before beginning limited in-service trips between Washington DC and Boston. The introduction of the services was timed at about the same time as a project to extend electrification and thus NEC services further south from Washington, to Newport News and Norfolk, kicked off with negotiations starting between Amtrak and the freight railroads. Passenger levels immediately started to rise, both for trips between the major cities in the north east, and the further improved travel times to the airports, of which BWI Airport, Newark Airport & JFK Airport were all integrated into the Amtrak service.
New York's PATH extensions came into effect in 1999.
Boston's MBTA subway had been gradually extended continuously over the years
In California, much of the new segments of rail had been completed; San Francisco / SFO Airport / Sacramento / Fresno / Bakersfield all linked together with quick and modern trains, as well as links improved between Los Angeles / Anaheim / San Diego. Barriers remained though; the Tehachapi Pass remained one of the busiest freight routes in the country. The Pass was only single track and was intensively utilised by the freight railroads, with little ability for Amtrak to co-exist - even if the pass was double tracked. With little option bar using the slow coastal route, it seemed that north and south California would remain very separated for a long time to come.
In the Mid-West, electrification and modernisation of the Chicago - Milwaukee - Minneapolis route was finished by 2000, and with the introduction of X2 trains on to the North East Corridor routes, older AEM7 trains were moved across to the Mid-Western routes. Routes times dropped accordingly, with Chicago - Milwaukee being accomplished in about 1 hour, and Chicago - Minneapolis in about 5 hours, both smashing previous records. Trains would run reasonably consistent stopping pattern of Minneapolis - St Paul - Eau Claire - South Beaver Dam - Milwaukee - ORD Airport - Chicago. While Amtrak would of preferred to extend the train south of Chicago, electrification was not present in order to run the train further on. Passengers, attracted by a comfortable ride on far more modern trains then had plied the route before, started to use the service, with passengers numbers rising; albeit very slowly on the end-to-end route. Passenger levels started to rise far more quickly on the Milwaukee - Chicago section of the route.
By the time 2001 swung around, the State of Wisconsin, was investigating extensions to the system to connect in it's other towns in Green Bay and the Lake Winnebago communities, but this would be turned down by Amtrak "for the foreseeable future". Amtrak's visions for the Mid-West were firmly fixated on the wider electrification of it's network - Chicago to Indianapolis & beyond, and to Toledo & beyond, to attract further passengers with faster and more modern trains. Extensions in Wisconsin sounded great on paper, but unfortunately the market was small and Amtrak's priorities lay elsewhere
Concept art for the Florida High Speed Rail project
In Florida too, changing attitudes led to a constitutional mandate in the State to provide high speed rail, funded by the State. Although private investors had been interested before, actual funding never really materialised and investors never convinced the State of their intention to fund the works themselves. So this time, an agreement with Amtrak meant that the works would largely be funded by the State of Florida, but then fully operated by Amtrak and integrated into their nationwide network. The first phase, a reasonably short stretch, would run from across the reasonably short stretch of St Petersburg / Tampa / Lakeland / Walt Disney World / Orange County Convention Centre / ORD Airport, with a secondary branch from Orange County Convention Centre into central Orlando. The system would then link the large visitor attractions of Walt Disney World and the Orange County Convention Centre with the main airport.
Finally, the closing years of the 1990s were a time when Amtrak was seeking to maximise it's revenue. The so called "Dot Com" bubble led to an explosion in demand for internet traffic, and one which Amtrak would take full advantage of. Amtrak allowed the emerging telecommunication companies to lay cables along it's alignments, saving the companies from having to dig up miles of ground or use above-ground pylons. The companies would pay Amtrak a rental fee per year for the right to access Amtrak land in order to lay and maintain their cables, and the income would prove extra money for Amtrak for little effort. Another development was a continuing discussion with FedEx, who had a regional hub at Newark Airport for the North East. A concept was emerging which would allow FedEx to effectively use Amtrak's existing luggage facilities to convey FedEx deliveries from Newark Airport to the cities along the North East Corridor. If successful, it would see the return of mail services to the US rail network for the first time in years, and a contract was signed in mid 2001 to convey FedEx traffic from Newark Airport to Philadelphia, Baltimore & Washington. The regular Amtrak services along this stretch would allow the "instant" transport of FedEx containers between the airport and cities without needing to wait for a truck heading that way.
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Notes: So the "Amtrak X2" trains (X2000) trains are coming online now along the NEC; times will fall again, especially between New York and Boston thanks to the tilting technology and higher acceleration rates. Might knock up "statistics" and timings for this route in the next chapter.
I'd be happy to hear thoughts on the sleeper services though. They are timed for almost completely overnight trips, with dinner & sleep, then arriving in the destination before the work day starts.
Anyhow, on the Mid-West network, quicker times thanks to the AEM7 locos pulling at 120mph'ish. Much faster....5 hours for Chicago - Minneapolis was a rough guess, but I think it's reasonably realistic - and it beats previous records easily. A little mention about extensions to Green Bay...that'll come in time.
But the big change is now Florida....investors aren't exactly jumping at the high-speed network, so it'll be funded by the State and operated by Amtrak - and thus integrated into Amtrak's network. I'm planning on this being at least similar to the OTL proposals, and you'll notice that the first phase of this TL's HSR is almost identical to that proposed in OTL.
I'm not massively happy with the map quality I can do, but I've tried Scribble maps and it keeps crashing or moving lines that I've worked on after I've done a load. Very frustrating!
