From: stephen@sprunk.org

On 28-Apr-14 01:10, Adam H. Kerman wrote:
> Stephen Sprunk  wrote:
>> Yes, you said I'm full of shit that stations are staffed in the
>> Rust Belt whereas they're not outside the Rust Belt.  And then you
>> admitted that I was right about that.  Oops.
>
> How odd. When I rode MARTA in Atlanta, I never saw an unstaffed
> station. But I must have been seeing things. Same goes for WMATA in
> Washington. Both are in the south, last I looked.

Both are rather rusty.

>> On 27-Apr-14 14:44, Adam H. Kerman wrote:
>>> At Chicago Union Station, the baggage platforms are rarely used
>>> these days, except for oversize baggage. It's annoying as the
>>> passenger platforms are too narrow for baggage, but Amtrak just
>>> won't use the station as designed.
>>
>> Isn't that why Metra, at least, is changing the layout?
>
> Metra's not doing shit. There's no money. Chicago Union Station
> Company is 100% Amtrak subsidiary, although transit grants have been
> used for certain improvements.

Fine, it's not Metra's money that is changing the platforms.

>> Amtrak would probably do the same for their platforms if they had
>> the money to.
>
> They don't have specific platforms; commuter trains may be found on
> any platform during rush hour. Intercity trains tend to use the
> eastern-most platforms, but there are exceptions.

IIRC, the platform changes are planned only for the ones that Metra
normally uses, not the ones Amtrak normally uses.

>> Baggage platforms sound like a good idea, and maybe they were a
>> century ago, but it's not how stations are designed today--even
>> overseas where LD rail is far more popular than here.  Then again,
>> level boarding is also common in such countries, which mostly
>> eliminates the need for checked baggage.
>
> The station was designed so that baggage had a separate route
> through the station than passengers. The main baggage room was one
> level below concourse level, then brought up by ramp to the baggage
> platforms. Also, CUS was designed for short, frequent intercity
> trains, so every track got baggage platforms. Significant mail and
> express were handled, so separate baggage platforms helped for this
> as well. There was actually never sufficient capacity for all the
> mail the station handled.

And, like baggage, mail and express don't use passenger trains today
either.  Why use a mode that takes several days to cross the country
when you can use air, which can do it in hours, or trucks, which are
still far faster than Amtrak LD?

Perhaps if we can get passenger trains back up to an acceptable speed,
that will also bring back mail trains.

S

--
Stephen Sprunk         "God does not play dice."  --Albert Einstein
CCIE #3723         "God is an inveterate gambler, and He throws the
K5SSS        dice at every possible opportunity." --Stephen Hawking

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