http://catchthekeystone.com/schedule/weekday/
I was wondering why the Keystone Service trains have to wait for 15 min. @ Philadelphia? Are they waiting for transfers from the Northeast Regional or Aclea?
The trains change direction at Philly. I don’t know if they use the same crew, or change crews, but either way, the change is going to take some time. Plus it’s a major stop, so it is going to take time to get the people in and out.
That changing of directions used to involve swapping the power from one end to the other - at one time, earlier in Amtrak’s operation, before the Keystone Corridor upgrades - even involving diesels for electrics, or vice-versa. Don’t know if they still do that, but maybe the ‘cushion’ or ‘dwell’ time is left in the schedule just in case.
- Paul North.
Keystones now use electric engines and cab cars. So no more swapping. But you have to change ends (and I think crews, too - but don’t hold me to that).
I just find it odd that even the “through” Keystone trains wait for 15 min. but I guess it is a busy hub. The switch to the cab car makes more sense for a wait, for a keystone train only traveling between Philly & Harris.
It would be nice if the schedule on the link I posted mentioned which ones were transfers to the Northeast Regional. It could be confusing to the average traveler.
Do you know who prints the schedule you linked? The regular Amtrak schedule shows which ones are connections and which ones thru. Strangley your scheduled does not show the Pennsylvanian.
I am not sure? It seems to be a website completely dedicated to the Keystone Service
Should not this whole thread been in the Passenger Forum and not the General Forum?
At the very bottom of the Wikipedia article on the Keystone Corridor at - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keystone_Corridor , it references as an ‘‘External Link’’ the ‘‘Catch the Keystone, sponsored by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and Amtrak’’.
The overall look of the website and the links to both agencies at the bottom, and the similar text in this blurb by an ad agency which indicates that both approached them - http://neimangroup.com/work/penndot [cute, too [swg] ], reinforces a belief or impression that it is a joint Amtrak-PennDOT venture.
- Paul North.