Seems unrealistic.
Itâs been tried before. A version works in Europe, but usually where there is no practical parallel truck route (e.g. for some of the famous long tunnels). Some of the âspecial vehiclesâ used for this were of great interest back in the earlyâ80s years of HPIT and Iron Highway, when TOFC was still the big intermodal modality (and stack trains hadnât become such an option). One version I remember had 10 axles per car, with the equivalent of 16" wheels, to offer the lowest possible floor and with it the lowest ramps, break over height, and tunnel clearance (should the trailer rock of sustain flats, etc.).
I canât imagine much point in expecting current drivers to be comfortable with circus-type loading or expedient tie-down. Youâd almost have to resurrect the âkangorouâ system which placed a steel spacer âwheelâ between Budd duals and a pair of load-bearing rails down the length of the consist that would steer the trailer and rear of the tractor without difficulty. Then youâd have all the excess fare weight represented by the tractors, and the loss of opportunity income for the 72 hours or whatever, and the dilemma of paying drivers to ride the train or else arrange personnel at non-longshoreman wages to unstrap the trucks, yard them, then drive to destination.
TOFC with suitably-reinforced trailers makes more sense, especially with autonomous yard dogs to load, unload, and stage throughput.
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Paul Reistrup Amtrakâs second president who engineered (no pun intended) the acquisition of the Amfleets and Superliners and F40s is on Ameristarâs Board. So unless heâs gone senile (which I doubt as I have read recent interviews with him) he must see something in it. I doubt however that Amtrak is in the least bit interested and probably wonât reply.
Reminds me of a story I just heard. A retired well known investigative reporter wanted to give back to his community by offering to teach for free investigative reporting to a community college in Chicago. He pitched it to the College Board. Never even got the courtesy of a reply. So being an investigative reporter he got to someone who knew the Board and asked what was going on. Turns out the Board (who was probably imcompetent, this is Chicago) was petrified that this reporter would find out they were indeed incompetent and would make them look bad. So they ignored him. True story. It was told to me personally just last week by that reporter when I went biking with him along the lakefront.
Of course Ameristar really wants the NEC. But thatâs another story.
Reads like some kind of scam to me. Their implied service start dates are just ridiculously optimistic. It takes Amtrak on average 10-15 years to start a new or former route. They are not going to reduce that to just months, in my opinion. Then there is the whole quagmire of ordering new rail passenger equipment given they have to get Amtrakâs buy in and Amtrak seems to enjoy constantly changing specs of new equipment after the RFP response was accepted.
Last, some of the truckers riding that service are undoubtedly going to bring some cargo on the train and the frieght railroads will point to that and claim they are losing frieght business.
Scam? Whose pockets are targeted? But seems unrealistic timeline (2026) and speed (72hrs).
Didnât we discuss Swartzwelterâs Front Range rail-bridge idea a few months ago? Thatâs a service that would provide passenger-train amenities to long-distance truckers too â presuming that at least some of the ânine-hour tripsâ were overnight, probably the best time from a safety standpoint to be running them.
One suspects the actual money is in the truck bridge and M&E, and I just donât see a privately-funded anything being able to use the Amtrak âpresumptionâ to get service access, let alone scheduling priority over the private railroads involved without $$$ and careful contractual arrangements up front.
Thought slack action and vehicle security were tough on Auto Train? Imagine the fun with nose-to-tail semi rigs. Will they allow access to sleeper cabs, and shore power, etc. to the (many!) truckers who donât have the disposable income for tired old Superliner accommodations? What happens after the first wreck?
I do think thereâs a place for trailerbridge on a transcontinental route that serves sensible âregionalâ areas. Running it with one continuous train rather than end-to-end-switched blocks is probably unavoidable operationally (with current PSR block switching methodology). That it should tie in, if possible, with Swartzwelterâs trains⌠or other feeder trains with bridge traffic⌠would be reasonable.
But I donât see a truck version of Auto Train being something regular passengers would want to ride, or Auto-Train service for passenger cars something easily or safely provided on what would already be something long enough to require DP at levels giving reasonable breakeven on capital expense and operations costsâŚ
Still, Iâd like to see it tried.
Isnât this the same company that was going to do this:
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/58b5af889f7456f67037e10d/t/5f2189d0ff89035c1cc6b7b6/1596033520671/ASR+Compiled+Maps+2020-07-14.pdf
At age 92 - on set senility in the realm of likelihood.
I think he is there more as a figurehead than a serious strategist ⌠but Iâve known people in their '90s who were sharp as tacks.
Spencer and Vigrass seem to have reasonable experience, which might be directly applicable to through-running at NYP rather than pushing HSR anything. But I find I donât trust a principal in this sort of thing whose experience is in bankruptcy and insolvency law.
Iâm trying to figure out the connection with the FIFA World Cup. Is someone planning to truck people in? 
I think he was involved with the first Amtrak Auto-Train partnership if I am not mistaken and the company would want for investors to make that connection.
We all pay for Amtrak and involvement in questionable business arrangements is covered by our tax dollars.
I think the connection is just getting soccer fans from across the country to where the games will be played
Hauling commercial vehicles is another possible market, but I donât think they intended to connect the two markets together
Unless they can get the price down close to the cost of the drivers cost of fuel, I donât see there being much market
If the cost is not Much above the cost of the trucks fuel cost, and the driver is collecting the same rate as rubber tiring it point A to point B, that could make attractive, that would keep the driverâs HOS available at the other end,and reduce maintenance costs and wear and tear on the vehicle
Doug
Fortunately, one of AmeristarRailâs co-founders is a bankruptcy expert.
Neil B. Glassman
ASR Co-Founder/Legal Advisor
Mr. Glassman is chairman of the Board of Directors of Bayard and is a member of the firmâs bankruptcy group. Neil focuses his practice on bankruptcy and insolvency law, and insurance and entity law. He joined Bayard in 1986.
He is a published author and a frequent speaker on issues and developments in bankruptcy and insolvency law. He has been recognized by Chambers USA from 2006 through 2020 as a leader in bankruptcy and restructuring, and was also named by Best LawyersÂŽ as one of the foremost practitioners in his region.
Mr. Glassman has been responsible for developing the business and legal strategies for the intellectual property of AmeriStarRailâs innovations to improve Amtrakâs Northeast Corridor service.
âTruckers would be able to drive aboard the Transcontinental Chief and make use of dining and sleeper car services as well as other Amtrak amenities while onboard.â
Why bother having a driver go with? Have someone load the truck on the train, and another standing by to take it off.
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Because that market already exists in TOFC/COFC, theyâre trying to find a new market, that I donât really think exists
Doug
They need âpassengersâ for the train. Bad. This proposal is sophomoric on many, many levels.
Iâm sure BNSF and NS will have something to say about Amtrak trying to chisel into their remaining TOFC business using their own right-of-ways.
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Except, it didnât even sound like Amtrak had even responded to the proposal
I wouldnât bet more than lunch money on that deal, my username on the chainsaw forums is Husky Man, which not only describes my preference in Saws, but also my âPhysiqueâ basically missing one lunch wouldnât hurt me any, and I still wouldnât take that bet
Doug
Thereâs a Newswire story with some additional details on this unique idea. The proposed train would replace the existing Southwest Chief and Pennsylvanian trains and carry cars and charter buses too. Two additional Amtrak slots would be needed on NS between Chicago and Pittsburgh to bridge the gap.
No transportation company worth their financing is going to pay for an âemployeeâ truck driver to be a cross country âpassengerâ with his truck and trailer on the same train - ship the box and have it picked up at destination.
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