Talk:List of Amtrak routes

Scheduled Service Time
Anyone want to collaborate on adding a column with scheduled service time to this table? Theblindsage (talk) 21:44, 2 January 2020 (UTC)

Untitled
There are some trains that were listed on other websites for which I cannot find any corraborating info. I'm going to place these here until further info/confirmation is found. Please remove items from list that you know are not valid Amtrak Routes.


 * Encore (Midwest?)
 * Gulf Wind (Was an L&N Train)
 * Indiana Connection
 * Lake Shore (NOT LAKE SHORE LIMITED) VIA Montreal, QC-Toronto, ON  Montreal - Toronto
 * La Salle CN; VIA Chicago, IL-Toronto, ON;Sarnia, ON-Montreal, QC
 * Marquette (Show the Pere Marquette RR Operated this Train Chicago, IL-Grand Rapids, MI; Amtrak now had the Pere Marquette)
 * South Breeze
 * Spirit of America
 * Texan
 * Weekender
 * West Virginian
 * Willamette Valley (Oregon)
 * Wishbone

shows the Lake Shore as the old name for the Lake Shore Limited. The 1991 Trains article agrees. That timetable also shows the West Virginian. --SPUI (talk) 10:51, 2 September 2005 (UTC)

I've gone through a bunch of info and added start and end dates for most of the trains outside the corridors (Northeast, Empire, Keystone, Hiawatha and Cascade). User:SPUI/Amtrak shite has some compiled info. --SPUI (talk) 19:14, 12 November 2005 (UTC)

800-899
-- I have a summary of the ownership of Amtrak's 21,767 route miles here-

http://www.trains.com/TRC/CS/forums/569629/ShowPost.aspx

Dale

nanaimo73@shaw.ca
 * Dale, that's an excellent work you did there. Rhallanger 00:57, 20 March 2006 (UTC)

New Orleans East?
A 1986 LADOTD map shows four Amtrak routes, all from New Orleans - to Slidell via Southern, Hammond via ICG, Schriever, New Iberia, Lafayette and Lake Charles via SP and New Orleans East via Seaboard. Does anyone know details on the New Orleans East route? Is this referring to the Gulf Coast Limited (and thus in error, as that was discontinued in January 1985)? Or did Amtrak operate a commuter train there? --SPUI (T - C - RFC) 07:33, 6 May 2006 (UTC)

Trains that exist but lost their number
There are some trains listed, especially on the Northeast Corridor, that lost their names but still exist. Those need to be marked, but how to do that in an overly-long article? --plaws 21:36, 31 October 2007 (UTC)

Ridership per mile?
Means nothing. What you want is revenue passenger miles since, particularly on longer routes, seats can turn over multiple times. --plaws (talk) 21:22, 3 October 2009 (UTC)

Whoa
Quite long passenger routes you have, anything over 500 miles would probably be classed as long-distance here if such a class would be regulated. 85.76.37.10 (talk) 18:35, 23 January 2011 (UTC)

Keystone Corridor
I've separated the Keystone Corridor section into two tables - the Harrisburg-Philadelphia local services that are now under the Keystone Service brand, and Pittsburgh-Philadelphia services (now only the Pennsylvanian) that general didn't provide local service east of Harrisburg. I think this is more clear, but could be convinced otherwise. Pi.1415926535 (talk) 18:42, 25 January 2017 (UTC)
 * I like it, but we now have some duplication between this section and Northeast–Midwest. They could probably be separated based on whether the service continued west of Pittsburgh, though the Pennsylvanian's brief extension to Chicago poses a problem. Mackensen (talk) 02:24, 26 January 2017 (UTC)
 * I 'm afraid there's always going to be some degree of duplication no matter how you divide it up. Even discounting the proper long-distance trains that run express on the NEC, you have a number of trains that offer local service on the NEC and also go elsewhere. Carolinian, Vermonter, pretty much every NYC-HBG train that's existed, the Virginia extensions of Northeast Regionals, etc. I think you end up having to make some really awkward judgement calls about what list to put things on if you try to restrict it to exactly one listing of each train. What about that Downington Metroliner that ran 80% of its route miles on the NEC? What if the Lynchburger gets extended to Bristol as proposed - it would be almost as long as the Carolinian, but still may remain under the Northeast Regional brand. Amtrak seems to always have an exception for every rule. Pi.1415926535 (talk) 17:04, 26 January 2017 (UTC)

Valley Flyer
Should the Valley Flyer trains be listed separately? Or should we change the length of the Hartford Line trains to 98 miles to include the two round trips to Greenfield, MA?Mirza Ahmed (talk) 07:38, 29 October 2019 (UTC)

Keystone route in 1972
In the January 1972 Amtrak route guide*, there is a route called "Keystone" pg 52, top row, train #43, and pg 53, bottom row, train #42. It's a New York to Philly route. I'm mapping route changes based on the printed schedules, so I have no further info than what appears there. Not comfortable just stuffing it into the chart. Lindaniel (talk) 23:52, 1 April 2021 (UTC)
 * From the Museaum of Railway Timetables
 * Thanks for the tip. Looks like we already have it listed - see the second chart under #Keystone Corridor. Cheers, Pi.1415926535 (talk) 01:08, 2 April 2021 (UTC)
 * The earliest in that chart is 1980. The Keystone I reference is in 1972. I'm now working on 1973 guides, and this Keystone has only been listed in the January 1972 Amtrak guide. (oops, forgot to sign in Lindaniel) 74.76.173.30 (talk) 03:13, 3 April 2021 (UTC)
 * I think you're looking at the first chart. The 1972 iteration of the Keystone is in the second chart, right under the Duquesne and Fort Pitt. Pi.1415926535 (talk) 03:26, 3 April 2021 (UTC)
 * I did further searching in my stuff, and found ...that your answer above is "my" Keystone. Searched on Duquesne, and there it was. I'm glad I didn't try amending the page before asking about it. Thank you for your patience. Lindaniel (talk) 22:27, 6 April 2021 (UTC)

Colors in table
There are multiple dates in the various tables which have a red background, but as far as I can tell there's nothing in the article itself that explains what this use of color means. This seems inconsistent with MOS:COLOR's requirement that colored backgrounds should not be used except in conjunction with accessibility tools or footnotes to make it clear what the use of color is meant to symbolize. Rfwang4 (talk) 21:06, 10 July 2022 (UTC)
 * That's odd. It seems to me that the colors indicate either a) the route was operated by Amtrak on May 1, 1971, the date Amtrak began operations, or b) the route is currently active. I don't understand why both cases would use the same color. Trainsandotherthings (talk) 21:13, 10 July 2022 (UTC)
 * That appears to have been around since 2005, could use an update perhaps.  Cards   84664   21:16, 10 July 2022 (UTC)
 * Ah, 2005, when VHS was still a thing and I was in elementary school. That was probably advanced technique back in 2005 to have the colors like that. I'd recommend changing the present services color from red to green. Trainsandotherthings (talk) 21:31, 10 July 2022 (UTC)
 * I realize that @Trainsandotherthings have our differences over station notability but there's no need to make some us feel older than we are :). Anyway, the red background denoted (for the start date) trains that Amtrak assumed control over on May 1, 1971 and (for the end date) trains that are still running. At one time, I believe, the reporting mark of the pre-Amtrak carrier was also indicated in the start date. I agree that in its current form it adds nothing. If a color key is needed or useful, we should do something similar to what's implemented at List of MBTA subway stations. Mackensen (talk) 22:36, 10 July 2022 (UTC)
 * Edit: yes they were, see for example. Mackensen (talk) 22:39, 10 July 2022 (UTC)

How's this grab folks? Mackensen (talk)
 * Sure, and maybe add a new column for predecessor operator, similar to Conrail.  Cards   84664   23:26, 10 July 2022 (UTC)