City Triplets. No, I am not advocating multiple births by urban dwellers. I am talking about groups of cities that would be an excellent starting point for new Passenger Rail routing. Just about every state has a set of city triplets, and I am sure my readers will know of more. Some triplets don't fit into just one state, they are bi-state or tri-state triplets. Let me give two examples and then a list.
My home state of New Mexico now has the beginnings of a triplet routing. We have a true intercity commuter between Albuquerque and Santa Fe. The south end of the line doesn't count. Belen isn't big enough to fit my idea. But Santa Fe - Albuquerque - Las Cruces does. And there is already talk.
Another example, from my former state, would be Chicago - Springfield - St. Louis, which does exist to some extent. Chicago - Peoria - Moline would be another. My point in getting together these triplet is: If we start here, it is a good place to then connect the dots by connecting the triplets. And it gives each state a chance to decide what routes they want and then go for the gold in getting their triplet into the new national network.
Others (mostly where there is no or limited Passenger Rail now):
Boise - Pocatello - Idaho Falls
Tucson - Phoenix - Flagstaff
Pueblo - Colorado Springs - Denver
Grand Island - Lincoln - Omaha
Topeka - Wichita - Oklahoma City
Amarillo - Lubbock - San Angelo
New Orleans - Baton Rouge - Shreveport
Memphis - Nashville - Knoxville
Evansville - Indianapolis - South Bend
I could go on. There's no trick other than finding a triplet that has some population in between towns that would ride the train and stir up some economic activity by doing so. With few exceptions in the one's I've named, this would also take passenger cars off the Interstates.
©2009 C. A. Turek - mistertrains@gmail.com
3 comments:
Scranton, PA - Harrisburg, PA - Baltimore, MD
Harrisburg and Baltimore have Amtrak, but "you can't get there from here" applies unless you transfer in Philadelphia.
Scranton, PA - Allentown, PA - Philadelphia
A link between the three largest cites in Eastern, PA
Des Moines-Minneapolis/St. Paul-Chicago or are those three too far away from eachother?
The great thing about a triplet is that people in the middle want to go both directions, so the train is never empty.
The Vermonter starts in little St.Albans, Vermont with nobody on board (well, a few) and then adds people at every stop until eventually all 5 cars are full at New York City. But that means hauling around empty cars up north because the people haven't got on yet. In our case, if the train started in Montreal, it would start with a load and people getting off would be replaced with people getting on. That's the way you want it, although geography does not always cooperate.
This principal works over long distances as much as short. Imagine a Denver-Albuquerque-Flagstaff-Phoenix pairing. You start with a load at Denver and turn it over along the route and still have a load at Phoenix.
Shopping malls also use this principal: they put their anchor stores at both ends, or like your triplet, with one in the middle and the minor stores catching the traffic in between.
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