The Illini: Amtrak's STRANGEST Consist | Chicago to Homewood in Coach
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- Опубліковано 21 лип 2024
- Hello and welcome back to Chicago’s Union Station! Today we are taking a ride on Amtrak’s Illini, from here down to Homewood, Illinois.
Trip Information
Train Number: Amtrak Illini 393
Locomotive: Siemens SC-44 Charger 4625
Consist: 5 Superliner Coaches, 1 Coach Cafe Car, and 1 Sleeper
Departure Time: 4:05pm
Arrival Time: 4:46pm
Journey Time: 0 hr 41 min
Top Speed: 79 mph
Ticket Price: $17.00
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First Class:
Jonas Jonson
Caleb
Joshua Bedel
Business Class:
James Schock
Coach Class:
TJY
Marlo Fairhurst
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- Chapters -
0:00 Hello and Welcome to Chicago's Union Station!
0:38 The Gorgeous Main Hall
0:58 Heading out to Track 28 for Boarding
1:20 Our Train: Amtrak Illini 393
1:37 The Texas Eagle and P42DC 69 on Track 28
1:56 Climbing Aboard
2:22 Seating on Superliners is Incredible!
4:14 Departing Chicago
4:30 Our Strange Route to Homewood
5:30 Amtrak's Chicago Yard and their Venture Coaches
6:27 A SLEEPER on Our Train?!
7:03 Canadian National and the Reasons Behind the Consist
8:07 Subscribe! And Check Out the Patreon!
8:35 The Illini's Cafe
9:28 Metra Electric and the South Shore Line
9:56 Stats for Nerds!
11:19 Bathrooms on Superliners
12:20 Little Calumet River and our Arrival in Homewood
12:39 Another Look at the Sleeper Car
13:05 Train 393 Departs Homewood
13:30 Sketchy Tunnels Below the Tracks
13:51 The Locked Waiting Room?
14:30 Next Week: The MARC Commuter Train from Washington DC to Baltimore!
14:41 Thanks for Watching!
Equipment:
Camera: iPhone 12 Pro Max
Gimbal: DJI OM5
Camera: GoPro Hero 9 Black
Camera: Sony AX-43
Mic: Rode Videomic Pro+
Tripod: Coman DF06 + Manfrotto 502 Head
#Amtrak #Illini #AmtrakMidwest
Huge thank you to everyone who showed up to the premiere! The plan moving forward is to premiere every video, with a few exceptions, so be sure to turn on the notification bell to be alerted when premieres go live!
I over slept and missed it💀😭
@@josephj.6478 Oh no! Well you're here now, and that's all that matters. Hopefully I'll see you at the premiere next week!
@@LonestarTrips yessssiirrr😎
Now THIS is a intercity train we all need! Comfy seats, fast ride, and good views!
Agreed! Hopefully Amtrak's Connects US plan will add more routes like this so that everyone can experience such a comfortable and efficient ride.
@@LonestarTrips I hope that in the future, The South Shore Line will be equiped with 25Kv 60Hz AC catenary. Amtrak should be using the corridor so they could use the Dual mode trainsets (Airo). This would also fasten up for the net zero goals. The South Shore Line also is getting upgraded for higher speeds, new catenary (poles), double tracking and High boarding platforms that are full length for trains. Speeds could be 90-100 mph on the corridor if amtrak chooses one day to do so.
@@StefanWithTrains3222 I hope so too, however I think the likelihood of that happening is slim to none, as that would also require converting the Metra Electric lines to 25kV 60Hz AC. Considering how stubborn Metra is already with their rolling stock, I doubt they would ever consider converting to another electrification system, at least not until they have to replace their electric trains.
Just ride the City of New Orleans! It’s like the Illini/ Saluki but it goes past Carbondale and all the way to New Orleans!
They’re testing some equipment on a CDTX F59PHI to get around that axle count restriction and put those cars (IE the sleeper) back on Long hauls that use them.
If it becomes successful they will add it to the Surfliner and San Joaquin trains to
Get rid of the axle count needed on those trains too.
Oh interesting. Do you happen to know of any links where I could read more about it?
I hope that will also mean the end of using Dining Cars and Sightseer Lounges for axle counts too.
The surfliners don’t use extra cars for axel count. If anything the trains need more cars due to ridership demand. That would be useful for the San Joaquin service though.
@@anitrain the trains are 6 cars due to that axle requirement on the UP. trains used to be 5 cars (24 axles) they are borrowing coaches from amtrak and adding another business class car to each trainset.
it might not be and idle car but its one extra car to a trainset that takes a car away from building another trainset in the rotations.
Love how bro basically gives a tutorial on the super liner seats
Everyone's gotta learn somehow lol.
1:41 haha. Nice. Saw that on the Zephyr once.
Im always amazed by how extensive the American rail net work is. These trains go extremely long distances.
America is not a TINY nation one can drive across before dusk like Germany or France. Furthermore, the Superliner fleet is over FORTY years in age. Presently the Superliner fleet is being refurbished. Amtrak has received funding for their replacements, which is underway with a RFP with 12 responses. While America has regional day trains throughout America, they have regional routes, not national overnight routes. Americans prefer riding a sleeper train two or three nights than two, three, or four regional day trains and sleeping in hotels during the nights on these long journeys... As it is Americans have to make connections with the overnight trains to go from east to west and west to east..
The unused sleeper on the Illini is probably the reason I was told that there were no sleepers available to add to the Capital Ltd that I had paid for, so I was downgraded to a crowded coach seat for a miserable overnight trip to Washington DC.
Thanks for another great trip review, love to see Chicago Union, such a nice station!
12:44 The Northbound Illini usually runs at night so that would probably be the only time using the sleeper car would work. The Midwest trains that use single-level cars should consider using the empty baggage cars to carry bikes, and I always thought adding a cab car or 2nd locomotive at the other end could reduce the down time between runs.
They pinched that sleeper off an inbound California Zephyr. I guess they just grab what's handy.
That's likely the case.
I rode the Southwest Chief in February, 2003 and it was led by P42s 69 with 79 right behind it (and two more that I can't remember -this was back in the express freight car days, hence four locomotives)
Another thing to note is that the illini and saluki routes also share the same route with the City of New Orleans route with continuing service to New Orleans after Carbondale.
When Amtrak first received Superliner coaches in the early 1980s, Amtrak put them on trains between Chicago and Detroit. The dining cars, lounge cars, and sleepers came later, and Amtrak didn't have enough Amfleet cars.
Don’t forget MNR’s New Haven Line & New Caan Line having overhead-wires
Look for between 150-200 for a room between Carbondale and Chicago if the sleeper were being used. Also Amtrak is looking to rerouting the passenger trains using this route in the Chicago area over Norfolk and Southern Tracks to avoid the costly backing in and out of Chicago Union Station.
I suspect they don't sell space in the sleeper since this is a state supported route and the state of Illinois doesn't have included in their contract sleeper cars. What they should do is open it up and let passengers get a 2-3 hour "taste" of what the sleeper is like, whole charging coach prices. Might encourage people to book an overnight ticket at one point.
Ricobenes is a good food spot on the south side. Glad to see it on the map
I just watched this will on the 393 heading home to Carbondale after a fun weekend in Chicago.
Awesome, safe travels!
The cafe car on the Illini is similar to that on the Heartland Flyer between Fort Worth and Oklahoma City. That train has locomotives on each end to allow operation without a turnaround.
I have seen a coach/cafe Superliner car on the Empire Builder as well, with the cafe part set up on the route to Seattle from Spokane where the sightseeing lounge cafe Superliner car on the route to Portland from Spokane. I have also seen two rows of chairs in coach set up with boxes for snacks as well.
I remember riding this train back in 2017 and they used horizon cars and amfleets, but I did see one of this trains using superliners but from Carbondale to Chicago and back I had Horizons on both trips, when I herd they switched to Superliners I thought it was temporary because they were being brought to the Cascades and I thought eventually the Venture cars will be on the Illini but after the most recent stories about CN and everything I realize now, I think it's a shame using long distance equipment on this short distance route I know amtrak has been very short on superliners and they only use the Venture cars on 3 routes but I herd they are trying something let's hope this works
The state of Illinois should upgrade CN's signals on this route so the new Venture cars will work...
Good news-the whole axle count thing will be fixed.
Bad news-Amtrak and the government are paying for it, since CN didn't want to fix the systems (which were already in place but had been broken for years). So now Amtrak has had to develop some sort of new, advanced, work-around.
History/future-the line from Chicago to Carbondale (once you get past the whole "Get out of Union Station" mess) is basically dead-arrow straight. If it was a sealed passenger corridor, it would easily be good for 200 mph for the bulk of the trip. And indeed, the old Illinois Central, pre-Amtrak, routinely ran trains at over 100 on that line. Of course, the IC also managed to wreck 20% (that's ONE IN FIVE) of its top-tier express locomotives, largely as a result of doing that. Even so, upgrading the line with modern safety systems and allowing 110 mph (hopefully with level boarding) would allow for runs of little over 3 hours, fast enough to be transformative. And electrification and grade-separation? Well, that could cut things down to 2.5 hours. That's just within the outermost limits of a super-commuting. And THAT would be big.
Bi-levels on the Illini are not a new affair at all. In Amtrak's early days, they used ex-Chicago & North Western gallery cars to do the job.
Thorough as always! Did I see a supplemental light for the camera shots around the seat area? Along with making the quality of your video better, it shows the lack of cleaning unfortunately.
Glad the video held up to the standard! I had to use the flash on my camera because the dark filming environment was introducing too much noise in the footage. A side effect of this is, as you mentioned, revealing the true nature of the cleanliness of each coach.
7:04 meanwhile these trains are holding back valuable Superliners from long haul trains that are suffering from repeated sell outs. The Capitol Limited has been cut to just a three car train!!!! One sleeping car, one diner lounge, and one coach. The train has had a baggage car added to it following the removal of the coach baggage car. Over the past few months, Amtrak management has even made an absolutely stupid decision to use sightseer lounges to make up the axle count even though they claimed a shortage of this car for them not being on the Capitol Limited and Texas Eagle. Hopefully Amtrak will come up with a contingency. But in the meantime, Amtrak’s decision to operate 14 scarcely available Superliners on this route is placing the burden on long haul travelers.
Spot on... Exactly on point... Amtrak is more concerned with their state sponsored regional trains than they are their long distance overnight trains without any doubt whatsoever... Grandma can ride in a freight train box car attitude...
The reasons given for activation of level crossings is a little suspect. They are activated by bonds that sense the wheels by current running through the rails. Weight and axle count don’t usually affect this, only speed might affect how the gates react once the bond is triggered.
What axle count can affect is the circuit tracking to the RTC. More axles mean more contact with the rail which provides better circuit tracking.
Weight doesn’t factor into these equations at all.
How come the rest of the world has no problem running trains as short as one single DMU car (four axles) and still activating level crossings etc? British Rail was running its Class 121 and 122 Bubble Cars from the late 1950s without any problems with crossings! Or has this level of technical prowess not yet reached the shores of this country? Oh dear...
@@icenijohn2 It was a problem for you guys too. Smaller indistrial shunters working over mainlines had a tendency to not activate track circuits for signallers. The Class 03 shunters often ran with a flat wagon coupled to them because they were too light to activate the circuits and tell signallers where they were. If the track was built for mainline standards, then of course a small engine won't work well. The same applies, as a larger scale, to a lot of grade crossings in the US. Since the tracks are much more oriented for longer, heavier freight trains, then of course lighter, shorter passenger trains won't work the circuits properly.
Yeah sometimes railroads make some weird decisions on lines
How did you book this segment along? I thought anyone can only book this segment in conjunction with another segment in/out of Chicago
Timestamp 10:00 "Stats for Nerds" I like the title is the same as the analytics viewable when watching UA-cam videos of UA-cam's app.
You are the FIRST person to notice that in the over a year and a half I've been running this channel! The stats for nerds panel is actually where I got the inspiration for that section of each video. I also wanted to include something that would set my videos apart from other trip reports, and I noticed no one ever cared about the stats surrounding each trip, so I figured that would be my in.
@@LonestarTrips I am surprised that I am the first person to point it out (I made the comment on my laptop 😂). Keep using it and note this for when someone points it out again.
@@ScottRothsroth0616 I’m just as surprised as you lol. I don’t plan on cutting the segment anytime soon, so my guess is more people will catch on in the future.
@@LonestarTrips You don’t plan on changing the name is good. I guess now it is a wait and see game.
There may have been one other person who noticed and never said anything.
Honestly, if Amtrak is required to have 32 axles, I think they should open the car for passengers. However, they could push back the departure of the Illini from Chicago by an hour, unhook the coach/sleeper combo car in Carbondale, and hook it up to the City of New Orleans when it rolls around. This would allow passengers at stops not served by the City of New Orleans to sleep peacefully all night without waiting in Carbondale for four hours with minimal sleep waiting for the train south. For the trip to Chicago, the departure of the Illini could be moved up an hour to 6:30 and once again the City of New Orleans would unhook the coach/sleeper in Carbondale. The Illini would connect with it and take passengers going to smaller stops northbound. This would make more sense than wasting an entire car while still making dozens of passengers wait in Carbondale 4 or 5 hours at a time in the middle of the night.
Hey Lonestar got a question for ya. How do you make your animated map for your journey?
I animate it using adobe after effects.
I'm curious as to why CN/Illinois Central requires 32 axles and weight to operate its crossing gates.
Amtrak operates 4 and 5-car trains on the BNSF. I've seen Metra commuter trains outside of rush hours with as few as 3 gallery cars. Between locomotive and coaches, that's only 16 axles.
The BNSF crossings are probably activated differently
Does Canadian National make the same demands on VIA Rail Canada? VIA doesn't have any bilevel equipment.
I don’t think they do. Via rail likely had exceptions from CN, allowing them to run shorter, single level trains. Amtrak had a few of these exceptions on their other Midwest services, but something about the Illini’s route doesn’t allow this. Not sure why though.
Experiential travel is on the upswing. ...Do not tell Amtrak. I think it might surprise people that the sleeper service might be something to look at.
They're trying it on the NEC, I'm sure someone over there is interested
Sorry for a third post, but the tunnels are supposed to be be rebuilt, so far as the locked door, no clue??
Rebuilding the tunnels would be great. But that locked door was certainly strange.
Some paint can do wonders. My uncle had a business with a back wall to the railroad tracks which was targeted by gangs to get tagged with graffiti. He would call his son, a professional painter, to paint over the ugly graffiti. Finally the culprit asked him why he painted over his art, and my uncle responded. I own this business, I get to choose what color to paint it, not you. I don't mind hiring my son to paint my building, at least I know my grandkids have milk to drink...
Why the stupid requirements from CN? Aren't the signalling systems for crossings the same everywhere? How do you book the sleeper car?
the sleeper car on Iliini / Saluki isn't bookable - it's just wasted space that leaves money on the table.
a sleeper car on a daytime route can used as business class.
That would certainly be a step up from the current business class on the route. From what I’ve seen, business is just another superliner coach, so you don’t gain anything over regular coach seats.
If you'r not gonna open the sleeper give me a view liner for the hell of it
This requirement of a out-of-service sleeper is really sad; sleeper fares are so high that an out-of-service car leaves a lot of money on the table, and/or having added supply lead to lower prices. Is there no other car that Amtrak could add to get the axel count high enough?
The requirement is only that it be a superliner and that the train meet the axel count, so I suppose they could use another coach class superliner. That being said, I don't think there are too many not already in service. I know in the past they've made the even more ridiculous decision to put a sightseer lounge on these trains, which is hilarious considering that long distance routes like the Texas Eagle and Capitol Limited have yet to see them return to service.
@@LonestarTrips Thanks. John
@@LonestarTrips And that's part of the reason why you now see 3 or 4 car Capitol Limiteds and 5 car Texas Eagles.
@@paulj6756 During the pandemic I saw 4 car Texas Eagles...
@@LonestarTrips Amtrak is expecting their Superliner fleet refurbishment to be completed by the end of 2024. 12 wrecked Superliner cars will be returning to service no longer sitting idly at Beech Grove. Amtrak pulled the sightseeing lounge and diner off the SHARED train sets of the TE/CL. Due to their schedules arriving and departing Chicago, doing so saves Amtrak one train set...
I thought it used the air line off of the BNSF line.
Not anymore-the bridge is busted and stuck open. CN doesn't mind, since Amtrak was pretty much all of the use for the bridge, and it also required some expensive custom diamonds where the tracks crossed the Rock Island.
You forgot NJT operates electric and diesel trains even off the Amtrak owned sections
I didn't forget. When I mentioned "Northeast regional trains," I was including all of the electric commuter lines in the northeast, which include MARC, SEPTA, NJT, Metro North, CT Rail, and of course Amtrak. Granted, I could have made that clearer, but mentioning more services didn't really fit how I wanted it to.
Plans are "afoot" to create a route that will enable a route minus the back up move and save about 15 minutes on the schedule
That would be awesome if they could make it work.
@@LonestarTrips Part of a master plan to improve both the trains on the CN, as well as those heading east
@@Robbi496 Gotcha. Hopefully CN and Amtrak move forward with the plan.
@@LonestarTrips It is a State, Amtrak and RR plan
CUSAP was sadly denied a large federal grant. It's not dead yet but still needs funding
Such an egregious use of equipment while the Capitol Limited operates with ONE superliner coach. They should sue CN over this...or tack on a bunch of baggage cars like they used to do to satisfy the axle count. This is so reflective of Amtraks current management.
And why cant cn be held responsible for improving the safety of there crossing protection
The same reason why CN isn't being held responsible for violating the law and giving preference to their freighters over passenger rail, causing the Illini / Saluki to be the worst performing trains in the nation on on-time performance. The federal government holds the keys to all enforcement action, and hasn't cared to act on holding freighters to account since Amtrak was founded.
@@ashdavis4845 You do know the political power brokers, the kingmakers, the filthy richest people in America and Canada control the railroads? The Warren Buffetts and Bill Gates, among others. While passengers think they should have priority, the American and Canadian economy is much more depended upon the freight trains for commerce... That grain ends up as bread, that coal ends up as electricity, that high fructose corn syrup in tank cars ends up as the liquid sugar found in nearly everything sweet in America...
IS THIS AN STANDARD SLEEPER, OR A CREW SLEEPER WITH ONE HIGH DOOR ON ONE END AND LOWDOOR ON OTHER??
THESE CARS ALLOW CREW ACESS TO BAGGAGE CAR AND LOCOMOTIVE REAR!!
KEEP THEM ROLLING BROTHERS!!
👍👍
The sleeper coach on that train, #32022, is a standard superliner, so no low access to a baggage car or the locomotive.
Canadian National is being ridiculous with demanding Superliners. Amtrak has such a bad shortage of Superliner's this is just horrible for them to have to deal with. They need all the cars they can get, especially in winter when they run that ski-train as well. Surely that could reprogram the crossings the be able to detect the more light weight single level rolling stock. I'm sure Amtrak can find some old stock like baggage cars or something else for that stupid axle count mandate, but in all honesty that should go too since this is a rail corridor that has daily passenger service.
No subscribe button to be found.
I'm not sure what you mean?
@@LonestarTrips wanted to subscribe but no Subscribe button on the UA-cam screen.
@@democraticpatriot2657 interesting, I’ve never heard of that before. Regardless, your support is greatly appreciated!
So yet another instance of freigth railways not respecting the legal requirement to accomodate and give priority to passenger trains...
It's not that they aren't giving priority to passenger trains, it just that their system is equipped to deal with long and heavy freight trains, and in order for Amtrak to even run on their tracks, they need to use longer, heavier trains. I supposed that technically it isn't accommodating passenger trains, but I wouldn't see it as breaking the legal requirements.
@@LonestarTrips But the law says passenger trains get priority over freights
@@Robbi496 I am aware. No one said that Canadian National isn't giving them priority, just that they're requiring them to use a certain set of rolling stock.
@@LonestarTrips Well, these mega freights are way too long and the whole thing could be dispatched better with a train car limit of 100-150 freight cars??
@@Robbi496 that was mentioned nowhere in the video, where is this coming from?
Its a dump of a station. Only was in the building once and it isnt good. The elevator is terrible. I think the homeless use it as a bathroom.
The reason Illini/Saluki & City of 🆕 Orleans 🔙 in & out of Chicago was because the Illinois Central used to go to Central 🚉 (where Museum Campus Is approximately located @) & when Amtrak took over intercity & Metra took over the ⚡️ commuter 🚆 to the ⬇️ suburbs & ⬇️ Shore Line took the commuter 🚆 that went to ⬇️ Bend Indiana, ⚡️ & SSL went to Millennium while Illini/Saluki & CONO went to Union through the Saint Charles Airline to Union but because there’s no direct connection between Saint Charles Airline & the 🛤️ to Union, Illini/Saluki & CONO have to 🔙 in & out using the 🛤️ that connect to Nortfolk Southern Chicago Line & Saint Charles Airline but Amtrak is planning on making a connecting 🛤️ from Union to the Saint Charles Airline so Illini/Saluki & CONO don’t have to 🔙 in & out of Union & Amtrak’s also planning on rerouting Pere Marquette, Blue Water, Wolverine, Lake Shore Limited, & Capitol Limited from the NS Chicago Line to the Saint Charles Airline running parallel to the ⚡️ to where the SSL splits from the ⚡️ & they’ll take the SSL to to where they’ll divide to Grand Rapids Michigan, Port Huron Michigan, Pontiac Michigan, 🗽/Boston Massachusetts, & Washington DC so they don’t get delayed by the NS 🚆 & Lincoln Service & Texas 🦅 r planning to get rerouted from the Heritage Corridor to 🪨🏝️ District with a potential 🚉 in Downtown Tinley Park to avoid delays by CN 🚆 on the HC