A The Empire Builder once required five trainsets until recurring en route delays forced Amtrak to add a sixth set earlier this year, and West Coast turns were cut to less than two hours. One way to determine how many sets of long-distance equipment Amtrak needs west and south of Chicago is to pick the time of a train’s departure from a terminal (say, 2:15 p.m.), then count the number of trainsets scheduled to be operating at that time of day, including sets that have just arrived at or are ready to depart from their destination. But there are some wrinkles: The triweekly Sunset Limited equipment arriving in New Orleans turns the next day but must wait two days to turn at Los Angeles, owing to triweekly operation. Similarly, a Texas Eagle coach and sleeper lay over at San Antonio, Texas, seven days each week without earning revenue as a result of the same inefficiencies. Single-level trains converging on New York engage in a complicated consist swap. – Bob Johnston
