You're absolutely right, about the current travel times, on the padded UP schedule of 19 hours, is absurd. So what was the scheduled time from Oakland to Portland in 1958 via Davis and the West Side, and what it the best passenger time that could be achieved on the CORP segment? Aren't there at least 3 hours of pure unadulterated "slop" time (like "smoking" breaks) built into that current schedule?

Once, again, as I would on the Coastline, if you were to make a substantial investment in the Corp line (like with Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont on the "inland" connection to the NEC), I would be looking at having mid point (filler) departures (so you can have more of that "frequent" service customers seem to prefer), as I have proposed for "all day" Coast services.

If we want "first world" rail passenger services in this here United States of America, services that are able to provide "real" and "significant" benefits for travelers and taxpayers for the money spent, then we will probably need to look at filling those critical travel time slots, that would allow for better timing of intermediate trip departures and arrivals at key hubs?

IMAGINE? Imagine what it takes to do it right?

Imagine that there are still some competent adults out there working quietly away at keeping the "lights on"...? Imagine that there might still be folks who may still possibly be competent enough to do these kind of things...,?

Imagine that possibility of competent effective actions and outcomes, despite all of the evidence you may be seeing to the contrary, that most of our current crop of so-called "leaders" seem to be clueless thieves and liars, doing their damnedest to drill holes in the boat, that keeps us all afloat, that you may see every day on cable news?