While I can't comment on this specific instance, I can see how from a dispatching standpoint one would make the return train an extra (only from the employee timetable perspective -- it might well be listed on the public timetable). If there are only a few trains on a line, the outbound and return trains may physically the same train. If there is also a timetable schedule for both the eastbound and westbound trains, a delay to the outbound train could put it on the time of the return train (under TT&TO rules a train must clear an opposing train by a specificed amount of time). Thus the crew would be waiting for their own return :-) One solution to this situation is to schedule a train in only one direction and run the return as an extra. As someone also suggested, the trains may not have a return component if traffic did not warrant. The equipment and crews would return on other trains or extra/deadhead. Jeff Mutter Severna Park, MD - -------------- Original message -------------- - --->8 snip 8<------- > Thanks for the answer. I never considered that the train would be run as an > extra. What would be the advantage to doing business this way? Wouldn't a > schedule be better so the potential passengers might have a better idea when > to show up at the station? ------------------------------
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