AMTK 393 - Illinois Services using Superliners... why, again?

[ShiningTimeStL]

Timestamped. Here you can see the Illini with.. basically an entire superliner long-distance consist.

I understand this has been standard for a little while, but not not too long. My question is... why?
Don't we supposedly have this insane shortage of western long-distance equipment? Yes, I know we've had a separate thread for this thoroughly battered deceased equestrian creature, but it's buried and this may warrant its own entire explanation. What is it about this particular train that warrants the use of superliners? Is the ridership and demand that high on this route? How could there possibly not be enough amfleets and horizons, when Amtrak wants to start a new corridor service on the gulf coast? What happens to the extra equipment when the Venture fleet starts going into service this coming week?

And yes, again, I understand the issue of staffing. But many have pointed out that even that doesn't seem to explain every equipment absence.

At the very least, perhaps the silver lining we can glean from this is that Amtrak management is actually doing something clever and wise for once and keeping a full set of superliners rolling, rather than allowing them to sit in storage and literally start falling apart. A good friend of mine who is a former Amtrak carman told me that he wouldn't even want to touch a car that had been sitting in storage for just six months--everything on it is guaranteed to be broken in some way.

 

[ShiningTimeStL]

Okay, I might have found my answer. According to the comments section of this video, this is apparently the result of CN putting a speed restriction on single-level cars.

...

Can anyone confirm that? I don't want to believe that. I want to believe we can fix this... why would they do that? I suppose we now have a new culprit to point our fingers at when we see short consists on bilevel LD trains.

 

[neroden]

CN management are jackasses who have been engaging in weird, illegal attempts to sabotage passenger rail on and off for years, so this wouldn't surprise me in the slightest.

 

[Trogdor]

Okay, I might have found my answer. According to the comments section of this video, this is apparently the result of CN putting a speed restriction on single-level cars.

...

Can anyone confirm that? I don't want to believe that. I want to believe we can fix this... why would they do that? I suppose we now have a new culprit to point our fingers at when we see short consists on bilevel LD trains.

I’ve never heard of such a restriction. There is a minimum axle-count restriction, regardless of equipment type. Amtrak does have a shortage of single-level corridor cars just as much as a shortage of LD cars, so it winds up a question of what is less-short. In the middle of winter, there isn’t as much demand for LD coach capacity.

 

[amtkstn]

Main reason Superliners are used in the winter is due to the normal Horizan cars vestibules freeze up.

 

[choochoodood]

Amtrak is using a SSL on this train! This clearly demonstrates that they are available. Yet, trains like the Capitol Limited still have not added an SSL back to the consist. Makes me wonder.

 

[jiml]

Amtrak is using a SSL on this train! This clearly demonstrates that they are available. Yet, trains like the Capitol Limited still have not added an SSL back to the consist. Makes me wonder.

There have been reports of two consists with SSL's in Illinois service, including several by the same young man (Will) who did one of the above videos. On one occasion he rode the train and found the SSL was open for food service but not seating.

 

[me_little_me]

Amtrak is using a SSL on this train! This clearly demonstrates that they are available. Yet, trains like the Capitol Limited still have not added an SSL back to the consist. Makes me wonder.

That's about as sad as it gets.

 

[Cal]

There have been reports of two consists with SSL's in Illinois service, including several by the same young man (Will) who did one of the above videos. On one occasion he rode the train and found the SSL was open for food service but not seating.

In addition to at least one, maybe two being used as cafe cars on the surfline when they're out there AND one being used on the winter park express.

 

[jis]

In addition to at least one, maybe two being used as cafe cars on the surfline when they're out there AND one being used on the winter park express.

One SSL is leased by California for use as a contingency car. That is considered to be part of the California pool and not considered as an active car in the Amtrak pool.

The claimed shortage of SSLs is a complete mystery. I have asked folks at RPA to figure out what the alleged 30 in service cars are doing where. Those are after 10 are taken out for maintenance, protect etc. I can find only 23 being actually deployed on LD trains on a good day.

 

[GregL]

That's about as sad as it gets.

I haven’t read through all the posts, but Amtrak used to say they had extra Superliner equipment in the winter months due to decreased passengers
If you figure one less coach on every western long distance train, that adds up to about twenty coaches in the yard.

 

[Willbridge]

I haven’t read through all the posts, but Amtrak used to say they had extra Superliner equipment in the winter months due to decreased passengers
If you figure one less coach on every western long distance train, that adds up to about twenty coaches in the yard.

The GN used dome coaches on the Internationals in the winter and the NP put a dome coach on Pool Trains 407/408 in the winter, rather than trying to keep them heated on the transcons or risking deterioration by parking them. However, they had a lot more credibility than Amtrak, so we'll just have to keep an eye on this into March.