Amtrak America - new LD train branding

[Bus Nut]

I think Amtrak is trying to bring this to the Northeast Corridor... creating "brand recognition" between Acela, Northeast Regional, and Amtrak America trains.

Yes, and I think this is great... heck, I'm wondering why I didn't think of it. France, for example, does this, as does Germany. You can clearly tell a TGV or ICE is different from the commuter lines and day trains (even the expresses).

 

[Bus Nut]

I love this idea.

I'd love to see the Michigan trains branded somehow with our very successful Pure Michigan brand.

People really respond well to things like this.

The branded Michigan trains would give our state a lot of visibility when they're passing through Indiana and Illinois.

There are more people than not that have no idea where you can take a train.

 

[Bus Nut]

Bad idea.

For the above reason that several members have posted.

I also don't like someone stick a flag in my face to protect their funding. Or change the name to promote a feeling of national pride.

Pure politics at work here. Now the when the congress holds a meeting they have to bash "Amtrak America" even if a congress member does not use the correct title, I am sure the person who reply to the question will be saying it with ever statement.

That and the current paint colors on the cars work for me. The engines are a different issues.

I guess you don't remember the "All Aboard, America. All Aboard Amtrak" ad campaign from the 1980s. (Look it up on Youtube.) The trains featured in these ads were LD trains.

The story of Amtrak in the last 15 years has been loss of LD service while day trains have been developed with state level funding and federal funding (sometimes yanked away like Lucy with Charlie's football) on the high speed service. These new services have developed distinct identities (Acela was a consultant's project, others were state DOT initiatives).

Amtrak America is more a reclaiming of an identity for a service that's been kicked around for too long. Far from diminishing LD service I think it's a statement from a leadership that is very commited to LD to try to elevate the status of LD (Congress' favorite punching bag).

I don't think the identity is jingoistic when you consider that Amtrak provides a vital transportation link for many rural communities that do not have regular air service.

 

[Anderson]

Isn't Amtrak Virginia part of Northeast Regional though?

Either way it's a good thing.

I like the whole "Amtrak ______" branding. E.g. Amtrak America, Amtrak Cascades, Amtrak California, Amtrak Virginia, etc.

I wonder if the mid-west will get a branding? E.g. "Amtrak mid-america" haha

Yes and no. VA has been pushing the "Amtrak Virginia" label, even though the trains are Northeast Regional trains, in part due to the PRIIA situation. I suspect it's also because VA is looking to run a ton of additional trains in the next decade or two (you ought to see what the various agencies are throwing around down here).

 

[Devil's Advocate]

That whole look just screams 1980s.

Indeed.

Then again, it's not like you need special paint to make a Boxliner look like it came from the 1980's.

 

[Anderson]

That whole look just screams 1980s.

Indeed.

Then again, it's not like you need special paint to make a Boxliner look like it came from the 1980's.

For some reason, "Boxliner" sounds like an intermodal service.

 

[Acela150]

Over on Railroad.net there's a ton of people complaining about how Amtrak just got to one paint job.. Who cares if it runs well?

 

[PaulM]

Amtrak has a new blog post up with pictures. Cars look AWESOME!

http://blog.amtrak.com/2013/10/coming-soon-new-long-distance-cars/

But I didn't see a delivery schedule. Am I the only who doesn't care what they look like. After all, I trust they will look like a rail car, not a John Deere combine. But I don't trust that I'll live long enough to ride one.

 

[rickycourtney]

One further comment: these new "Phase VI" stripes look like decals or vinyl or something similar, not paint.

The Superliner cars use vinyl stripes, not paint... so that wouldn't be suprising.

On another note... these stripes are very bright (almost a candy apple red) but I can't tell if that's what they look like... or just a filter Amtrak used on the images.

 

[Ryan]

Amtrak has a new blog post up with pictures. Cars look AWESOME!

http://blog.amtrak.com/2013/10/coming-soon-new-long-distance-cars/

But I didn't see a delivery schedule. Am I the only who doesn't care what they look like. After all, I trust they will look like a rail car, not a John Deere combine. But I don't trust that I'll live long enough to ride one.

At the end of the video they say "Winter 2013" for the first cars for testing, "Summer 2014" for first revenue service.

 

[cirdan]

One further comment: these new "Phase VI" stripes look like decals or vinyl or something similar, not paint.

If that is so, that may be a smart move. When equipment gets moved around from one type of service to another it would make a rebranding much less painful and so avert the risk of slipping back to the rainbow livery days.

 

[xyzzy]

Fewer than 1% of Amtrak's customers care about the livery.

A national branding is good, so far as it goes.. but the overnight trains aren't the same as non-NEC corridor trains (e.g. Chicago-Detroit) or the semi-LD trains like the Carolinian and Palmetto that aren't corridor trains but don't run overnight. Perhaps Amtrak has a way to resolve these branding discrepancies, or perhaps Amtrak figures it isn't worth the trouble to.

 

[SubwayNut]

The trains that will be most confusing are the Adirondack, Maple Leaf, and Pennsylvanian since these trains use a mix of Amfleet I and Amfleet II cars, heck on both the Adirondack and Pennsylvanian the Amfleet I Cafe Car always seems to have the "Northeast Regional" branding. If they repainted all the Amfleet IIs you would have an Amtrak America Amfleet II next to a Northeast Regional Cafe Car.

 

[xyzzy]

The Palmetto often has an Amfleet I car, and the Carolinian occasionally gets an Amfleet II.

 

[MiRider]

New video posted

[yt]

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[Ryan]

That's the same video from yesterday.

 

[SarahZ]

One further comment: these new "Phase VI" stripes look like decals or vinyl or something similar, not paint.

The Superliner cars use vinyl stripes, not paint... so that wouldn't be suprising.

On another note... these stripes are very bright (almost a candy apple red) but I can't tell if that's what they look like... or just a filter Amtrak used on the images.

I think it's the shop lighting, which is pretty yellow. Once they're in daylight, which has more blue to it, I'm betting the red will look more like a true red.

 

[MiRider]

That's the same video from yesterday.

Exactly where is it posted in this thread?

Because, you see, I'm not a *foamer* and never will be like most others that take Amtrak so I'm not going to read through tons of foamer posts about things I don't care about.

This thread is about Amtrak America branding and this video clearly shows the new paint with Amtrak America branding.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Fewer than 1% of Amtrak's customers care about the livery.

If that's actually true then why bother repainting everything?

 

[jis]

At least theoretically it should not be that hard to restripe a limited number of cars quite quickly as they are transferred from one pool to another. It allegedly takes about 4 hours to do the deed these days. As for what they will or will not do is a different matter altogether.

Seems like there are at most 20 odd Amfleet II cars in the non-LD pool at present all operating out of Sunnyside. The rest of the Amfleet IIs are all used in LD trains.

 

[Ryan]

That's the same video from yesterday.

Exactly where is it posted in this thread?

Because, you see, I'm not a *foamer* and never will be like most others that take Amtrak so I'm not going to read through tons of foamer posts about things I don't care about.

This thread is about Amtrak America branding and this video clearly shows the new paint with Amtrak America branding.

The video is actually about the new Viewliners, so it was posted in both of the Viewliner II discussions:

Here's the video

There's nothing wrong with posting it here as well, I mostly said that so people that already saw it didn't waste time thinking it was yet another video.

 

[jis]

Because, you see, I'm not a *foamer* and never will be like most others that take Amtrak

Of No! We have another "foamer denier" among us! Juuust kidding!

 

[MiRider]

This is all about brand awareness and Amtrak needs to make up for a lot of lost time and missed opportunities.

This is a great idea, imo, and not an expensive one.

 

[MiRider]

That's the same video from yesterday.

Exactly where is it posted in this thread?

Because, you see, I'm not a *foamer* and never will be like most others that take Amtrak so I'm not going to read through tons of foamer posts about things I don't care about.

This thread is about Amtrak America branding and this video clearly shows the new paint with Amtrak America branding.

The video is actually about the new Viewliners, so it was posted in both of the Viewliner II discussions:

Here's the video

OH NO! Saving people wasting time on an internet train forum from wasting time watching a video they may have already seen about trains. :blink:

 

[Ryan]

I'm sorry that you didn't find my comments helpful. You're welcome to ignore them at your leisure.