Amtrak California equipment

[DSS&A]

California has just accepted its first trainset from this joint passenger car procurement to be operated in regular service.

https://abc30.com/amtrak-san-joaquins-train-new-cars/12279868/

 

[Andrew]

If Amtrak gets Stadler FLIRTS for the San Joaquin, where will the Venture coaches go?

 

[jis]

If Amtrak gets Stadler FLIRTS for the San Joaquin, where will the Venture coaches go?

It won’t be Amtrak getting them. It would be one of the California outfits.

 

[travelplus]

I have been riding the California Cars on the Capital Corridor and San Joaquins. I was wondering why do these cars have a continuous bell when the doors are open and a fast dinging bell when they close? I get the ADA side of it but no other trainsets do this not on the Surfliner,Superliner or Talgo and Caltrain.

The bell is sometimes loud and one can hear it in the station,on other platforms and upstairs. I hope they will find a better way to fix this. Is the bell associated with the outside loudspeaker for announcements by each door? Can they disable the continuous bell as I am sure the ADA does not require this but perhaps a gentile Julie recorded door open and close message with a nice doorbell or chime sound. This has been on my mind since first riding it in 1993 as I've noticed no other trainsets have this continuous bell.


A simple Doors opening and Doors closing message with wind chimes would be better. Am I the only one who has questioned this?

Thanks for insight to this. Also I will be on the 9:32 San Joaquin in January. Will I be on a Comet trainset on a Saturday or California Car?

 

[BlackDiamond]

I notice Boston MBTA's new Red and Orange Line cars have this continuous chime feature when the doors are open. Maybe this is some new ADA feature?

 

[travelplus]

I notice Boston MBTA's new Red and Orange Line cars have this continuous chime feature when the doors are open. Maybe this is some new ADA feature?

Wow never knew this. Is it on YouTube

 

[GDRRiley]

There will be equipment shuffles by January with 2-3 venture sets in service with NPCU as cab cars won't be ready till the 2nd part of 23.
caltrans really wants to get rid of the comets.

 

[frequentflyer]

they aren't going to be used on the surfliner
they are all going to the San Joaquin which looks like it may be a short lived thing as the states ordered some hydrogen FLIRTs

Short lived? FLIRTs for the San Joaquin? Why? So going from bilevel to FLIRTs?

 

[GDRRiley]

If Amtrak gets Stadler FLIRTS for the San Joaquin, where will the Venture coaches go?

I expect they'll be sold onto midwest, north Caronlina and or Northwest, California is all low floor and so having a handful of high floor sets makes stations harder.

Short lived? FLIRTs for the San Joaquin? Why? So going from bilevel to FLIRTs?

I don't think they'll be around for more than 5 years. Yep California is making a move for all transit to be 0 emissions.
They've always ran fairly short bi level sets at 4-5 cars. They would replace them with 2 4 car flirts which should be very similar capacity to a 7 car venture.

 

[frequentflyer]

Must go with the rumor the San Joaquin will move to the new CHSR line. Hate to be in a FLIRT hitting anything at a grade at 79 mph. Read to save money catenary will not be used at present, so using H2 propulsion would save money for the project.

Wow, a short four or five year run for the Siemens.

 

[frequentflyer]

https://www.railwayage.com/passenge...s-29-hydrogen-trains-for-inter-city-services/
So the San Joaquin's FLIRTS will not be the same as the ones seen such as in Austin, or Ft. Worth Texas.

 

[GDRRiley]

Must go with the rumor the San Joaquin will move to the new CHSR line. Hate to be in a FLIRT hitting anything at a grade at 79 mph. Read to save money catenary will not be used at present, so using H2 propulsion would save money for the project.

Wow, a short four or five year run for the Siemens.

They won't be moved to CAHSR, the service will be shortened to Merced to Sac and Merced to Oakland, hopefully that comes with increased frequency and investments for both to reach bi hourly service.

FLIRTs have modern crash safety standards I really wouldn't worry about them in a crash.
OCS equipment can easily be added to them later when lines get wires.

They were always viewed as a stop gap here the services wanted a new fleet of bi levels large enough to accommodate the growth to 80+ sets in service

https://www.railwayage.com/passenge...s-29-hydrogen-trains-for-inter-city-services/
So the San Joaquin's FLIRTS will not be the same as the ones seen such as in Austin, or Ft. Worth Texas.

They should be very similar to those but with hydrogen gear instead of a diesel engine

 

[frequentflyer]

They won't be moved to CAHSR, the service will be shortened to Merced to Sac and Merced to Oakland, hopefully that comes with increased frequency and investments for both to reach bi hourly service.

FLIRTs have modern crash safety standards I really wouldn't worry about them in a crash.
OCS equipment can easily be added to them later when lines get wires.

They were always viewed as a stop gap here the services wanted a new fleet of bi levels large enough to accommodate the growth to 80+ sets in service

They should be very similar to those but with hydrogen gear instead of a diesel engine

Thank you for your replies, you have been very informative.

Why shorten the San Joaquin to Merced?

What are the future plans for Surfliner equipment?

 

[GDRRiley]

Why shorten the San Joaquin to Merced?

The bakersfield to merced section is quite slow and is limited in how many trains they can run. CAHSR makes that trip faster and has comparatively small limits.

What are the future plans for Surfliner equipment?

surlfiner has stated they want at least 100 new bi level cars however thats barley an expansion given their current fleet ends up being around 70-80 bi levels and could be as high as 86 if california buys 8 superliners that were sold by amtrak to a 3rd party.

Really 140-170 is more likely what they will need if they want 7 car sets with 8 growing that number to 192. That gives them 20-24 sets. I'd like to see something like a stadler KISS and the whole line electrified but that doesn't see likely at this time.

this lays out some of the plans around railcars for the next 3 years.
https://lossan.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=E1&ID=983937&GUID=845CC8F1-C5B6-4F15-9C5F-52325FAD83C6

 

[BlackDiamond]

don't think they'll be around for more than 5 years. Yep California is making a move for all transit to be 0 emissions.

Given that the predominant method of generating hydrogen currently uses natural gas with a large byproduct of CO2 it is only superficially a "zero emission" move. Eventually they may be able to move to electrolysis to generate hydrogen but that uses a lot of electric power, something that is in short supply in California currently.

 

[GDRRiley]

Given that the predominant method of generating hydrogen currently uses natural gas with a large byproduct of CO2 it is only superficially a "zero emission" move. Eventually they may be able to move to electrolysis to generate hydrogen but that uses a lot of electric power, something that is in short supply in California currently.

The move takes into account where you get your fuel supply from.
power isn't really in short supply during the daytime or in winter. It is just hot summer months in the PM where the grid is stressed.
We need a bit more baseline generation but then the major infrastructure we need is load shifting.

 

[frequentflyer]

Posted this video on the high speed rail part of the forum. Two years old and the Agency that oversees ACE and The San Joaquin trains is being interviewed. Interesting points.-

1. 60% of San Joaquin travelers connect in Barstow to the Thruway buses. Explains why the Thruway bus system is so extensive.

2. Explains why the San Joaquin will be truncated to Merced, simple it cannot compete with a high speed train to Barstow.

3.......With that stated, he did bring out if the CAHSR was cancelled, then the San Joaquin would most likely use the right of way, but that is not preferable.

 

[zephyr17]

Barstow?!

San Joaquins come nowhere near Barstow.

 

[jis]

Barstow?!

San Joaquins come nowhere near Barstow.

Bakersfield, Barstow ... hey at least both start with B

 

[zephyr17]

Bakersfield, Barstow ... hey both start with B

And they're both armpits to boot.

 

[frequentflyer]

Bakersfield, Barstow ... hey at least both start with B

LOL............You are right Zephr17, I meant Bakersfield.

 

[MIrailfan]

Is Amtrak California Amtrak or Caltrans? They seem to be separate yet the same.

 

[allanorn]

Is Amtrak California Amtrak or Caltrans? They seem to be separate yet the same.

Short answer: Yes.

Longer answer: it's state-supported rail service entirely within California so Amtrak and CalTrans have their hands on the system in separate ways.

 

[jis]

Is Amtrak California Amtrak or Caltrans? They seem to be separate yet the same.

Amtrak California is Intercity Service operated by Amtrak under contract from the State of California through various somewhat convoluted path at times.

Caltrans is what the California State Department of Transportation calls itself, through which Amtrak California operations are funded, which is one among several services run by several agencies.

 

[zephyr17]

Amtrak California is Intercity Service operated by Amtrak under contract from the State of California through various somewhat convoluted path at times.

Caltrans is what the California State Department of Transportation calls itself, through which Amtrak California operations are funded, which is one among several services run by several agencies.

Most of the corridor operations oversight in California has devolved from CalTrans to local Joint Powers Boards, too.