Amtrak Looking at Repairing Cars

[Guest_Ben_*]

In the latest NARP Newsletter, it mentions that Amtrak is "looking into" repairing 30-70 cars, funds permitting. What are the types of cars that would get repaired and what are the chances of this happening? If they do repair that many cars, that would be just great! 70 would just be incredible, as that would allow a daily Sunset and Cardinal, additional cars for existing trains, and perhaps even additional frequencies. I certainly hope that this will happen.

 

[Acela150]

The Cardinal has no demand for daily service. I think the cars up for repair are amcans for use in the NEC.

 

[AlanB]

The Cardinal has no demand for daily service. I think the cars up for repair are amcans for use in the NEC.

I'm sorry but I completely disagree with that. The Cardinal's numbers continue to go up each year even with 3 day a week service. I've no doubt that they would grow by leaps and bounds if the train ran daily.

 

[DaveKCMO]

my guess is state-sponsored routes, especially with the passage of the 50/50 match legislation and the impending passage of the larger 80/20 matching program.

 

[guest]

The Cardinal has no demand for daily service? Lets look at the numbers from Amtrak.com

In the latest monthly report available (May 08) here are the stats:

Cardinal Ridership up +13.4% May 08 vs. May 07

9,846 vs. 8,680

Ticket revenue up +25.1% for the same dates

$583,242 vs. $466,182

Both of these numbers are higher than the average for all Amtrak routes combined.

 

[guest]

And to compare apples to apples in terms of 3 day a week trains:

The Cardinal had 67,748 OCT-MAY FY08

vs. 42,196 for the Sunset Limited

I'd agree with Alan, the demand definitely seems to be there for the Cardinal.

 

[battalion51]

A lot of the cars will be added to existing trains that are currently operating at capacity. Most of these trains are NEC trains however that will be getting more cars. There may be a few allocated to Chicago for use on the state trains (especially Illinois services). Someone will also have to come up with a trainset for the new round trip in North Carolina that will be launching soon. I don't know if it will use NCDOT equipment like the Piedmont or if it will use Amfleet I's.