Goodbye, Metroliner

[Trogdor]

Based on my review of Amtrak.com reservations, all Metroliners will be gone as of the 25 April timetable change.

 

[Guest_shanghaiamtrak]

what will be used in their place?

 

[AlanB]

what will be used in their place?

Acela Express.

 

[engine999]

Its a shame the metroliner disappear, but times change.

 

[AlanB]

Its a shame the metroliner disappear, but times change.

Well only the name is disapearing. The cars will still be seen in service throughout the country. In fact there are already a lot of Metroliner cars running in non-Metroliner trains.

 

[Viewliner]

Its a shame the metroliner disappear, but times change.

It's a shame, I'll miss having Metroliners...truly an important era, one that was widely successful and reliable. This is a good sign though, that if Amtrak is able to eliminate Metroliners that it now trusts that the Acela's are improving in reliability and can handle their share of the Premium NEC Service.

 

[cbender]

Sad to hear that. I've been riding the Metroliner and combining it with the buy 2 get one free promo Amtrak has now. The metroliner's count the same as the acela, but are a good deal cheaper. Hopefully some of the equipment will be incorporated into the Regional trains. I was on a Regional a week ago that was running a Metroliner car for regular coach.

 

[Guest_shanghaiamtrak]

how are metroliner cars different from amfleet?

 

[Tanner929]

While the Acela looks nice and sleek but I find that the fare vs the amount of time saved is not worth the price. because of track and congestion in the NEC the Acela can not run at full throttle.

 

[AmtrakFan]

Several ex-Metroliners cars run out of Chicago.

 

[Trogdor]

Someone may have a bit more detailed information, but here's what I gather about the equipment.

There are the "original" metroliners, which included cab cars. The Amfleets were based off of this design. A few of these cars survive with the cab windows blanked out, and are officially designated within Amtrak as "Michigan" coaches. While they tend to sometimes show up on Michigan trains, they have been seen elsewhere in the Midwest as well. There are four Michigan coaches left on the active roster, numbered in the 4455X series (i.e. 44552, 44554).

Then there are Metroliner service coaches, which, as far as I can tell, are plain old Amfleets but configured for a more comfortable seating arrangement (about 60 seats instead of 76-80 seats).

If someone has more (or better) information, feel free to add.

 

[Midland Valley]

'Was the old Night Owl a metroliner? I rode it once from Penn station to DC and had bedroom in what I remember as an old 10&6, and a continental breakfast in a car with a two and one seating arrangement.

 

[PRR 60]

The original Penn Central Metroliners were high-speed Budd MU cars with the stainless steel tubular design now so familiar with the Amfleet cars. They only ran in the NYC-WAS PRR corridor (although Amtrak extended a couple to New Haven). The Night Owl was not a Metroliner.

The original Metroliner cars had a reputation for mechanical issues (sound familiar?), and with the successful introduction of the AEM7 motors, the old Metroliners were phased out and the new “Metroliner Service” Amfleet trains were introduced. Amtrak later dropped the “Service” tag and returned to just the Metroliner name. Meanwhile, the old Metroliners were relegated to the Harrisburg service: a sad demotion to an Amtrak backwater for a once proud train.

The Metroliner brand name carried a positive reputation among business travelers in the NEC. I have shared that train with politicians, celebrities, and once had sportscaster Jim McKay sitting behind me with that distinctive voice. I did not even have to glance back to know it was him. I personally feet that Amtrak would have done well to have carried that branding forward to the new high speed trainsets. But, that train has left the station. Acela it is, and even though the name has grown on me, it would still have been nice to work the Metroliner name in there somewhere.

Amtrak should not let the last Metroliner trip go unnoticed. They should do something to commemorate the occasion. It is the end of a 36 year heritage of service excellence.

 

[Bill Haithcoat]

I remember my first trip on a metroliner. I did something very stupid, financially, only a railfan (and perhaps a very "sick" railfan, at that) would do this. But I went from ATl to NY in order to ride the metroliner both ways NY-WAS.

This was years ago, when Metroliners were relatively new, thus probably not Amtrak yet.

In other words, I did this:

ATL-NY Crescent

NY-WAS Metroliner

WAS-NY Metroliner

NY-ATL Crescent.

The NYC-WAS round trip was made in the course of the same day, thus my NYC hotel space was undisturbed. I would not have taken any significant luggage, if any.

Our heart is where our treasure is, or something like that, is what they say.