Does Nippon-Sharyo have experiences building single level equipment in america?
Right. Apparently the outfit that is building those cars and has been building cars for Chicago area commuter services, is a jointly owned subsidiary of Nippon Sharyo and Sumitomo.As usual the news parrots what they are told without too much checking. Looks like Nippon and the Sumitomo corp have partnered for many projects before.
Yes. Maryland MARC Train single-level push-pull coaches (jointly with Sumitomo Corporation).Does Nippon-Sharyo have experiences building single level equipment in america?
Now that's something to look forward to. :lol:That said, the Horizons are almost certainly going to end up on the NEC.
Well, either the Horizons or some Amfleet Is could be converted to LD coaches. There is nothing that says that only Amfleets can be converted. So it could very well be that Horizons go LD and Amfleets go to NEC. One can never tell based on info available at present. Or, of course, the entire lot could go to NEC and Eastern medium distance fleet, with nothing going to LD's, unfortunately the more likely scenario IMHO, since it is the least cost and most revenue alternative.Now that's something to look forward to. :lol:That said, the Horizons are almost certainly going to end up on the NEC.
Amtrak states in the Fleet Strategy Plan that they intend to base the LD replacement cars on the new bi-level cars. With 2 doors on each side, that will have less space than the Superliner design, but Amtrak may just go ahead and stay with 2 doors for the LD coach cars while the other LD car types have only 1 door on each side with the second door deleted.Just wondering, but would these cars (with a different seating layout) be acceptable for use as LD coaches (or for use as a shorter-haul coach on some of the LD trains)?
The application for the Chicago-Quad Cities/Iowa City service called for 2 trainsets with 2 daily round trips. The plans for the Chicago-St. Louis corridor are to expand to 8 daily trains, although IL will need several billion more to double track enough of the corridor and make other capacity upgrades to be able to run 8 daily round trip 110 mph trains.Going to the "coming soon" category, the Quad Cities train and the Blackhawk should take at least one set apiece. I don't know if IL plans to run a second daily train out to the Quad Cities a la the IL Zephyr/Carl Sandburg.
I was thinking one of the intents was to remove the Horizons from the roster completely.Well, either the Horizons or some Amfleet Is could be converted to LD coaches. There is nothing that says that only Amfleets can be converted. So it could very well be that Horizons go LD and Amfleets go to NEC. One can never tell based on info available at present. Or, of course, the entire lot could go to NEC and Eastern medium distance fleet, with nothing going to LD's, unfortunately the more likely scenario IMHO, since it is the least cost and most revenue alternative.Now that's something to look forward to. :lol:That said, the Horizons are almost certainly going to end up on the NEC.
I know of one person at NARP who thinks so, but none at Amtrak AFAICT. Would anyone in their right mind get rid of something completely when they are suffering from a serious shortage of the same thing? Not anyone that has to actually operate a railroad providing service would do that with perfectly serviceable equipment. Horizons will live on for quite a while yet.I was thinking one of the intents was to remove the Horizons from the roster completely.Well, either the Horizons or some Amfleet Is could be converted to LD coaches. There is nothing that says that only Amfleets can be converted. So it could very well be that Horizons go LD and Amfleets go to NEC. One can never tell based on info available at present. Or, of course, the entire lot could go to NEC and Eastern medium distance fleet, with nothing going to LD's, unfortunately the more likely scenario IMHO, since it is the least cost and most revenue alternative.Now that's something to look forward to. :lol:That said, the Horizons are almost certainly going to end up on the NEC.
And DMU's that are being built for Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit Authority to work its commuter service between Cloverdale and Larkspur to the north of San Francisco as well as a new order for 12 two-car DMUs for Torontos future airport rail link to Pearson International Airport, in time for the Pan Am Games.Yes. Maryland MARC Train single-level push-pull coaches (jointly with Sumitomo Corporation).Does Nippon-Sharyo have experiences building single level equipment in america?
Those SMART DMUs are very nice indeed. Capable of 90mph but currently going to operate at 79mph.And DMU's that are being built for Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit Authority to work its commuter service between Cloverdale and Larkspur to the north of San Francisco as well as a new order for 12 two-car DMUs for Toronto’s future airport rail link to Pearson International Airport, in time for the Pan Am Games.Yes. Maryland MARC Train single-level push-pull coaches (jointly with Sumitomo Corporation).Does Nippon-Sharyo have experiences building single level equipment in america?
I don't think we'll see Rader's Colorado Rail Car resurrected.
Amtrak has specifically said that since they're among the newer cars they intend to hang on to them for a while, even though they're not very popular with riders. What Amtrak has actually said is that they want to move them to warmer locations because they are unreliable in consistent cold weather.I was thinking one of the intents was to remove the Horizons from the roster completely.
I'm not sure how much layout tinkering would be needed to switch the cars to LD use. If it were just moving seats around, then there would be no issue, but naturally things are a bit more complicated than that. As I noted earlier, you could at least in theory tag these onto an LD train for shorter-haul seating as-is (i.e. Chicago-Omaha, Chicago-Minneapolis, and Chicago-St. Louis in the Midwest and a couple of segments elsewhere in the system on the West Coast), getting you an extra car's worth of seats and opening up slots for longer-distance travelers. Selling these seats at a discount or slightly bumping up the charge for the LD coaches while providing these seats might feasibly ensue as well (as I know I'd usually be willing to shell out an extra $10-20 for a better seat on the Zephyr, for example). However, to make them suitable for "real" LD service, you'd probably need to add luggage space and an extra "necessities", which would require a different model.I think the Horizons would be best suited for the NEC. They would probably be too uncomfortable for long haul use. I think the LD trains should be Viewliners, Amfleets and Superliners, and maybe the new bilevels in a pinch.
Could the new bilevels serve as LD units? Or would Superliner 3's be different enough to warrant seperate orders?
problem with Horizons on NEC is they do not have elecric doors or door trainlines/door control stations.I think the Horizons would be best suited for the NEC. They would probably be too uncomfortable for long haul use.
That is precisely why I think Horizons will go to LDs and Medium distance trains before they will go to NEC Regionals. OTOH, Amfleets will definitely go to the NEC Regionals.problem with Horizons on NEC is they do not have elecric doors or door trainlines/door control stations.I think the Horizons would be best suited for the NEC. They would probably be too uncomfortable for long haul use.
The coach cars could be adopted with LD seats and seat spacing. Which may be the plan, once Amtrak can line up the funding to begin replacement of the Superliner Is. The most serious shortage that Amtrak faces with the Superliners are sleeper cars. The new bi-level car design of course would have to be extensively reconfigured for use as sleeper cars, diner cars, sightseer lounge cars, and trans-dorms if Amtrak want to retain the trans-dorm configuration. All of which would have to be a new order and contract.Could the new bilevels serve as LD units? Or would Superliner 3's be different enough to warrant seperate orders?
Raleigh, Savannah, Jacksonville FL, and Tampa are all funded to build high level platforms to comply with the recent USDOT mandated level boarding requirement. Whether Jacksonville and Tampa could also retain low level platforms that could be used by Superliners or bi-levels, don't know. What happens to the platforms for the Sunrail commuter stations which will be shared with the Amtrak Silver trains in central Florida, don't know. The USDOT cutoff was February 1, 2012 where the new rule does not apply to construction contracts, including a commitment to a specific design, which were signed before then. The cutoff date probably means the Miami Central Station, which is to get thousand foot long platforms, will be low level, either 8" or 15" ATR.Corridor service in the South might or might not go bilevel. At the present time, the big hangup is that for anything running into VA and NC, there's a big desire to run trains up the NEC to at least NYP (as is the case with both the Carolinian and the VA Regionals), not to mention that you've got the Crescent and Silver Service running through the region regardless. I suspect this desire will at least limit the ability to run bilevels in the region, since your trains along these lines will have to be compatible with anything running north of DC and since a notable minority of new trains are quite possibly going to be running north of DC themselves. The big exception to this might be Florida: Though you've got the Silver Service running down there as well, it is quite possible that the solution might be to have the operations down there use bilevels for the corridor service(s) and just have a "fig leaf" high level platform for one or two cars.
I'll note that another thing Amtrak might be able to do with NC, should the latter desire to expand service at some point in the future, is to "sell" them the Horizons as Amtrak acquires new rolling stock. NC is a bit wacky in terms of their equipment, though, so there is no telling what they are going to want to do if they add any frequencies.
The specification says they must weigh less than 150,000lb (Coach) to 154,000lb (Coach-Baggage). The current Superliners weigh in at something like 148,000lb (Coach). The current California Cars are a little heavier. The California Cars are already capable of 125mph, though they have nowhere to run that fast.My major concern is whether these will weigh the same as the bloated Superliners (why are they and their Hi-Level predecessors so heavy anyhow?) or whether they'll be in line with other bilevel cars and be about 15-20 tons less. It's not a trivial concern as the added weight impairs acceleration and fuel economy.
The train was in push mode. The truck hit the car ahead of the engine, so three or four cars behind the lead cab car.Follow the link to see what an Amtrak train looks like after being hit by a loaded semi truck yesterday. Not bad. Not one fatality, worst injury appears to be a broken leg that a passenger suffered when they fell. And, as the link suggests, the crossing gate was down. Given that the truck hit the car behind the engine, I would guess the truck lost its brakes. That is a driver that has a story to tell...
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/10/02/crossing-gate-down-in-california-train-crash-amtrak-official-says/
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