Siemens Caltrans/IDOT Venture design, engineering, testing and delivery (2012-1Q 2024)

[Metra Electric Rider]

You can't even get to the platform in Urbana without a ticket (don't know if that was actual scanning - my memory is fuzzy since we were picking up or dropping off someone).

Shoot, they could have sent the car to the midwest for winter testing!

 

[Steve4031]

I just went back to through multiple pages of the thread. Kudos to Siemens for sticking to the schedule. It looks like we will begin seeing cars delivered in July of 2020.

I was too young to be aware of the order of a fleet cars. My first solo trip to Chicago from Urbana was on the Amfleet equipped Illini in the spring of 1977 iirc.

Would love to be more calculating this time and take the inaugural run on the Siemens equipment out if Chicago. How does one accomplish this?

 

[PerRock]

Shoot, they could have sent the car to the midwest for winter testing!

They probably sent one up to Canada, because VIA Rail is getting them as well.

 

[Just-Thinking-51]

Would love to be more calculating this time and take the inaugural run on the Siemens equipment out if Chicago. How does one accomplish this?

Too early to know, but wild guesses are available.

They are train sets (kind of) so one day you see a set in the wild because Chicago need a train to be dispatched. If Amtrak is doing the PR thing you might get to tour them in Chicago one weekend before or after there first run.

Your only real hope to catch a inaugural run is if the State who owns them decide to do it as a PR move.

Other wise it going to Chicago tower that needs equipment for a train, and grabs what ready.

 

[MikefromCrete]

I would bet that IDOT would doing some kind of pre-inaugaral trip publicity, including open house at CUS and some kind of short trip for press and local politicians. Stay alert.

 

[nti1094]

Too early to know, but wild guesses are available.

They are train sets (kind of) so one day you see a set in the wild because Chicago need a train to be dispatched. If Amtrak is doing the PR thing you might get to tour them in Chicago one weekend before or after there first run.

Your only real hope to catch a inaugural run is if the State who owns them decide to do it as a PR move.

Other wise it going to Chicago tower that needs equipment for a train, and grabs what ready.

I was able to catch the inaugural run of the California Car fleet back in 1994 from San Jose to Sacramento. Caltrans put out a press release and there was a small ceremony at (at the time known as) San Jose Cahill Street just before the regular mid day departure.

I would check often with the IDOT website next fall because i’m sure they will announce the first run when it comes up.

 

[Steve4031]

I was able to catch the inaugural run of the California Car fleet back in 1994 from San Jose to Sacramento. Caltrans put out a press release and there was a small ceremony at (at the time known as) San Jose Cahill Street just before the regular mid day departure.

I would check often with the IDOT website next fall because i’m sure they will announce the first run when it comes up.

thank you.

 

[DSS&A]

Wisconsin approved State funds to match the Federal Funding Grant to buy Siemens equipment for the Hiawatha trains.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.jsonline.com/amp/4102369002

 

[Metra Electric Rider]

Wisconsin approved State funds to match the Federal Funding Grant to buy Siemens equipment for the Hiawatha trains.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.jsonline.com/amp/4102369002

That's good, no, great news! Does this mean the order just got bigger?

 

[MikefromCrete]

That's good, no, great news! Does this mean the order just got bigger?

Three cab cars and six coaches.

 

[DSS&A]

The small increase in equipment will help the Hiawatha trains. One of the train sets is now consistently 7 cars long and I am surprised when it has less than 7 cars.

 

[DSS&A]

Siemens just sent one of the just completed passenger cars to Canada for cold weather tests.

https://www.railjournal.com/fleet/siemens-sends-caltrans-illinois-coach-to-canada-for-testing/

Here are two links to a few good photos of carshell No. 3 on Canada on its way to the testing facility.

https://mobile.twitter.com/AlexanderGlista/status/1189226699210346496

https://www.tracksidetoronto.com/2019/10/siemens-coach/

Has anyone seen posted photos of the Siemens test cars at Pueblo?

 

[jis]

There are photos posted on trainorders.

 

[west point]

So here we have CN pulling just 10 axels. Now what is CN's excuse ?

 

[MikefromCrete]

Those rules apparently don't apply to CN's operations in Canada.

 

[jis]

Those rules apparently don't apply to CN's operations in Canada.

Those rules seem to apply only to trackage acquired from other railroads in the US. Not to native Canadian trackage.

 

[DSS&A]

The December news was uploaded on their website on December 31st. 43 cars are now in production.

 

[Anthony V]

The December news was uploaded on their website on December 31st. 43 cars are now in production.

Do you have a link to the December news?

 

[DSS&A]

Here is the link:

http://www.highspeed-rail.org/pages/section305committee.aspx

 

[frequentflyer]

Here is the link:

http://www.highspeed-rail.org/pages/section305committee.aspx

What does this mean on page 2? Amfleet replacement?

On the Trainsets:


Bids are in and are being reviewed in the two evaluation committees with the goal of completing the review in time for the January or March Amtrak Board Meetings.

 

[PerRock]

There is a bidding process out right now to replace Amtrak's Amfleets (there is a thread here somewhere about it). I'm not surprised that Siemens submitted a bid.

peter

 

[frequentflyer]

There is a bidding process out right now to replace Amtrak's Amfleets (there is a thread here somewhere about it). I'm not surprised that Siemens submitted a bid.

peter

But is this referring to the Amfleet replacement RFP? If so, this another piece of evidence showing Amtrak is going the DMU/EMU route.

 

[jis]

But is this referring to the Amfleet replacement RFP? If so, this another piece of evidence showing Amtrak is going the DMU/EMU route.

The RFP asked for train sets either in the form of sets of individual cars or as integrated sets or anything in between, leaving it upto the vendors to specify the exact form. Until we see the proposals we will not quite know what they have proposed.

Siemens could very well have proposed something akin to Railjet sets, which have separate locomotive at one end and an integral cab car at the other end. Or they could propose sets of cars in the form of combination of married pairs and singles with separate locomotive, or fully integrated sets a-la Brightline, or something else. So wait and see as the details flow out.

 

[bretton88]

What does this mean on page 2? Amfleet replacement?

On the Trainsets:


Bids are in and are being reviewed in the two evaluation committees with the goal of completing the review in time for the January or March Amtrak Board Meetings.

The RFP was basically open ended to give the manufacturers a chance to submit anything they could provide for Amtrak to evaluate. Basically this just means all the proposals are in and Amtrak is evaluating which proposal they prefer. I have to think that with how open ended the RFP was, they probably got a high amount of responses.

 

[DSS&A]

The AASHTO High Speed Rail Section 305 Committee 2020 Annual Meeting will be later this week on February 21st. There has been no January progress report posted on their websiteas of today, so news and updates will become public after this meeting.