stimulus money

[gaspeamtrak]

I thought i heard the money will be available within 30 days of the President signing the bill?

Has Amtrak started ordering spare parts to overhaul those 81 amfleets and 45 suplerliner cars. I guess they will have to hire some more new workers at Beech Grove and the Wilmington shops and bring back the layed off workers also?

Amtrak should get into gear and GOING NOW!!!

They new this was coming and all the details (engineering) should be well underway!?

If they have another major wreck, we have seen how they have to scramble and juggle equipment around!!!

Has anybody heard anything yet? I know the empire service trains to Buffalo and the Maple Leaf to Toronto are only run with 4 amfleets and the cafe car. They could run with 7 or 8 cars or even more if they had them!!!

Thanks for any info! It's driving me nuts as i'm not hearing anything going on!!!

 

[AlanB]

Actually Amtrak had already budgeted to fix 12 of those 81 cars this year, even before the stimulus package was thought about, much less pased. So work is probably already well underway on some of the Amfleets and it won't take too much to keep it going. They may be able to speed things up a bit by hiring more workers, but part of the problem there would be that the jobs are only temporary.

As for the Superliner cars, at last count there were only 41 out of service and while I haven't seen any recent reports, the odds are that at least 10 of those 41 are beyond repair.

Next, Wilmington is the electric motor shops. Bear is where any Amfleet work would take place.

Finally, getting the Amfleets back into service won't help the Maple Leaf at all. All the Amfleets out of service are AMF I's. The Maple Leaf only uses AMF II's, other than the Club-Dinette car which is an AMF I. I'm also not sure that adding more cars to the Leaf would help all that much anyhow, since Candian Customes limits the number of cars that can be occupied when crossing the border.

 

[Joel N. Weber II]

Actually Amtrak had already budgeted to fix 12 of those 81 cars this year, even before the stimulus package was thought about, much less pased.

So at that rate, they would have finished that project sometime in 2015?

Finally, getting the Amfleets back into service won't help the Maple Leaf at all. All the Amfleets out of service are AMF I's. The Maple Leaf only uses AMF II's, other than the Club-Dinette car which is an AMF I. I'm also not sure that adding more cars to the Leaf would help all that much anyhow, since Candian Customes limits the number of cars that can be occupied when crossing the border.

But isn't there some potential for sending the refurbished AMF I cars to other routes that might currently be using AMF II's to free up AMF II's?

 

[Guest]

I thought i heard the money will be available within 30 days of the President signing the bill?Has Amtrak started ordering spare parts to overhaul those 81 amfleets and 45 suplerliner cars. I guess they will have to hire some more new workers at Beech Grove and the Wilmington shops and bring back the layed off workers also?

Amtrak should get into gear and GOING NOW!!!

They new this was coming and all the details (engineering) should be well underway!?

If they have another major wreck, we have seen how they have to scramble and juggle equipment around!!!

Has anybody heard anything yet? I know the empire service trains to Buffalo and the Maple Leaf to Toronto are only run with 4 amfleets and the cafe car. They could run with 7 or 8 cars or even more if they had them!!!

Thanks for any info! It's driving me nuts as i'm not hearing anything going on!!!

Calm down. Calm down.

 

[AlanB]

Actually Amtrak had already budgeted to fix 12 of those 81 cars this year, even before the stimulus package was thought about, much less pased.

So at that rate, they would have finished that project sometime in 2015?

Well who knows at what rate they might have continued?

Finally, getting the Amfleets back into service won't help the Maple Leaf at all. All the Amfleets out of service are AMF I's. The Maple Leaf only uses AMF II's, other than the Club-Dinette car which is an AMF I. I'm also not sure that adding more cars to the Leaf would help all that much anyhow, since Candian Customes limits the number of cars that can be occupied when crossing the border.

But isn't there some potential for sending the refurbished AMF I cars to other routes that might currently be using AMF II's to free up AMF II's?

No, any route currently using AMF II is doing so because it needs AMF II's, not because there weren't enough I's to go around. Amtrak could actually use some more AMF II's to further expand to routes that are deserving of AMF II's. Of course the AMF II was never really intended to be Amtrak's single level overnight coach. It was intended for runs like the Adirondack and the Carolinian.

 

[Windy City LSA]

My apologies if this link has been posted already. I took a quick look around, and didn't see it. My Mom sent me a more comprehensive list of towns nationwide that are getting money for various projects. I saw Amtrak listed. Here is a link to just the Amtrak projects.

http://www.stimuluswatch.org/project/by_program/Amtrak

 

[Upstate]

My apologies if this link has been posted already. I took a quick look around, and didn't see it. My Mom sent me a more comprehensive list of towns nationwide that are getting money for various projects. I saw Amtrak listed. Here is a link to just the Amtrak projects.
http://www.stimuluswatch.org/project/by_program/Amtrak

Nothing in there about bringing anything to Atlanta. The biggest city in the south and still only one train. Why? I got a theory, but it involves the ghost of a dead union general and only makes sense if everyone is drunk.

 

[The Metropolitan]

Interesting - thanks for the link...

So it looks like the only new service supported by the package would be the Chicago-Moline service that was oft talked about a couple of years back.

The Charleston commuter service seems a bit odd to be considered an Amtrak expenditure, but what do I know.

The one that baffles me though is the new Akron Station. Amtrak no longer services Akron to the best of my knowlege, unless may be by bus??!?

 

[PetalumaLoco]

My apologies if this link has been posted already. I took a quick look around, and didn't see it. My Mom sent me a more comprehensive list of towns nationwide that are getting money for various projects. I saw Amtrak listed. Here is a link to just the Amtrak projects.
http://www.stimuluswatch.org/project/by_program/Amtrak

Disclaimer on that website home page; "These projects are not part of the stimulus bill. They are candidates for funding by federal grant programs once the bill passes."

I take that to mean these projects aren't funded, but could be.

 

[Philzy]

My apologies if this link has been posted already. I took a quick look around, and didn't see it. My Mom sent me a more comprehensive list of towns nationwide that are getting money for various projects. I saw Amtrak listed. Here is a link to just the Amtrak projects.
http://www.stimuluswatch.org/project/by_program/Amtrak

Awesome, thanks for the link... I was kind of shocked to see that Charlottesville, VA has requested nothing on from the federal funding... typical snobby cville, or maybe just lazy cville not paying attention...

It was interesting to see that there was some money was requested for the old ACL station in Orlando to get refurbished... with Sunrail looking to actually operate in a few years this would be perfect. It would be great to see the station updated similar to how Tampa went all out yet they only get one or two trains a day. Granted Orlando doesn't get much more but who knows Sunrail should work out and once it's running I'm sure it'll expand and add more frequencies. Who knows maybe we'll get some high speed rail they've been talking about or just extend the SL back to Orlando again...

My apologies if this link has been posted already. I took a quick look around, and didn't see it. My Mom sent me a more comprehensive list of towns nationwide that are getting money for various projects. I saw Amtrak listed. Here is a link to just the Amtrak projects.
http://www.stimuluswatch.org/project/by_program/Amtrak

Nothing in there about bringing anything to Atlanta. The biggest city in the south and still only one train. Why? I got a theory, but it involves the ghost of a dead union general and only makes sense if everyone is drunk.

Woohoo! Where's the beer? I'm always up for a good theory, especially when drinking is "required," and of course a ghost is involved.

Count me in.

 

[printman2000]

My apologies if this link has been posted already. I took a quick look around, and didn't see it. My Mom sent me a more comprehensive list of towns nationwide that are getting money for various projects. I saw Amtrak listed. Here is a link to just the Amtrak projects.
http://www.stimuluswatch.org/project/by_program/Amtrak

Nothing in there about bringing anything to Atlanta. The biggest city in the south and still only one train. Why? I got a theory, but it involves the ghost of a dead union general and only makes sense if everyone is drunk.

Just a side note to your comment, last time I checked, Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, Jacksonville, Austin, Memphis, Fort Worth, El Paso, Nashville, (and perhaps others) are all cities in the south. And they are all bigger than Atlanta.

 

[wayman]

My apologies if this link has been posted already. I took a quick look around, and didn't see it. My Mom sent me a more comprehensive list of towns nationwide that are getting money for various projects. I saw Amtrak listed. Here is a link to just the Amtrak projects.
http://www.stimuluswatch.org/project/by_program/Amtrak

Nothing in there about bringing anything to Atlanta. The biggest city in the south and still only one train. Why? I got a theory, but it involves the ghost of a dead union general and only makes sense if everyone is drunk.

Just a side note to your comment, last time I checked, Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, Jacksonville, Austin, Memphis, Fort Worth, El Paso, Nashville, (and perhaps others) are all cities in the south. And they are all bigger than Atlanta.

Well, I sort of agree with both of you. Having grown up in Virginia, my sense of what is "The South" includes Maryland, Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana; Florida is its own geographic region; West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Arkansas are "Appalachia"; and Texas is its own geographic region. So I don't consider any of the cities Printman lists to actually be in the South, and see Atlanta as being the biggest city there with the NC Triangle, Baltimore, Birmingham, Jackson, and New Orleans being other notable "southern" cities. But it's really hard to draw lines defining regions that everyone agrees on. Other folks see the South as much larger, and that gives them a lot more southern cities, many of which are larger than Atlanta.

(I intentionally didn't list Richmond or Tidewater because that part of Virginia isn't really the South culturally anymore in my opinion; the NC Triangle is leaving the South as well. Baltimore is fundamentally southern, though, and Atlanta remains the one truly southern large city.)

 

[AAARGH!]

Just a side note to your comment, last time I checked, Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, Jacksonville, Austin, Memphis, Fort Worth, El Paso, Nashville, (and perhaps others) are all cities in the south. And they are all bigger than Atlanta.

Well, if you talk about city size alone, that is true. However, that is VERY misleading. For Amtrak, you should realy look at the SMSA of a city. Atlanta only has about 500,000 in actual population, while the Atlanta SMSA (Atlanta–Sandy Springs–Marietta) has over 5,200,000! (Ranked 9th in the 2007 census).

So, of all the cities you mentioned, only Houston (5.6MM - ranked 6th) and Dallas (6.1MM - ranked 4th) are truely larger. The others are MUCH smaller, none in the top 20.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_metropolitan_area

My city, Cleveland has only 490K. but the greater Cleveland SMSA has over 2 million.

 

[printman2000]

Just a side note to your comment, last time I checked, Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, Jacksonville, Austin, Memphis, Fort Worth, El Paso, Nashville, (and perhaps others) are all cities in the south. And they are all bigger than Atlanta.

Well, if you talk about city size alone, that is true. However, that is VERY misleading. For Amtrak, you should realy look at the SMSA of a city. Atlanta only has about 500,000 in actual population, while the Atlanta SMSA (Atlanta–Sandy Springs–Marietta) has over 5,200,000! (Ranked 9th in the 2007 census).

So, of all the cities you mentioned, only Houston (5.6MM - ranked 6th) and Dallas (6.1MM - ranked 4th) are truely larger. The others are MUCH smaller, none in the top 20.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_metropolitan_area

My city, Cleveland has only 490K. but the greater Cleveland SMSA has over 2 million.

I was merely going by what was posted. "The biggest city in the south"

Did not mention metro areas. Even if you do, it still does not hold true since clearly Texas and Florida (Miami) are southern states.

 

[wayman]

Did not mention metro areas. Even if you do, it still does not hold true since clearly Texas and Florida (Miami) are southern states.

Geographically, they're in the southern part of the US; culturally, they're far from the South. I have friends from Texas who insist they are not from the South, but from *Texas*; likewise, Florida.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

Actually Amtrak had already budgeted to fix 12 of those 81 cars this year, even before the stimulus package was thought about, much less pased.

So at that rate, they would have finished that project sometime in 2015?

Well who knows at what rate they might have continued?

Finally, getting the Amfleets back into service won't help the Maple Leaf at all. All the Amfleets out of service are AMF I's. The Maple Leaf only uses AMF II's, other than the Club-Dinette car which is an AMF I. I'm also not sure that adding more cars to the Leaf would help all that much anyhow, since Candian Customes limits the number of cars that can be occupied when crossing the border.

But isn't there some potential for sending the refurbished AMF I cars to other routes that might currently be using AMF II's to free up AMF II's?

No, any route currently using AMF II is doing so because it needs AMF II's, not because there weren't enough I's to go around. Amtrak could actually use some more AMF II's to further expand to routes that are deserving of AMF II's. Of course the AMF II was never really intended to be Amtrak's single level overnight coach. It was intended for runs like the Adirondack and the Carolinian.

While I agree with you that the Amfleet IIs are used on trains they were never intended to be, (The Viewliner coach concept was always the intended replacement for the 44-seat coach cars), if we are running the system the way they are, there is no reason why the Pennsylvanian has Amfleet IIs while the Adirondack does not.

The Pennsylvanian is a fairly short run, when you get down to it.

 

[transit54]

While I agree with you that the Amfleet IIs are used on trains they were never intended to be, (The Viewliner coach concept was always the intended replacement for the 44-seat coach cars), if we are running the system the way they are, there is no reason why the Pennsylvanian has Amfleet IIs while the Adirondack does not.
The Pennsylvanian is a fairly short run, when you get down to it.

I'd argue that the Adirondack needs Amfleet IIs, also.

 

[Sue in KY]

Geographically, they're in the southern part of the US; culturally, they're far from the South. I have friends from Texas who insist they are not from the South, but from *Texas*; likewise, Florida.

Oh, that's just Texans being Texans -- they drink in grandiosity with their mothers' milk, and always want you to know they're special because they were once their very own country.

(I can say that because I ARE one, originally.)

 

[jackal]

Geographically, they're in the southern part of the US; culturally, they're far from the South. I have friends from Texas who insist they are not from the South, but from *Texas*; likewise, Florida.

Oh, that's just Texans being Texans -- they drink in grandiosity with their mothers' milk, and always want you to know they're special because they were once their very own country.

(I can say that because I ARE one, originally.)

You do know that if you cut Alaska in half, Texas'd be the third-largest state, right?

FWIW, I've always heard and thought the same thing about Florida not being a part of the South and Texas being its own republic. From what I understand, both Floridians and Texans actually get downright offended if you call them Southerners!

 

[sky12065]

You do know that if you cut Alaska in half, Texas'd be the third-largest state, right?

So what state would be the second largest state, Alaska? Or would it be Alaska? Or would it be a tie! :blink: ... :lol:

 

[WICT106]

See link here : Chicago as a "high speed rail" hub: Has the time for this idea arrived ?

 

[GG-1]

Aloha

We have typed about Amtrak getting this stimulus money and almost all the states are trying to get some of this money. But not to be a ???? how will buying/building infrastructure stimulate the economy? Sure the labor market benefits but in what proportions. Business providing the products benefit, but again what proportion? And lastly is any of this stimulus money going to the pockets of the incompetents that created this situation?

Of Soapbox

Mahalo

 

[birdy]

Well, economists say the best way to stimulate the economy is to maximize welfare payments. Poor people spend their checks even before they come in, at places that turn the money over quickly.

The second best way is to hire as many unskilled and poorly skilled people as possible in make-work projects, minimizing use of any labor saving equipment. No Tunnel Boring Machines need apply, that's for sure.

I'd rather sacrifice some of the stimulus effect for highly useful projects that we will use for decades. Besides, there is no guarantee that this thing will be over very fast. A HSR project that breaks ground two and a half years from now might be in the thick of the downturn. Even in an optimistic scenario, you would like to have your heavy contractors doing as much of this kind of work in slack periods as possible, leaving them available for private projects during the boom times.

The stimulus bill as I recall sets aside $5 million for Inspector General for the projects, so the promoters thought about the corruption aspect.

 

[Joel N. Weber II]

The second best way is to hire as many unskilled and poorly skilled people as possible in make-work projects, minimizing use of any labor saving equipment. No Tunnel Boring Machines need apply, that's for sure.

Does replacing wood railroad ties with concrete ties work well for this?

 

[Joel N. Weber II]

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_metropolitan_area

It's odd that your Wikipedia page claims Boston is 10th, whereas my favorite Wikipedia page claims Boston is 5th. I haven't yet figured out the reason for the inconsistency.