Viewliner II Part 4: Sleeping Car production, delivery, deployment

[AmtrakBlue]

https://www.railpassengers.org/happening-now/news/blog/viewliner-ii-an-end-in-sight/

 

[Acela150]

Can you be more specific about how much time is exactly lost because of what you claim to be the biggest problem?

Also BTW Wilmington to PHL is almost wholly four tracks. Also the rest of it is three tracks except for two track segments on three bridges.

 

From HOLLY interlocking to PHIL interlocking is all 4 tracks. So about 4 or 5 miles north of Wilmington to 3 and a 1/2 outside of PHL is all 4 tracks. 

In Baltimore, we have speed cameras that hand out speeding tickets to cars stopped at a red light.  You have to take this technology with a little grain of salt.

Agreed. I used to take Roosevelt Blvd to work everyday. There are several red light cameras along the roadway. I would witness the Red Light Camera take photos of cars when the light was green. 

 

[cocojacoby]

https://www.railpassengers.org/happening-now/news/blog/viewliner-ii-an-end-in-sight/

Holly crap . . . . it's actually happening!

 

[tricia]

https://www.railpassengers.org/happening-now/news/blog/viewliner-ii-an-end-in-sight/

So, assuming it's true that the first new sleeper will be delivered next week, what needs to happen and how long is it likely to take before we see one or more of these actually in service?

 

[Devil's Advocate]

According to the article best case scenario seems to be end of 2019 for revenue service.  My guess is that there will be delays for testing, returning, retesting, accepting, modifying, retesting (again), and training.

 

[StriderGDM]

BTW, I got thinking, I think all the bag-dorms are "spoken for" (for example probably on 448/449) but I wonder if that's a better choice on 66/67 instead of a full-sleeper, or in addition to.

Honestly, there need to be more baggage options in the Northeast.

 

[jis]

66/67 already has a full baggage car. No?

 

[StriderGDM]

Does it? I thought it had been removed at some point. 
Even so, does it need a full one? Or could a full one be better used elsewhere? I honestly don't know.

 

[Acela150]

66/67 already has a full baggage car. No?

It does. But it's very lightly used from what I've seen. 

 

[cpotisch]

BTW, I got thinking, I think all the bag-dorms are "spoken for" (for example probably on 448/449)

What are the actual odds that they put a baggage car of any kind back on the Boston section? I doubt they want to re-lengthen the train and pay the costs associated with checked baggage. A bag-dorm would have definitely made a lot of sense as a replacement for the former full baggage car (which really didn't need 80 feet of storage space), but I don't think they'll go in that direction now.

 

[cpotisch]

Does it? I thought it had been removed at some point. 
Even so, does it need a full one? Or could a full one be better used elsewhere? I honestly don't know.

66/67 already has a full baggage car. No?

It does. But it's very lightly used from what I've seen. 

Now that 448/449 doesn't have a baggage car, I really wouldn't want 65/66/67 to lose its baggage car as well, since that is currently the only way to get checked bags to and from Boston. :unsure:

 

[Dakota 400]

Honestly, there need to be more baggage options in the Northeast.

There needs to be more stations that handle checked baggage throughout Amtrak's system!

 

[Just-Thinking-51]

There needs to be more stations that handle checked baggage throughout Amtrak's system!

That will cost money.

With the current Amtrak administration it all about cutting expenses.  Push the envelope and see how bad people complain.

No idea if the bag-dorms will ever turn a wheel in service.  Such a weird amount of cars (10).  Add the recent removal of baggage cars across the system, and the removal of station personnel...

At this point I am just hoping the funding for Amtrak does not get pulled to build a barrier between Mexico and the US.

 

[NW cannonball]

What does it mean to "update the wheel profile"?

Nobody has responded to this question so far, so

The profile in question  is what you see on an engineering (mechanical, not railroad) drawing of the shape of a steel wheel. Viewed at right angle to the axis of rotation.  Like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Train_wheel f you look at the angle to the rail outboard of the flange - getting the conical angle right (and actually that part of the wheel tread isn't conical it's more refined where the metal meets the metal, wheel meets the railhead, which is also more refined and engineered  and accounts for normal wear and tear.

Steel wheels on steel rails - less than two hundred years of engineering refinement.

The wheel profile is where the metal (wheel) meets the road (also metal - special steel)

The details I dunno, but I know there's a lot of serious work done in the last centuries on every last millimeter of that profile.

Like tiny changes of tread slope and such.

 

[dgvrengineer]

That will cost money.

With the current Amtrak administration it all about cutting expenses.  Push the envelope and see how bad people complain.

No idea if the bag-dorms will ever turn a wheel in service.  Such a weird amount of cars (10).  Add the recent removal of baggage cars across the system, and the removal of station personnel... 

Cardinal could use one to free up sleeper space now used by crew.  Hard to get a room on that train.

 

[Just-Thinking-51]

Cardinal need another sleeper.  Cardinal needs 7 day a week service.  Cardinal needs investment.  This will cost money, will the return on investment cover it? Will Amtrak accounting system show a profit? Will the power to be allow (show) a overnight train to be profitable?

Cardinal needs a dining car even if it’s just for LSL, Capital style of food service.  Cardinal could use a full sleeper, with two Viewliner out of service this train may not get a second sleeper this summer.  A bag/dorm would be useful.

Cardinal most definitely need investment.  Should we start a Kickstarter funding project?

One thinks a Kickstarter funding project to get the Capital Limited Drop cars in Pittsburgh would be easy enough of a goal.  Of course the physical switch is the easiest part of the whole project, with out support from Amtrak there never will be service between Chicago via Pittsburgh to Philadelphia.

 

[cpotisch]

One thinks a Kickstarter funding project to get the Capital Limited Drop cars in Pittsburgh would be easy enough of a goal.  Of course the physical switch is the easiest part of the whole project, with out support from Amtrak there never will be service between Chicago via Pittsburgh to Philadelphia.

I highly doubt a Kickstarter campaign for Capitol/Pennsy though-cars would be effective...

 

[Just-Thinking-51]

I highly doubt a Kickstarter campaign for Capitol/Pennsy though-cars would be effective...

Of course it would not be effective.  However the excuse of not having the switch need to drop cars at Pittsburgh would be null.  You still need a “want to” for it to be effective.

 

[neroden]

What does it mean to "update the wheel profile"?

Train wheels are conical, and they're *very specific* conical shapes.  The exact shape of that cone is the "wheel profile".  As the wheel gets worn down, it no longer fits the original wheel profile, and it has to be ground back into "true".  If you're changing the "wheel profile", you do it when you need to "true" the wheels anyway.

 

[neroden]

What are the actual odds that they put a baggage car of any kind back on the Boston section? I doubt they want to re-lengthen the train and pay the costs associated with checked baggage. A bag-dorm would have definitely made a lot of sense as a replacement for the former full baggage car (which really didn't need 80 feet of storage space), but I don't think they'll go in that direction now.

Demand for sleeper compartments on the Boston side has been perpetually lower than on the NY side.  It still makes sense to put a bag-dorm on the Boston end to replace the full sleeper (and raise prices on that side!) while adding sleepers to the NY end.  Dunno whether they'll DO it, but it makes sense.

 

[neroden]

That will cost money.

Not really.

With the current Amtrak administration it all about cutting expenses.  Push the envelope and see how bad people complain.

True, there's been a lot of dumbassery (implementing schemes to cut revenues) from the current Amtrak administration. 

At this point I am just hoping the funding for Amtrak does not get pulled to build a barrier between Mexico and the US.

Won't happen.  Wall is dead.  Even the anti-immigration extremists realize it's stupid, so most of the Republican Senators oppose it.  Trump caved once, so everyone knows he will cave again.

 

[cpotisch]

Demand for sleeper compartments on the Boston side has been perpetually lower than on the NY side.  It still makes sense to put a bag-dorm on the Boston end to replace the full sleeper (and raise prices on that side!) while adding sleepers to the NY end.  Dunno whether they'll DO it, but it makes sense.

The Boston section has like two crew members who need their own Roomettes, in addition to the SCA, right?

Because I really don't think 448/449 could at all handle demand with literally five or so Roomettes (there are eight total in a bag-dorm) and zero Bedrooms. Its two Bedrooms, one Accessible Bedroom, and 10 Roomettes often sell out anyway. I just don't think one bag-dorm would be even remotely sufficient.

 

[John Bobinyec]

With a recent announcement, it looks like the Viewliner II (V-II) sleepers will start coming online before the end of this year.  They are getting enough V-II's to supplement the current fleet of V-I's, but not completely replace them.  Since the presence of toilets in the roomettes is a controversial issue at best, but important to some customers, will Amtrak allow you to make sure you get the kind of facilities that you want?

jb

 

[StriderGDM]

No, the toilets are a maintenance nightmare, they will be removed from the V-1s

 

[cpotisch]

With a recent announcement, it looks like the Viewliner II (V-II) sleepers will start coming online before the end of this year.  They are getting enough V-II's to supplement the current fleet of V-I's, but not completely replace them.  Since the presence of toilets in the roomettes is a controversial issue at best, but important to some customers, will Amtrak allow you to make sure you get the kind of facilities that you want?

jb

I doubt that they will let people choose like that, since it would be extremely confusing to have two different varieties of Viewliner Roomettes available. It would also almost certainly result in cases of angry passengers getting the "toilet configuration" they don't want due to cars being bad-ordered.

What I really think makes the most sense here is to replace one Roomette with the two shared toilets like the V-IIs, but to still leave the en suite toilets in the other 11 Roomettes. That way, they don't have to go to the trouble during the overhaul of taking all the toilets out (which means the cars can be put back into service faster), all sleepers will have exactly 11 revenue Roomettes, and passengers riding in V-Is will have be able to use the bathroom in their room OR at the end of the hall. As to how they would now have to advertise the amenities of Roomettes since some will have the en suite and some won't, they could just leave it as a "surprise" to those who end up in a V-I, since those who don't like it can just use the one down the hall.