When we get new equimpment....

[Bane]

Amtrak has to get new equipment soon. My question is if you placed an order for new cars, what would you like to see?

Would you like to see the exterior be silver as the the other cars?

Could wireless internet be a good choice?

Would you like to see sleeper cars in diffrent configurations?

What would be a great color for the interior?

Is a shower in the coach car a good idea?

 

[MattW]

Exterior: needs to match, the better it looks the more people might like it

Wireless Internet: could be fun, might be nice for NEC, but don't waste the money until we get other more important things

Sleeper Configurations: only thing I'd add would be a one bed roomette, but that's not that important

Good Interior color: blues and grays, but not bland

Coach Shower: may be good, but could cause currently unforseen problems.

Aside from your questions, what I'd like to see are the return of dome cars on "single level" routes. I'd also like perhaps vending machines onboard so the cafe attendant isn't so overworked.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

God, no vending machines. Das ist verboten. We get that and the cafe attendant will disappear in short order.

I want a return to the original Amtrak colour scheme- you know, the one with nice carpeted walls and the warm reds and browns. I hate the "Arctic Freeze" scheme they have now. Yech.

 

[OlympianHiawatha]

God, no vending machines. Das ist verboten. We get that and the cafe attendant will disappear in short order.

While interesting to read about, I always felt the "Automat" cars on the SP and ATSF really made the particular trains lower class. Amtrak did try vending machines for a very short while on the Heartland Flyer, but they couldn't take the rigors of constant motion plus the State had them pulled since they were not part of the service contract.

 

[amtrakwolverine]

keep the cars the same color. bring back the slumber coach.

 

[Konrad]

Amtrak has to get new equipment soon. My question is if you placed an order for new cars, what would you like to see?
Would you like to see the exterior be silver as the the other cars?

Could wireless internet be a good choice?

Would you like to see sleeper cars in diffrent configurations?

What would be a great color for the interior?

Is a shower in the coach car a good idea?

Same exterior colour scheme (but does EVERYTHING in the US have to be painted red, white and blue).

Wireless internet would be nice - I travel with a laptop - but coverage might be a problem on LD routes.

No need to complicate the rosters so keep the layouts consistent.

I'm rather fond of the fake wood laminates that were used on our trains (Australia) in the 60's .

We've already got showers in coach in the Indian Pacific and Ghan (but first class and economy never meet on those services so it doesn't really affect me <_< ).

 

[PetalumaLoco]

keep the cars the same color. bring back the slumber coach.

Is this a Slumber Coach?

How is it configured?

 

[jphjaxfl]

Yes, thats one of the slumbercoaches built for the Denver Zephyr. It contained 24 single rooms and 8 double rooms. The single rooms were in a duplex fashion alternating higher and lower on either side of the corridor, as you can see from the staggered windows. The double rooms are where the normal windows are at one end of the car. The cars had a 40 passenger capacity compared to most standard sleeping cars of 22 passengers. Similar cars were also built by Burlington/Northern Pacific for the North Coast Ltd and the Mainstreeter. Other railroads that operated Slumber coaches were New York Central (called Sleepercoaches) B&O and Missouri Pacific. Both NYC and B&O also modified some all roomette sleeping cars to be used as Slumbercoaches. Seaboard Coastline purchased some of the B&O cars for use on the New York to Florida trains. You could purchase a Slumbercoach room using a coach class rail ticket. The Slumbercoahes were the newest sleeping cars built by the private railroads. Amtrak continued operating the Slumbercoaches on various routes. They were a no frills means of traveling in a private room at a small cost. I used Slumbercoaches frequently as a college student and later while in the Air Force when I traveled on a tight budget.

 

[Ispolkom]

keep the cars the same color. bring back the slumber coach.

Yes to the slumbercoach, but I'd go with the color scheme used in the Cross Country Cafe. I thought it looked nice, even though it's not as efficient a dining car.

 

[Walt]

Would you like to see the exterior be silver as the the other cars?Could wireless internet be a good choice?

Would you like to see sleeper cars in diffrent configurations?

What would be a great color for the interior?

Is a shower in the coach car a good idea?

• Silver is as good a color for a train car as any other. I would rather Amtrak not spend time and money on exterior colors.
  
• This would turn out to be complete waste of time and money too. I doubt Amtrak could come up with a system with high enough reliability, including working a rural areas and working in tunnels. Plus, on board Amtrak personnel would need to administrate it (yea, right).
  
• Over my many hours and days onboard Amtrak, I have pondered different configurations. I don't think there are any which would be substantially better than what they have now. I sure hope that Amtrak will not deviate from the in-room toilet and sink of the Viewliner roomette design.
  
• I could suggest that Amtrak only use my favorite color, but that would only please me. Honestly, I see nothing wrong with Amtrak sticking to its corporate blue. I would rather see the money used to maintain what ever is chosen.
  
• Coach is coach. Such accommodations are already available as an upgrade.
  

 

[amtrakwolverine]

wireless on board is not that hard. via rail canada has it and its pay per use. you can pay a flat fee ahead of time for unlimited use so your all set to connect once on the train or pay a x amount for the time you want. you see those little white domes on some of the cars. thats for the internet. with a pay per use that would help cover the cost of the running the wireless internet on the train.

 

[Shawn]

Silver is good, stick to decals (no pun intended) as opposed to trying to "paint" stainless steel.

I doubt a different configuration could be accomplished with any major changes.

And a shower or 2 in coach would be awesome. They should rework the bathrooms and make them a tad bigger. It's a train, not a plane!

 

[wrjensen]

Here a question For you is how long will we will it take us to get this new equipment?

Here my thoughts:

If Amtrak was smart they have the RFP all ready to go and could have it on the street in 30 days.

They will have it on the street for 3 to 6 months (at a min)

It will take a 3 - 6 months to get the contract awarded and complete.

the at least a year for design and 18 months to get the prototype build and tested.

then 6 months later to get the first production rolling stock.

So we are looking at 3 years on the earliest before we have new cars.

 

[printman2000]

Stainless with no paint is the way to go, Santa Fe style.

Check out this Superliners unpainted...

FYI, this pic is from an old topic at http://discuss.amtraktrains.com/index.php?showtopic=17066

 

[saxman]

Wow, thats a cool pic.

I really like the Viewliner type rooms. I'm talking about the amenities, such as all the lighting, the storage hole on top, and the second window. Would like to see more of that on the Superliner fleets. Of course I know not all is possible.

Wireless is a must eventually. Pretty soon you'll be able to get wireless anywhere you go. I tried it on MBTA in Boston. It worked ok. On Delta it worked great! So wifi is a must, on all trains.

I like the way they made the bathrooms on the refurbed sleepers. They used the same space and made so much more floor room. Amazing what they did.

Yeah I think showers for coach would create more problems then needed.

 

[printman2000]

I like the way they made the bathrooms on the refurbed sleepers. They used the same space and made so much more floor room. Amazing what they did.

I HATE that they took the window out of the upstairs restroom. What a great place to "have a seat" and enjoy the country going by.

As for Viewliners, I personally do not like having the toilets in the roomettes. Too close to where you sleep and also a pain when you have someone else in the room with you.

 

[PetalumaLoco]

As for Viewliners, I personally do not like having the toilets in the roomettes. Too close to where you sleep and also a pain when you have someone else in the room with you.

Well, ask them to close their eyes... :blink:

 

[birdy]

Wireless is a must eventually. Pretty soon you'll be able to get wireless anywhere you go. I tried it on MBTA in Boston. It worked ok. On Delta it worked great! So wifi is a must, on all trains

Yeah. Trains have access to a lot of communication gear, and rights of way are usually fiber optic rights of way as well, which should help. I'll bet its not too expensive, if its built in systematically and they don't try and cover the entire country at once.

 

[AlanB]

This would turn out to be complete waste of time and money too. I doubt Amtrak could come up with a system with high enough reliability, including working a rural areas and working in tunnels. Plus, on board Amtrak personnel would need to administrate it (yea, right).

Actually Amtrak already has a private wireless internet onboard it's trains, the public can't use it for internet service however. It's for the credit card authorization terminals in the cafe cars and dining cars. As a general rule, it works pretty well all across the country.

As for onboard personel needing to administrate it, not really. Amtrak might need to train people to reboot a router or the main system, but beyond that everything else could be handled off the train, either by a small group of Amtrak personel or by the company that Amtrak contracts to run the system.

In most hotels if I have a problem with the internet connection, be it wired or wireless, I don't call the front desk or anyone in the hotel. I call some toll free number for help.

 

[Tony]

As for Viewliners, I personally do not like having the toilets in the roomettes. Too close to where you sleep and also a pain when you have someone else in the room with you.

IMHO, one has to be pretty close with anyone one shares a roomette with. Even beyond the toilet, there is simply no privacy when getting undressed or changed in the room.

What we do, is to go for a walk when our traveling companion needs some privacy in the roomette. Works great for us.

Anyway, I too hope that Amtraks keeps the Viewliner style of roomette. Much better, in so many ways, over the Superliner roomette.

 

[ALC Rail Writer]

This would turn out to be complete waste of time and money too. I doubt Amtrak could come up with a system with high enough reliability, including working a rural areas and working in tunnels. Plus, on board Amtrak personnel would need to administrate it (yea, right).

Actually Amtrak already has a private wireless internet onboard it's trains, the public can't use it for internet service however. It's for the credit card authorization terminals in the cafe cars and dining cars. As a general rule, it works pretty well all across the country.

As for onboard personel needing to administrate it, not really. Amtrak might need to train people to reboot a router or the main system, but beyond that everything else could be handled off the train, either by a small group of Amtrak personel or by the company that Amtrak contracts to run the system.

In most hotels if I have a problem with the internet connection, be it wired or wireless, I don't call the front desk or anyone in the hotel. I call some toll free number for help.

That explains it-- I have a very nifty wireless network finder in my toolkit (not on my computer) and when it scans for a network on any train, anywhere, an old scrambler comes up.

For the record, Alan, that can NOT and is NOT WiFi. It is an Internet uplink that works, probably from an old network. Now-- it isn't that hard to take that and plug it into a modem (credit card machines usually have modems built in) but a separate modem, and then Wireless router. The question then becomes, how is it going to affect the train's normal operating mode? Having users online, streaming videos or whatever-- will likely cause bandwidth to trickle down to nothing and then even the credit card machines won't work.

The solution would be to install a second, and totally independent, system.

Incidentally, is that in ever car? Or just the Café? LoL-- is there a line that actually runs between cars?

*Runs and tries to plug laptop into the HEP bundle*

 

[Tony]

Let me start by writing that I am not against having WiFi on Amtrak. It is just that I must agree with others' comments, that it would be source of constant problems.

My reasoning comes from a couple of examples, both happen to be with a Viewliner.

First, Amtrak can't seem to keep the darn coffee pot working. I have no faith that the exact same people who can't fix a coffee pot, will successfully keep a WiFi network running smoothly.

Second, the in-room movie system. In each room, there use to be a small video screen to watch (those are now all gone). If you don't remember that system, next time you are in a Viewliner, check out the linen closet. Down at the bottom, you will see what is left of the system. This wasn't very "hi tech". Just a few VCR-like video tape machines, which played back movies. And Amtrak just couldn't manage to keep it in working order.

Sorry, but IMHO one has to face the fact that Amtrak has a difficult enough time keeping what it already has, in good working order. There is no one who could convince me, that Amtrak can successfully keep something like a WiFi networking going. If Amtrak tried, it would be a lot of time and money spent, and in the end, it will end up just like the in-room video system.

The credit card authorization terminals are the best example because they don't transmit large amounts of continuous data, and don't expect/require high upload/download speeds.

BTW, the last time I was on Amtrak, there was no phone in my room like there are in hotel rooms, from which I could call some toll free number tech support number with any WiFi problems I might have. And, if I had my cell phone with me, I could just use it to "tether" an internet connection or simply use my phone to check email or surf the 'net directly.

 

[ALC Rail Writer]

A credit card machine is designed to operate within the 56kbbs limits that max out dial up. Take a look at how much bandwidth you need to do your daily routine. Currently I am DLing a couple podcasts, which take up 800kbbs. Now I would never actually use an Amtrak WiFi to DL large files-- but, stupid people will. They'll knock everybody off the net and have to have somebody reset the router-- at the very least.

Plus, if thing get slow-- can you imagine the complaints? "My YouTube video won't DL fast enough" or "My page is taking too long to load"

While operator-free wireless is in our future (technology will one day allow them to have it) and I have no doubt that light lines (Like Sounder) have a very good working WiFi system-- to have the entire Amtrak system would just be nonsense. At this point.

At the very most I think we can expect it a good investment on the Acela trainsets, and maybe BC on the NEC.

 

[AlanB]

For the record, Alan, that can NOT and is NOT WiFi. It is an Internet uplink that works, probably from an old network. Now-- it isn't that hard to take that and plug it into a modem (credit card machines usually have modems built in) but a separate modem, and then Wireless router. The question then becomes, how is it going to affect the train's normal operating mode? Having users online, streaming videos or whatever-- will likely cause bandwidth to trickle down to nothing and then even the credit card machines won't work.

I wasn't suggesting that Amtrak would or could use the existing WiFi system now onboard most trains for the credit card authorization system. My only reason for bringing it up was to note, that it does work onboard the trains most of the time. I'm not sure about when a train is in a tunnel, but otherwise the new system for credit cards seems to be working rather well for Amtrak.

But it is still a WiFi signal that your laptop can connect to. You won't go anywhere in terms of what a user might like, but you're laptop will see the net and coonect to it.

 

[AlanB]

Let me start by writing that I am not against having WiFi on Amtrak. It is just that I must agree with others' comments, that it would be source of constant problems.
My reasoning comes from a couple of examples, both happen to be with a Viewliner.

First, Amtrak can't seem to keep the darn coffee pot working. I have no faith that the exact same people who can't fix a coffee pot, will successfully keep a WiFi network running smoothly.

Second, the in-room movie system. In each room, there use to be a small video screen to watch (those are now all gone). If you don't remember that system, next time you are in a Viewliner, check out the linen closet. Down at the bottom, you will see what is left of the system. This wasn't very "hi tech". Just a few VCR-like video tape machines, which played back movies. And Amtrak just couldn't manage to keep it in working order.

Hardly fair or comparable items. The coffee pot situation is a mechanical thing with moving parts that simply don't like being slammed around on a train. It's also a far more expensive piece of machinery than a small Wi-Fi base station.

As for the movie system, the biggest issue there was the theft of the tapes from the VCR's. Since Amtrak was getting new movies before they were released to HBO, Cinimax, etc., and at the same time the movies were being released to Pay-per-view, the tapes were targeted for theft. Additionally some passengers weren't exactly kind to the screens either, which back then cost a lot more to replace than they probably would today.

BTW, the last time I was on Amtrak, there was no phone in my room like there are in hotel rooms, from which I could call some toll free number tech support number with any WiFi problems I might have. And, if I had my cell phone with me, I could just use it to "tether" an internet connection or simply use my phone to check email or surf the 'net directly.

Well if you don't have a cell phone, then you'd be out of luck or would have to find someone to loan you theirs. As for having a cell phone and using it as a modem, that can get very expensive if one doesn't have a data plan. Not to mention that not everyone has the needed connections between their cell phone and a laptop or the fact that any Amtrak connection would be more reliable and at a higher speed than a celll phone connection.