Amtrak: The Future is Now
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 3 ก.ค. 2024
- Hi. I'm Sam, a railfan based out of Eastern Massachusetts. I film trains from all around the world and make narrated videos explaining how the railroad works. Thanks for watching and I'll see you out on the mainline!
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0:00 - Intro
1:18 - Acela II High-Speed Trains
6:06 - New Long-Distance Locomotives
12:22 - Siemens Venture Cars
21:49 - What Else Are We Missing?
25:38 - Conclusion
26:10 - Outro
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TH-cam: WorldwideRailfan
Instagram: @worldwiderailfan
Flickr: Sam Dwyer Photo
Railroad.net: Sam Dwyer
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Intro song:
Karl Casey - Hackers
Background songs:
Karl Casey - Fractals
Karl Casey - Arcadia
Karl Casey - Miami Sky
Karl Casey - New Beginnings
Karl Casey - The Traveler
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I think the best way to work around the emission regulations would be mass electrification of the railways. Using bi-mode trains is a Great way to achieved that. It increases the amount of electric trains running in America, decreases emission and will help negotiate electrification. You can probably convince locals that it's a good idea to electrify since the trains are already electric.
There are long arguments why it’s impractical and won’t happen. Electrification does have drawbacks, it’s not just a magic solution to problems.
@@andrewreynolds4949 electrification is better for the environment than diesel and battery, it's proven technology and can be used form anything from trams to metro, freight or passenger, local or high speed services.
@@eannamcnamara9338 There's an awful lot of propaganda in the 'green' agenda. There's much worse pollution problems than carbon emissions but it seems to be the only thing people are pushing. Diesel locomotives have already been made much more efficient anyway in the last two decades which greatly cuts emissions.
@@andrewreynolds4949 you still haven't named an issue with electrification apart price. Plus there is no green agenda, it's simply wanting to save the planet so our kids can live happy lives. If it was such an agenda railroads wouldn't have spend hundreds making tier four locomotives.
@@andrewreynolds4949 plus I don't want to get into politics (atleast your definition of it) let's keep it technical
Dude, I love these videos, this one is no exception. I’m so happy for Amtrak, finally getting a chance to get some genuinely modern toys across the entire network.
But they are still going to be running on crap track and at the whim of the track owners everywhere except the NEC. We experienced that on a trip in the Auto Train last year and it was really awful.
Now it just needs modern tracks
They still suck so modern engines on freight owned rails means nothing
@@qjtvaddict no, it needs its OWN tracks which will never happen. Brightline is the future, not Amtrak
Most of the train sets, locomotives and passenger cars I saw you talk about today in this really great video covers alot of regional, state or height restricted routes, but one passenger car I think that will need to be replaced soon is their long distance cars, their superliners. They are starting to get pretty old, and maybe making a Superliner III with Siemens wouldnt be such a bad idea, they really are making a name for themselves all in a factory near sacramento!
They are currently overhauling the Superliners. They will probably get many more decades out of them
Given their current 5 year plan, they want to replace the Superliners by 2032 so I don't believe a contract for the Superliners to be replaced will come this year, but a Request for proposal would likely come sooner. Also, Amtrak doesn't anticipate disposal of any Superliners or Amfleet 2s by the end of FY2027, but did say that cars could be on order by then, so we could see a contract for replacement by at best, 2024 or 2025, then the new cars probably coming in at best, 2027 or later.
Good to here the cars are being overhauled. The reality is that they can't bring in longer single level trains to places like Denver Union Station. They must have a bi-level option if they want to keep up capacity. Although I would be open to half the capacity at twice the frequency, but it will never happen.
"'What else are we missing?"
Infrastructure.
The goal for the generation of equipment after this one should be full electrification. These Diesel/Electric trainsets are are the perfect layup in the runup to large scale electrification of key routes with minimal disruption. Beyond that improving infrastructure so Acela 2 can run at full design speeds across the majority of it's route (I'm looking at you, Connecticut).
one correction: so back in may of 2020 the north carolina dot announced that they won an 80 million dollar grant from the federal gov to replace their entire piedmont fleet including the locomotives, passenger cars, and cafe cars
At first I was skeptical about the ALC-42s, I thought it was going to be a similar situation to the SDP40F. Where that was built for “easy conversion to freight service should Amtrak cease operation.”, I was thinking Chargers were ordered for easy conversion to “corridor service” since the long distance trains were trying to be killed off.
But now that I’ve seen them in action on the Empire Builder (after all the kinks were worked out), I’m a lot more optimistic about them. I can tell Amtrak wants to make the ALC’s the new F40PHs, a kind of “do it all” “Jack of all trades” engine.
I’m pretty optimistic about the future of passenger rail in this country.
The kinks weren't worked out, summer got rid of snow that makes the Chargers stall. Wait till next winter.
@@tonyburzio4107 the Chargers and Siemens Light Rail's worked in snow, and looks like the GE locomotives have some issues with turbo oil failure
GEs have always had turbo issues
The Chargers stalled a LOT this last winter, but Uncle Joe overrode the stop on orders, now Amtrak is stuck with this junk.
@@tonyburzio4107 That's not true. Even the Midwest may have had some issues. But not. Every locomotive is are not designed to work in harsh winter conditions, and older locomotives have more issues than newer ones.
And explain why Marc and Cascades are working on snow locomotives such as the Midwest and Via rail. And Amtrak is still placing orders for chargers.
Very well made video! You hit every point of future rolling stock for the national class I. The only thing I'm not too sure about is the HHP8 NPCU conversion since Amtrak got sued by Philip Morrison for violating a contract stating the HHP8s are to remain stored right after that test run of an HHP8 NPCU at DC.
Yeah, this script was made a while ago and since then, it seems that project has been canned
@@WorldwideRailfan probably a good idea to have reviewed them right before you published them to make sure any changes were caught.
@@gdrriley420 A quick google search shows that project has not been canned *yet*. Work was continuing as of Dec 2021 so the project is probably still underway.
Edit: Apparently rumormill has it that the HHP8 lease to Phillip Morrison has expired back in sept 2021, and Amtrak decided to buy all the units for themselves and now owns the HHP8's with effectively "no strings"
HHP-8 NPCUs?! This is the first I’m hearing of this!
@@WorldwideRailfan I might've missed it in the video but what is the general time table for Amtrak long distance passenger rolling stock to go along with the new long-distance locos?
I REALLY like taking Amtrak across the country. I HOPE that, somehow, Amtrak can rise like a phoenix, from the years of abandonment by the government and the public. And I, as a retired person, really don't WANT "high speed" trains. For me, the SLOWER the better....(the more I can see, savor and enjoy!) I LOVE delays! Thank you for a GREAT presentation! A new Subscriber!
I can tell you exactly where a lot of the P42s and Amfleets are going. Up here to Canada to run on Via rail. On Via's long distance trains like The Canadian they're still using F40s and ex CP and CN Budd cars from the 40s and 50s. Hell there are some routes up here still using Budd RDCs. What Amtrak considers old equipment will look brand new up here.
I wouldn’t be surprised if via takes the superliners when they are retired
Via might take some long distance equipement, but everything that Amtrak is working to replace are short-medium distance trains. And even then, Via Rail themselves have also ordered very similar trainsets from Siemens as Amtrak have with their new SC-42 locomotives and venture carriages.
Those bud cars are beautiful. I wonder if they could retrofit them to run almost as smooth as a modern coach.
@@mason7024 I think I read that the superliners are being completely refurbished and may even get a third generation. I'd personally prefer that as I think they still look good especially with the right paint job like the California cars.
I can’t wait to try out the venture cars on the San Joaquin’s, being able to see a full modern Siemens train set at sac valley station will look so cool.
Same! Have't taken the San Joaquins in a couple of years now. Can't wait to see the full Siemens trains running in the Valley! The San Joaquins is growing up, now with world class equipment to match the route's popularity!
Thanks for highlighting the NC Corridor service, I love this service I would like to see more love for it. Especially since the areas it services are projected to grow exponentially in the coming decades.
I`m definitely glad to see AMTRAK finally getting some much needed funding to replace/ upgrade their rolling stock!
Too bad they're giving too much money to employees that haven't really helped the company.
@@HTV-2_Hypersonic_Glide_Vehicle fed funding doesn’t pay employees
@@sebastionkeller7791 Oh
I really wish we had been able to get those new bi-level cars we originally ordered. I understand the safety requirements change, but if the surfliner cars are safe enough to keep in operation, why can't we just make more of the same design??
Money
I didn't realize that Amtrak got new cars for the midwest, the old cars were rotting and the double-deck was implemented horribly. Hopefully they can add more trains into service!!!
Amtrak‘s entire long distance fleet is made up of stainless steel cars. So none of the cars were “rotting “. Some are definitely old and in need of an overhaul. But they’re not rotting.
You would think after a century of having electric trains, they would know how to pick up current off an overhead wire. And high-speed is not an excuse because Europe the speeds are much higher.
HSR has a range time limit for individual train routes of around three hours before the train loses the passenger market battle with the airlines. Unlike Europe, America is not only larger in size, distances are further for large city metro pairs outside Amtrak's northeast corridor. There is no true 300 km/ph HSR train from Vienna to Istanbul, or for that matter to Belgrade or Bucharest. There is no HSR train east of Berlin from Berlin. And even in Europe people prefer to fly than ride a train much more than three hours...
Land is very expensive and faster trains need more space. American train regulations also say trans need to be way more crash resistant (and heavier) than their Europian counterparts which not only makes the train slower, but harder to slow down/speed up
@@ronclark9724 Lol, no. No one except the crazies ever said that HSR needs to operate outside of the 500 mile optimal window of "too long to drive, too short to fly" routes. As you have plainly said just now, HSR does not need to be continuous over the entire continent to dominate the transportation market. It certainly isn't in Europe, yet it still murders the airlines there. We're only talking city pairs that are less than 500 miles apart. That's it!
Most of the population of the US lives in megaregions that are less than 500 miles across. Look at California SF-LA, the NEC, Orlando-Miami in Florida, Portland-Seattle (and maybe Vancouver) in the Northwest, Chicago and all of it's neighbors, etc. If you look at a population density map of the US you'll see that almost all Americans live in these types of megaregions where the next big city is less than 500 miles away. That's where HSR excells and that's where most of us live in this country.
@@wetsock6334 Nope, the safety regulations have been finally adjusted to the international standard so you can now easily just import trains made for the EU or Asian markets.
Land is very expensive in Switzerland too. Nevertheless, the entire country is criss-crossed by trains. And trains nee considerably less space than highways for the exact same capacity. In fact in the SF Bay Area we have the Bay Bridge with 10 lanes total carrying fewer passengers than a two-track railroad under the Bay (BART)! No matter what your opinions are on trains, you can't argue with the efficiency of trains both in terms of space and energy requirements.
@@TohaBgood2 The regulations have finally been adjusted. But the context of the original comment is addressing the past century.
I love your videos on Amtrak's projects. It's so interesting to learn about them. Awesome video and keep up the good work!
I love the content, man. I’m happy that Amtrak has some lots of excitement in its future. Keep up the good work!! 👍
The P42s will likely end up with VIA Rail and be heavily refurbished to replace the aging F40PH-2D (GPA-30h) which are Tier 3 F40s
Yeah
Some might be kept as rescue and backup power for Amtrak, others might become cab cars.
I love future Amtrak.
great video, appreciate the Amtrak update... keep up the great work
GREAT video! Such awesome collection of facts and where we are now and in the near future. Wonderful presentation of everything. Great job!
Thankyou for your time today .
I have a nice time.
I well always be a fan of trians keep up the work you dow for us. 🇺🇸
Looks like Amtrak is doing all they can on their end to make train travel more attractive in the US.
So next up: INFRACTRUCTURE FUNDING!!!
What good does a brand new train do when it runs on ancient track being kept in an abysmal state of repair by some freight company because for freight trains that's just good enough.
Yup
22:27 North Carolina and California aren't the only places where F59s are still in service. GO Transit in Ontario still has 6 F59s in service, primarily used on the London service and some off-peak Barrie and Stouffville line trips.
That has got to be one of the best intros for anything that I’ve seen in a while!!! Amazing!!!
I’m glad you made this video because I’m on the N.E.R right now to New York and I needed something to watch
Great video, but IMO Superliners really need to be replaced. They’re doing well, but they’re obviously aged, and could use some updates, and preferably continued double decker cars. Considering that’s what a large portion of the country sees, seems that most all long distance routes are being neglected on the passenger car front
There is no replacement in sight for the Superliners, Amtrak will replace them with Siemens single deck cars. Don't you guys read Amtrak press releases?
@@tonyburzio4107 you are completely wrong. First of all Amtrak hasn’t even announced what the superliner replacement is and second if you look at some of their fiscal year documents you will see that they will look into bilevel replacements for the superliners AND the surfliner cars once the trainsets are replaced
The standing solution is to overhaul the Superliner fleet instead of buying new
The Superliners for refreshed recently, and personally I think they’ve still got at least another decade on them.
Now the Amfleet IIs are the ones that really need a replacement, though I expect Amtrak to order Viewliner coaches sometime in the future.
@@MarioYoshi4723 Or maybe more Venture coaches, considering their recent obsession with Siemens equipment
I'm really excited about Amtrak. I'm glad they're continuing to purchase new Charger and Venture cars.
I wish they would find a way to purchase new Bi-level cars and Viewliner III cars from Alstom and Siemens.
Alstom does have rights to the superliner design so it is possible
Amtrak is now consider the venture coaches due to reliable performance in all Amtrak corridor line it can perform high speed in any section.
Amtrak has nothing for double deck cars. Zero. Amtrak says it'll be at LEAST 16 years before they have a design, and they doubt there will be a builder anyway.
@@tonyburzio4107 maybe they need to create a new design that could have lightweight body to run in most high speed rather than existing bi level that look heavy to pull or to push
@@tonyburzio4107 what about the alstom coradia multilevel cars that metra and vre are ordering
This is happy news! I don't pay much attention to rail, but I'm happy we Americans are getting some much-needed upgrades to aging, neglected infrastructure. Can't wait to ride in the venture cars on Hiawatha!
Another awesome video. Thanks!
Excellent job, not a huge railfan, can see you do your research, fantastic quality. Keep it up
Your videos are very informative and are just overall awesome. That intro is just epic, by the way. I'll be following you very closely :)
Right as coasterfan uploads, sick!
This video is very informative, thank you so much! 😊
Amazing coverage
Hi Sam. A great video very interesting to hear the Amtrak is updating it's fleet, I think it is about time. We in the UK have a very modern fleet as you may be aware. Many thanks for this. Cheers Doug
I'm a tram and I approve this video! Great footage!
Oh my god I'm fanboying over the new North East venture cars. They'll be dual mode! That's bloody awesome man. I can't wait to see these
Thanks, for these info,
These videos are great.
Very interesting. Good.
Great video. I also really like your music selections.
honestly hybrid trains are exactly what the US long rang system needs. We probably cant electrify every mile but as the network expands this will let them work at peak everywhere. Right now amtrack is not a great overnight experience. We need modernized snack and cafe and shower cars as well as new sleeper cars because they are quite bad right now. They also need to get more economical so they can lower commuter costs. Right now its a lot cheaper to fly most of the time.
Great video!
I Loooooove riding the Amtrak Train its very fun and soothing and especially their food. I cant wait to ride on it again to see my sister for Thanksgiving week.
I love Amtrak especially after it’s 50th anniversary Amtrak is definitely upgrading their Amfleet.
Great Video!
It is nice that Amtrak is updating its old equipment on the short to medium distance trains. However the western long distance trains also need new equipment. The Superliners are getting old and need to also be totally rebuilt or replaced. The long distance trains could be upgraded to provide a true first class tourist oriented train as well as providing a vital service to the cities and towns along the routes they serve. Thanks for the updates and plans you showed in this video.
I was running for my HS Cross Country camp down Roosevelt road in downtown Chicago and saw a venture car. Pretty cool looking.
Newer observation car would be great. When I took the California Zephyr the AC was out in that car and they couldn't figure it out in Denver layover so it was baking in there through the desert.
Just so you know, North Carolina actually owns the trains and coach that are used on the Piedmont. So the only why we will see new trains on that line is if NC scores some used trains, and coaches.
14:34 They actually use Those cars on the Missouri River Runner Which means one had to of been delivered to ether Saint Louis or Kansas City.
I'm actually curious as to why there were no ViewLiner coach cars built? There's sleepers, baggage cars and diners. Would've been an ideal replacement for Amfleet cars.
Amtrak just took on a brand new fleet of Viewliner coaches ordered a few years ago from CAF calm down. Also its weird that you guys in America are still building coaches based on such outdated designs. I mean its the same with the gallery cars for the commuter railroads which were still produced until recently with very few changes, despite being a design from the 1950's!
Wow, that was a lot of information
Fire intro 🔥
What a phenomenal channel with some excellent footage. Another great video, thank you!
The Viewliner II's still have life in them. I suspected the Venture cars would be for Corridor Trains and (Hopefully) a coach car similar to the Viewliner II's would be used for eastern long distance trains.
Regarding the Piedmont: North Carolina owns the rolling stock. Those cars you're so dismissive about? They are well-refurbished vintage Pullman-Standard and St. Louis Car Company cars. They're very comfortable and roomy, and have the expected dual outlets at every seat and free wifi. Each car has a name that relates to North Carolina, and has beautiful etched glass panels with the state seal. As for ridership? Every time I've ridden it this year, it's been full. I've heard we're supposed to be getting some additional equipment to increase the number of daily trips, and further infrastructure upgrades are being made. We don't consider ourselves "missing" anything.
This is the first time I’ve seen the cab car for the Venture sets.
Modeling it after the SC-44 reminds me of the British InterCity 225, which has a cab car (or Driving Van Trailer) looks almost identical to the Class 91 locomotive that powers the set.
Great video. The new Acela train sets are impressive, but they’ll never be allowed to travel at their maximum speed between NYC and BOS. The illustrations are a nice touch. I still like the Genesis, but I look forward to seeing the Chargers on Metro-North and the LIRR.
In regards to the Piedmont the trains are owned by the NCRR . The NCRR is more focused on speed and frequency improvements than on new train sets. New cars and engines have been looked at, and while new engines may be possible NCRR has found refurbished cars to be very cost effective, and likely won’t buy new cars.
You honestly need more subscribers
the thumbnail game has been 🔥🔥🔥
Don't forget the other routes like the sleeper services like the Night Owl between DC and Boston 19:37, since they relaunched the sleeper services and their is a possibilities that Amtrak would keep roughly 40 Asc-64 for other routes like adding more sleeper services if they do wanted it and electrified Other routed in the Northeast US. (NOT just for Long- Distances!)
Also let me Rephrase the part where P42 won't actually be NPCU, the third reason is four words (Amtrak Connect us map) if Amtrak expands its service even MORE.
Good thing that guy waived down the train at 3:31. Lotta people woulda missed it and been upset.
The Superliner equipment on the Heartland Flyer needs to be updated.
Acela "II" currently have around 6-7 completed trains and furnished. Some are parked in PA and some are parked in upstate NY outside of the Alstom facility. The plan is to continue running the original acela and eventually phase them out slowly. The original acela's have all been bought by amtrak. A bank lender owned 19 out of 20 sets but wanted amtrak to revert them back to their original condition prior to returning them once the lease was up. That would have cost the company 100's of millions so instead they decided to buy them all with the money they received from the government. Amtrak purchased all 19 remaining trainsets, only about 13 are actually running. The others are parked in an amtrak facility and basically have become scrap or use of parts needed.
Acela II is still having software issues and mechanical issues with doors, windows etc. They had to fly out an engineer from France to try and resolve the computer issues onboard the trainset. Amtrak want's the new trainsets to be ready for service by late 2023, however amtrak high speed mechanical dept. Doesn't think it's possible.
I’ve got a feeling the pedmont like all new planned corridor routes will move to horizon cars. The F59 aren’t bad locos and they could repower them again if needed. EMD710 can become T3 for sure I think they got T4 now as an option
All the long distances cars are due for a replacement. There’s some talk of Amtrak and California coming together for an order. Which will be massive starting at 800 and going as high as 1200-1300 cars.
We both missed it but in 2020 Piedmont got funding for 26 new cars and 6 locos.
CA still hasn't picked new cars. Surfliner and I believe CC want bi levels, theres some talk of adding onto amtrak LD order that will replace superliners if they are bi level. Which could also mean the state gets sleapers to bring back the Spirit of California
I hope they over order in the short term so we can have more sets to increase service. we currently have ~30 sets and moving to 70-80 sets would be great.
i like the sound of that ALC-42E
Regarding the line used by the Acela high-speed rail and sharing the line with commuters and intercity trains, the Northeast Regional is actually not only applied by the United States, the United States biggest rival Russia, is also doing the same thing. Russia's high-speed rail service called Sapsan based on Siemens Velaro has a maximum speed of 250 km/h but because it has to share lines with commuters and intercity trains (Lastochka, Red Arrow and Nevsky Express), Sapsan is also slow like Acela.
You should talk about the future of commuter rail and Intercity rail routes and service some day.
As always great content. I must say however that I am not to crazy about the Acelia livery.
I’m pretty excited to see the new engines and cars but it’ll suck not having the classic P42s anymore hopefully some go to heritage railroads
16:11 I believe the Train that tested them judging by length is the Missouri River Runner.
Pristine content, as always
1:14 I've parked under that Herb Chambers billboard! 😆
Feel like it is not likely to happen, but I'd love to see some form of observation car made for use with single deck long-distance trains like the Lakeshore Limited. The lounge makes riding out west so much better than in the north east.
Wonderful video, as always, there are just two things I would like to point out.
Firstly, I strongly agree with you that Amtrak’s piedmont is an incredibly overlooked route and something needs to be done to change it. This decade Amtrak has been making many changes to their system nationwide, and not once has it considered upgrading the piedmont in any way, and I do hope that they make some additional orders from Siemens to go to the piedmont. Another route that I think is overlooked is the heartland flyer in Texas and Oklahoma, which continues to use the aging P42’s and Superliners. I think Amtrak should work with Siemens to build trainsets similar to the ones being used on routes like the northeast regional but with only diesel power to be used on routes like the heartland flyer.
Secondly, I do not understand how all these orders of new equipment would work together with Amtrak’s connects us plan. There will be many new routes along the empire corridor and northeast corridor that can use some of the new trainsets, but there also will be many new routes that would not work with any new equipment. For example, there is a proposed line between San Luis Abisbo and San Jose. Will it use pacific surf liner equipment? Will it use Capitol Corridor equipment? Who knows!?! There are many other routes like this and I think Siemens should build specific trainsets to fix those problems.
I love California High Speed Rail.
nice
I don't want the ACS-64s to be retired from Amtrak after all I LOVE the ACS-64
Glad i found your videos. Looking FORWARD to the new trainsets. I'd prefer ALL Electric. Less Exhaust fumes.
Loved the New trains video, but the Future isn't here until the right of ways and rules are upgraded to match the speed of the trains
The more I read about it I think that the ALC-42E will just be a standard diesel locomotive with rail shoes and then a pantograph coach or battery car would be attached to provide power to the ALC-42e’s traction motors and can be disconnected so the ALC-42e can be used universally on all of these routes
It won't have third rail shoes.
We need to do away with grade crossings if we expect high speed rail to work. Grade crossings are too dangerous. We know that humps at crossings cause semi trucks to have problems yet they still exist. Folks still stop on tracks thinking that they will be safe. Get rid of crossings.
Nobody does serious intercity rail with grade crossings
Amtrak is also in the process of interior refurbishment of the superliner coaches, which will be their (first?) final refresh before new coach designs are started around 2035. I suspect they'll get repainted into the new paint scheme during the refurbishment process.
Just a little detail, EPA emission regulations have little to do with climate change, but are mostly related to direct and indirect health and enviromental effects of pollutants, mainly Nitrous Oxides and Particulates for diesels, but also including unburnt hydrocarbons, CO and sulfurous compounds.
NOx and hydrocarbons, when under sunlight, react to make ground level Ozone, which is a toxic gas.
Get California High Speed Rail and get California High Speed Rail now from San Francisco to Los Angeles and Anaheim and Sacramento to San Diego.
I want future Amtrak.
Do we have any idea why the cross section of the Acela 2 locomotive is so different than the coaches? Seems not what you'd want if you're thinking about 200+ mph.
I haven't heard of anything in the new climate bill about investing in rail but I really hope a lot of the grant money and programs go to benefiting the rail system. Here in the NW we have very limited Amtrak corridors, I would love to see passenger trains connecting more of the countryside, even if they were a little slow. I feel like the potential for tourism would be great and if they were fast and reliable enough people could commute to job centers without as much traffic and emissions.
I thought I heard that North Carolina was getting some new equipment. The wiki for the piedmont says that they will receive some funding to replace current equipment. If not, I don’t know why some of the older equipment couldn’t get some of the retired equipment just to at least freshen it up a bit.
Correct. They originally purchased old rail cars from Ringling Bros. in 2017, but are now trying to sell/salvage them (some were recently destroyed in a fire). They got federal funds to buy new rail passenger/cargo cars. However, they are still using refurbished locomotives. A fourth daily round trip service is planned in 2024.
I just subscribed to your channel.
So the rolling stock for the Piedmont Route is owned by NCDOT, not Amtrak; hence the different livery. I would assume that while Amtrak could make upgrades to it; the most likely change will have to come from NCDOT.
Any idea about the replacement of the Amfleet II and future replacement of the Viewliners? Also, any speculation on if Siemens will make lounge and dining varients of their Venture cars? I'm very eager to see a new Cardinald come though the Greenbrier valley on it's tri-weekly run from DC to Chicago and see this as a major upgrade since the Superliners where pulled from the route back in 2002, downgrading the entire line in the process.
Like he said. There aren’t any plans for the Amfleet II and Viewliners yet.
Love the nod to Brightline here in Florida. Problem we have down here is people going around the gates after they come down & wind up being killed. Or people committing suicide by walking on the tracks when they see the train coming. Sad.
The should add fences along the track
Acela needs dedicated high speed tracks!!!
I hope they get this project right before the trains enter service
Yes and yeah.
I hope someday they will create a venture cab in both end that can run by it self just like existing EMU in northeast corridor