Amfleet Replacement Discussion.

correct the truck springs have to be replaced in pairs (left / right) Amtrak did not and some truck frames got twisted.

I've heard from a few Amtrak employees over the years there was an thought the Amfleet cars could get another 20-30 years out of them if they could go thru some sort of system wide rebuild with interior upgrades and new trucks.

That might be possible.

But that really only addresses part of the problem.
It's becoming clear that Amtrak needs more capacity.

That's the tough part.

Amtrak really needs to find the funding (and manufacturer) to start doing 100 cars a year for at least 5 years and keep the best 20 each year of Amfleets. (So at the end of the 5 years you have 600 cars, 500 new ones, 100 Amfleet. If you can get more funding, retire the remaining Amfleets).

But I suspect that if right now Amtrak had another 40-50 Amfleets, they could quickly find uses for them.

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Amtrak really needs to find the funding (and manufacturer) to start doing 100 cars a year for at least 5 years and keep the best 20 each year of Amfleets. (So at the end of the 5 years you have 600 cars, 500 new ones, 100 Amfleet. If you can get more funding, retire the remaining Amfleets).

But I suspect that if right now Amtrak had another 40-50 Amfleets, they could quickly find uses for them.
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Greg: correct about needing more V-2 coaches but your numbers appear to be too low. Until just the LD single level trains can get enough coaches to meet peak travel demand there will be no retirement of Amfleets even though ANF-2s which have much higher mileage. If NEC demand should increase 10% there is not enough spare -1s to meet the demand and replacement V-2s cannot displace enough Amfleet-2s to NEC service.
If each LDSL train needs 3 additional coaches at high season that would mean at least 70 cars just there. And if there is a need to convert a Superliner train to Single Level cars the demand goes even higher. So IMHO the only retirements will be wreck repairs until at least 300 new single levels have been delivered.

Why build new rail cars based upon a design Amtrak wants to get rid of relatively early? I don't think a new design based upon Acela is likely. Maybe on their deminsions, but not upon their design. I believe Viewliner based coaches and cafes are much more likely as Amfleet II replacements. I believe it is more likely for Amtrak to use the design of the Acela replacements for replacing Amfleet I coaches than Acela based designs.

Amfleet replacements are not going to be based on the Acela design they will be based on the Next Generation Corridor Equipment Committee standards.

It would make sense to base that on the new acela design though.

Why? For one they need cars that can have traps.
For another the cars don't need to tilt.
And also they need cars with actual couplers.
After enough changes you're no longer talking the Acela design.

Possibily true, but having as much in common as possible would be an advantage , scale wise.

But the Acela design isn't going to be in Amtrak's inventories for the long haul, since Acela is being replaced.

Hence no value in parts commonality.

Talking about the new Acela. or Acela 2.

If anything, once the new Bi-levels get sorted and are in service en-masse.. Well that will shove most if not all of the Amfleets and Horizons in Illinois and such service east. The Sprinters with their extra power can surely handle it if a few extra cars are tacked onto existing trains

The first test shells were "Epic" fails,Nippon-Sharyo is redesigning the cars from the ground up,
it's going to be a few years before the 3rd gen Surfliners/Midwest fleet shows up.

If anything,the Siemens "Brightline" coaches might show up first in Florida,
they are built to the single level car specs.

David Benton wrote:Talking about the new Acela. or Acela 2.

So now you have all the above issues PLUS something that hasn't been officially designed yet.
Got it.

Acela2 is under RFP, amfleet replacement is just a twinkle in the planners eyes at this stage.