Metroliner brand coming back?

According to this pic, the Metroliner branding was just reapplied to 9800. Does this mean the regionals are going to be re-branded as Metroliners? It wouldn't make much sense to brand only car 9800 as a Metroliner, as it's barely on the road ergo barely worth of a brand...

http://railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=383726&nseq=5

No, it's not coming back. Someone mentioned it before. The decals were added to protect the term/copyright. It was added to the 9800 specifically to avoid confusing people since, as Tadman mentioned, the car is used for charters.

Tadman wrote:According to this pic, the Metroliner branding was just reapplied to 9800. Does this mean the regionals are going to be re-branded as Metroliners? It wouldn't make much sense to brand only car 9800 as a Metroliner, as it's barely on the road ergo barely worth of a brand...

http://railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=383726&nseq=5

Wow, that looks sharp! The Budd Metroliner lives on...

I agree - looks really nice! Hopefully they use this formerly well-known and still well-regarded branding to promote their charter service.

ThirdRail7 wrote:No, it's not coming back. Someone mentioned it before. The decals were added to protect the term/copyright. It was added to the 9800 specifically to avoid confusing people since, as Tadman mentioned, the car is used for charters.

Slight correction, they may be doing it to protect the trademark (which have to be actively protected), not any copyright (which only need to be protected in the event of an infringement).

Greg Moore wrote:

ThirdRail7 wrote:No, it's not coming back. Someone mentioned it before. The decals were added to protect the term/copyright. It was added to the 9800 specifically to avoid confusing people since, as Tadman mentioned, the car is used for charters.

Slight correction, they may be doing it to protect the trademark (which have to be actively protected), not any copyright (which only need to be protected in the event of an infringement).

THAT's it. Greg Moore hit it on the head. The TRADEMARK is being protected. Apparently, they had to protect it by January because the coach that they used to protect the trademark wasn't good enough...or something like that.

I asked Matt if they planned to protect the NorthEast Direct trademark and he said it is already covered.

Wow that car looks sharp! I'm gonna have to catch it sometime! Is it going to start being called the "Metroliner Conference Car"?

You'll never know if the Metroliners may have to return - look at the Acela Express suspensions due to technical problems in 2002 and 2005.

ThirdRail7 wrote:

Greg Moore wrote:

ThirdRail7 wrote:No, it's not coming back. Someone mentioned it before. The decals were added to protect the term/copyright. It was added to the 9800 specifically to avoid confusing people since, as Tadman mentioned, the car is used for charters.

Slight correction, they may be doing it to protect the trademark (which have to be actively protected), not any copyright (which only need to be protected in the event of an infringement).

THAT's it. Greg Moore hit it on the head. The TRADEMARK is being protected. Apparently, they had to protect it by January because the coach that they used to protect the trademark wasn't good enough...or something like that.

I asked Matt if they planned to protect the NorthEast Direct trademark and he said it is already covered.

Isnt' there a coach or cafe car still with the "Northeast Direct" name and logo on it? I could swear ive seen it relatively recently.....

Yes, there is at least one NortheastDirect Amfleet I car.

They really should consider bringing it back. 'Metroliner' was THE perfect name for those trains as they did connect several Metropolitan areas and it had a swift, high speed rail edge to it. Even with the Acela II's in service years from now, they need to re-brand the already overly re-branded Regional trains with something better than what they have now. I mean, "Northeast Regional"? First time I heard the name I said to myself "You've got to be kidding me!" Even "Acela Regional" sounded better (though I can where confusion would come into play with the Acela Express).

Apart from trademark protection and keeping it from winding up in someone else's hands...

One doesn't have to be a "Mad Man" in a gray flannel suit to imagine that "METROLINER", like "Rexall" is a brand with staying power, and might be looked at as a replacement for "Acela Express" down the road.

That is, when people forget about all the money that was spent introducing the "Acela" brand.

The older name better describes the NE corridor train's strong suit.

YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO ARRIVE DOWNTOWN.

Perhaps I'm not be the only old guy here who remembers when Penn Central introduced the Metroliners and who now wonders when Metroliner became a "brand". A type of MU equipment or a class of Northeast Corridor service, yes. A registered trademark owned by Amtrak, yes. But since I grew up on English rather than the current newspeak, I can never think of Metroliner as a "brand". That descriptive just sounds wrong as a language thing.

Having said that, it's too late now to rename the Acelas, but I do wish Amtrak would come up with a better name for the conventional equipment trains than "Northeast Direct".

Metroliner is a great brand name. It says exactly what it does.

"Northeast Regional" sounds like something that flies between Amherst, Hartford, and Harrisburg using crummy propeller planes.

"Northeast Direct" sounds like a chinatown bus company or a UPS-type package company.

I don't think it would hurt to rebrand the current Northeast Regionals as Metroliners. The name is catchy, capitalizes on some of the cache that the old Metroliner name still has, and is distinctly Amtrak's. You could even distinguish the Virginia service trains by dubbing them "Virginia Metroliners". It would certainly increase awareness of the trains. Many people know about the Acela and cannot afford it but know little to nothing of Amtrak's "other" trains that might fit their pricepoint.