Nippon Sharyo bilevels for Amtrak corridor trains

The artist's conception on the linked page only shows seats at tables. Put armrests between those and you'd never be able to enter/exit the window seat. Regular rows of coach seats probably do have armrests, there's just no illustration of them.

byte wrote:The artist's conception on the linked page only shows seats at tables. Put armrests between those and you'd never be able to enter/exit the window seat. Regular rows of coach seats probably do have armrests, there's just no illustration of them.

Eh, you make them fold up like any other armrests. Not really a reason not to have them.

Increased maintenance might be.

Personally I do NOT like armrests between seats on Amtrak. On airlines, they help separate things because seats are too narrow, but on Amtrak, eh, I'd rather not have them, even when they fold up.

Greg Moore wrote:

byte wrote:The artist's conception on the linked page only shows seats at tables. Put armrests between those and you'd never be able to enter/exit the window seat. Regular rows of coach seats probably do have armrests, there's just no illustration of them.

Eh, you make them fold up like any other armrests. Not really a reason not to have them.

Increased maintenance might be.

Personally I do NOT like armrests between seats on Amtrak. On airlines, they help separate things because seats are too narrow, but on Amtrak, eh, I'd rather not have them, even when they fold up.

And again, how if giving people a CHOICE a bad thing?

Dont like it? Fold it up. Want it? Fold it down.

jamesinclair wrote:

Greg Moore wrote:

byte wrote:The artist's conception on the linked page only shows seats at tables. Put armrests between those and you'd never be able to enter/exit the window seat. Regular rows of coach seats probably do have armrests, there's just no illustration of them.

Eh, you make them fold up like any other armrests. Not really a reason not to have them.

Increased maintenance might be.

Personally I do NOT like armrests between seats on Amtrak. On airlines, they help separate things because seats are too narrow, but on Amtrak, eh, I'd rather not have them, even when they fold up.

And again, how if giving people a CHOICE a bad thing?

Dont like it? Fold it up. Want it? Fold it down.

If giving the choice results in more maintenance, wear and tear, costs more money (it might cost extra to have this built into the new equipment) to put in something that isn't already available on other most other equipment and basically translates into a safety hazard(I can see people getting pinched ot ripping their clothes and suing) why bother? You don't have the amenity on most of the current fleet and no one seems to really lobby for it.

I could understand that position it the center armrest weren't present on any other mode of transportation. But that's not the case.

Places you get an armrest:
-Any airliner. From low-budget - Ryanair, Southwest - to high-budget - Singapore, Emirates - you get one.
-Megabus and Greyhound.
-Front seat of any car except certain work trucks
-Back seat of most late-model cars that aren't considered compact or sub-compact
-Acela Biz Class and First Class
-Sleeper compartments have a few fold-downs, too.

Places you don't get an armrest
-Amtrak Coach
-City Bus
-Rental Car Shuttlebus
-Prison (ok I really don't know about this given my lack of knowledge here - anybody see Con-Air lately? I refuse to watch Nic Cage movies)

It's not just a question of comfort for your arm, it's also a question of boundaries. I don't want the guy next to me falling asleep in my direction, encroaching upon my space, etc... It's an inexpensive way for Amtrak to provide a better ride. It's a heck of a lot more cost effective than providing LED signs for everything (the argument can be made that the conductor using the PA is just as effective) or running foodservice cars at a massive loss because "the customers want them", but we do all that...

When the A-I's were delivered between 1975 and 1977, all that were configured 84 seat Coach and 56 seat Food Service had arm rests. I do not recall if the 60 seat leg rest cars had same. It is my understanding that customer response (focus groups, surveys, complaints; whatever) led Amtrak to remove the arm rests as the cars were rebuilt. As I think noted somewhere in this topic, the A-II's and Superliners never had such.

Center arm rests certainly define "my space"; however if the seat mates desire some degree of "coziness", they are a detriment.

If one is to confine their off-Corridor daytime travels to Business Class, Corridor to Acela, and overnight to Sleeper, such becomes a non-issue.

I cannot stand armrests that don't totally fold back and away.

Also, keep in mind that the seats can recline individually. PITA if you ask me.

Tadman wrote:I could understand that position it the center armrest weren't present on any other mode of transportation. But that's not the case.

Places you get an armrest:
-Front seat of any car except certain work trucks

I honestly don't know of any cars that have armrests on the front seat (except on the door side.)

perhaps he meant vans and suv's, their captain's chairs have armrests.

Greg, most cars have arm rests built into the center console. That said, larger cars do have arm rests built into the seats - Lincoln Town Car, Land Rover Range Rover, Toyota Land Cruiser, et al... It is the mark of a very spartan or cheap car to not provide any form of arm rest, hence my comments about work trucks.

Center arm rests should be provided only if they fold up, so that the space is flexible when one of the seats is not occupied or when traveling with a companion. In the case that center arm rests are provided, there should be one for each passenger.

Also, I was thinking there was news about the bilevel fleet to be read in this thread.

Could there be more coming? Cryptic references to a possible future order for Amfleet (?) replacement:

Extras on horizon for rail-car assemblers in Rochelle
$352 million contract bodes well for jobs at Nippon Sharyo

(excerpt):
ROCHELLE — A stimulus-powered train car plant that went from 20 employees to nearly 300 in less than a year is likely to expand soon.

An announcement could come “very shortly,” Nippon Sharyo Chairman Katsuyuki Ikushima said today after Gov. Pat Quinn and U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood visited the 465,000-square-foot assembly complex for a symbolic $352 million contract signing.

(excerpt):
Amtrak Chairman Thomas Carper was among the VIPs. Jason Anderson, economic development director for Rochelle, said Carper had told him that Amtrak routes demand new and replacement cars.

“He said there are thousands of rail cars in the country that will need to be replaced,” Anderson said.

And that means more opportunities for Nippon Sharyo in Rochelle.

http://www.rrstar.com/news/x1582305896/ ... n-Rochelle

Agreed on the foldup. This is in relation to the new bilevel car order and their availability of armrests.

Yep, there's only one thing to do, stop the order, redesign the whole thing to add armrests. That should only take three to four years.
By the way, my car has armrests on the doors, but nothing on the other side of the front bucket seats, or on the couch back seat. Am I a miserable failure that should just give up? I find the armrests on those tiny airplane seats to be a nuisance and can't wait to push them up.
Is there anything else about the bi-level fleet we should know? Apparently not.

Forget armrests, I want these cars to have really cool mudflaps. WHY CAN'T WE GET MUDFLAPS.