Viewliner II Delivery/Production

What I can't understand, is why no lobby group or political group/person is asking questions about the long delay ?

why, are they paying for it ?

politicans indirectly, lobby groups in lack of service to passengers.

Has anyone looked at the factory in Elmira Hghts., N.Y., to see if there is any activity or shiny rails evident?

electricron wrote:

When was support for Amtrak ever partisan?

Without getting to ancient history (Nixon LOL), Amtrak has enjoyed support from leading Republican governors like Schwarzenegger in California, Pataki in New York (Boardman worked for him before going to D.C.), Thompson in Wisconsin, McConnell in Virginia, Snyder in Michigan. Former Senators Trent Lott of Mississippi and Kay Bailey Hutchinson of Texas were solid supporters of Amtrak.

South Dakota Senator John Thune heads the Transportation subcommittee and helped to push the FAST Act thru. The current governor of Mississippi, Bob Bryant, and Senator Roger Wicker of Miss, have been the leading advocates for restoring service along the Gulf Coast, conspicuously riding the "test train" earlier this year.

In the House, Bill Shuster of Pennsylvania has been a key supporter. And Tom Latham of Iowa spoke in Amtrak's defense when one of the crazies moved to chop the subsidy by 10%. While most House Repubs voted for the drastic cut, 71 (about a third of them) voted in favor of Amtrak, which added to the Democratic votes saved the system's funding.

Sadly, but inescapably, Amtrak has become a partisan issue today because only one party has a majority of its House members, for example, ready to chop 10% of Amtrak's annual funding. Those haters and crazies have made Amtrak a partisan issue, despite other Repub support.

electricron wrote:

Continuous proposals for privatization lies over the financial concerns of the ever deteriorating rail infrastructure, including the NEC. The idea that the USDOT will ever find a hundred to two hundred billion dollars for rebuilding the NEC over the next ten years is ludicrous, when we consider the entire USDOT annual budget for highways, seaways, railways, and airways is less than a hundred billion dollars.

There's plenty of money. Over the past 6 years or more the federal deficit has been smaller every year. Meanwhile the economy has been growing modestly but regularly. So the deficit as a share of the economy (GDP) has been shrinking, while over this country's 200-year history it has usually flowed forward. Getting back to normal levels of borrowing could be a very healthy thing for a shrunken economy.

The yearly deficit may be decreasing, but not the total deficit, which is still growing.
It appears the latest easily available US GDP data is from 2013, which was $16.77 Trillion.
The 2013 deficit of the US was $680 Billion, which was 4.1% of the GDP and 17.9% of the yearly expenditures of $3.803 trillion. FYI. by the end of 2013 the total outstanding debt was $12.355427 Trillion to the public, and $17.351971 Trillion to the public and intergovernmental holdings.
Yes, the total debt of the country was just more than the total gross domestic product.

Gentle reminder: this isn't debt.gov, although I know you were just answering a previous post .

Let's bring it back to V-II's, please.

JimBoylan wrote:Has anyone looked at the factory in Elmira Hghts., N.Y., to see if there is any activity or shiny rails evident?

Jim, if you go back to page 192 or so I posted a few photos from the CAF plant. The plant is fenced in and well signed that there is no trespassing. While I was taking these photos someone came out of the plant and came right for me. I turned nonchalantly and went back to my car and left. Not looking for any issues. Until the delivery is staged it is very difficult to get a look inside as the tracks on the north side are tree lined and very hard to see through. Once the leaves fall I will make another trip.
EL 3601

EL3601, as the Site Admin, we appreciate your discretion.

Any word on the release of the V-II Diners? I thought I saw a Ph III diner or sleeper on Monday crossing RT 18 in New Brunswick, NJ and again Tuesday on the NEC in Bristol, PA.

Last Friday (October 7th) I saw 8400 on the Crescent in Phase III. You might have just seen a baggage car too.

8400 is about 30 years old and not a viewliner II

Did any of the Heritage diners get put on the LSL during the week that the Silver Meteor has been canceled, or was this an opportunity to shop them for another 184-day inspection and maintenance?

If the diners were reassigned to the Lake Shore, that would be a sign that the Viewliner II in-service date is imminent. If not, 'late summer' may come after the end of hurricane season (December 1).

No I dont think they did. The silver service train sets that were down south were parked in philly until the storm service resumed.

Can confirm, have seen them while on Chestnut Hill West trains.