Siemens to manufacture 83 Airo Intercity Trainsets for Amtrak: Design, Delivery, Acceptance

Regarding Sgt. Smith's immediate, just think, Amtrak could take a page from the airlines' playbook.

All Coach seats will no longer be equal. Want one on the aisle (assuming for reasons that escape me, apparently away from the railfan community)? Another $10 please. Want one center car...? Want a pair (with two tickets purchased)...? Want one forward riding....?

Think you get the idea.

Jeff Smith wrote: ↑Sun Jan 21, 2024 8:41 am Curious, and this may have been answered upthread: will seat selection at purchase be available on the Airos? That’s a big drawback on the Regional.

It's not helpful to the employees who use Regional and Keystone trains to either Deadhead or commute to work. It would almost force them to get a ticket instead of showing their badge. Which is a huge benefit of being an Amtrak employee.

Not to mention that passengers asked for seat assignments, they get seat assignments, now they refuse to sit in their assigned seat. A lot of crews aren't pleased with the seat/car assignment.

Acela150 wrote: ↑Tue Jan 23, 2024 8:52 pm

Jeff Smith wrote: ↑Sun Jan 21, 2024 8:41 am Curious, and this may have been answered upthread: will seat selection at purchase be available on the Airos? That’s a big drawback on the Regional.

It's not helpful to the employees who use Regional and Keystone trains to either Deadhead or commute to work. It would almost force them to get a ticket instead of showing their badge. Which is a huge benefit of being an Amtrak employee.

Not to mention that passengers asked for seat assignments, they get seat assignments, now they refuse to sit in their assigned seat. A lot of crews aren't pleased with the seat/car assignment.

I'm reminded of an old trip to San Jose by air, using Southwest. They also use a "sit anywhere, but get there first" arrangement. I had a delayed flight out connecting in Austin, with 30 minutes to get from one plane to another. I got there with time to spare on the first boarding pass, but ended up being squished by two rather overflowing ladies taking the remaining three seats and then some.

My point here is that assigned seating does good only if you're paired with someone. Otherwise it is still a gamble on if you'll need a crowbar to be extracted from the bulkhead.

At least I got a few good stories out of the flight...

Acela150 wrote: ↑Tue Jan 23, 2024 8:52 pm

Jeff Smith wrote: ↑Sun Jan 21, 2024 8:41 am Curious, and this may have been answered upthread: will seat selection at purchase be available on the Airos? That’s a big drawback on the Regional.

It's not helpful to the employees who use Regional and Keystone trains to either Deadhead or commute to work. It would almost force them to get a ticket instead of showing their badge. Which is a huge benefit of being an Amtrak employee.

Not to mention that passengers asked for seat assignments, they get seat assignments, now they refuse to sit in their assigned seat. A lot of crews aren't pleased with the seat/car assignment.

Europe and the airlines have had it figured out for decades. No reason Amtrak can't do it.

I think with Europe it's a cultural thing, and aside from low-cost carriers, here it's expected with airlines. Most people take the train to avoid airline-style conditions. Personally I enjoy assigned seating in business and first classes, but I don't see a need for it in coach.

NaugyRR wrote: ↑Fri Jan 26, 2024 9:56 am I think with Europe it's a cultural thing, and aside from low-cost carriers, here it's expected with airlines. Most people take the train to avoid airline-style conditions. Personally I enjoy assigned seating in business and first classes, but I don't see a need for it in coach.

I tend to agree. I liked being able to select a single seat in Brightline Premium, which I just rode this weekend! I rode the entire length of the route, and was quite impressed with the service. On the Venture seat comfort debate I weigh in on the side of the seats are fine for runs of 3 to maybe 5 or 6 hours. I found them to be comfortable, the cushions are indeed firm, seat width didn't seem to be an issue, but the limited recline could be for, say, a Newport News to Boston trip or an Adirondack trip to Montreal!

Given that Amtrak crew attempt to tell you your seat when you board (at least on the Carolinian and Silver Star), they are assigning seats in coach when you board, but doing it in the slowest and most inaccurate way possible.

Two months ago, the car attendant told me to use a specific seat, only for me to find that it was occupied by a passenger who boarded at an earlier station and had the little paper tag indicating the conductor had accepted that passenger at that seat to the end of the line (7 stations after I got off). Worse, to make that process work, they were only boarding passengers at one coach instead of all three coaches. It seems that train could of boarded in 1/3-1/2 the time if passengers knew the seating assignments ahead of time.

RandallW wrote: ↑Mon Feb 05, 2024 6:38 am Given that Amtrak crew attempt to tell you your seat when you board (at least on the Carolinian and Silver Star), they are assigning seats in coach when you board, but doing it in the slowest and most inaccurate way possible.

Two months ago, the car attendant told me to use a specific seat, only for me to find that it was occupied by a passenger who boarded at an earlier station and had the little paper tag indicating the conductor had accepted that passenger at that seat to the end of the line (7 stations after I got off). Worse, to make that process work, they were only boarding passengers at one coach instead of all three coaches. It seems that train could of boarded in 1/3-1/2 the time if passengers knew the seating assignments ahead of time.

I might agree with you for the Carolinian, but not the Silver Star or Silver Meteor. Why? because the Silver trains run over night and the conductors wish to sit people in specific cars according to when they will get off. Usually assigning passengers that get on or off the train at night in one particular car so as to not disturb the passengers who are trying to sleep. And with some two overnight trains, that's even more important.
There are usually just a few large cities on the Western trains where there are long lines of boarding passengers, and at those stops the trains are usually scheduled 10 minutes, if not more, to work the lines. The delay is built right into the schedule. Even if all the passengers boarded the train in less than 1 minute, the train will still wait until scheduled time of departure to leave.

Could Amtrak potentially do what is done with the Shinkansen in Japan for seat reservations? They could have some cars on the train be reserved seating, while others are non-reserved, and they could charge a small fee for reserving a seat in those certain cars. Seems like an easy way for a small upsell, with the peace of mind for anyone who doesn't like to run from the waiting room to the track to get the seat they want.

I think that's a good idea, but unsure of how it would work in practice. What happens to unsold seat reservations in those coaches with reserved seating? How are passengers with unreserved seating to tell which seats are reserved or not?

On the DB ICE trains I've been on, each seat has an electronic display above it showing if it is open or reserved, and at which station it becomes reserved. I don't know if there is some cut off after which reserved seats can't be purchased to ensure a seat open at the start of the journey doesn't become reserved while occupied.

This photo is from a British train showing the concept:

Exactly. Even if Siemens can't put those small screens in (for whatever reason), what is done in Japan iirc is that you may sit in the seat, but if someone with a reservation comes in, then you have to leave that seat. Also, I don't think it would be too difficult to indicate reserved vs. non-reserved cars. You could use one of the screens inside, indicate on the platform, or even just make an announcement.

Interesting in RandallW's example above that the same seat can be reserved for two separate segments; e.g. Boston-New Haven and Stamford-Baltimore. That wheel has already been invented.

There is another angle to this in Germany and Austria (and possibly elsewhere in Western Europe) that the reservation applies only to the first 15 minutes after leaving the boarding station; from then on it's up to the passenger to either sit in the seat or show that it's been claimed by leaving a coat or something on it if they temporarily leave it. (In Germany it is or was specifically stated in the timetable that newspapers, magazines, etc., do not suffice.) So if there's a no-show the seat is officially available. Now, it is of course possible to automatically extinguish the reserved-seat display 15 minutes after departure from that station, and maybe that's how they do it today; in the days of paper slips in a bracket over the seat the conductor would go through the train 15 minutes after departure from each station and remove the reservation slips with that origin station whether the seat was occupied or not.

lol I cannot imagine any of this working culturally in America.

I mean, I had some nut tell me I couldn't sit next to him because I was wearing a mask on a regional train a few months ago. People can't be bothered to respect Quiet Car rules half the time. You want them paying attention to little lights and displays above a seat? Good luck.

lensovet wrote: ↑Thu Feb 08, 2024 6:11 pm lol I cannot imagine any of this working culturally in America.

I mean, I had some nut tell me I couldn't sit next to him because I was wearing a mask on a regional train a few months ago. People can't be bothered to respect Quiet Car rules half the time. You want them paying attention to little lights and displays above a seat? Good luck.

America could use a culture change, TBH, but that's a discussion for another forum site.

Still, it can be useful on other places. For instance, when I was coming home on the Capitol Limited, I was across a person who really didn't need a sleeper but more of a private seat down from Chicago to ether South Bend or Elkhart. I couldn't blame her as she was a bit on the elderly side. I didn't bother her, and the best room attendant I've seen (so far, only two and he was great) was kind to help her off at her station.

I never saw anyone else fill that sleeper berth for the rest of the trip.