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I think he was referring to the Joplin derailment of the Builder (given he said two years) which involved Superliner windows flying out. The NTSB did not condemn the Superliners as they did the Talgos in the derailment you’re referring to. But they did recommend Amtrak develop a solution to improve ...

It's pretty well known that the P42s are not the most clean machines emissions wise at only T0. But with the ALC 42 units that are coming at tier 4 and reducing emissions around 90%, the "cleanliness" will be vastly improved.

That'd be a great marketing slogan. " Amtrak: When the federal government gets around to giving us a blank check to buy new equipment in possibly 20-30 years, we'll FINALLY be more efficient than your five seat gasoline fueled internal combustion engine SUV is, today. Until then, remember that...

There is more legroom, a footrest, curtains and more seat recline in the 2x2 business coaches than a standard Amfleet 1 coach. But yes the seat dimensions themselves are basically the same - not as nice as the club-dinettes. And on the Pennsylvanian it is kind of pointless because it has Amfleet 2 c...

Food service is a loss leader in a number of industries. Holding food service to a special profit standard as Mica did was flawed and just micromanagement. Such cuts don’t make sense if it causes a service to go further into the hole as a result of less patronage. If the goal is to discontinue passe...

https://fralongdistancerailstudy.org/wp ... imized.pdf?

That doesn't change the fact that there is all this money for tracks and trains and they can't figure out how to provide service as good as a McDonalds or Holiday Express. Maybe the states should spend they money to hire a service level manager. Why hasn't Gretchen Whitmer rode the train on a cash ...

Half hourly service to Greenfield? That seems a little excessive. The Connecticut river bridge in East Windsor did not make the cut this year but I’m sure it’ll be resubmitted for the next round. Electrification out to Worcester may make sense. The entire inland route would be costly and possibly no...

And therein really lies the farce that is Amtrak. They spent $350m to buy the Michigan line and untold millions on the Chargers and Venture cars. Money isn't really a problem at Amtrak. Management is. The Chargers and Venture cars were purchased by and are owned by the states of Illinois and Michig...

I'd add I'm not saying management doesn't matter. But so long as we don't do something to try to finally at least give Amtrak a 5-10 year runway mission and direction wise in order to try to insulate it from the cycle to cycle dysfunction the dysfunction will just continue in one way or another. I'...

These aren't things that budgets can fix. This is a thing that is fixed by making sure all employees understand what the procedures are and that they absolutely have to follow the procedure with regards to stations, boarding, seating, etc... The budget here is $1000 to print and laminate procedure ...

I'd add I'm not saying management doesn't matter. But so long as we don't do something to try to finally at least give Amtrak a 5-10 year runway mission and direction wise in order to try to insulate it from the cycle to cycle dysfunction the dysfunction will just continue in one way or another. I'm...

We argue often about budgets and such, but having a more involved management is not much of a budgetary issue. It's more of an engagement and leadership issue. I think budgets and political considerations though are actually a paramount consideration one shouldn't ignore or downplay. I think just c...

If they’ve indeed gone bilevel as stated I suspect that the Auto Train is one of the primary reasons. The Auto Train operation is certainly the most compelling argument for bilevel cars. On the previous post about HEP I’d concur that description of a “port and starboard” (don’t you mean engineers si...

For those coming from outside the local area on the zephyr or arriving on a day the WPE doesn’t run I believe they run a shuttle bus from Fraser Amtrak daily during the ski season.