Siemens Venture cars in revenue service on Lincoln services

Observed 380(6); the Ventures are "adventuring" elsewhere (bet you just sitting at Lumber St.) as the consist was Charger, AmCafe, two Horizons.

Last month, I had a previously unreported observation of Charger, two Superliners. On that one, I guess Food & Beverage was "Panic Box" in one of them, and "Business Class" was the Lower Level of the other.

I rode 333 and 342 Chicago - Milwaukee and back 9/14, and got a full Siemens Consist heading north (timetable west?). With a friendly conversation with a car attendant, I got a Venture car to myself. Some notes:
The carbody, with the big windows and square profile, is a decided improvement over an Amfleet. Very airy. The wider aisle is very noticeable. The narrower seat is noticeable, but not negatively so. The armrest makes the whole package superior. The cushion is firm, but a firm cushion, at first glance, is sometimes better that a softer one as the hours build up. I say this as a end to end 42/43 rider many times. On my hour and a half, it was fine.

That is the good part. These are the issues that stuck out IN MY FIRST RIDE within 20 minutes. I'm a inside sales guy. I talk on the phone for a living and glue tiny pieces of plastic together to make foot long rail cars as a hobby. That this stuff gets missed by professional rail car constructors amazes me.
The net on the back of the seat, has no attachment at its bottom in between the ends of the net, so the safety cards fall out onto the floor.
The tray tables are held in the upright position by friction in the pivots. NO latch. I cant wait to see what ugly solution the mechanical compartment comes up with to remedy this when they inevitably wear out, like the thing they machined to hold Viewliner roomette doors shut.
Rolls of toilet paper merrily rolling to and fro across the floor because they are stored haphazardly on top of the fire extinguisher box. Is there not a place for this in the car? At least, screw a basket on top of the extinguisher box to hold them. Or this could be the storage is stuffed full and this is overflow, or this is easier than putting them in the proper storage? Who knows, it looks bush league in a 3.6 million dollar car.
The fancy glass paneled luggage racks rattled like a 20 year old transit bus going 80 through downtown. Same for window shades not fully retracted.
The floor to ceiling glass door between the vestibule and the compartment was already filthy. I would overlay an opaque film from the floor, four feet up, immediately. This may just happen organically.
My car hunted consistently at speed. It was right in the middle of the consist.

Other than the usual asinine Chicago boarding procedure, and the two trainman blocking both tables in the fullest car, An Amtrak tradition, It was a nice ride.

jonmurr wrote: ↑Tue Oct 10, 2023 1:29 pm Rolls of toilet paper merrily rolling to and fro across the floor because they are stored haphazardly on top of the fire extinguisher box. Is there not a place for this in the car? At least, screw a basket on top of the extinguisher box to hold them. Or this could be the storage is stuffed full and this is overflow, or this is easier than putting them in the proper storage? Who knows, it looks bush league in a 3.6 million dollar car.
The fancy glass paneled luggage racks rattled like a 20 year old transit bus going 80 through downtown. Same for window shades not fully retracted.
The floor to ceiling glass door between the vestibule and the compartment was already filthy. I would overlay an opaque film from the floor, four feet up, immediately. This may just happen organically.
My car hunted consistently at speed. It was right in the middle of the consist.

Other than the usual asinine Chicago boarding procedure, and the two trainman blocking both tables in the fullest car, An Amtrak tradition, It was a nice ride.

All things that confirm management does not ride the trains nor care.

If they wanted to save money, they could fire every employee at CUS except the announcer and the janitor. It would absolutely be a better experience. The toilets would be clean and the passengers would know when and where to board.

Observed 380(9) today.

Charger. AmCafe, 3 Ventures.

Apparently a complete Ventrue trainset has entered revenue service on the San Joquians. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKGbMW2ccFw

Most interesting video you located and shared, Mr. RandallW.

Can anyone determine if a Food Service car is located within that set? If so, will those around here be far behind?

Finally, what right has Sumitomo got to splash their corporate name on those cars. They walked away from that contract when they couldn't perform.

As far as I can tell, those cars have the Siemens name / logo in light blue and CALDOT spelled out beside it and Sumitomo's name isn't on them.

Another video of a test train 3 weeks ago suggests that a dedicated food service car is not in that trainset.

Mr. RandallW, I'm certainly prepared to stand corrected that Sumitomo is not noted as a builder.

However, I find it interesting that the California sponsors will omit food service for a ride such as Oakland-Bakersfield (don't some of those originate in Sacramento?), which is more distant than any Midwest route.

I don't about the food service...

I did find that technically the Siemens Venture cars for California and Midwest were built by Siemens under contract to Sumitomo. If I'm reading the history right, Sumitomo got the original contract for these cars and subcontracted to Nippon Sharyo to build the car bodies; after the Nippon Sharyo cars failed a buff strength test, Sumitomo got approval to ditch Nippon Sharyo and subcontract with Siemens for an existing "off the shelf" design as Brightline had ordered cars from Siemens 3 years prior to Sumitomo's order (this possibly accounts for some of the differences between the California, Illinois, and Brightline cars). I can't find documentation one way or the other that indicates that Sumitomo or Nippon Sharyo was responsible for the car body design.

RandallW wrote: ↑Sat Dec 23, 2023 9:35 am ... If I'm reading the history right,...

You have the right idea. Sumitomo and Nippon Sharyo are somehow linked as a Japanese conglomerate and have built 1000+ railcars for our market over 40+ years. Nobody is saying nothing about how the Nippon Sharyo design failed. ZERO. They failed the test, closed the brand new plant, and disappeared into thin air. Meanwhile Sumitomo outsources the passenger cars to Siemens.

I am really curious what the heck happened at Nippon Sharyo. This wasn't a experimental operation, they built rock-solid railcars for Metra, South Shore, VRE, and Marc for years. You never hear anything about those cars being a problem, they just roll on. And yet there is a sudden catastrophe and they disappear into thin air???

Yep, quite an odd scenario as far as Nippon-Sharyo goes... It's almost like they took the first opportunity available to flee the country...

I suspect that Sumimoto didn't get anything material out of the deal with Siemens except for the proverbial saving of face. Walking away from the contract would be seen as failure, and IDOT/Caltrans couldn't really fire them without starting a new bidding process and delaying things even further.

Gilbert B Norman wrote: ↑Sat Dec 23, 2023 7:36 am Mr. RandallW, I'm certainly prepared to stand corrected that Sumitomo is not noted as a builder.

However, I find it interesting that the California sponsors will omit food service for a ride such as Oakland-Bakersfield (don't some of those originate in Sacramento?), which is more distant than any Midwest route.

Caltrans wants to start running with what it has because its existing cars are ancient. The vending cars are still under development, along with cab cars. See below:

Caltrans spokesman Edward Barrera said: “We hope to have two trainsets in service by the end of January,” The trains will include non-powered former F40 control units until Siemens begins delivering seven cab coaches. “The vending car is still in development,” he adds, so “interim food service is complimentary snack boxes and water.”