by Tadman
frequentflyer wrote:WOW! I thought you guys were joking but you are freaking serious about using a Gallery commuter car for a intercity rail car! If it was such a good idea would not progressive California/Illinois order them? Brightline would have ordered them instead of most likely paying more for Siemens cars (see mods,I used Brightline to keep this in thread theme).Yes, exactly. Amtrak ordered 100 horizon cars and what were they? Comet commuter cars with nice chairs and manual doors. That's it and that's all. They've run millions of miles with no problem once the door problems were solved 20 years ago.
Instead of ordering Horizon cars, Amtrak should have ordered more gallery cars, it would have been cheaper! The solution to Amtrak car problems were right across the coach yard in the Metra yard?
That's all we're suggesting here: buy gallery cars, use bigger seats. In the case of Milwaukee service, don't even buy bigger seats. Think about it: Milwaukee is 90 minutes. Commuter trains make many 2-3 hour runs - South Bend, Port Jervis, Montauk, Danbury, Cape Cod...
frequentflyer wrote:And yes, I remember the gallery cars on the Hiawatha and an Indiana train in the 80s. There is a reason why Amtrak did not keep them.Everybody keeps saying this, yet nobody can say what that reason is. Was there a design flaw? Rust? Bad hvac?
frequentflyer wrote:I guess one can gut a commuter car and install less and softer seats, but what does that get you that the Siemens order does not? A lower floor?Lower cost? Proven technology? Open assembly line? Higher capacity? I mean I feel like you win the lottery. More taste, less filling.
[/quote]There is a big difference between single level commuter car turned intercity and a cattle Gallery car turned intercity. The Metra traveler has no choice when traveling to Aurora, the Amtrak customer does.[/quote]
What is that big difference? You throw the term "Cattle" around to make this sound negative but don't actually city any facts, ridership surveys, reliability data, etc... just sounds like personal preference.
The new Acela: It's not Aveliable.