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  • Discussion related to Amtrak also known as the National Railroad Passenger Corp.
Discussion related to Amtrak also known as the National Railroad Passenger Corp.

Moderators: GirlOnTheTrain, mtuandrew, Tadman

 #1571950  by west point
 
Thought all modules were provided by a 3rd party vendor ? That was the problem that caused all the delays as the dimensions of the modules were incorrect.

As far as leaving the sleeper connected to the motor that has been done for the Palmetto pre C-19. As of now ??? CAT allows motor and 2 cars to be switched.
 #1571974  by jp1822
 
west point wrote: Thu May 20, 2021 8:04 pm jp1822: here is a quote from your post
Again, hopefully the Silver Meteor and Silver Star get outfitted with Viewliner II’s:

" - 3 sleepers per Meteor trainset, 4 train sets required for daily service = 12 Viewliner IIs assigned
- 2 sleepers per Star trainset, 4 train sets required for daily service = 8 Viewliner IIs assigned

That’s 20 Viewliner IIs being put into Florida based service, where either the remaining 5 Viewliner IIs can be rotated in for service, or they use the displaced VIewliner 1s."

You have completely neglected the necessary rotating of V-1s to MIA . Naturally I do no pretend to know Amtrak plans for the V-s and V-2s but one possibility would be 2 - V1s and 2 V-2s onMeteor and 1 each V-1 and V-2 on the star.
Sorry, I am confused.....So if the a Viewliner I’s A/C or HVAC system fails while on the Crescent and it needs to get to Miami for repair......you want to send it “in line” as a revenue generating car sold to passengers so it can get to Miami for maintenance rotation? There are 20 Viewliner II’s already delivered. There are 50 Viewliner Is available. Amtrak at this point can assign the Viewliner IIs (so as to make for uniform consists of the Meteor and Star, and just dead-head the Viewliner Is as needed for their maintenance in Hialeah (Miami). Even if the Viewliner Is are destined for heavy overhaul, Amtrak would likely do 3 to 4 Viewliner 1s at a time. They’d still have enough cars to fit assignments and just dead head them as needed to/from Florida.
 #1571977  by David Benton
 
west point wrote: Fri May 21, 2021 11:45 pm Thought all modules were provided by a 3rd party vendor ? That was the problem that caused all the delays as the dimensions of the modules were incorrect.

As far as leaving the sleeper connected to the motor that has been done for the Palmetto pre C-19. As of now ??? CAT allows motor and 2 cars to be switched.
That's my recollection, and fitted at Delaware shops?. But that was nearly a decade ago.
 #1572023  by Matt Johnson
 
jp1822 wrote: Sat May 22, 2021 12:33 pm
There are 50 Viewliner Is available.
49 according to the numbers Amtrak has published recently. I think they lost one in the Silver Star crash though I do not know if it is permanently stricken from the roster or is awaiting repair. There was no obvious structural deformation but who knows.
 #1572093  by Literalman
 
I would be more open to riding the Night Owl sleeper if it were open south of Washington. Changing cars at Washington is not a hardship, but it's inconvenient and annoying, especially if you know that the sleeper is in the train but closed.
 #1572096  by Arborwayfan
 
Do we know for sure why the sleeper is closed beyond south of DC? Is it all or partly because the train is state subsidized south of DC and Amtrak won't or isn't allowed to have the sleeper open without a state subsidy, as electricron suggests? Or is it partly because of where there's a crew base at DC, vs. having to have the attendant somehow get to/from Newport News? Would a DC-based attendant get paid something for travel time if they had to deadhead to/from Newport News?

I would have thought it wouldn't take many passengers riding south of DC, either on overnight trips to/from points north or as day room passengers inside Virginia at a modest price bump over business class, to pay the attendant and more.
 #1572099  by gokeefe
 
It's an interesting (and unfortunate) wrinkle that due to PRIIA the sleeper no longer runs south of Washington. Regardless it seems to be selling quite well.

Not entirely sure I ever thought of 66/67 as a state sponsored service. Odd.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

 #1573218  by BandA
 
Why do you need the attendant south of Washington? Tell the passengers there is no attendant to assist, but allow them to continue to occupy the space. The sleeper is cleaned at the final destination, right? The passenger can return the room keys to a conductor? Luggage - becomes the passenger's problem?
 #1573282  by Greg Moore
 
BandA wrote: Tue Jun 08, 2021 3:24 pm Why do you need the attendant south of Washington? Tell the passengers there is no attendant to assist, but allow them to continue to occupy the space. The sleeper is cleaned at the final destination, right? The passenger can return the room keys to a conductor? Luggage - becomes the passenger's problem?
Who do you think cleans and turns the car? It's the room attendant.
And what keys?
 #1573284  by STrRedWolf
 
BandA wrote: Tue Jun 08, 2021 3:24 pm Why do you need the attendant south of Washington? Tell the passengers there is no attendant to assist, but allow them to continue to occupy the space. The sleeper is cleaned at the final destination, right? The passenger can return the room keys to a conductor? Luggage - becomes the passenger's problem?
Heavy luggage, handicapped assistance, and monitoring of events in the sleeper car. Someone's gotta be there in case there are problems, especially in an accident.
 #1573285  by danib62
 
Is the conductor not capable? They’re certainly able to handle all those things for coach passengers. There’s unlikely to be more than a small handful of sleeper passengers staying on south of DC.
 #1573297  by Gilbert B Norman
 
Mr. Dani, existing Labor Agreements call for one Attendant for each Sleeping Car.

That one Attendant can handle specific number of additional rooms in an adjacent car, such as a T-Dorm, represents a concession the ASWU made under a Local Agreement. Let's not "break ground" over something such as operating an Attendant-free Sleeper WAS-NPN.

Why the Sleeper cannot be added/cut with the engine at WAS escapes me.
 #1573321  by bostontrainguy
 
Gilbert B Norman wrote: Wed Jun 09, 2021 11:30 am Mr. Dani, existing Labor Agreements call for one Attendant for each Sleeping Car.
What happened to Amtrak's plan to fix the call buttons and put attendants in the dorms since the attendant's room has been eliminated in the VIIs?
 #1573351  by west point
 
Gilbert B Norman wrote: Wed Jun 09, 2021 11:30 am
Why the Sleeper cannot be added/cut with the engine at WAS escapes me.
That is a puzzle as the last figures heard was that operating a car costs $4.00 / mile ? 187 miles X 2 (RT) x $4.00 == $1496 - ~6 miles to / from Ivy city = $24. So net savings are ~ $1472. Another advantage is if that car is at WASH if a sleeper for MIA , New Orleans, or CHI is bad ordered there would be a replacement available. Now the times give Ivy City maintenance time to fix the bad order. Other possible ways would be to drop a single sleeper on an inbound to NYP.

Yes a regular cut off sleeper on the 3 sleeper trains is also a possibility. Maybe Amtrak does not have any parking space until VRE gets its own parking yard there ? a
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