Corona virus impacts on Amtrak

It seems worth noting that NYG (Grand Central) with its wide ramps down to the track platforms on the upper level seems like the most obvious option for this type of operation from NYC to upstate. Penn Station would be basically impossible and require a lot of elevator rides to get gurneys down to the platforms.

gokeefe wrote: ↑Sun Apr 05, 2020 2:53 pm

east point wrote: ↑Sun Apr 05, 2020 4:38 amHow can baggage cars be used when there is no HVAC installed ? Is there even any provision for units to be installed in these cars ?

My question as well. But I thought Tadman's point with regards to doors was quite prescient. Again, to the best of my knowledge there are not any HVAC systems on the baggage cars. If only for the sake of discussion here it would be nice to know for sure.

Are you sure there's no HVAC system on the V2 baggage cars? Many many years ago Amtrak discontinued the transport of animals after several either froze to death or expired due to heat exhaustion. Due to complaints from people wanting to take their pets with them on Amtrak trains congress got involved and ordered Amtrak to once again accept animals for transport on it's trains. While I'm not sure if any of the heritage baggage cars got upgraded it's quite possible the V2 baggage cars have HVAC. Of course it's also possible that Amtrak allows people to bring pets into coaches and sleeping cars but that would be a safety and health hazard. Has anyone seen a dog or cat in a kennel cab in either coach or sleeper?

I doubt there are very many passengers joyriding Amtrak these days. You could reduce frequencies or even bustitute (or replace with taxi cabs), but I think getting these people around in a crisis is a critical need. Conductors should get proper masks & some gloves, with passengers encouraged to wear at least improvised PPE. Work rules if any exist on who is allowed to clean surfaces should be relaxed

In India, and in Wuhan, public transportation was quickly discontinued & it made things much much worse. Better to restrict behavior.

When will it get better? When there are enough tests and contact tracing available, when there are enough beds & ventilators and masks for everyone who needs one.

Speaking of cleaning, I wiped down hard surfaces in my sleeping car roomette recently. All 4 wipes ended up nearly black. So much for Amtrak doing deep cleaning.

I've been off the road for three weeks, but before that, I started carrying wipes in my suitcase as well. I haven't tried to bring an entire plastic can of wipes on a plane, but I'll take 20 and ziplock them, seems to go through security of TSA and brightline quite well. I've been wiping down all the surfaces as well as touch-points - door knobs, light switch, faucets, keyboards. I also immediately bag up the tv remote in my hotel rooms.

Amtrak Guest Rewards emailed out their plans:

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I believe V-II baggage cars have heat and ventilation, as rrspatch said and for those reasons. They’d be good as mobile hospital cars too, preferably attached to ground power and with a HEPA-filtered airlock.

mtuandrew wrote: ↑Mon Apr 06, 2020 4:10 pmThey’d be good as mobile hospital cars too, preferably attached to ground power and with a HEPA-filtered airlock.

I think the implied use was for transport. As stationary units they would not be ideal at all given the confined space and minimal distancing available between patients along with closed air supply.

Regardless it appears at this time that the general approach is going to be localized hospitalization with overflow field hospitals built as necessary.

At least we can say that had Amtrak been called upon to transport it seems likely that there were solutions available using the existing fleet.

gokeefe wrote: ↑Mon Apr 06, 2020 5:07 pm I think the implied use was for transport. As stationary units they would not be ideal at all given the confined space and minimal distancing available between patients along with closed air supply.

That seems perfect for COVID wards - not the confined space necessarily, but the HVAC system and relatively easy decontamination. The “ward” (a tent within the car, with a multi-stage decontamination unit) would be kept under negative pressure relative to the car, meaning that virus-laden air would tend to stay in the containment, with a HEPA-filtered outflow into the car. The car itself would then be kept under negative pressure relative to the outside world, and parked on a side track some distance away from other people. I figure that five V-IIs could house ten patients apiece? A mobile fifty-bed COVID hospital would be a huge help.

Amtrak could also supply Viewliner sleepers and diners to go with the train, so COVID-team medical staff would have somewhere to stay during the outbreak without needing to go outside too often. More so than hotels, the cars could be relatively easily decontaminated should a staff member catch the illness.

This may be the best, highest use of Amtrak out there, even if it can only make two or three trains available for hospital duty. Good idea, folks.

Maybe Transporting non covid patients out of places like New York. Elderly , non critical patients , transported in an enviroment they would find agreeable . Seating gives more spacing than plane , bus .

So is Amtrak running an occasional train to and from Harrisburg to keep the system operational on the Keystone Line? SEPTA cut back further to Malvern so nothing other than freight is running west of Frazer yard and I presume nothing is running on the inside tracks east of Paoli.

rcthompson04 wrote: ↑Thu Apr 09, 2020 11:59 am So is Amtrak running an occasional train to and from Harrisburg to keep the system operational on the Keystone Line? SEPTA cut back further to Malvern so nothing other than freight is running west of Frazer yard and I presume nothing is running on the inside tracks east of Paoli.

No, Amtrak stopped service on the Keystone and Pennsylvanian a few weeks ago at the request of the state of PA. They are state-supported, after all.

rcthompson04 wrote: ↑Thu Apr 09, 2020 11:59 am So is Amtrak running an occasional train to and from Harrisburg to keep the system operational on the Keystone Line? SEPTA cut back further to Malvern so nothing other than freight is running west of Frazer yard and I presume nothing is running on the inside tracks east of Paoli.

One round trip equipment move per day to scrape the rust of the rails and whatever's equivalent for the catenary. Plus the occasional NS local freight.

The Crescent has been running with one sleeper and one baggage-dorm. There have been maybe 2 or 3 occupied rooms in the sleeper. Why not just go ahead and take the sleeper offline so that it can be refurbished (it’s looking pretty ragged inside) and sell rooms in the baggage-diem? They look pretty nice.

SouthernRailway wrote: ↑Sat Apr 11, 2020 5:58 am The Crescent has been running with one sleeper and one baggage-dorm. There have been maybe 2 or 3 occupied rooms in the sleeper. Why not just go ahead and take the sleeper offline so that it can be refurbished (it’s looking pretty ragged inside) and sell rooms in the baggage-diem? They look pretty nice.

I would not be surprised if there's FRA regulations against using crew dorms as passenger sleepers...

...or that the dorms are already full with crew.