jstolberg wrote:Sorry, this article is a month old, but the trains are even further behind schedule.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/stor ... =157752906
The new equipment isn't expected to enter service until next spring…up to six months later than originally planned. Shelley Snow of the Oregon Department of Transportation says there have been a number of delays at the Wisconsin factory where the trains are being manufactured.
The various new trains ordered and planned by OR and WA will do three things:
(1) provide additional service, but not until after Pt Defiance Bypass is built
(2) lengthen existing consists (through a complex juggling mechanism: basically one new trainset starts, and the previous 6 trainsets get turned into 5, IIRC)
(3) allow Oregon to stop paying Washington for the use of trainsets
Given that the new service is waiting on the Bypass, I doubt that either Oregon or Washington is in a huge hurry to get the new trainsets. It's not like Amtrak, which must be itching to get its Viewliners what with its fleet shortage.