Siemens to manufacture 83 Airo Intercity Trainsets for Amtrak: Design, Delivery, Acceptance

Lest we forget, these relics were active on Amtrak from A-Day until sometime during '76, as the first A-I revenue assignment was during October '75.

Even after the first of these "trainsets" make the scene, probably best case during '24 (cut through whatever "bovine plop" the Minister of Information puts out), so expect to see (and ride) 50yo Amfleets still in revenue service.

Safe to say the already purchased Siemens cars are effectively replacing some of the Amfleets as well as the Horizons, correct?

njtmnrrbuff wrote: ↑Thu Apr 22, 2021 8:23 pm Hopefully Amtrak will order enough replacement coaches that there will be enough to provide extra capacity for the Thanksgiving rush hour, rather than having to used leased equipment from MARC. Hopefully, there will be enough cars to add a third car on all of the 400 series shuttle trains that run up and down the Springfield Line.

It will never be enough. The population will keep growing. As long as they can run as many 10-car trains as possible, they'll rent as many as they can... and possibly some HHP-8's.

Gilbert B Norman wrote:I think it presently ill-advised to consider this major procurement, need notwithstanding, a done deal.

This is a previously funded acquisition. Amtrak's shortfalls have already been addressed through the recently passed stimulus legislation. They were probably holding off until their fiscal position had been assured.

While I can't speak to past practice in the early decades it is my strong sense that Amtrak follows normal federal procurement rules. In short when they announce an award it's a done deal.

Since I don't partake a chilled bottle of Martinelli's "Champagne Cider" will do just fine.



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I might join you in a bottle of Martinelli's at a distance. RR.net non-wine caucus!

Arborwayfan wrote: ↑Sat Apr 24, 2021 1:17 pm Football weekends might also bring in extra passengers, people going down to stay with their friends in the college town; Amtrak might even go back to allowing football charters, which I remember seeing parked on a siding near the Illinois stadium in the late 90s.

Prof. Martens, you "should have seen 'em back in my day".

I can recall two trains parked by the Power Plant near Assembly Hall (whoops State Farm in newspeak) which arrived in time for the game (remember season '64, Illinois went to the Rose Bowl) and left shortly thereafter (I-57 was only "bits and pieces" back then).

But the equipment? well let's just leave it with the description a frat brother of mine once had for such: "this looks like something out of Dr. Zhivago")

I saw them on the same siding by the power plant, but they were a lovely IC business train and a train of Amfleets or Horizons (don't remember which); nothing remotely Dr. Zhivago. The business train had a step box down on a little asphalt sidewalk. I actually only saw them once, but I assume that was because I tried to keep away from that part of campus on game days because I don't like the crowds-and-traffic combo.

But it was still Assembly Hall when I was there. Funny name for something obviously made out of an alien space ship...

It will always be Assembly Hall for those of us of a certain age....

frequentflyer wrote: ↑Thu Apr 22, 2021 9:59 am When did Siemens start marketing this as "Venture" trainsets? Viaggio must too hard for Americans to pronounce. And are we saying a Venture consist being pulled by a new type of locomotive not unveiled yet? One that can run under the wire and not down to Richmond.

If you're marketing to *North* America, not just the United States, it probably matters that "Viaggio" would be pronounced differently in French, English and Spanish. I don't think double-G is common in either French or Spanish, and a Spanish-speaker would probably wind up pronouncing it as vee-AH-yo. Which in turn is very similar to llello (pron. YAH-yo), the Latin American slang term for cocaine.

Venture, on the other hand, would be pronounced roughly the same in all three languages.

STrRedWolf wrote: ↑Mon Apr 26, 2021 10:57 am We know how long these Siemens trainsets are, right?

I don't think we actually know. 7 seems to get throw around a lot here. However, looking through this thread and the earlier Amfleet replacement thread I have not found anything to actually support that. I did some of my own speculation earlier in the thread that it's 6. But until the contract is actually signed, the best place for that information probably is the original RFP. Unfortunately I have not located a copy of that online.

It's a good point about compatibility. I hadn't thought that through; I guess I just assumed Siemens would be making sets of locomotive-hauled coaches with the same trainline, air, HEP, coupler, and diaphragm standards as the existing locomotives and cars, so that it would be easy to just couple an extra coach or two on where and whenever needed.

But, in any case, doesn't it seem like the Horizons and the Amfleet II's will be around a while longer? Might it make sense to assign five, ten, or a couple dozen Amfleet I's to wherever those cars are still operating? Examples:

If the Illinois trains on CN tracks are still going to use Horizons and still have to lug around extra cars for axle count, why not assign five or ten Amfleet I's for axle count instead of using old baggage cars, spare cafe cars, and whatever else comes to hand? Then it would be simple to open up an extra coach when there are a lot of passengers on those trains, and potentially possible to swap in a baggage car or whatever if one of the coaches is needed for a surge on some other route.

The eastern Long Distance trains that apparently will have Amfleet II for a while yet could get an Amfleet I for local passengers at peak times. (But it's completely possible that the economics just don't work out.)

My WAG (based on this thread and reading elsewhere) is they are at probably 2 car semi-permanently coupled cars, but will probably be delivered in sets, either 6, or 8.
So probably something like
Business class car
1/2-Cafe car/coach
2 coach cars
1 coach/1 cab

So you'll most likely see these in 4, 6, 8 configurations when used.
And most likely will be compatible with existing equipment.

Mr. Wolf, the seven car set likely comes from the length of a Rail Jet set, which as I noted earlier is comprised of a Control/First Class, First, Food Svc/First, four Second Class.

The engine is detached; ACS-64 based upon such.

Ridden 'em on my six journeys over there ('14-'19; just maybe again this August now that the EU will let you in if VAXED) - anywhere from Salzburg to Graz, Vienna, St Anton/Arlberg, and Munich.

If these are like the state cars, they'll have AAR couplers, not Eurostyle. Maybe some articulated pairs, but I'd be surprised.

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Mod Note: Did some splicing and dicing to split the surge fleet talks from here and a split topic out to a new thread.