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

What's the point of paying someone an inordinate amount of money to come up with a flashy name? Why not just call it AB-1, or some such. The traveling public isn't going to care; as far as they're concerned it's Amtrak.

You indeed have a point, Mr. Charles River, but it seems to be a tradition with Amtrak that their fleets of cars all have to be named.

Acela and Airo are what you'd expect from consultants that feed at the "One Mass Trough".

Funny how commercial, but not military, aircraft builders have avoided fleet names. I guess Lockheed Martin, when they built such, had names (Lodestar, Constellation, Electra, Tri-Star), but Airbus has totally avoided such. Boeing, and their acquired Douglas, had avoided such until it was time for the 787. That they christened the Dreamliner, but which to me, having flown overseas on such now twice, are the "Nightmareliner".

charlesriverbranch wrote: ↑Tue Jan 10, 2023 9:42 am What's the point of paying someone an inordinate amount of money to come up with a flashy name? Why not just call it AB-1, or some such. The traveling public isn't going to care; as far as they're concerned it's Amtrak.

Marketing is a weird beast.

We have to think about the traveling public, which isn't as enthusiastic about trains as us on the forum -- after the novelty wears off, most will say "meh, it's a train, it gets me where I want to go."

Add into the mix folks who are long train riders and haven't gotten word of the changes (yes, there are some). Folks who don't like sudden changes. You got to get the word out, and it has to be memorable. You have to generate hype.

Nobody (except us, of course) is going to want to hear that the ICT's are existing platforms and there's going to be different engines depending on where you are and yada yada yada. They want to know what's new and how it's going to affect them. It can't be the same-old-same-old. It has to be presented as new, innovative, fresh, modern, more capable... and not boring.

In other words, you want the layman to say "Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaam! I'd ride an Airo train everywhere I can!"

Airo is a little bit creative in that they are going to be deployed in markets where Amtrak wants to steal market share back from the airlines.

Everybody I know who has flown the 787 loves it. The window dimming being done by the crew has nothing to do with the aircraft itself, and the engineers and accountants equally love it because of its reliability and fuel economy. There's a reason nobody has 747s, MD11s, and A340s anymore. The A380 was largely a political purchase aside from Emirates or the airlines that wanted to be like Emirates. Five years from now, it too will be largely gone from the global skies.

Getting back to railroads, naming had been a thing since the 1950s.

Fairbanks Morse they had their C-Liners, Baby Trainmasters, Trainmasters, and Erie Builts, so in a way they also named their locomotives from 1950 until they're demise....

Certainly, everybody had their own name for dome cars.

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Airotrain should be fine, no one is going to recall the Star wars looking thing,
Or the Bus on tracks from GM.

charlesriverbranch wrote: ↑Tue Jan 10, 2023 9:42 am What's the point of paying someone an inordinate amount of money to come up with a flashy name? Why not just call it AB-1, or some such. The traveling public isn't going to care; as far as they're concerned it's Amtrak.

Well sometimes things do stick. I always find it funny when I am watching a discussion on TV and someone mentions the "Acela Corridor" to define the Northeast population centers. That one is now in the public vernacular.

Something that came across some Telegram chats: Will the Airo cars have spaces for bikes? I know MARC adapted their MARC IV's and also have bike cars from MARC IIA's. Amtrak was involved with the bike car design that MARC undertook, and was impressed at the bike lock mechanism MARC came up with.

I recall reading somewhere that Airo trains will be permanently coupled sets with a cab car on one end. Does that mean no more private cars on Amtrak once the current fleet is replaced?

charlesriverbranch wrote: ↑Wed Jan 18, 2023 4:59 pm I recall reading somewhere that Airo trains will be permanently coupled sets with a cab car on one end. Does that mean no more private cars on Amtrak once the current fleet is replaced?

I don't think we can answer your question--it's entirely up to Amtrak's management, but renderings of the Airo trainsets suggest this new equipment does not appear to preclude that.

charlesriverbranch wrote: ↑Wed Jan 18, 2023 4:59 pm I recall reading somewhere that Airo trains will be permanently coupled sets with a cab car on one end. Does that mean no more private cars on Amtrak once the current fleet is replaced?

That's only Airo trains, aka day-trip and corridor trains. Stuff that makes push-pull operation useful. Granted, they can still attach some private cars, but you'll have to stay in said cars.

Long distance trains will still be Superliner/Viewliner sets, and private cars will be able to be hauled on those. These will be the most likely option outside of paying for a dedicated consist move.

eolesen wrote: ↑Tue Jan 10, 2023 12:25 pm Everybody I know who has flown the 787 loves it. The window dimming being done by the crew has nothing to do with the aircraft itself...

Not I Mr. Olesen; and I've had two round trips overseas on such - and a third planned.

That the flight crew decides if and when you may look out the window intrudes on my favorite in-flight pastime; flightseeing. Flying overseas Eastward, I think of Lindbergh and that somehow he survived what would be called a "suicide mission". Flying over the muskeg of Northern Canada, would have he ever been found? Never mind when there was Blue stuff down below. And come morning, way in the distance ahead, a first view of Ireland. Westward, a view of places - Iceland then Greenland; places where I never expect to set foot.

Now to close this rail related; OBB presently has a good shot at their site showing the running gear of a RailJet - the Airo apparently being its "clone" (don't count on it though; too many " who's on first meetings" ahead at One Mass). The equipment is not articulated, so at best it is "semi-permanently" coupled.

www.oebb.at

I hope that there is provision that the cars can be made individual if Amtrak in the future finds it is betteer to operate with separate cars than dedicated train sets. Of course it might be able to connect two train sets together.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wx5eyWCoMXA is a presentation about the Airo train sets made to the "Virginians for High Speed Rail" advocacy group.

scratchyX1 wrote: ↑Tue Jan 10, 2023 1:19 pm Airotrain should be fine, no one is going to recall the Star wars looking thing,
Or the Bus on tracks from GM.

Mr. Scratchy, first Aerotrain vice Airotrain.

In addition to the cars being modeled from a GM bus known as the Highway Traveler, the engine was simply an SW-1200 dolled up with "that design".

I can recall reading a Popular Mechanics describing the train. The article noted how GM insisted to use "existing parts to the extent possible".

Well; look what you got for it; those that were tried out in intercity service - RI, UP, PRR - quickly flopped; those surviving all ended up on "the 8:15".

RandallW wrote: ↑Thu Feb 16, 2023 9:09 pm https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wx5eyWCoMXA is a presentation about the Airo train sets made to the "Virginians for High Speed Rail" advocacy group.

Going through this video now, doing some notes...

• Nice. Amtrak internal slides on an public presentation. Ooops!
• 70 ACS-64's delivered, 8 years into 15 year Long Term Service Agreement (LTSA) with "performance incentives for reliability."
• 22 ALC-42's out of 125 delivered, 75 by 2025, 50 more by 2029. 20 year LTSA with "aggressive performance requirements"
• 73 AIRO units ordered, 10 more on short-term deferral, options to get up to 130. 23-year LTSA including mid-life and component overhauls.
• LTSAs includes on-site tech support, with experts embedded at operations desks 24/7, material support, with performance metrics measured. (IE those guys who don't know what they were doing? They got noticed by upper management at Siemens)
• Siemens has 8 plants: Alpharetta, GA; Marion and Louisville, KY; New Castle, DE; McClean Park and Sacramento, CA; Portland, OR; Pittsburg, PA.
• Acela I's more efficient to operate and maintain in Amtrak's opinion.
• Amtrak wants to kill engine changes, speed turn/trip times, ease maintenance, standardize consists, have redundant propulsion, improved accessibility and movement, and reduced emissions/fuel use.
• Cascades service to get Airo's first by 2026 with 8 D-config trainsets. (All diesel)
• Regional (all but 66/67 Night Owl) next with 32 B-2's between 2026-2029. (Longer diesel w/electric booster)
• Keystone/Veromonter/Pennsylvanian/Carolinian/Palmetto/Downeaster/Night Owl with 26 B-1's 2029-2030. (Shorter diesel w/electric booster)
• Empire Service/Ethan Allen Express/Maple Leaf/Adirondack with 17 C's 2023-2031. (Diesel w/battery booster for getting into NY Penn)

• Wheelchair lifts built into A-end of passenger cars.
• Maintenance facilities are upgrading to Acela level and using a slot based maintenance scheduling system of four slots
• Service and cleaning daily (3.5 hours max), pit inspections during this time every 5 days.
• Full maintenance and inspection every 10-14 days for 8 hours (inspection/maintenance/repairs)
• Heavy Maintenance for 8+ hour repair work.
• Service & Cleaning at most endpoints (level 2 site), rest at (level 1): Sunnyside, Ivy City DC, Southampton Yard MD, Penn Coach Yard PA, Rensselaer Yard NY, Seattle Yard WA.
• Amtrak constrained on land space for repair facilities.

Hmmmm... this gives me an idea...

• Baggage cars are an option that is being explored by Amtrak.
• Bike racks are part of the consists from day 1.
• Amtrak does not have a firm estimate on battery effectiveness, very dependent on route.
• Amtrak is exploring caternary-battery setups (recharge along caternary "islands" and stations)
• Amtrak wants to replace all the Amfleets.
• Airo goes 125 mph max.
• Max length unknown, depends on trip times and area.
• Unknown actual emission rate.
• B-2 479 passengers (inc business) B1 317 (w/baggage) 335 (w/o)
• Better internet connectivity? Inside trains is fast, outside still using cellular providers via 2-3 providers.
• Amtrak encourages cell providers to put towers along tracks and roads.
• Some Amfleets will be kept for special services. Scrapping going from least-reliable to most.