Turboliners (was: Interesting eyeball treatment at NYC Penn)

Last week, 5/21, I pulled into Penn station via New Jersey transit around noon and saw a Rohr Turboliner next to the Acela. Now that's a treat!

Does Amtrak use the turboliner for Emipre service, and if so, which trains?

the ex rohr's were rebuilt again by super steel schenectady.
there are 3 sets completed, but only two are used I believe

Used where? On the Hudson between NYP and Albany?

That is correct - NYP to Albany only. Not sure which trains they are in the schedule, but two are reportedly in service - doing two roundtrips a day.

Yep, they started the rebuild program in 1998 or 1999 I believe, and so far only two sets are in service. So, at the present rate, they should have the whole Turbo fleet back in action by the year 2015 or so!

I believe they stopped the rebuild program in 2003, so at that rate the whole turbo fleet shouldn't return to service.

chuchubob wrote:I believe they stopped the rebuild program in 2003, so at that rate the whole turbo fleet shouldn't return to service.

Haha...yeah, I suppose you're right! It's hard to find any official updates regarding the Turboliner program, but the most recent news was that David Gunn predicted four refurbished Turboliner sets would enter service. Four additional coaches would be taken from the remaining sets to add capacity to each of the active "RTL 3" trainsets.

The third completed Turboliner has apparently been collecting dust for months! I took this photo last October, and I don't know if the train has even moved since then! I hope it's not rusting away out there!

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=36514

Talk about a sad use of public funds. The Turbo-rebuild is a poster child for the anti-rail crowd. A program cannot be any more botched than this one. Hundreds of millions of dollars invested in equipment that is at once (i) unneeded, and (ii) largely unused.

Meanwhile . . .

The Turbo Schedule presently is:

#250-Albany-NYP
#251-NYP-Albany
#262-Albany-NYP
#267-NYP-Albany

Monday thru Friday. This schedule utilizes only ONE Turbo set. The equipment makes two round-trips per weekday.

One set in use?

Well, I wonder if this will FINALLY kill the US Dot's flirtation with the long dead turbine train idea. I hear the RTLs still don't get very good mileage after the rebuild either. Anyone hear how reliable they've been?

the project is NY-DOT not US-DOT

Saw #267 in Penn Station this evening - the 7:10 departure for Albany. Was a nice site to see. Hope they get more of them in service. Hope to take a ride on one soon. Question - are the doors automatic? I sware I saw the conductor pull a handle to close the door - like on the Superliners or Viewliners. Just curious. Is it 2-2 seating in coach and 1-2 seating in business class? What's the cafe car like?

Yes, you're correct about the doors. In fact, the last time I rode on it, the conductor made a comment about how "the doors on our brand new train are manual"! :D The seating is 2-2 in coach, and 2-1 in business class. The cafe car is pretty much the same as an Amfleet cafe with coach seating in it (rather than dinette tables).

Nasadowsk wrote:One set in use?

Well, one set on any given day. Two sets are in the rotation. I've ridden on both of them.

Maybe they should have gotten SNCF to do the rebuild. Their RTGs lasted for close to forty years.