Viewliner II Delivery/Production

Merged a couple topics in here. The search function does wonders.

News: http://www.timesunion.com/business/arti ... 470848.php

Brief, fair-use quote:

The first of 130 new passenger rail cars would begin entering service by 2013, Boardman said. The equipment would serve routes to Chicago and Montreal, among others.

That suggests the Adirondack service to Montreal would see new equipment, as would the Lake Shore Limited to Chicago. Both trains operate through the Capital Region.

The new cars are being built in Elmira under a $298 million contract that is supporting 350 jobs in the Southern Tier city, said Boardman, a former New York state transportation commissioner. The last of the cars will go into operation in 2016.

Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/business/arti ... z1jGoHVAdZ

The only thing I can see the Adirondack getting any Viewliner II cars is if they decide to put on a baggage car. It's a day train. (Unless the plan is to put on a diner too) There has been talk of the Vermonter being extended to Montreal. Perhaps the plan is also to ressurrect the Montrealer which would be the logical target for the new equipment (Baggage, diner, sleepers) Personally, I would much prefer a restored Montreal Limited WAS - NYP - MTL on the D&H.

The Adirondack could get Viewliner II coach cars if/when Amtrak goes ahead with the Amfleet II replacements. The V2 Fleet Strategy Plan released in February 2011, had the Amfleet II replacements entering service starting in 2015. But, from the summaries I've seen on Boardman's press conference, I get the impression that the order for Amfleet II replacements is going to get delayed or stretched out.

NY state and Quebec and I would guess US Customs & State Department have reportedly been in discussions on establishing a secure US & Canadian customs facility in Montreal for the Adirondack, so all the customs inspection work is done at the station prior to people boarding the train or getting off the train. This is similar to the arrangement recently agreed to for the Cascades train in Vancouver. Saves a lot of time and frequent delays at the border. Would make adding a Viewliner II baggage car not an issue for border and customs inspections.

A US Customs facility at the Montreal station would also clear a major hurdle for extending the Vermonter to Montreal. But the Vermonter would remain a day train. Vermont is not going to provide state subsidy funding for the train if it going to run through much of the state in the middle of the night. This is getting off topic for this thread however. Although given the distance the Vermonter covers, it should have some long distance coach cars for those going to VT from the WAS-NYP NEC stops. Viewliner II LD coach cars on the Vermonter someday perhaps?

Yes, but Boardman was talking about the CURRENT Viewliner order, not a possible future one.

afiggatt wrote: Viewliner II LD coach cars on the Vermonter someday perhaps?

I think they should start by adding a AII coach on the Vermonter starting tomorrow (my suspicion as to why the train doesn't get some is because it originates/terminates in WAS, which doesn't handle AII's on any of their trains). The Pennsylvanian and the Carolinian (and I believe the Adirondack) get some AII coaches, which I suspect is feasible operationally since they originate/terminate in NYP.

Given that the Pennsylvanian takes ~ 9H PGH-NYP and the Carolinian takes ~13H CLT-NYP, the Vermonter at ~13H WAS-SAB should certainly get a AII car or two. They could get the equipment by trading a AII coach on a LD train for an AI coach (that would be used for short-distance passengers)

nice article about CAF and Viewliners here:
ELMIRA HEIGHTS

Sometime during the first quarter of 2013, Amtrak — the interstate passenger train service company based in Washington, D.C. — expects to receive its first allotment of new stainless steel rail cars from CAF USA's sprawling manufacturing facility in Elmira Heights.

And when the new train cars are put into service, they will represent one more product that's made in Chemung County, but seen and used by people traveling by rail up and down the East Coast.

Over the next several years, CAF USA's welders, electricians and assemblers will crank out about seven rail cars for Amtrak each month, as the company works to complete a five-year $298 million contact signed in June 2011.
etc etc etc including pictures of a crew/bagage car under construction.

http://www.stargazette.com/article/2012 ... nav%7Chead

BTW, this month's Trains magazine confirms the rumor, no toilets in the new Viewliner II roomettes. Some will cheer, some will mourn.

DutchRailnut wrote:Over the next several years, CAF USA's welders, electricians and assemblers will crank out about seven rail cars for Amtrak each month, as the company works to complete a five-year $298 million contact signed in June 2011.
etc etc etc including pictures of a crew/bagage car under construction.

Looking at the photo of the car under construction, I think it could also be a diner car. The big hole in the side is the plug and there are windows on the other side. Hard to tell when the cars are designed to be reconfigurable shells. Good to see new equipment actually being built.

If the early build quality is satisfactory, hope we see a follow-on order sooner rather than later for Viewliner LD coach and café/diner cars to replace the Amfleet IIs. Exercising part of the order option for a few more baggage-dorms, diners, and sleeper cars would be a popular move here. Amtrak has a manufacturing facility up and running building single level equipment. Important to keep it going, even if Amtrak can't get direct funding to buy equipment from Congress. Interest rates on long term loans are as low as they will ever get.

There is a similar plug on other side if you look closely at last window next to rear workers head, this generation of Viewliners will not get modular units in interior, and should not have the plug for inserting such modules.


as for getting loans, you need to be qualified for a loan and Amtrak sure has to credible credit rating.

another picture inside the CAF facility:

I would assume these are the first stainless cars to be built (fabricated) entirely in the United States since Budd/TransitAmerica's last car out of Red Lion in April 1987.

Nope the Lincoln produced M-8 cars for CDOT/MNCR are, but they do make a respectable second place I think.

The Yonkers plant might have had stainless assembly capability at one point. There was a 1987 NY Times article on the PATH PA4s that mentioned full production on site. It stated the first five cars were prototypes shipped from Kobe, the next 33 were "kit cars" (shells from Kobe, assembly in Yonkers) and the final 57 cars of the 95 were built entirely in Yonkers.

No yonkers recieved all shells from Port Elizabeth NJ(import) from there they arrived by trailer at night.

In the latest edition of Trains (March 2012) News & Photos section the new Viewliner cars are described by RailPlan President Terry Soesbee as "the most modular that have ever been built". I don't know if that's a direct reference to sleeping cabin units or not but the article describes, "...entire modules of bedrooms being dropped into car shells."

Despite being a subscriber I have no ability to provide an online link to this article as it doesn't appear to be available digitally.

[EDIT]Here is a link to the "storefront" webpage for the March 2012 issue of trains.