(Un) Happy 49th - Amtrak

[SouthernRailway]

At least Amtrak could reconfigure its coaches to be compartments, like so many European trains had, at least in the 1980s. Airlines can't easily do that.

[bdawe]

I suspect we'd have a vaccine before that sort of program could be completed

[Tadman]

I think right now the news is reveling in their click-fueled fantasy world with articles about "THINGS WILL NEVER BE THE SAME" or "DOOM FOLLOWED BY GLOOM AND MORE DOOM FOR ____ ECONOMY BUSINESS MONEY THING".

Allow me to put a hard stop on that very quickly.

We heard that same malarkey after 9/11, and then after the great crash of 2009. We probably heard that after 1941, 1987, 1991, etc... on and on and on.

80000+ Deaths , nearly 1.5 mil cases , (many avoidable), is hardly fantasy world.

I did not claim this is a fantasy world. I claimed that the news overhypes things and I stand by that claim. Did you know we lose 30,000 motorists a year in the USA and 1.35m globally to things like speeding, texting, and drinking behind the wheel? Where is the outrage? Right now the news is saying Covid is worse than Vietnam and implying the blame lies with one person. Okay. Accepting that's true for a moment, there is a certain darling of the media that saw 240,000 automobile deaths in his eight years as president, most completely avoidable. Nobody said a word. Nothing. Zero. Nobody lifted a finger after the equivalent of three Covid epidemics, Chuck Todd and George Stephanopoulos and the View ladies are laughing, grinning, and counting their money.

We could literally prevent 1.35m deaths, starting tomorrow, by not texting/drinking/speeding in cars. Where's the outrage? Where's the shutdown? Where's the car/phone/beer ban?

"the fake news", lol . You do realize in most democracies, politicians can't get away with labeling any news media they don't like as fake news. That's "1984" happening right there.

Its' not about "like". It's about fact. The fact is the news has been doing dogs*** reporting and they have fully admitted to it. Just yesterday Chuck Todd had to admit to a "mistake" in doctoring a video of Attorney General Barr. CNN producer John Bonifield is on tape admitting that the russia think is "mostly bullsh**" (his words, not mine).

And your analysis of 1984 is one that would get a schoolkid a failing grade. 1984 was single-party rule and state-controlled media. We have neither.

[eolesen]

At least Amtrak could reconfigure its coaches to be compartments, like so many European trains had, at least in the 1980s. Airlines can't easily do that.

Retailers have proven it's fairly easy to install plexiglass partitions in place to provide more physical separation without modifying the floorplan. No reason airlines couldn't do something similar.

[Tadman]

That would make a lot of sense. A plexiglass shield every 10-ish rows or something like that would contain any problems to that area at least. If the hvac works right, the shield should only be containing sneezes and wheezes, while the hvac sucks out the air before it makes its way down the aisle.

I personally like the feel of having a few more bulkheads. My favorite seat on Septa is where the fake center door on the SL4 is. Nice and quiet.

[John_Perkowski]

In the day, I travelled first class on German Rail. The 9 compartment, 6 pax per configuration on an IC coach gave you 54 spaces per car. Don’t sell the center seat, and your capacity is 36 per.

Have those Amfleet 1s gone to the scrapper yet? Are there 10-6 sleepers that can be returned to revenue service from axle count cars?

[bdawe]

As a general Amtrak Q, how come the NEC LD trains, with their quite limited stopping patterns, are still scheduled so slow after the end of the heritage cars? Surely if meatball metroliners could do a faster schedule, the LD's could too?

[David Benton]

In the day, I travelled first class on German Rail. The 9 compartment, 6 pax per configuration on an IC coach gave you 54 spaces per car. Don’t sell the center seat, and your capacity is 36 per.

Have those Amfleet 1s gone to the scrapper yet? Are there 10-6 sleepers that can be returned to revenue service from axle count cars?

Would people actually want to ride a old sleeper car for daytime use? Still think people would prefer an open feeling compartment , made by using plexiglas dividers. Curtains if they wish privacy.

The old British Rail slam door stock ( each compartment has its own external door ) would be perfect right now.

A link to an article on the West Coast Railway in England may be of interest. Th e survey results probably transfer to Amtrak . The 90 % reduction in capacity suggests less than one passenger per block of 4 facing seats . https://www.bbc.com/news/business-52670790.

[Tadman]

As a general Amtrak Q, how come the NEC LD trains, with their quite limited stopping patterns, are still scheduled so slow after the end of the heritage cars? Surely if meatball metroliners could do a faster schedule, the LD's could too?

Not sure if this is the reason, but until a year or two ago, they were still running heritage diners and baggage cars, which are not 125mph certified. Those diners lasted a decade longer than the heritage sleepers.