Aren't some of those already earmarked for SEPTA to bridge them until they get their new ones?
dowlingm wrote:Aren't some of those already earmarked for SEPTA to bridge them until they get their new ones?Not decided yet. Amtrak hasn't made any decisions on long-term leases for the Remans, so these random appearances on MARC trains are the extent of it for now. 6 to SEPTA was the rumor quoted by AMTK employees on the forums, but that was awhile ago and it's a fluid rumor. Sprinters gotta have the kinks worked out before it's prudent to let them start taking 'dibs' on formal leasers, so whether there's been any discussions with SEPTA or more or less agreed-upon number of leasers...they obviously can't say anything, transact anything, or pin a calendar date on such a transaction until Amtrak's more or less finished the fleet replacement to its own satisfaction. And I'm sure that's well-understood by SEPTA.
Seeing as how they have 28 units, and even if you take the most pessimistic assumption that "best of the rest" will only net maybe half that many good-condition units, it's more than SEPTA and MARC both would ever need for the rest of the decade run in relatively light-duty/light-mileage commuter rail. Amtrak's probably going to have a bunch of extras fully up-to-task that it has no means of getting rid of or milking a little lease revenue out of. Vanishingly unlikely that finding decent-condition leaser bodies for both CR agencies to use indefinitely as bridge fleets is ever going to be an issue. There's a legitimate glut of Remans, and "a little beat-up" for Boston-D.C. duty on Amtrak means "this is like-new compared to the crap we're running!" when you're only talking SEPTA a few peak hours per day, 3+ dozen short-distance MARC runs between D.C.-Baltimore per day, and a dozen MARC pokes beyond Baltimore to/from Perryville per day. That's like a lazy Sunday drive compared to what work most of the Reman fleet is still up for doing.
