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  • Budd Amfleet I Replacement Discussion

  • Discussion related to Amtrak also known as the National Railroad Passenger Corp.
Discussion related to Amtrak also known as the National Railroad Passenger Corp.

Moderators: GirlOnTheTrain, mtuandrew, Tadman

 #1527989  by east point
 
DMUs may require many more fuel stops ? Getting diesel fuel out west in the boonies would cost much more if possible. In some places out west fuel costs for aircraft are 10 to 20 cents + a gallon more for transportation. That of course depends on distance ?
 #1528000  by rcthompson04
 
electricron wrote: Thu Dec 12, 2019 8:05 pm Didn't Anderson suggest having 4 Amtrak products on the NEC?
Acela 2
Fast Regional
Slow Regional (all stops)
Long Distance

Couldn't the existing Sprinters be use on two products, and EMUs be used on the other two?
Obviously, Acela 2 would be a EMU type trains, but couldn't either the fast or slow regional be the other?
Meaning Sprinters would be used on the long distance trains, and the other regional product.
Acela 2 - EMUs
Fast Regional - Sprinters
Slow Regional - EMUs
Long Distance - Sprinters

The odd ball would be something like the Keystone. I would prefer to mix the Keystone up and go with a slightly more frequent service with smaller EMU sets on off peak and Sprinters with 5 cars on peak.
 #1528016  by David Benton
 
Matt Johnson wrote: Thu Dec 12, 2019 7:32 pm
David Benton wrote: Thu Dec 12, 2019 7:22 pm In England, probably 80 -90 % of trains are DMU/EMU, or a hybrid of. Virtually all trains are fixed consist.
And generally not as roomy or nice as American rolling stock. The Voyagers were meh.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yH06o7nNKJQ
I'm sure they can build oversize/ overweight ones for America. :wink:
 #1528045  by frequentflyer
 
njt/mnrrbuff wrote: Thu Dec 12, 2019 5:10 pm Where will all of the Sprinters go? I don’t see all of the Amtrak NEC Regional trains ever being MUs. Last I heard, Amtrak was looking into getting a dual catenary/diesel locomotive to eliminate the engine changes.
Amtrak would have no problem finding homes for what amounts to CPO Sprinters with factory support with the commuter agencies up and down the NEC for immediate delivery.
 #1528048  by Tadman
 
A country the size of the US could do a good "lessons learned" process on recent Brit rolling stock procurements. Especially if there were to be 2-3 competing TOC's rather than just Amtrak.

For example, the 800 is very cool looking but the seats suck and the engines are spotty. The food service on GWR is pretty darn good, far better than Acela First.
 #1528105  by njtmnrrbuff
 
Yes, Amtrak should seriously consider buying Viaggio coaches and cafe cars and of course cab cars. Just a FYI, while MUs would work great on the Amtrak trains that make every single stop on the NEC schedule, bear in mind that if Amtrak were to order both locomotive hauled and multiple unit trainsets for use up and down the NEC, chances are that the equipment assignments will be rotated. There could be times when a MU would cover a faster Northeast Regional while a locomotive hauled train would cover a local. In my opinion, for Northeast Regional trains as well as the long distance daytime trains that use the NEC, locomotive hauled sets would be the way to go. The Amtrak Sprinters pretty much just started running, all of them nonetheless.
 #1528125  by RRspatch
 
The ACELA 2 is NOT an EMU. It has two power cars at either end bracketing non powered coaches. I'm not sure if the first and last cars share a truck with the power cars. Having all cars powered would require a 25Kv roof line buss cable and jumpers between the cars. The FRA will not allow that.
 #1528147  by JimBoylan
 
RRspatch wrote: Sat Dec 14, 2019 1:11 amHaving all cars powered would require a 25Kv roof line buss cable and jumpers between the cars. The FRA will not allow that.
How does Connecticut Department of Transportation get away with bus lines on their Electric MU cars?
 #1528148  by JimBoylan
 
RRspatch wrote: Thu Dec 12, 2019 2:02 amAmtrak moved away from the Metroliner EMU's because they were fixed consists of either 4 or 6 cars.
When the Roving Resume who said that was working elsewhere, Amtrak and PennCentral did run 2, 3, 5, and 8 car trains of Metroliner MU cars.
 #1528175  by WhartonAndNorthern
 
JimBoylan wrote: Sat Dec 14, 2019 10:34 am
RRspatch wrote: Sat Dec 14, 2019 1:11 amHaving all cars powered would require a 25Kv roof line buss cable and jumpers between the cars. The FRA will not allow that.
How does Connecticut Department of Transportation get away with bus lines on their Electric MU cars?
They're part of a married-pair (semi-permanently coupled). For the record though, I've never seen much mention of voltage or electrical restrictions in the CFR. A few if it's over 150V it's high voltage and needs to be marked.
 #1528177  by east point
 
If there are any restrictions it would appear that it is only for full length bus bars or cable ? All EMU connections I have observed are just close end of one car to close end of the married pair car ?
 #1528180  by John_Perkowski
 
Tadman wrote: Fri Dec 13, 2019 9:58 am A country the size of the US could do a good "lessons learned" process on recent Brit rolling stock procurements. Especially if there were to be 2-3 competing TOC's rather than just Amtrak.

For example, the 800 is very cool looking but the seats suck and the engines are spotty. The food service on GWR is pretty darn good, far better than Acela First.
The odds of Congress authorizing a second operating company are somewhat less than 0.000001, with 1.0 being certainty, and 0.0 being absolutely NWIH.
 #1528181  by John_Perkowski
 
What are the fleet maintenance costs, across a lifetime, between locomotives/trailer cars and multiple units each with independent power...diesel or electric?
 #1528189  by RRspatch
 
east point wrote: Sat Dec 14, 2019 8:42 pm If there are any restrictions it would appear that it is only for full length bus bars or cable ? All EMU connections I have observed are just close end of one car to close end of the married pair car ?
Exactly. That's the point I was making. A buss bar or cable running the length of the train. You could power all car with only two pantographs up or even one up at the rear. No need to have multiple pantographs up. Many railroads around the world run with only the rear pantograph up on high speed trains to avoid catenary bow waves.
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