Passenger Trains > Modern equipment complainer questions

As i continue to read thru the constant complaining about Amtrak's/State partners new equipment orders. Especially charger/ALC42s and the midwest coaches. i cant help but have some questions.

Assuming that the midwest passenger coaches are garbage, who should have built them? Budd? Long gone. Pullman Standard also long gone. Bombardier, huge quality issues with recent orders as well as to my knowledge the Vermont plant that built the Superliner 2s also long gone. Kawasaki major quality issues with them as well. CAF, want some more issues like plagued the construction of the Viewliner 2s. So who should they have been ordered from?

Same issue with the replacement long distance locomotive fleet, who should have built what if the chargers are not the right engines for Amtrak?

It seems to me that we have a two fold problem. Lack of monitoring of 3rd party sub contractors i.e. plumbing supplier on the midwest coaches. Along with an almost criminal lack of maintenance by Amtrak centered on the Chicago area.

This will be proven out when Via is able to maintain a quality service using the basic same equipment set while Amtrak continues to suffer delays due to weather while Via doesn't in much worse weather.

So my question is, what is the answer both from an equipment supplier side and for an operator that can actually operate a reliable service. I'm not looking for a listing of what is wrong. Im looking for a way forward out of the current mess.

Posted from Android

You are correct, we are lacking builders who want to build a quality product. Siemens is capable, but they go through this cyclic cycle of cost cutting and reduce quality inspections about every 12-15 years, which basically cripples their manufacturing facility and fills it up with crap customers won't allow them to ship.

When discussing Siemens equipment, please keep in mind, it is all not created equal! Sure, it may look the same on the surfaces that most people can see, but open up the equipment boxes or even look at some of the material used, and you can spot differences.

Brightline basically told Siemens "we want RailJet equipment" with customized interiors. Siemens built and maintains the Brightline equipment. If a train does not make pull out or fails in service, Siemens pay penalties.

Amtrak and VIA have Technical Support, Spare Supply Agreements with Siemens, which basically ensure there is a Siemens technician available to help Amtrak or VIA diagnose and repair the equipment. The agreement also gaurantees parts avalability and delivery to the failed equipment within a specified time. If for some reason, parts or technicians are not available, or can not resolve the issues in a predetermined amount of time, Siemens pays a penalty. For ACS64, Siemens has paid more penalties than cost of TSSSA contract in the first 5 years!

The State owned equipment was not able to leverage a TSSSA agreement from the start. This is because of the some of services the States already pay Amtrak for would be duplicated in the TSSSA costs. The States each have their own unique and kwirky accounting requirements, which has been a major nightmare to try and execute any sort of TSSSA.  



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/07/22 14:57 by KM-ML4000.

And I'm sure Amtrak management was looking to save costs with these Siemens equipment service agreements over using Beech Grove labor.

Rotem also left the business of building passenger cars. Nippon Sharyo, maybe Hyundai.

Posted from Android

CRRC Sifang in Chicago or Talgo in Milwaukee?

As I have said on here many times, Beech Grove should
be building the cars.  No reliance on foreign sources or
companies that die because of the feast or famine passenger
car market.

Any federal money to the states for equipment should then
come with the requirement that they be built a Beech Grove.

Just build a steady stream of x number of cars per year to
replace retirements, wreck damage and build a national surge
fleet.

A fact well down the memory hole is that railroad shops built
many passenger cars.  MILW, B&O come to mind immediately.
MILW even built REAL high speed train sets 80+ years ago.

We also need a PCC type committee to establish a minimum amount
of standard designs to be used throughout the country. No reinventing 
the wheel everytime Uncle Sam dumps some money on an agency.

Hey Mayor Pete, c'mon man, bring some jobs to your state.
Peel off a few of those 66 billion dollar bills you have in your pocket.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/08/22 07:03 by Englewood.

Rebuild old cars is a good answer to me