Passenger Trains > Pictures from Today

1.Pacific Surfliner 562 climbing Miramar Hill
2. Pacific Surfliner 1569 Oceanside
3. Metrolink 660 coming into Oceanside

Enjoy,

Chris

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The white and blue colours of the locomotive is continued in the sky and buildings in the third photo.  It looks like it was a great day for a train ride.

Just out of curiosity, is Amtrak filling to capacity the six car Surfliner on a regular basis? Presume they are..... and great if they are, It's just that the Superliners do offer greater capacity for seating, greater than a normal six car Amfleet operating on the NEC. A lot of seats to fill - be it upper or lower. Most Surfliner trainsets are running with Superliner Coaches that some argue could be better used on long distance trains. Just wondering what the yields may be on the Surfliners.

I know the Pacific Surfliner (and CA in general) is one of the fastest growing corridors; and next to the NEC, the most popular corridor.

With long consists like this on a corridor train, it would be nice if Amtrak had two Business Class cars - one being the regular Pacific Surfliner business class car and the other being the Superliner Coach (running right behind). This just helps to bringin in extra revenue. But Amtrak still needs to deliver on the Business Class product. VIA Rail Canada often operated with two business class car with a total consist of just five cars (three being regular coach and two being set aside as business class).  

Ideally on any corridor (if a long consist):
Car 1 through 5 - regular Coach Class
Car 6 - Business Class
Car 7 - Business Class
Car 8 - Cafe Car

Amtrak runs two Pacvific Surfliner Business Cars on every train set.

Chris

JP. Depending on the time of the year, day, etc.
Sometimes there are standing loads on the Surfliners.
Six cars is just barely enough at time to handle the crowds.
Other times. they can barely fill up 4 or 5 cars. 

I know the 700 series trains are the ones that get the crowds.
The 500 series is a mix bag.

I did hear at one time, a few years back. They were going to make all consists 7 cars. 
I think when they do add the new 13th train. We might see more the need for longer cars.


jp1822 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Just out of curiosity, is Amtrak filling to
> capacity the six car Surfliner on a regular basis?
> Presume they are..... and great if they are, It's
> just that the Superliners do offer greater
> capacity for seating, greater than a normal six
> car Amfleet operating on the NEC. A lot of seats
> to fill - be it upper or lower. Most Surfliner
> trainsets are running with Superliner Coaches that
> some argue could be better used on long distance
> trains. Just wondering what the yields may be on
> the Surfliners.
>
> I know the Pacific Surfliner (and CA in general)
> is one of the fastest growing corridors; and next
> to the NEC, the most popular corridor.
>
> With long consists like this on a corridor train,
> it would be nice if Amtrak had two Business Class
> cars - one being the regular Pacific Surfliner
> business class car and the other being the
> Superliner Coach (running right behind). This just
> helps to bringin in extra revenue. But Amtrak
> still needs to deliver on the Business Class
> product. VIA Rail Canada often operated with two
> business class car with a total consist of just
> five cars (three being regular coach and two being
> set aside as business class).  
>
> Ideally on any corridor (if a long consist):
> Car 1 through 5 - regular Coach Class
> Car 6 - Business Class
> Car 7 - Business Class
> Car 8 - Cafe Car

Jerry Martin
Los Angeles, CA
Central Coast Railroad Festival

Good to know - and glad they do! Seems to be certainly justified!

Mudrock Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Amtrak runs two Pacvific Surfliner Business Cars
> on every train set.
>
> Chris

I certainly understand.

Hopefully Amtrak is looking at the Pacific Surfliner Corridor - in terms of equipment allocation and operation - as Amtrak would be operating/managing equipment etc. on the NEC and Keystone Corridor.

Peak period NEC trains are getting one or two cars more than off-peak. Offpeak Amtrak will operate a NEC train with less Amfleets. After multiple complaints and other measures, Amtrak, for example, finally added a coach to the popular Washington DC-Philly-NYC Train 170. Course it still has times of standing room only due to its popularity with montly pass holders. 

I guess my point here is - I typically see Pacific Surfliners with uniform consist numbers (e.g. the same number of cars regardless of the time). Hopefully Amtrak is managing the supply with the demand and not just pulling Superliner coaches from anywhere they can just to randomly fill the number of coaches per train set to an established six bi-level cars per train set (Surfliner + Superliner mix) when that may not be needed ALL the time. Amtrak used to make all the Keystone trains 5 cars in length, but then some of them finally got varied based on peak period demand. 

GP25 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> JP. Depending on the time of the year, day, etc.
> Sometimes there are standing loads on the
> Surfliners.
> Six cars is just barely enough at time to handle
> the crowds.
> Other times. they can barely fill up 4 or 5
> cars. 
>
> I know the 700 series trains are the ones that get
> the crowds.
> The 500 series is a mix bag.
>
> I did hear at one time, a few years back. They
> were going to make all consists 7 cars. 
> I think when they do add the new 13th train. We
> might see more the need for longer cars.
>
>
> jp1822 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Just out of curiosity, is Amtrak filling to
> > capacity the six car Surfliner on a regular
> basis?
> > Presume they are..... and great if they are,
> It's
> > just that the Superliners do offer greater
> > capacity for seating, greater than a normal six
> > car Amfleet operating on the NEC. A lot of
> seats
> > to fill - be it upper or lower. Most Surfliner
> > trainsets are running with Superliner Coaches
> that
> > some argue could be better used on long
> distance
> > trains. Just wondering what the yields may be
> on
> > the Surfliners.
> >
> > I know the Pacific Surfliner (and CA in
> general)
> > is one of the fastest growing corridors; and
> next
> > to the NEC, the most popular corridor.
> >
> > With long consists like this on a corridor
> train,
> > it would be nice if Amtrak had two Business
> Class
> > cars - one being the regular Pacific Surfliner
> > business class car and the other being the
> > Superliner Coach (running right behind). This
> just
> > helps to bringin in extra revenue. But Amtrak
> > still needs to deliver on the Business Class
> > product. VIA Rail Canada often operated with
> two
> > business class car with a total consist of just
> > five cars (three being regular coach and two
> being
> > set aside as business class).  
> >
> > Ideally on any corridor (if a long consist):
> > Car 1 through 5 - regular Coach Class
> > Car 6 - Business Class
> > Car 7 - Business Class
> > Car 8 - Cafe Car1dd



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/09/19 16:35 by jp1822.