Passenger Trains > The future of inter-city rail travel

Last night from the Roosevelt Road bridge, we see the new Siemens "Venture" cars assembled. One string connected to engine 53 and another one connected two two chargers facing north. I threw in a horizon to venture photo for your viewing and comparison pleasure. About the title, between the Chargers and Venture coaches we have the future of inter-city rail travel. Not sure when they will be released for service...

Seth- 

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Do these coaches have Europian style doors which swing out, then aside? Also, so far have seen a number of outside shots but none of the inside layout.

Sharon Evans
Glen Allen, VA

Normally, Amtrak test new stuff out of Chicago on the Milwaukee service first, so hopefully we will be seeing them on that route soon.

Seems like they have been in Chicago for a couple of months now.

Looking forward to riding from Kansas City to St. Louis on these new cars.  Hopefully during baseball season 2021.

Bob W.

Nice looking  cars!!  No  food  service  car  designed  yet!1 I  hear.  Vending  machines  for  California,  rather  common in Europe.  Hope the  Midwest geets  a  cafe  type  car  as  Amfleet  provided. And  quality  food as is  available in NEC!!

RNinRVR Wrote:
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> Do these coaches have Europian style doors which
> swing out, then aside? Also, so far have seen a
> number of outside shots but none of the inside
> layout.
According to Siemens literature, "Four, wide, sliding-plug side doors offer improved ease of entry for high and low leveling platform access that streamlines the boarding process and reduces dwell times."
"Sliding-plug doors reduce vestibule noise levels, while automatic gap fillers, or trap door design and retractable steps, ease boarding on high and low platforms."

I heard the podcast of the Illinois DOT in Springfield about two weeks ago -- here is what I remember:

The Lincoln Service (Chicago-St,.Louis) will receive the new cars 1st.  (KC-Stl last)
The trains will consist of 5 new coaches - plus a Heritage (Amfleet) cafe car -- as new food service cars will be the last delivered.

Speed will be increased to 90 MPH over entire route (Joliet to Alton, that is), sometime in 1st quarter of 2021.
and will be reflected in the timetable at that time.

Sounds like better service is getting closer.

Nice size windows - as one can see compared to the Horizon coach there. Too bad a cafe car has not been designed or included in with the order? Is the CA Corridor really going to get VENDING MACHINES? Ugh!

So will we finally see the retirement of the Horizon coaches - even though they are newer than the Amfleets? With tri-weekly LD train service (allowing Superliner Coaches to be in surplus), the new single level cars, one would think that the Horizons and Amfleets now assigned to Midwest trains could be sent East or to retirement. Chicago Yard, in the mean time, is going to be getting pretty crowded. They better get some maintenance done to any RIP tracks at Beech Grove!
 

jp1822 Wrote:
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> Nice size windows - as one can see compared to the
> Horizon coach there. Too bad a cafe car has not
> been designed or included in with the order? Is
> the CA Corridor really going to get VENDING
> MACHINES? Ugh!

Back to the Bad Old Days of the S.P. ! A self-service cafe car with an attendant, like on the bottom level of the Superliner Sightseer Lounge, would be a good solution. The new cars may also have wider aisles that can accomodate the VIA Rail style food carts for "at your seat" service. Business Class should get upgraded meal options, like Acela.
 

OSWishram Wrote:
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> Looking forward to riding from Kansas City to St.
> Louis on these new cars.  Hopefully during
> baseball season 2021.
>
> Bob W.

They certainly have a wide-open and airy layout.  I'll be interested in the reviews of the seating.

Mary McPherson
Dongola, IL
Diverging Clear Productions



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/27/20 15:24 by MaryMcPherson.

SanDiegan Wrote:
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> jp1822 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Nice size windows - as one can see compared to
> the
> > Horizon coach there. Too bad a cafe car has not
> > been designed or included in with the order? Is
> > the CA Corridor really going to get VENDING
> > MACHINES? Ugh!
>
> Back to the Bad Old Days of the S.P. ! A
> self-service cafe car with an attendant, like on
> the bottom level of the Superliner Sightseer
> Lounge, would be a good solution. The new cars may
> also have wider aisles that can accommodate the VIA
> Rail style food carts for "at your seat" service.
> Business Class should get upgraded meal options,
> like Acela.

I believe the new Acela Express cafe cars are supposed to have some sort of "self-service" component to them, and a better means for the attendant to do the "check out." VIA Rail has no cafe cars, just at seat meal service in VIA 1 Class - now called Business Class. VIA is unique in that if Business Class does become sold out, it will add another business class car to the consist and somehow "service attendants" can be found to staff it when it is added. Chicago has a commissary, but Amtrak has written off F&B as a money losing proposition, so I doubt they'll add any food service to the the "Business Class" cars out of the Chicago hub. It'd be a nice option if it was proven to make money. The only way AE First Class on the NEC supposedly makes money in offering food is the high price of the fare. Frankly, I wish Amtrak would drop the name "Business Class" for its premium fare. On weekends when no Business passengers are occupying Business Class (or to call it "Business Class" of the Vermonter or Pennsylvanian - makes no sense) it always seemed a little bizarre. Come up with another service name that makes more sense for the people that current purchase tickets for this service. Even Custom Class was better. Premiere? VIA had it better with VIA 1 Class. Those in this class do get a free soft drink; and on the Pacific Surfliner you used to be able to get a snack.......was never uniform service. Regardless, they need to concentrate first on a Cafe Car!!!!

Doesn't the North Carolina service use vending machines in their lounge cars?

Those cars look nice.  
I rode Amtrak's double decker cars once and thought they were a disaster waiting to happen during emergency egress as we funneled down a set of narrow stairs though one door to exit the train.

Not sure if the Horizon cars will be getting retired that fast. It's great that new and better things are coming for the folks who use the corridor routes out of Chicago and then the Missouri River Runner. While I have no trips planned to Chicagoland so fast, the next time I do, I look forward to riding in the Siemens Venture cars. It's going to be great to ride at 90 mph in them along the Lincoln Corridor and that is now expected to happen in 2021. I know that the podcast mentioned down the road fairly soon after, bringing 75 percent of the Lincoln Corridor to 110 mph.

PacificElectric1961 Wrote:
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> Doesn't the North Carolina service use vending
> machines in their lounge cars?

Yes.

Gordon

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ronald321 Wrote:
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> I heard the podcast of the Illinois DOT in  Springfield about two weeks ago -- here is what I
> remember:
>
> The Lincoln Service (Chicago-St,.Louis) will receive the new cars 1st.  (KC-Stl last)
> The trains will consist of 5 new coaches - plus a  Heritage (Amfleet) cafe car -- as new food service
> cars will be the last delivered.
>
> Speed will be increased to 90 MPH over entire > route (Joliet to Alton, that is), sometime in 1st
> quarter of 2021. and will be reflected in the timetable at that  time.
>
> Sounds like better service is getting closer.

Thanks, unfortunately it sounds like 90 mph is the best we will be able to do for a while (possibly ever?).  The impact on the timetables will be pretty minimal.  Looking forward to the new cars though.

I was under the impression that Venture cars don't have traditional couplers, only at the extreme ends of each fixed trainset to connect to locomotives. Were the Midwest cars modified to add Horizon cafe cars? What about cab cars? Or will we see NPCUs (max speed 100) leading these?

As for California, the SJJPA has decided that traditional food service costs too much and are going with vending machines. Of course until these cars arrive, no cafe service whatsoever, just snack packs and bottled water like we get currently thanks to covid. Trips on the San Joaquins are longer than most other corridors, especially with a bus connection to reach Southern California. Passengers would storm the cafe car once off the bus in Bakersfield. I'm amazed this agency thinks cutting cafe cars won't harm their product.

Thanks for the shot next to the Horizon car. That really shows how much larger the windows and doors are. I'll be so happy when all the tiny window'd Amfleets and Horizons are gone. I'm also curious to ride these to Michigan in the winter and see how sealed they stay against the blowing snow.

Have the plug doors been real world tested 
in an environment like January on the Illinois
prairie?  

Englewood Wrote:
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> Have the plug doors been real world tested 
> in an environment like January on the Illinois
> prairie?  

Hopefully the doors work better than VIA Rail's Renaissance Equipment plug doors when they first came out......Took a few modifications!