Passenger Trains > Now We Know Why the LD Trains Are Three Days Per Week

From CBS News:[color=inherit]Kris Van Cleave[/color][/url][url=https://twitter.com/krisvancleave][color=inherit]@krisvancleave[/color]·1m .@Amtrak is adding trains w/private rooms to select Northeast Regional trains between DC-NY-Boston starting April 5th. 3 options—Roomettes, Bedrooms & Accessible Bedrooms. Private rooms feature seats that folds into a bed, bedding, pillows, towels and linens.

No. there are plenty of sleepers around to do both daily service, and assign 2 cars to this service. 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/08/21 10:48 by joemvcnj.

This is nothing more then reinstating the Twilight Shoreliner but not running the sleepers all the way to Newport News.

Sharon Evans
Glen Allen, VA

There were the 2 prototype Viewliner sleepers then, and I think 2 Viewliner-I's have wreck damage. But there are at least half dozen Viewliner-II's accepted for service. 

joemvcnj Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> There were the 2 prototype Viewliner sleepers
> then, and I think 2 Viewliner-I's have wreck
> damage. But there are at least half dozen
> Viewliner-II's accepted for service. 

Per OTOL, there are 49 Viewliner I and 14 Viewliner II sleepers active.  With 63 sleepers available, there are no equipment issues for adding one to the NEC owl trains even after the return of daily long distance service.

On Track On Line Roster



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 03/08/21 09:40 by prr60.

I stand corrected, thank you. 

But, here's my question: If there is enough demand to add service in the NEC (in spite of COVID), why (allegedly because of COVID) is there too little demand for the long-distance trains? This seems like a rather strong contradiction to me. 

Adding a sleeper car to an existing train is not much about adding service. but adding an amenity
NEC ridership was the hardest hit percentage-wise, out of the other corridors (that are still running) and LD. Business travel explains a lot of that. 

They know the NEC needs new non-Business travel, permanently. That's why pets are allowed on Acela. The Mucky-Mucks will be back to travelling. The more numerous Commoners who traveled to meetings and performance reviews get their T&E budget slashed and have to use Skype/Zoom.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/08/21 10:02 by joemvcnj.

Can we get employee assistance on the phone for another_view? Oh wait, telephones are sooooo 1950s, no one uses them!

Posted from Android

Given the reduced consist on the Auto-Train, and the three days per week operation of other trains, there should be a lot of SuperLiner sleepers stored somewhere.

It’s failed every time they have tried it and it will fail again, wait for it .

Posted from iPhone

another_view Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It’s failed every time they have tried it and it will fail again, wait for it .

More unsubstantiated bul$hit from a clueless, armchair, foamer who has nothing to back up anything he says. 
It worked fine from 1972 to 2003, every single year. 

The extra, off hour Metroliners and Acelas express schedules are what failed every time they tried it. They were the first thing to go when the pandemic started.  Now the 3 remaining Acelas run at 20% capacity.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/08/21 12:12 by joemvcnj.

another_view Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It’s failed every time they have tried it and it
> will fail again, wait for it .
>
> Posted from iPhone

Ohhhh....didnt have to wait long for the voice of optimism and public service to chime in.  Public Service? what's that. Screw everyone else. I'm rich, so why cant i just have everything my way?

"Your money or your life"......response......"Im thinking about it" .  For Jack Benny, it was just a TV character.   A_V prob doesnt see the humor. LOL

Oh, but it's so 1950's. 
Sit up most of the night in a 72 seat Amcoach - that's the modern thing to do. No one who does that will give that up.  

That link above led me to the Twitter accoung of Mr. Kris Van Cleave - a former CBS transportation correspondent.

I saw nothing about Amtrak.  Can somebody help me find it.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/08/21 12:58 by ronald321.

Scroll way down. It's there.

Posted from Android

As for the success/failure of this service, when I rode it many times from Williamsburg to Boston, and also from NY, I can tell you it was about 40% full out of/into Richmond, and 100% full out of/into Washington/Baltimore.  It seemed very successful. 

Lackawanna484 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Given the reduced consist on the Auto-Train, and
> the three days per week operation of other trains,
> there should be a lot of SuperLiner sleepers
> stored somewhere.

Yes, there are. Hopefully they're all not parked somewhere in the weeds, sitting ducks to taggers and vandals, getting "colorful, non-standard paint schemes" at best, broken windows and trashed at worst.

Lexan is hard to break. 

Some years back rode the NYP - WAS pick up sleeper.  One of the prototypes and well patronized.
 

Back in Fall, 1999, just after Hurricane Floyd, which shut down the Empire Corridor, a make-up Lake Shore Ltd ran just between Boston and Chicago. I happened to be in Dunkirk, NY at the time. It used a Night Owl train set with the Viewliners and Amfleet-1's.

Today's Amtrak would have just cancelled the whole thing outright, since it is just a hobby to them.