Passenger Trains > Senior Director, Long Distance Fleet Replacement

Here is one's chance to shine.
Amtrak's career website shows a position for a "Senior Director, Long Distance Fleet Replacement Program- 90334235 - Washington DC".

I want individual air vents like on planes and the old sleepy hollow seats. Order today, delivery in 10 to 15 years.

Posted from Android

I'm surprised they haven't filled that job yet. Seems we have a lot of qualified candidates here on Trainorders.

I agree about the sleepy hollow seats.  Those were great.  

There are trains in Queensland Australia that actually have airline-style lie-flat seats on a narrow-gauge overnight train.  These would be great for Amtrak.  

I have have heard the Siemens Venture Car PM for the California / Illinois project is applying.

KM-ML4000 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I have have heard the Siemens Venture Car PM for
> the California / Illinois project is applying.

Let’s hope not! I rode number 303 on Friday. The restrooms were out of service on two of the three Siemens cars. They’re so high-tech that nothing works. I think the cars ride great, but the new seats are too narrow in the name of making a wider aisle. Absolutely nobody seems to like the seats. If you’re tall the wings on them dig into your shoulders. And if you’re wide you just won’t fit. I don’t know if ADA regulations require them to make the aisles that wide, or if some genius just dreamed it up. At any rate it’s a disaster for 99. 9% of the passengers for the benefit of maybe .1% percent of those who have a wheelchair and want to run up and down the length of the train. I guess the ADA isn’t taking into account that Americans are larger than ever, and they need seats that they actually can fit in. If they build long-distance coaches with seats this narrow, it will further trash what business they have left. The new seats also don’t recline. The bottom cushion slides forward a bit, creating sort of a slouch situation as a replacement for a real reclining. It’s not a good solution. Whoever picked the seats out should be fired.

Posted from iPhone

alan2955 Wrote:
> At any rate
> it’s a disaster for 99. 9% of the passengers for
> the benefit of maybe .1% percent of those who have
> a wheelchair and want to run up and down the
> length of the train.

Wow, what a self centered, entiltiled rant.  Be glad you don't need the extra aisle width.

> I guess the ADA isn’t
> taking into account that Americans are larger than
> ever, and they need seats that they actually can
> fit in. 

Interestingly, the new cars of a seat width of 19.1 inches, which is one to two inches wider than a standard domestic coach airline seat.  Are train passengers that much larger that airline passengers?  Over a million people a day travel in 17-18 inch seats, and the majority seem to do just fine.

" If they build long-distance coaches with seats this narrow, it will further trash what business they have left. The new seats also don’t recline."

Flights are generally 45 mins to 4 hours domestically. Average long distance train  trip 6 to 40 hours. Nuff said 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/18/22 15:20 by Flyer92122.

Flyer92122 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Flights are generally 45 mins to 4 hours
> domestically. Average long distance train  trip 6
> to 40 hours. Nuff said 

These cars are only used for shorter distance corridor service and will never be used for Long Distance service.

The Aisle width is what Amtrak and the Next Generation Equipment Committee specified in the PRIIA Specification. Now knowing Amtrak was involved, it is funny to find out that the new ICT equipment will not follow what they defined in all the work they and the NGEC put into the PRIIA Specifications! Aisles will be narrower on ICT, but I will bet the seat won't be any better!

We have had to put up  with those non-recline seats with the California Cars.  Believe me the six hours Oakland - Bakersfield is not fun.
May get by width 2-3 hours but no more.   Not even good for a trip San Diego to San Luis Obiso on the Surfliner.

The one  notch recline seems to be standard in Europe and these cars are basic re-due of those.

As to ADA, yes I want to see them taken care of, but since some of the cars are articulated anyway to allow through access,  why not have one ADA chair car matched  with the food service.car.  This then would require fewer larger rest room in a train set.

Other then a rail fan would have little interest to go through the whole train.  The two car couples, seem would work for everyone.

My question is, would the Senior Director of Long Distance have any first hand knowledge of what is needed not only for chair cars, butr diners and lounges.?

Ed


Ed

 

Flyer92122 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Flights are generally 45 mins to 4 hours
> domestically. Average long distance train  trip 6
> to 40 hours. Nuff said 

The Venture cars are not long distance cars.  Your point is moot.  Nuff said. 

6 hours can turn into 8 or 9 hours really quick. They are not commuter cars, anyone riding a train even just 120 miles wants to be comfortable doing it. The seats are horrendous, point blank. As to the point about ADA, here is an idea, make the business class/cafe - coach married pairs be ADA accessible, this keeps things simple for spotting the train for wheel chair ramps and for anyone mobility impaired right next to the only place they need to get to, the bathrooms and the cafe.

Posted from iPhone

Regarding seat widths: The seats in both Amtrak Venture coaches and Brightline Smart class (2x2 seating) are reported to be 19" wide. I don't recall hearing complaints about the BrightLine seat width.

Can someone who has experienced both comment on how the seats do compare comfort wise.

Thanks
WP17

2904 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>>anyone riding a train
> even just 120 miles wants to be comfortable doing
> it. 

A 120 miles should be done in less than three hours.  Are Amtrak passengers really that big that they cannot stand a trip that is similar in length from flying from Chicago to Orlando in a bigger seat and not be comfortable?  Is that why dining is talked about so much here?


> As to
> the point about ADA, here is an idea, make the
> business class/cafe - coach married pairs be ADA
> accessible, this keeps things simple for spotting
> the train for wheel chair ramps and for anyone
> mobility impaired right next to the only place
> they need to get to, the bathrooms and the cafe.

Or let everything be ADA accessible, and not shun the people who are less fortunate to one part of the train.

Whoever gets that job, good luck, you're gonna need it since all Ammanagment cares about is corridors, not the whole enchilada that had Amtrak grow and prosper from the 70s-90s!

Typhoon Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

>
> Or let everything be ADA accessible, and not shun
> the people who are less fortunate to one part of
> the train.

In developing a regional and a commuterservice, we considered that concept. Unless the train is articulated, how to deal with crossing from car to car? For commonly-able non-rails that can be scary enough.

TAW

Not long distanceas used by Amtrak, but lets look at those routes that will use this new equipment.

San Diego   San Luis Obispo    351 miles   8 hr 38 min
Oakland - Bakersfield   315 miles     6hr .21 min
Chicago9  Pt Huron   319 miles       6hr.31 min
Chicago - Kansas City 567 miles  11hr  15min      using the new thru train

In all cases only a few would travel the entire distance

Ed


 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/19/22 02:32 by mundo.

Amtrak was accommodating wheelchair riders just fine. The only thing was they couldn’t wheel themselves down three cars to the café. And I doubt many of them will attempt it even with the new cars. So you prefer that 99.9% of the passengers are uncomfortable to the benefit of a tiny minority. Sounds like you want them to be entitled. Also when you take an airplane you generally spend a lot less time on it then you do on Amtrak. And anyone else large is utterly miserable on an airplane and will be on the new Amtrak seats as well. Guess what it’s just another reason why people will drive or fly instead of taking Amtrak. So if you wanna Amtrak to fail keep on rooting for the bad seating.

Posted from iPhone

lordsigma Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Flyer92122 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Flights are generally 45 mins to 4 hours
> > domestically. Average long distance train  trip
> 6
> > to 40 hours. Nuff said 
>
> These cars are only used for shorter distance
> corridor service and will never be used for Long
> Distance service.

Well it takes six hours just to go from Chicago to St. Louis so that’s longer than most airline trips in America. I sure as heck wouldn’t want to sit in one of these, especially next to another large person. There’s no shoulder room, and if you’re tall the wings on the seats dig into your shoulders. One of the selling points of Train Travel was they had spacious seating, but now I guess they have to emulate the dreaded seats on the airlines. By the way the airline aisles are not wide enough for a wheelchair, so why does Amtrak have to be?

Posted from iPhone



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/18/22 17:45 by alan2955.

They are similar, and they both are not great. Currently though the maximum trip time on BrightLine is only about an hour and a half. That’s a big difference than Chicago to St. Louis at six hours. I was traveling with 10 guys, none of which were exceptionally large, and they all hated the new seats. It’s a shame because the cars probably have the best ride quality of any equipment Amtrak has ever bought.

Posted from iPhone



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/18/22 17:52 by alan2955.