Passenger Trains > Amtk 97 with 10 cars....

Im no expert on amtk east coast trains, but just saw 97 SB thru ashland on the VR cam with 4 amfleets, diner, 4 viewliners, bag.
IDK if thats the usual, but seems at least some LD trains are getting cars. 

Out here in Starlight land, dont seem to be able to get above trans bag/trans dorm/2 sleepers/SSL/Diner/coach/coach-bag. Still 2 cars less than what used to be the normal winter consist.    I think part of the problem is that the train is so unrelaible, no one will use it for coach transpoprtation.   I know i would never tell my relatives to use it if they actually have to be somewhere at a certain time.  Up here on the central coast, the train would be really useful to get to LAX, as there is a dedicated bus from LAUPT to LAX, but who can risk missing a flight due to the usual inability to run on time.

The Meteor has been running with that consist for several months now

4 coaches
1 cafe
1 diner
3 sleepers
1 baggage car

Posted from iPhone

The southbound Coast Starlight actually had three coaches leaving Seattle today, two of them coach-baggages, but I'm not sure if the last one was a revenue car.  I suspect the reason for only two coaches on the Coast Starlight all summer is a combination of way too many Superliner coaches in corridor service and very possibly a long-time belief at Amtrak Routes Marketing that there just aren't many people on the West Coast, especially the Northwest part.

amtrakbill Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The Meteor has been running with that consist for
> several months now
>
> 4 coaches
> 1 cafe
> 1 diner
> 3 sleepers
> 1 baggage car
>
> Posted from iPhone

Keep in mind, 3 Viewliner Sleeper is the equivalent of 2 Superliner Sleepers. 

Viewliner II Sleeper - 11 roomettes, 2 bedrooms, 1 handicap = 28 berths x 3 cars = 84 berths
Superliner Sleeper - 13 roomettes (allowing 1 for attendant), 5 bedrooms, 1 handicap, 1 family room = 42 x 2 cars = 84 berths

Now add onboard staff in with the Viewliner mix, cause there is no Superliner Trans-Dorm Sleeper like there is for Superliners......capacity gets worse! This is why Amtrak single level east coast LD trains needed the Viewliner II Sleeper ordered - to EXTEND capacity. Meanwhile NO capacity was added to single level east coast LD trains after the Viewliner II Sleepers have been received, accepted, etc. Amtrak stored Viewliner I's and now can't get enough institutional knowledge and/or funds to get them out of storage. There were 39 Viewliner Sleepers assigned in 2018, and there remains 39 Viewliner Sleepers assigned in 2024. Yes, six Viewliner Bagg/Dorms are in operation, but that's for the Cardinal and Crescent. The Crescent will soon be losing its second Viewliner Sleeper soon though!

PS - If Amtrak is going to extend the Capitol Limited to the Silver Star and run Chicago to Miami, the consists need THREE Viewliner sleepers to handle just the existing traffic, PLUS marketing for additional traffic. Just two Viewliner Sleepers, with onboard staff, is going to be LESS than what the Capitol Limited runs with now and we've all seen how that mess has worked out before with less capacity!!!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/01/24 05:43 by jp1822.

Note the op said there were four sleepers plus diner.
Gordon

gbmott Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Note the op said there were four sleepers plus
> diner.
> Gordon

Yes, I read that with curiosity. And as noted also, that's not the norm at all! The Meteor is typically the train that deadheads Viewliner Sleepers from Miami (Hialeah) and NYP, but I can't confirm that at present. Silver Meteor regularly just has 3 Viewliner sleepers in operation. And that only got RESTORED in the past year! Only the Lake Shore and Silver Meteor operate with three Viewliner Sleepers. All other eastern single level LD trains operate with one (Cardinal) or two Viewliner Sleepers (Crescent, Silver Star). The Crescent will be losing its second Viewliner Sleeper shortly, and going down to just ONE Viewliner Sleeper and a Viewliner Crew/Baggage car - like the Cardinal. PATHETIC! 

gbmott Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Note the op said there were four sleepers plus
> diner.
> Gordon

Original post says 4 Amfleet, Diner, 4 Viewliner, Bag.  Since it's a 10 car train, I SUSPECT what original poster saw was 4 Amfleet, Amfleet Cafe that he called dinner, and the 4 Viwliners were 1 diner and 3 sleeper.  AKA the normal consist.  

The Star runs a 9 car consist - 4 coach, cafe, diner, 2 sleep, bag.   Rumors swirl that it gets 2 more sleepers when it combines with the Capital and is part of reason Cresent is loosing a sleeper. 

Back to original posters reliability concerns.  This just goes to further reinforce the difference of "East of Harrisburg" vs the rest of the country.   Is Amtrak perfect on the east coast?  Heavens no!  But south of DC in the Eastern Seabord states you see states of Virginia and North Carolina are expanding routes and adding frequencies, and the Northeast / Southeast corridor hosts multiple frequencies.  As a result, it is a fairly reliable true option for travel...as long as you are staying within a couple hundred miles of the Atlantic Coast. 

Yeah - the Capitol-Star needs a fifth train set, so I think they are reducing the Crescent down to one Viewliner Sleeper, which gives a net gain of 4 Viewliner Sleepers FROM the Crescent. This then provides two Viewliner Sleepers to make a fifth Capitol-Star train set that is needed, and then 2 Viewliner Sleepers as spares. This is absolutely ridiculous with 75 Viewliner Sleepers in inventory - the more than Amtrak has ever had!!! Yet they still can not produce a net gain on the Viewliner Sleeper fleet utilization.

Note that Amtrak has NOT restored the 15 or so VIewliner I's sitting mothball state out in Beech Grove and even more in Hialeah since 2021. They were supposed to, but the repairs got deferred to the next fiscal year that starts after October 1, 2024.

My view - the Capitol-Star should have THREE Viewliners for reasons explained on capacity and to GROW the "throughput revenue" that this train can take advantage of. But Amtrak, yet again, is going to constrict capacity. Again, it takes THREE Viewliners to = the equivalent of two Superliner Sleepers and you are talking about creating a single level train set that now functions as a TWO night three day train like the Western Long Hauls. It opens up opportunities but Amtrak will throw a roadblock in place if it just assigns TWO Viewliner Sleepers to the combined Capitol-Star......We've all seen the Capitol Limited operate with just one Superliner and that was not sufficient capacity.....The Lake Shore did cleanup by having a fourth VIewliner Sleeper added last summer........But that's no longer the case either. 

And the Cresecent needs TWO Viewliner Sleepers between NYP and Atlanta, at minimum. UGH! When Amtrak just had the Viewliner I's in inventory - all 50 production sleepers, Amtrak literally was running all of them in service, and using the two prototype Viewliner Sleepers as backups. Not saying this was the best either, but its one extreme to the other. 

scraphauler Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> gbmott Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Note the op said there were four sleepers plus
> > diner.
> > Gordon
>
> Original post says 4 Amfleet, Diner, 4 Viewliner,
> Bag.  Since it's a 10 car train, I SUSPECT what
> original poster saw was 4 Amfleet, Amfleet Cafe
> that he called dinner, and the 4 Viwliners were 1
> diner and 3 sleeper.  AKA the normal consist.  
>
> The Star runs a 9 car consist - 4 coach, cafe,
> diner, 2 sleep, bag.   Rumors swirl that it gets
> 2 more sleepers when it combines with the Capital
> and is part of reason Cresent is loosing a
> sleeper. 
>
> Back to original posters reliability concerns.
>  This just goes to further reinforce the
> difference of "East of Harrisburg" vs the rest of
> the country.   Is Amtrak perfect on the east
> coast?  Heavens no!  But south of DC in the
> Eastern Seabord states you see states of Virginia
> and North Carolina are expanding routes and adding
> frequencies, and the Northeast / Southeast
> corridor hosts multiple frequencies.  As a
> result, it is a fairly reliable true option for
> travel...as long as you are staying within a
> couple hundred miles of the Atlantic Coast.