Passenger Trains > Amtrak lengthens trains & adds staff ahead of Thanksgiving

I just saw this on line. Does Amtrak really have any cars to add to the existing consists?



Amtrak lengthens trains and adds staff ahead of Thanksgiving

Jerry Martin
Los Angeles, CA
Central Coast Railroad Festival

Note that the article specifically concerns the Pacific Surfliner service which is administered and controlled by LOSSAN, with Amtrak doing as they are told.

GenePoon Wrote:
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> Note that the article specifically concerns the
> Pacific Surfliner service which is administered
> and controlled by LOSSAN, with Amtrak doing as
> they are told.

Which they do every year at this time, as they should.  Yawn.

-John

The current Surfliner schedule requires 8 trainsets. (3 stored overnight at San Diego, 3 at Los Angeles, 1 at Goleta, and 1 at San Luis Obispo). That would mean 40 non-cab passenger cars. The most recent business plan says they have 51 non-cab passenger cars. (https://www.octa.net/pdf/LOSSAN_Business_Plan_FY_24-25-FY_25-26.pdf at p. 63.) (There may be more now, as the bi-levels from the San Joaquins get replaced by Venture cars and are going to be redistributed.) Cars are regularly rotated out for maintenance. If they stop maintenance for a couple weeks, they have the cars to add one to each train.

And before Airline Boy Amtrak adjusted all their trains for Thanksgiving!

Posted from Android

Article's attibuting credit for doing so should be written something like "LOSSAN-Sponsored Amtrak train..."

GP25 Wrote:
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> I just saw this on line. Does Amtrak really have
> any cars to add to the existing consists?
> Amtrak lengthens trains and adds staff ahead of
> Thanksgiving
In the past, here in the East, Amtrak leases MARC Train Commuter Cars for the Thanksgiving Travel Season.  Also, to be honest, give or take, Amtrak does have a few spare cars parked here and there that they can add to trains.  It's just a matter of their management wanting to increase capacity, but with people like Gardner and his cronies, they do not want to do anything to hurt their bonuses each year.  They don't really understand "Customers First."
John in White Marsh, Maryland

Same BS about adding trains and cars was repeated yesterday on CBS2 Chicago.
I think they are all reading from the same press release.
 

Well, let's see if it actually happens. Then we can decide - based on evidence - whether it really is just BS. Or not. Imagine that.

MC

Years ago, you could stand on the platform at MetroPark NJ and watch a streetcar like parade of MARC, Septa, NJ Transit leasers, and Amtrak extra trains on Thanksgiving eve.

Everything with wheels was out, earning revenue.

Posted from Android

There certainly aren't any cars or trains being added in Seattle, in fact we're short one Talgo.  And those cars released from the Capitol Limited seem to have just disappeared. I thought we'd have the second Seattle coach back on the Empire Builder for thanksgiving.  By the way, we're back to Amtrak not being mentioned at all in Seattle-area media in connection with holiday travel, as far as I can tell.  Holiday travel news stories here are basically airport reports with passing mention of highways (even though by far most people drive and we have tricky mountain passes), though some outlets seem to have separate highway and airport reports.  There's nothing about trains or buses that I've been able to find.  Washington state ferries also make Thanksgiving travel news,  but they have to.  Ferries really are a big deal out here.

The only additional trains I can find are NY-WAS Acela 2114 and 2125 today and tomorrow.  Also, tomorrow there will be some normal Friday only trains that operate.
Could not fnd any extra trains Thanksgiving or Sunday Dec. 1.
Andy

If passengers pay for Amtrak tickets, then they want to be riding in Amtrak equipment, not rolling stock from a commuter railroad. As railfans, we all appreciated watching those Septa Comet Sets, MARC Sumitomo Cars, and NJT Arrow III sets around Philadelphia. Well those days are over. Hopefully someday, Amtrak will have enough rolling stock to run extra trains around Thanksgiving plus use the rolling stock to regularly scheduled trains. NJT Arrow III sets will never turn a wheel ever again out of Morrisville. Anyway, the Arrow IIIs are running on borrowed time and are expected to be replaced by the Multilevel III MUs in the next three plus years.

The trans /dorm was back on the Sunset Limited #2 today. I hope it stays.
 

Passfanatic Wrote:
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> If passengers pay for Amtrak tickets, then they
> want to be riding in Amtrak equipment, not rolling
> stock from a commuter railroad. As railfans, we
> all appreciated watching those Septa Comet Sets,
> MARC Sumitomo Cars, and NJT Arrow III sets around
> Philadelphia. Well those days are over. Hopefully
> someday, Amtrak will have enough rolling stock to
> run extra trains around Thanksgiving plus use the
> rolling stock to regularly scheduled trains. NJT
> Arrow III sets will never turn a wheel ever again
> out of Morrisville. Anyway, the Arrow IIIs are
> running on borrowed time and are expected to be
> replaced by the Multilevel III MUs in the next
> three plus years.

Hope the Arrows are put to their rest.  I don't believe any late 1960s Arrow 1 units are still in use, but the  Arrow 3 cars are not a lot newer.

My recollection is the "holiday extra" trains with commuter equipment often cost a few dollars less in fares than conventional Amtrak equipment. And some regionals / longer distance trains were Receive only for the holiday period only until Alexandria

Yes those Amtrak holiday extras that used leased commuter rail equipment were a little cheaper than the runs that were guaranteed to have Amtrak equipment. The Amtrak holiday extras that had the Arrow IIIs assigned to them-those passengers still paid a lot for a seat that is meant to be used for riding up to 80 something miles. A big drawback of the Arrow IIIs is that they have mainly been limited to a top speed of 80 mph and that's an issue for the corridor since Amtrak trains run in the triple digits along the south end of the route.

Well, maybe they could have lengthened trains by deferring maintenance, like I suggested below. But it doesn't look like that's what they did on the Surfliner.

Looking at the Fullerton rail cam today, I saw a hodgepodge of equipment. Trains with 6, 7, or 8 bi-levels, including at least one with two cab cars at the end. And there was a train running with 7 single-level Comet cars and an Amtrak California cabbage car at the end. Not sure why there was such a variety of train lengths. Might be harder to change cars for trains that overnight away from Los Angeles? And I think San Diego has trouble storing longer overnight?

nrubin Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The current Surfliner schedule requires 8
> trainsets. (3 stored overnight at San Diego, 3 at
> Los Angeles, 1 at Goleta, and 1 at San Luis
> Obispo). That would mean 40 non-cab passenger
> cars. The most recent business plan says they have
> 51 non-cab passenger cars.
> (https://www.octa.net/pdf/LOSSAN_Business_Plan_FY_
> 24-25-FY_25-26.pdf at p. 63.) (There may be more
> now, as the bi-levels from the San Joaquins get
> replaced by Venture cars and are going to be
> redistributed.) Cars are regularly rotated out
> for maintenance. If they stop maintenance for a
> couple weeks, they have the cars to add one to
> each train.