Passenger Trains > Amtrak capacity for summer

There is an article on Trains.com about the matter.  Apparenlty Amtrak is beefing up some consists for the summer, which is welcome.  However, the article noted that, somehow, Amtrak cannot scrounge up two Viewliner sleepers and diners for the Cardinal.  I call BS on that.  They have the equipment, but not the will.  This company is a public service, particulary for parts of southern WV, where Amtrak is the only public transportation option.

The company is a joke and should be embarrassed.  But they know no shame.  

https://www.trains.com/pro/passenger/intercity/amtrak-adds-train-capacity-for-spring-and-summer/



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/09/26 16:57 by Chessie1963.

How many V1 and V2 sleepers and dining cars are currently stored or out of service?

I don't know why Amtrak is not putting more sidelined Viewliner sleepers back into service. I've heard of a lot of them deadheading around. They should all, or almost all, be back on the road now, if for no other reason than to cover Amtrak's growing need to have extra trainsets at major terminals to mitigage increasing instances of late-arriving inbound equipment.

From what I can discern, there must be about 13 diners in storage.  Only four trains have them in operation , and figuring 3 trainsets for each, that leaves 13 in storage.  I could be wrong on the three trainsets.  If so, please correct me.  The Floridan may be more trainsets.  I have not done the math.

As for sleepers, it appears that 15-20+ are in storage or out of service.  There are 75 of them.  The Floridan and Meteor have three each, as does the Lake Shore.  Cardinal has just one, plus a baggage dorm.  I THINK the Cresent has two.  So there are a lot of the sidelined as well.

The cars are there.  The will to get them back out on the road is not.

Lackawanna484 Wrote:
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> How many V1 and V2 sleepers and dining cars are
> currently stored or out of service?

I should add that Boston section of the Lake shore will continue to be just three cars until summer, whatever that means.  So where are the LD Amfleet coaches?  Those have not been moved to trains like the Downeaster.  Where are they??

I believe the Silver Meteor requires three trainsets (on a really tight rotation) and the Floridian requires five. The Lakeshore Limited's New York and Boston sections each need three trainsets and the Crescent takes four. The Cardinal requires two trainsets.  With the Silver Meteor and Floridian trainsets using three sleepers each, that adds up to 24 sleepers. Meanwhile, the Lakeshore New York and Boston sections combined use nine sleepers altogether and the Crescent, with four trainsets, uses eight sleepers (plus the baggage-dorm, of course), and the Cardinal's two trainsets have been using one sleeper each for some time (again plus baggage dorm).  So I believe that's 43 of 75 existing Viewliner sleepers in service, 48 if you figure one active spare each in Chicago, Boston, New York New Orleans and Miami. Let's then figure ten percent of the 75 sleepers out of service for required maintenance, overhauls or wreck repairs and you then have about 58 of 75 sleepers doing something, leaving 17 sleepers unaccounted for.  So it should be easily possible to find a second sleeper for the two Cardinal trainsets (or go to a daily Cardinal with two sleepers, for that matter).  The lack of serviceable sleepers sounds like a lack of will at Amtrak to me.  I believe the Viewliner diner supply is tighter but last I checked, On-Track-On-Line listed at least two diners just sitting in storage along with the original prototype. There's your Cardinal diner.  As for Amfleet II coaches, I do believe all that are available for service are in service, though 16 are on the Pennsylvanian and Palmetto and four or five are on the Mardi Gras trains, which probably should have corridor Amfleets to add capacity.  Unfortunately the loss of the Horizons ended any chance of that even if you do think Amtrak is keeping Northeast Regionals too long to fit the resulting nationwide coach shortage.  Corrections are welcome if I've missed anything here.

I take a look at Amtrak's recruiting want ads regularly.  Other than a single Auto-Train car attendant ad, I don't recall seeing anyhting for on board service in a very long time.

I wonder if Amtrak is (intentionally?) short of OBS staff, so it is hamstrung on adding additional sleepers, diners, etc.

The ONLY Amfleet II cars in service in New England operate on the Boston section of the Lake Shore Limited .

CARDINAL  needs  te  coach  back  that  went  to  the  Northwest!!

Does anyone here, know how many Amfleet IIs are in service, and what not?

Jerry Martin
Los Angeles, CA
Central Coast Railroad Festival

GP25 - check out " On Track On Line " , updated every month.

Chessie1963 Wrote:
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> I should add that Boston section of the Lake shore
> will continue to be just three cars until summer,
> whatever that means.  So where are the LD Amfleet
> coaches?  Those have not been moved to trains
> like the Downeaster.  Where are they??

Mardi Gras has 4 of them. So no 2nd coach on the Boston section (until summer) and no 3rd coach on the Cardinal. Pennsylvanian had 8 of them; pre-pandemic, it has 6. That's 7 right there. More cases of Amtrak poaching the LD network, increasing their  operating deficit, for state corridors.

Only thing positive is the Adirondack lost its Amfleet-2 coaches for a 5th set of the Silver Star, now called the Floridian. 

So long as the Borealis has 6 Superliner coaches, no 2nd coach on the Seatte section of the Empire Builder. 

There are 46 of 75 Viewliners in service, while Amtrak said to an "advocacy" group somewhere in the east that they do not have enough for an overnight BOS-WAS sleeper. That is an 63% shop margin. Goes to show they take the advocacy community to be as lazy and stupid as they are, probably stereotyping them as RPA/NARP pom-pom girls. But the CAF Viewliners are in fact junk with all too many lacking hot water, which Amtrak is fine with, with no enforcement of reliability from the manufacturer.

Thank you, Joe, for that post.  The bottom line is there IS enough equipment to add to the Cardinal, but Amtrak does not want to do that, and I have to wonder why.  It makes no sense.  The space will sell, no doubt about it.  

I find it all very frustrating.

https://www.trains.com/pro/passenger/intercity/amtrak-adds-train-capacity-for-spring-and-summer/

From the article:

"However, the railroad still contends it can’t come up with two Viewliner sleeping cars and two Viewliner diners to augment the triweekly Cardinal, its perpetually sold-out New York-Washington-Chicago train...but a shortage of single-level Amfleet II coaches means that the Lake Shore Limited’s Boston section won’t get a second coach until summer."

You've GOT to be kidding on THIS explanation for the Cardinal!!!!! We all know there is ample inventory ON THE BOOKS for Viewliner Sleepers AND Viewliner Diners for the Cardinal - it's just that Amtrak does not want to spend the time and money to get the Viewliner Sleepers (I and II) along with ALL the Viewliner II and prototype I Diners in full operable condition. I'm not going over the numbers again, but this is insane to not meet capacity and have a full SECOND Viewliner Sleeper on the Cardinal as well as  Viewliner Diner - even if it functions as a sleeper lounge and all food service originates from the Amfleet II Diner Lite.

The Viewliner Bagg-Dorm they have on the Cardinal - that should be on a train like the Silver Meteor to augment revenue space. Have four Viewliner Bagg-Dorms on the Crescent, and four assigned to the Silver Meteor. That leaves TWO in spare condition out of NYC. That's PLENTY! Presently there are FOUR Viewliner Bagg-Dorms sitting in reserve status. These are brand new valuable assets for Amtrak that can house both onboard staff and augment sleeper revenue with their 9 roomettes - after stupidly losing space with the Viewliner II Sleeper. Oops! Where were those linen closets supposed to go? Oh, we don't have space - well, better use REVENUE roomette #11 for that. They should put it on the upper bunk of the sleeper car attendants room - but NO! Lets lose more revenue space!!!

With the present Next Gen and Legacy Acela Express shortages going on - an overnight sleeper option for the NEC would be IDEAL!!!! But that Night Owl's not coming back! 

I am SO tired of hearing the excuses of why all 75 Viewliner I and Viewliner II Sleepers can't be fully operational, let alone all 26 Viewliner II Diners and the beautifully restored Viewliner I prototype. Amtrak should be able to put EVERY one of these Viewliner types in operation with a 15% reserve/shop ratio. Beech Grove does some amazing work - like with the refurbished business car line made up of former prototype Viewliner I Sleepers from the 1980s (two of them now) and even two Heritage Sleepers (from pre-1971). I am so tired of hearing - "we don't have a parts supply" to keep the cars going. But yet somehow Amfleets, older than Viewliners, are kept in service, and these ancient Amtrak yet newly refurbished business fleet cars from pre-1987 can be....... Just absolutely fascinating. Who cares if the Viewliner II's can't get hot water! Take a cold shower. Yes, the bathrooms are a problem - yet I don't get it. They have the MOST simplest plumbing systems of all the Amtrak cars as only a few toilets are offered within the cars, unlike Superliners and Viewliner I Sleepers etc. 

Amtrak can't tack an Amfleet I Business coach behind the single Boston coach on the Lake Shore Limited's consist. Yes, they'd need three in total for each Lake Shore consist. Three, only THREE business class cars would be needed from the NEC pool. Or substitute a business/cafe car. That would at least give some coach capacity and perhaps an amenity of additional table space - or emergent seating space that could be used by passengers before connecting with the New York section at Albany. 

.......what's the status of the Horizon coaches that could free up cars??? They are all junk??? Alstom can't restore at least 12 of them? Or even make 12 of them into LD based Horizon coaches as had happened once before when they were on trains like the Three Rivers and Pennsylvanian?

........where are the commuter coaches and locomotives that Amtrak is leasing from the non-operating North Star Minnesota commuter rail service? Operate these on the Hiawatha or New Haven to Springfield routes - shortest routes in the Amtrak system. 

.........SEPTA and LIRR/NY MTA can somehow NOW lease commuter coaches knowing they will be in shortage this year? Where's Amtrak been in their shortage of coaches and equipment leasing? They've had a shortage for a LONGER period of time. 

Poor planning at passenger expense.....yet yielding financial lease cost savings for Amtrak..........

However, I will give credit where credit is due - I APPLAUD Amtrak for restoring capacity to LD trains earlier than I had expected - in March and then again after the Winter Express train comes to an end.....But they need to do better to free-up what are truly LD equipment (in storage, in reserve, subbing in corridor service) for the LD train sets. If Amtrak can't provide adequate capacity for the trains they are supposed to operate - should they really be operating a seasonal Ski Train with Superliner equipment? Think outside the box and get the blinders off, Amtrak equipment/capacity planning folks! 

They could extend the Cardinal cars through to Boston appending it to the rear of a Regional train and get LD coaches, sleeper, and checked baggage overnight on the NEC that way and avoid freezing up or otherwise being cannabalized in Sunnyside yard for the duration. 

Arrive Boston Thu, Sat, Mon AM, Depart on Sat, Tue, Thu PM.

No additional equipmnent or train miles.  They can stock Boston Mechanical with Viewliner parts.

But it requires an IQ over 100 to think of that as well as divorce from victimhood and self-pity of Church of Amtrak.  



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 03/10/26 05:18 by joemvcnj.

Instead of yelling at clouds has anyone here asked their contacts at Amtrak why the sleeping cars are being held out of service? There's probably a reason beyond spite or forgetting they exist. For example is Amtrak having some sort of contract dispute with CAF? 

Lackawanna484 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I take a look at Amtrak's recruiting want ads
> regularly.  Other than a single Auto-Train car
> attendant ad, I don't recall seeing anyhting for
> on board service in a very long time.
>
> I wonder if Amtrak is (intentionally?) short of
> OBS staff, so it is hamstrung on adding additional
> sleepers, diners, etc.

They promote from the pool of NEC on-route cleaners. If you're ever wondering why the on-route cleaners are A) necessary and B) making amouncements on the PA system its because its a soft tryout for Attendant positions. Friend of mine recently switched from cleaner to extra board sleeping car attendant on the Cardinal / LSL pool. 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/10/26 08:59 by mbrotzman.

mbrotzman Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Lackawanna484 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I take a look at Amtrak's recruiting want ads
> > regularly.  Other than a single Auto-Train car
> > attendant ad, I don't recall seeing anyhting
> for
> > on board service in a very long time.
> >
> > I wonder if Amtrak is (intentionally?) short of
> > OBS staff, so it is hamstrung on adding
> additional
> > sleepers, diners, etc.
>
> They promote from the pool of NEC on-route
> cleaners. If you're ever wondering why the
> on-route cleaners are A) necessary and B) making
> amouncements on the PA system its because its a
> soft tryout for Attendant positions. Friend of
> mine recently switched from cleaner to extra board
> sleeping car attendant on the Cardinal / LSL
> pool. 

Thanks for that info.  I rarely see ads for on-route cleaners.  I wonder if they use a different channel than the website for recruiting.

NPRocky Wrote:
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> I don't know why Amtrak is not putting more
> sidelined Viewliner sleepers back into service.

Because it costs money. You have to hire another attendant. This all impacts bonuses.

Change the incentives so that growing revenue is one of the metrics, and none of those cars would sit idle.

Years ago it was proposed to have the Boston section of the Lake Shore Ltd , the Night  Owl and the Cardinal share the same equipment ,, allow the Cardinal to go daily  (Wash- Chicago /not New York ) , and improve the equipment on the Night Owl and Boston section of the Lake Shore Ltd. .  Need to change some times ; 66 to 449 , 448 to 67  , 50 to 66 don't work with the present schedules . Depending on the times will dictate the amount of equipment  called for with this proposal , as mentioned at the beginning of this post this was talked about years ago . The Sunset Ltd. and the Cardinal are still tri-weekly.

Has anyone answered the question of "where are the 'missing' Viewliner sleepers?"