Whereas what you say is true enough for coffee shop chatter, it isn't, entirely. First, the Superliner I's have already gone through major refurbishment. Second, they were presumably built (then refurbished) to much higher FRA requirements than the pre-Amtrak generation of passenger railcars. And finally, despite the political climate, Amtrak has been able to buy 40 new sleepers, 40 new diners, and 40 new baggage cars - because they are replacing cars that are truly falling apart.
Amtrak is not about to vanish. Nor is intercity passenger rail. With the states now providing financial support to all the state corridor services, those services are more protected against funding cuts at the federal level. Of the state supported trains, only the 4 day a week Hoosier State faces the prospect of getting dropped. All the other state corridor services appear to be on solid ground at this point, even though Amtrak may lose some of them to other private operators. The NEC is not about to shut down (well, provided the Hudson River tunnels don't have to close for an emergency extended rebuild).
Interesting re-write of history to make a point eh?
BTW, what 40 Diner, 40 Sleepers and 40 Baggage cars are you talking about? The original numbers are 25 each Diner, Sleeper, Bag-Dorm, not 40. According to the original order hey could become 40 if they find the money to exercise the options. In addition there are 55 more Baggage cars which could become 80 if options are exercised to the fullest.
I wish I could share that enthusiasm. A very few elections go the wrong way and you'll see the whole thing come crashing down.
Rewrite? Nay - it's a matter of interpretation. But, yes, Amtrak got a huge influx of money (I didn't say it was theirs) and they spent it poorly. It was a colossal waste of taxpayer money to save an hour and 20 minutes between WAS and BOS. And much of that time savings is simply from scheduling as the equipment itself improves the time by perhaps only saves 20 minutes. As for the 40/40/40 - my intent was in include the options, as we can expect them to most likely be exercised. And, perhaps or, we'll see a full refurbishment of the Viewliner I's in the meantime.
And of course we will ignore the fact that revenues resulting from said colossal waste is now funding a third of the operating cost of LD trains, since it is an inconvenient truth that does not align with our world view.
Strawman set up,nicely and knocked down efficiently as expected
Who said anything about it being worse than at any time before? But that does not make it good.
There's still the Auto-Train.
That would certainly make sense to change the CL and CONO. I would really miss our Superliner Cap Ltd but if the Cap got some of the new cars with the bathrooms down the hall, it would make it more tolerable for those of us who travel in pairs on the train.
Of course, if we can gain enough points to ride in bedrooms, then the point would be moot.
Jim they are only big losers on an individual fare or costs per rider basis. Overall their costs are less. The biggest losers are the CZ, EB, CS and SWC
I'm glad they refurbished the Superliner I's several years ago, they did a nice job with them. But what about the rest of the fleet? The Superliner II's look pretty tired for the most part, the two Viewliner sleepers I've been in feature lots of scraped paint and rattles, and the early Amfleet cars frequently offer broken down toilets (ditto for the Superliner II's.). I've seen Superliner observation cars where the floor in the bottom area dates to the car's construction and is patched with duct tape.
I have to agree with this. Even if there was only enough Canadian money for 6 car Acelas (including the Bistro Cafe), they should have overbuilt the maintenence facilities larger to figure that maybe in the future there might be longer trains. And speaking of the Cafe, the seating is hideous, and the beer on tap thing causing spills is something that ought to have revealed itself long ago. Liquids spill because of gravity, so you either provide for it, or install larger drain traps.
I doubt that anyone here disagrees with you, but it's all pie in the sky dreaming until they get money to do it. And by "it" I mean replace the ENTIRE fleet, because doing it piecemeal like the Viewliners (not to say that's a bad program) will just keep up with demand increases, but it's not going to give enough breathing room to do complete rebuilds of the other rolling stock. Till then, whenever "then" is, the best Amtrak can do is muddle along with what they have
