Amtrak California's Comet Cars (removed from regular service)

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rickycourtney

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Browsing through the board packet for today's San Joaquin Joint Powers Authority meeting and I found some really interesting information in the minutes from the last board meeting...

Caltrans has directed Amtrak to remove the Comet Cars from regular service. [Director of Operations, Brian Schmidt] said, however, that removing them from service and not having them operate at all are two different things. Mr. Schmidt said that the State is not looking to “mothball” the Comet Cars trainsets. He said that they would be using them for high-ridership periods, and as emergency equipment (if bi-level trainset couldn’t go out they could use the Comet Car trainset as a replacement), he said also when they had a lot of overhauls a Comet Car trainset might be utilized. Vice Chair Perea asked “Everywhere? Surfliners? Capitols?” Mr. Schmidt replied “Everywhere”.

Mr. Schmidt said that now the Comet Cars are part of the Northern California fleet, but in the future they would also be used down south. He said that if a Capitol Corridor train went out of service, then a Comet Car trainset would be used to replace that train. Mr. Schmidt said there is also discussion of one of the Comet Car trainsets going to the Surfliners to replace a single-level Horizon Car trainset which is being leased from Amtrak. He said that this could result in a cost savings for the State. He said that there are a lot of discussions going on about how best to utilize the Comet Cars to best serve the State. Mr. Schmidt reiterated that the Comet Cars would go to whichever service needed equipment.
Very interesting that the Comet cars are coming off of regular service on the San Joaquin and equally interesting that they could be seen on more routes and could be used to replace the single-level Pacific Surfliner trainset.

For background... the San Joaquin is Amtrak's fifth-busiest service, carrying a record 1.2 million passengers in FY2013 and ridership has been growing at a pace any route would be envious of (+6.6% in FY2013, +7.2 in FY2012, +9.2 in FY2011, +13.2 in FY2010).

The Comet cars were added to the San Joaquin in October 2013 (the start of FY2014) with the hope that they would help increase ridership on the line by adding more available seats, but FY2014 was the first time in several years that ridership stagnated (down 1.3% to a still a respectable 1,188,228 passengers). I'm not saying that the two are directly connected, but the timing is very interesting.

I have mixed feelings about the Comet cars. Beech Grove did a great job overhauling them, they are much nicer than the Amtrak owned Horizon cars and the seats are more comfortable than the bi-level cars, but they are a drag compared to the bi-level fleet California passengers are accustomed to. Like most high-level cars used with low-level platforms, the steps are steep and the doorways are narrow. They also lack on-board electric wheelchair lifts and passenger-accessable bike racks.
 
Reaction on Twitter by Surfliner regulars when it was brought up the other week was highly in favor of having it replace the current Horizon/Amfleet set.
 
Looks like Amtrak will be getting some Horizon Cars back soon! Question is where will they be utilized?

Having just ridden the various routes in California during the Gathering, I can say that I liked the Comets but not the Horizons, which in most peoples opinions are the worst cars Amtrak uses, closely followed by the Diner Lites and the Cafe/Lounge cars used in the East!
 
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That is a shame. I had a chance to ride them this October and found them to be very nice. Being from NJ I was in almost disbelief that they could transform the cars from my youth with hideous orange bench seating into something that felt very much like an Amfleet 1
 
I doubt if Amtrak will be getting these cars. It looks like California will be using them as a reserve fleet for busy periods, maintenance substitutions, route expansion.
 
I doubt if Amtrak will be getting these cars. It looks like California will be using them as a reserve fleet for busy periods, maintenance substitutions, route expansion.
You're right, Amtrak won't get the California-owned Comet cars, but there was never any discussion about that.
Amtrak might get their horizon cars, currently being leased for the Pacific Surfliner, returned back to them sooner than expected.

That is a shame. I had a chance to ride them this October and found them to be very nice. Being from NJ I was in almost disbelief that they could transform the cars from my youth with hideous orange bench seating into something that felt very much like an Amfleet 1
Agreed. Beech Grove did a great job refurbishing them, but they've been extremely unpopular with most passengers on the San Joaquin (who've probably never been on an Amfleet car).
 
The Comets are actually still in service (as of last week) but I expect them to be pulled any day now. I don't think many people dislike the Comets, except for conductors manually lifting wheelchairs, but they don't feel quite as nice or modern of an experience to the average traveler. Some screws are starting to make their way out of the ceiling and moving between cars is noisy and dark. Some pictures from last Friday Jan 16th, train 717:

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For comparison here is the top level of a California Car. More modern look, not quite as nice of seats, but still not bad. The Comets seats are nothing to write home about either. A big perk of the CA Cars is powered doors between cars and a quieter ride.

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For comparison here is the top level of a California Car. More modern look, not quite as nice of seats, but still not bad. The Comets seats are nothing to write home about either.
Well at least the seats in the Comet cars actually RECLINE! Really short sighted decision from California. Non-reclining seats aren't bad for shorter rides like the southern half of the Pacific Surfliner or the Capitol Corridor... but its

A big perk of the CA Cars is powered doors between cars and a quieter ride.
Actually the big, big benefit to the California cars is that each car has two sets of powered double doors. That allows passengers to board and disembark a lot faster. Powered doors between cars and a quieter ride is just that... an added "perk."
 
For comparison here is the top level of a California Car. More modern look, not quite as nice of seats, but still not bad. The Comets seats are nothing to write home about either.
Well at least the seats in the Comet cars actually RECLINE! Really short sighted decision from California. Non-reclining seats aren't bad for shorter rides like the southern half of the Pacific Surfliner or the Capitol Corridor... but its

A big perk of the CA Cars is powered doors between cars and a quieter ride.
Actually the big, big benefit to the California cars is that each car has two sets of powered double doors. That allows passengers to board and disembark a lot faster. Powered doors between cars and a quieter ride is just that... an added "perk."
When I reclined the seat in the Comet, it pushed my seat cushion forward. I figured my seat was broken so I moved and a different seat did the same thing. It really wasn't all that comfortable to recline.

As for the electric double doors on the CA Cars - you're right, that's the best feature. I was just noticing some other perks from a passenger perspective.
 
That interior of the comet cars looks nicer than the amfleets currently running up and down the corridor back East. At least those cars have curtains!
 
The "classic" railroad style open overhead parcel racks look like an antique....

The advantage is you can 'keep an eye' on your belonging's, but on the other hand, things can 'leak' down upon you..... ;)
 
The "classic" railroad style open overhead parcel racks look like an antique....

The advantage is you can 'keep an eye' on your belonging's, but on the other hand, things can 'leak' down upon you..... ;)
I typically prefer them open like that, except if something was to leak on me of course.
Those open racks are much better than the airline style closed ones on the CA cars. They are pretty much useless unless your putting something small up there. Can't fit a small roller in those at all. Last year, when we took the San Joaquin, the luggage racks below were spilling out all over the place due to the overhead bin door size. If they can find a few bucks, first thing they could do to make peoples life easier is to replace the bins on the CA cars.

P1000529 by seat38a, on Flickr
 
The "classic" railroad style open overhead parcel racks look like an antique....

The advantage is you can 'keep an eye' on your belonging's, but on the other hand, things can 'leak' down upon you..... ;)
I typically prefer them open like that, except if something was to leak on me of course.
Those open racks are much better than the airline style closed ones on the CA cars. They are pretty much useless unless your putting something small up there. Can't fit a small roller in those at all. Last year, when we took the San Joaquin, the luggage racks below were spilling out all over the place due to the overhead bin door size. If they can find a few bucks, first thing they could do to make peoples life easier is to replace the bins on the CA cars.
P1000529 by seat38a, on Flickr
The doors make for a very clean look, but you're right, the opening is so small it makes the overhead bins useless. It would also be nice if they replaced the fixed seats with reclining ones.
My hope is that once the new cars are in service they can refurbish the old old California cars.
 
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So how many Horizon Cars does the Surfliner use that Amtrak wants back? The only one that I have seen is the cafe / business class combo being used on the Amfleet consist.

IMG_0972 by seat38a, on Flickr
My guess is Amtrak wants none of them back. Amtrak has more Horizon cars than they need and they are making money renting them to California.
The main issue is that California would like to stop paying equipment lease payments to Amtrak.

But as long as these comet cars are in use, California will need to continue to lease 2 NPCUs (cabbage cars) and 2 Horizon dinettes, but considering both had been in mothballs for nearly a decade, I doubt Amtrak needs them back anytime soon.
 
Is it just me, or are the wheels on that car really, really small?
No, it's not just you. Caught my eye too.
Yeah....they almost look like "shop trucks" used to move cars around rebuild shops....
I believe the wheel diameter on the old comet trucks is 36 inches? Correct me if I'm wrong on that, but I think nowadays, wheel diameter is closer to the 40-45 inch range.
 
You know, it's too bad that they didn't develop a transition car for the California cars. If they had one you could run the Comets intertwined with the bi-levels as extra capacity. You'd also avoid the wheelchair lift issue since those passengers could be accommodated in the bi-level cars.

I guess that would only work for the Capitol Corridor/San Joaquin service though since the Pacific Surfliners end car is Business Class...
 
Does anybody know which southbound train the comet consist is running on? I'd like to catch a ride on them Monday.
 
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