[Phila 30th St]

I rode the Metrolink for my first time last weekend (Burbank Airport to LA Union Station) and have a question.

I noticed that a few trains had a "Frontrunner" singledecker car from the Utah Transit Authority and there were several sets of NJ Transit cars in rail yards. Did Metrolink purchase these for use on their lines? If yes, why haven't they been rebranded with their logo and name?

Thank you.

[AlanB]

The answer requires multiple parts.

First, Frontrunner purchased some old NJT Comets for their purposes. They don't however currently need all the cars that they brought, so Metrolink is leasing some Front Runner cars for now since they do need more cars than they currently have available. For this reason, Metrolink cannot rebrand those cars.

Additionally Metrolink itself has since purchased some old NJT Comets. I'm not sure just where they are in terms of refurbishing those cars and getting them into service. I assume that they will indeed rebrand those cars though while they're fixing them up.

[amtrakwolverine]

how come when a railroad leases railcars from another company they can't put there name on them. company's do it all the time with semi trucks.

[AlanB]

It depends on the terms of the lease. In this case, I'm guessing that LA only has a short term lease, 2 to 3 years at most. By then I believe Front Runner will have finished the southern extension of the line and will want its cars back. The cost and effort of repainting those cars probably wasn't worth Metrolink's money for such a short term lease.

[gswager]

Metrolink already ordered new cabs and cars few years ago (about a year after the worst accident). It is supposedly to arrive this year or next year. It takes several years for the manufacturer to make.

[Green Maned Lion]

That doesn't explain their buying Comet Is. Those Comet I cars have a lot of life left in them. NJT even thought so, but it wasn't worth totally re-building them to high-level platform standards.

I'm interested, though. Californians and Utah people probably aren't used to (or comfortable with) 2-and-3 seating. I mean us NYMA people are more comfortable with being in close quarters than most Americans and we don't particularly like them. I'd imagine Front Runner and Metrolink plan on replacing them with 2-and-2?

[GG-1]

Green Maned Lion, on Tue, Oct 20, 2009, 07:45 PM, said:

That doesn't explain their buying Comet Is. Those Comet I cars have a lot of life left in them. NJT even thought so, but it wasn't worth totally re-building them to high-level platform standards.

I'm interested, though. Californians and Utah people probably aren't used to (or comfortable with) 2-and-3 seating. I mean us NYMA people are more comfortable with being in close quarters than most Americans and we don't particularly like them. I'd imagine Front Runner and Metrolink plan on replacing them with 2-and-2?

Aloha

I found them pleasant when my Granddaughter Evan and I rode in one during the OTOL Fest. She and I were to only 2 who did last July as we went from Fullerton, near her house, to LAUS.

[battalion51]

amtrakwolverine, on Tue, Oct 20, 2009, 08:33 PM, said:

how come when a railroad leases railcars from another company they can't put there name on them. company's do it all the time with semi trucks.

As Alan said it depends on the terms of the lease. When VRE had a Sounder set for a few years the cars got VRE numbers, logos, etc. I don't know what the deal is with the Sounder cars Metrolink has right now. But believe it or not, not everyone notices a paint job like we do. So many of the people that ride the trains just want to get from Point A to Point B safely and quickly. The cars could say Metrolink, VRE, Tri-Rail, FrontRunner, or whatever and no one is likely to notice. Besides, variety is the spice in life.

[AlanB]

battalion51, on Wed, Oct 21, 2009, 03:12 AM, said:

So many of the people that ride the trains just want to get from Point A to Point B safely and quickly. The cars could say Metrolink, VRE, Tri-Rail, FrontRunner, or whatever and no one is likely to notice.

Ain't that the truth. Up here in the NYC area some people don't even pay attention to anything about the train. A train pulls up and opens the doors, they'll get on it. Even if they wanted an Amtrak train and it happens to be an NJT train or vice versa.