Silly question: What does each of these cars cost?
A Baggage car? A Diner? A Sleeper?
Just idly wondering.
The order was for 130 cars at $298 million, so all we know is
$2.3 million per, round number.
No doubt a diner costs the most, with plumbing, refrigeration
and other kitchen equipment, extra a/c and ventilation, etc.
No doubt baggage cars cost the least. Sleepers in between.
Your guess.
My wild guess, say, baggage cars $2 million each, diners $3
million each, so each diner costs $1 million more than a bag car.
If bag cars cost only $1.8 million, and diners cost $3.3 million,
then the extra cost of a diner could be $1.5 million.
The speculation is that buying more baggage cars sooner
and postponing the first diners for a few months could push
a few million (like $15 or $20 million) in costs into a different,
less stressed period for the budget.
Traditionally Amtrak's revenue plunges during January and
February, and recovers in the spring.
So lessee. Final payments on 55 bag cars, beginning say,
January 2015 and at a rate of 1 a week, continuing 55 weeks
would have meant higher payments for diners starting when
Amtrak is most pinched, ouch, roughly February 2016.
Changing the order from 25 bag/dorms to 10 and adding 15
more bag cars would mean CAF will be making baggage cars
for another 15 weeks. In that case, the final payments for
the more costly diners would come due summer of 2016,
not in the pits of winter.
Of course, there are several other perfectly plausible reasons
to adjust the order. If Amtrak can go ahead with the option order,
we'll soon forget the breakdown of the original order and it
won't matter at all.
