sttom
OBS Chief
- Joined
- Jan 23, 2019
- Messages
- 824
This is a topic that came up in the Amfleet replacement tab, but I think it is something that should get talked about on its own. One idea that I brought up is that some the existing Amfleets should be refurbished into a mix of open sections and an adapted version of intercontinental business class from airlines. I say this because everyone is wanting a lower tier sleeper back. As much as some people would want slumber coaches back, I am not sure if it would even be possible given that punching windows into an existing car body might not be advised. So something else would have to be adapted to fit the bill.
As for the "business roomette", its dimensions could work as follows. Based on the width of the seats on Amfleet cars, you have 4 feet per side of the train. So there is 4 feet of room to play with. So the size of roomette beds is 6'6" and ~2 ft wide. Based on a rough drawing I did, you can fit 17 per side if they are staggered(or 34 per care compared to a 24-8 slumber coach) . Based on how airlines design their seats, the part where people's legs would sit would be storage for the person sitting at one. This would give people the option of having a lie flat seat for hopefully not the full price of a sleeper or at least shouldn't. I am also assuming a 1 class configuration.
I also think bringing back open section is an idea merits an experiment. Based on the same dimensions, I did another sketch that showed that an Amfleet car could fit 36 seats if it was all one seat type. As far as running both goes, since neither option has been seen on Amtrak, it would be worth experimenting with. So as the Amfleet replacements come in, take 36 of them and convert them into 1 car with larger bedrooms and accessible rooms, 2 of the "business roomettes", and 3 of the open sections. Then find at least 3 city pairs that can be traveled between in 12 hours and run them as experiments to see if they could work and if people take to the new seat design.
As for running overnight trains, one thing that Amtrak doesn't have consistently besides a decent number of day trains is that a lot of the long distance trains don't run between city pairs at hours that would make sense for an easy overnight trip. Just along the California Zephyr; it runs between Chicago and Omaha in 9 hours, same thing with Omaha and Denver, 15 hours from Denver to Salt Lake, and a similar amount of time from Salt Lake to Sacramento. Only the Denver-Salt Lake and Salt Lake-Sacramento portions are timed where you could get on at night and arrive the next day in the following city. Adding extra, better timed night trains with affordable accommodations that could attract people. I
know this would cost money and take time to plan, but its best to start planning before the Amfleet replacements come in and the Amfleets start heading to the scrap heap. I am not up on every detail of the replacement, but given the current political climate, I don't see an Amfleet 1 replacement order being much larger than 500 cars. Relocating the Amfleets to other, potentially new corridors would make sense given that Amtrak is in an equipment shortage and that is likely to get worse over time. Trying to get another 15 years out of the Amfleets even if for experimental purposes would be a wise thing to do. And piloting a budget sleeper and a few better timed overnight routes would be a wise thing to push for.
EDITED: I added in what 1 side of the diagram I sketched in Paint. The Paint adaptations isn't to scale. Its Paint after all, it has limited features. Blue would be the compartment space and the brown is not the compartments.
As for the "business roomette", its dimensions could work as follows. Based on the width of the seats on Amfleet cars, you have 4 feet per side of the train. So there is 4 feet of room to play with. So the size of roomette beds is 6'6" and ~2 ft wide. Based on a rough drawing I did, you can fit 17 per side if they are staggered(or 34 per care compared to a 24-8 slumber coach) . Based on how airlines design their seats, the part where people's legs would sit would be storage for the person sitting at one. This would give people the option of having a lie flat seat for hopefully not the full price of a sleeper or at least shouldn't. I am also assuming a 1 class configuration.
I also think bringing back open section is an idea merits an experiment. Based on the same dimensions, I did another sketch that showed that an Amfleet car could fit 36 seats if it was all one seat type. As far as running both goes, since neither option has been seen on Amtrak, it would be worth experimenting with. So as the Amfleet replacements come in, take 36 of them and convert them into 1 car with larger bedrooms and accessible rooms, 2 of the "business roomettes", and 3 of the open sections. Then find at least 3 city pairs that can be traveled between in 12 hours and run them as experiments to see if they could work and if people take to the new seat design.
As for running overnight trains, one thing that Amtrak doesn't have consistently besides a decent number of day trains is that a lot of the long distance trains don't run between city pairs at hours that would make sense for an easy overnight trip. Just along the California Zephyr; it runs between Chicago and Omaha in 9 hours, same thing with Omaha and Denver, 15 hours from Denver to Salt Lake, and a similar amount of time from Salt Lake to Sacramento. Only the Denver-Salt Lake and Salt Lake-Sacramento portions are timed where you could get on at night and arrive the next day in the following city. Adding extra, better timed night trains with affordable accommodations that could attract people. I
know this would cost money and take time to plan, but its best to start planning before the Amfleet replacements come in and the Amfleets start heading to the scrap heap. I am not up on every detail of the replacement, but given the current political climate, I don't see an Amfleet 1 replacement order being much larger than 500 cars. Relocating the Amfleets to other, potentially new corridors would make sense given that Amtrak is in an equipment shortage and that is likely to get worse over time. Trying to get another 15 years out of the Amfleets even if for experimental purposes would be a wise thing to do. And piloting a budget sleeper and a few better timed overnight routes would be a wise thing to push for.
EDITED: I added in what 1 side of the diagram I sketched in Paint. The Paint adaptations isn't to scale. Its Paint after all, it has limited features. Blue would be the compartment space and the brown is not the compartments.
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