Talgo bids to sell WI trainsets to MI

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The Last Train from Talgo

Talgo moved its last trains from Milwaukee last night, ending this city’s dream of becoming a hub for state-of-the-art rail transit.

Yes, the train has left the station. Talgo, the international company based in Spain and the U.S., which had created a facility to build trains in Milwaukee, closed up the shop on the north side of the city last night as its last trainsets rolled out of town.

Talgo brought in a crew from Amtrak to help transfer the trainsets to Amtrak’s maintenance facility in Beech Grove, Indiana. The two trains, which were once going to be part of the proposed, high-speed rail line connecting Chicago and Milwaukee to Madison and Minneapolis, are likely to be sold to another state, possibly Michigan. Michigan’s Department of Transportation issued a request for proposals in March for ready-to-operate trains capable of 110 mph speeds for its Detroit-to-Chicago service. Talgo was the only company to respond.

All of the cars’ seats and floors were wrapped in plastic, and the staff had to wear booties inside. They have yet to be used and will be sold as new. Most of the cars are configured as commuter rail style stock with rows of bench seats.
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Perhaps a private operator like Virgin Rail could operate the Hiawatha Corridor and extend service to Madison and Green Bay on existing tracks. If it included an express line from CUS to O'Hare Field, this would be a nice regional operation with some of the politics taken out.
 
grover5995 said:
Perhaps a private operator like Virgin Rail could operate the Hiawatha Corridor and extend service to Madison and Green Bay on existing tracks. If it included an express line from CUS to O'Hare Field, this would be a nice regional operation with some of the politics taken out.
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Great idea, but who's going to pay for it?
 
grover5995 said:
Perhaps a private operator like Virgin Rail could operate the Hiawatha Corridor and extend service to Madison and Green Bay on existing tracks. If it included an express line from CUS to O'Hare Field, this would be a nice regional operation with some of the politics taken out.
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I wouldn't mind seeing First Group start operating over here either. They already do buses.

peter
 
The rail line from Watertown (half-way between Milwaukee and Madison) to Madison was last rebuilt in the 1930s and needs to have the entire thing to include the railbed rebuilt. The line goes through significant wetlands that have made the existing railbed unstable. It can be rebuilt, but will cost a huge pile of money.
 
That was the w

Train Rider said:
The rail line from Watertown (half-way between Milwaukee and Madison) to Madison was last rebuilt in the 1930s and needs to have the entire thing to include the railbed rebuilt. The line goes through significant wetlands that have made the existing railbed unstable. It can be rebuilt, but will cost a huge pile of money.
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Yep. That's the work which was fully funded by the federal money which Scott Walker turned down at the bidding of his fossil fuel buddies.
 
I find it interesting the Corridor Capitol was the company pushing for MDOT not to use the Talgos. The bid was/is for cars, not service and CC doesn't have any cars that could even remotely come close to what the bid asks for. I believe they own some old HiLevels that need refurbishing, something MDOT is not interested in doing.

On the plus side it sounds like we could have these Talgos running on the line in in a few months... looks like I have a trip to Chicago in my future!

peter
 
4 hours Chicago to Detroit! I'll believe it when I ride it. That said, it's a very good goal to have.

A little bit of hyperbole from the Detroit news on the state of the passenger cars though:

"Current aluminum coaches on the route lack modern amenities and are deteriorating because Amtrak has no budget to overhaul them, according to MDOT. They have institutional decor, lack carpeting, contain harsh lighting and lack hot water in restrooms, the department says."

From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20140915/METRO06/309150021#ixzz3DOHDTrvE

There might not be hot water and the lights may be a touch harsh. But I could plug in my electronic devices. They had wi-fi and I believe the floors were carpeted. The train out of Pontiac didn't seem as "fresh" as the one out of Chicago... obviously it had been through the 6 hour ride there... I get the sentiment of the paragraph. New trains=new technology=modern, but that paragraph makes the current trains seem really unattractive, which I don't think they are.
 
jimhudson said:
Don't the T&E Crews have to qualify on New Equipment and will there be a Tech Rep like on the Cascade Talgos??
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Speaking of a tech rep, wasn't part of the deal with WI, that there was going to be a dedicated Talgo maintenance facility? What is MDOT going to do about that?

peter
 
The Talgo cab cars at least will need to be outfitted with ITCS at the Grove. Hopefully Talgo has a tech on hand to learn and familiarize themself with that added equipment. Likewise, you would hope (think) Amtrak would send every Michigan service engineer to a familiarization class taught by a talgo rep. But I wouldn't hold my breath on that last one
 
Rob Creighton said:
A little bit of hyperbole from the Detroit news on the state of the passenger cars though:

"Current aluminum coaches on the route lack modern amenities and are deteriorating because Amtrak has no budget to overhaul them, according to MDOT. They have institutional decor, lack carpeting, contain harsh lighting and lack hot water in restrooms, the department says."
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Actually if you re-read that... it's not hyperbole from the newspaper, it's from the Michigan Department of Transportation.
I actually think it's a pretty fair criticism of the Horizon cars. Remember this is the most visible part of the train experience for passengers... and the Horizon experience is pretty underwhelming. The Talgo's will be a huge upgrade in terms of passenger experience.

PerRock said:
jimhudson said:
Don't the T&E Crews have to qualify on New Equipment and will there be a Tech Rep like on the Cascade Talgos??
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Speaking of a tech rep, wasn't part of the deal with WI, that there was going to be a dedicated Talgo maintenance facility? What is MDOT going to do about that?
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Ah, yes. Talgo's "dirty little secret"... only Talgo gets to maintain Talgo equipment. It was a part of the deal with Wisconsin that there would be a dedicated Talgo maintenance facility in Milwaukee. Personally I think it never made a whole lot of sense considering Amtrak already has a giant maintenance facility on the other end of the line in Chicago. I assume that's where the maintenance will be done on these trainsets.

While I don't think it's right for most circumstances… Talgo's mandatory maintenance contract could be a good thing here considering the sad shape of Amtrak's Chicago maintenance facility.

I'm guessing that maintenance will be done just like it's done here in the Pacific Northwest... by Amtrak employees, under contract to and supervised by Talgo. I also think it's a pretty safe bet that there will be a Talgo techs onboard the trains.
 
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