Sorry, good question that I should have answered originally. Amtrak website, bottom of the page to INSIDE AMTRAK then REPORTS & DOCUMENTS in the section titled PRIIA SUBMISSIONS AND REPORTS.Where is it? Google doesn't seem to know and the last release I saw on Amtrak's own site was the Amtrak Envisions World Class High-Speed Rail entry.
Interesting, there was a Sunset Limited/Texas Eagle report posted at one point (I'm skimming it right now), but it has now been taken down. Cue the conspiracy theorists, I suppose.The Cardinal, Capital Limited, and California Zephyr reports are on the Amtrak Reports & Documents web page at http://www.amtrak.co...=1241245669222. Don't see a report for the Sunset Limited or Texas Eagle yet, but those are also to be covered by the FY2010 reports.
Based on a quick skim of the reports, the Cardinal is the most interesting - go to daily service in late 2011 but stick with single level cars operating out of NYP. No switch to St. Louis as the destination, but splitting the train at Indianapolis for a St. Louis extension is regarded as a future possibility (distant however).
Amtrak having more domes would be AWESOME.1 Amtrak recently learned of the availability of dome lounge cars for purchase from a private vendor. These cars offer the potential to significantly improve the customer experience, as well as offer an enhanced level of meal service. These cars would also present an opportunity to increase Customer Satisfaction scores (CSI) in several areas, including all aspects of food service and the overall rating as well.Amtrak has begun the process of determining whether the operation of these cars would be beneficial to the overall financial performance of this train, and to determine in detail the capital costs necessary to make them compatible with Amtrak mechanical standards and requirements. This work will continue during the early part of FY2011, and a decision will be made based on these criteria.
That would mean the trans-dorm would have to be between the single level and Superliner cars. Unless the Pennsy bound passengers are expected to go without food!However, plans are for the Capitol Limited to gain a through sleeper (Viewliner)/coaches to the Pennsylvanian at Pittsburgh.
The Capitol Limited report mentions the possibilty of switching things around so the sleepers are at the rear and the coaches up front.That would mean the trans-dorm would have to be between the single level and Superliner cars. Unless the Pennsy bound passengers are expected to go without food!However, plans are for the Capitol Limited to gain a through sleeper (Viewliner)/coaches to the Pennsylvanian at Pittsburgh.
If you read the plan, you see they're requesting three sets of three cars: An AF food service car, an AFII coach and a sleeper.That would mean the trans-dorm would have to be between the single level and Superliner cars. Unless the Pennsy bound passengers are expected to go without food!However, plans are for the Capitol Limited to gain a through sleeper (Viewliner)/coaches to the Pennsylvanian at Pittsburgh.
But how do you get from the Viewliner or AFII coach to the Sightseer?they're requesting three sets of three cars: An AF food service car, an AFII coach and a sleeper.
Wouldn't need to... There's really no reason for the Sightseer on the CL West of PGH, you only get two hours of daylight each way out of Chicago, and most of the journey is at night without a need for food service.But how do you get from the Viewliner or AFII coach to the Sightseer?they're requesting three sets of three cars: An AF food service car, an AFII coach and a sleeper.
There may just be a server or file link glitch. Or maybe someone found a typo in the posted report and had it pulled until the typo is fixed. Expect the sunset Limited & Texas Eagle report will be back on there in a day or two.Interesting, there was a Sunset Limited/Texas Eagle report posted at one point (I'm skimming it right now), but it has now been taken down. Cue the conspiracy theorists, I suppose.
Hate to say it, but after reading just the CZ and SL/TE reports, the chances of implementation are about as remote as putting into effect the same marvelous just-around-the-corner recommendations proffered year-after-year in the annual LOSSAN corridor (San Luis Obispo-LA-San Diego) reports from the So Cal rail consortium or in the yearly CALTRAN Rail Updates promising pie-in-the-sky improvements for LA-SF, LA-SD, SF-SAC ad infinitum ad nauseum.Amtrak has posted Performance Improvement Plans for the California Zephyr, Capitol Limited, Cardinal, and Sunset Limited/Texas Eagle. Haven't really had a chance yet to read through them, though.
The amount of boilerplate in these reports is truly disheartening. Just take one big, big issue in the CZ study: on-time performance, the figure alone dropping the CZ overall rating to a miserable below-average category despite generally good customer satisfaction marks. The "discussion" about how to get the "host railroads" to get their act together is so bland, so general, so abbreviated, and so devoid of detail as to warrant the arrest and jailing of the anonymous author(s) who properly didn't want their names attached prominently, or at all, to these reports.
Actually the through section will consist ofIf you read the plan, you see they're requesting three sets of three cars: An AF food service car, an AFII coach and a sleeper.That would mean the trans-dorm would have to be between the single level and Superliner cars. Unless the Pennsy bound passengers are expected to go without food!
Through the TransdormBut how do you get from the Viewliner or AFII coach to the Sightseer?
That is not consistent with what the report says. It clearly says on page 11:Wouldn't need to... There's really no reason for the Sightseer on the CL West of PGH, you only get two hours of daylight each way out of Chicago, and most of the journey is at night without a need for food service.
The proposed schedule on page 14 it is obvious that Dinner service out of Chicago and Breakfast service before arrival in Chicago will be involved. On page 16 it clearly says that primary food service will be provided to all passengers on the combined train out of the Super Diner. The Amfleet Food Service car will serve as a lounge/cafe for that segment, staffed out of New York base. On the New York Pittsburgh they are talking of tray meals like on LSL Boston section for Sleeper passengers. Perhaps they could do what is done on Cardinal. That seemed quite good to me.West of Pittsburgh, passengers in the New York – Chicago cars wouldhave access to the Amfleet food service car and the Superliner dining / lounge cars on the
Capitol Limited section serving Washington.
Alliance, Ohio – The team investigated complaints about a walkway that needs repair. Amtrakwill work with the city and the host railroad to resolve this issue. Amtrak also plans to install a
new enclosed shelter, ADA-compliant platform, and paved accessible parking.
Either scheme works. As stated in the report, the operations people will work out the details and choose one. The proposal that Joe Versaggi had submitted to Amtrak had the single level cars in the rear and his scheme did not even require the new switch at the west end. Perhaps that scheme can be used to start up a coach transfer as early as next year, is what I am hearing. Viewliners won't become available for this until 2013 anyway.I think it's more likely that the consist would be setup such that the Transition sleeper would be on the rear. That way, the eastbound Capitol can just "cut and run," and the westbound can pull past the station, then back onto the extra cars.
No sense in inserting/removing cars from the middle. Adds too much complexity to the operation, and significantly increases the amount of time to do the switching.
The report says that initially it will continue with the current setup, since there are no more full Diners available until the Viewliner Diners start coming in post-2013. This change is being targeted for Fall 2011 is what I understand from the report.The Cardinal needs a full diner instead of the cafe-lite where you all ways have to wait to eat meals.
Yes the SAS switching is the most intricate, but it did not disturb my sleep on the eastbound TE.By far the most intricate and time consuming is the one in SAS since it occurs in the middle of the night and it disrupts folkssleep/rest since they are still in their rooms!
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