Equipment shortage?

[dan]

I looked at a route for January 2025. Coach and roomette/bedroom are almost sold out. Then add more cars! it’s nearly a year out so can’t they plan for that?

 

[daybeers]

It's likely you're seeing "only 2 seats left" which actually means "only 2 seats left at this price".

 

[Cal]

Isn't Amtrak still in a pretty big equipment shortage? Especially due to the recent derailments.

 

[Just-Thinking-51]

Just run down to local dealer and buy a few passenger railcars off the lot.

Oh sarcasm does not translate well in a text form?

This shortage of equipment and the maintenance of said equipment is a long time issue. Didn’t become a problem this year, will not be fixed this year.

 

[jis]

I looked at a route for January 2025. Coach and roomette/bedroom are almost sold out. Then add more cars! it’s nearly a year out so can’t they plan for that?

Easier said than done. For that to happen there has to be idle cars lying around that can be deployed on short notice. There aren't.

 

[Trogdor]

Note as well that Amtrak is planning to repair additional cars this year and put them into service. But they’re (hopefully) not going to add the capacity to a train for booking until they’re certain the cars are available. They got burned on that a couple years ago where they had to start pulling already-booked capacity, and they’re (hopefully) not looking to do that again.

 

[PVD]

Easier said than done. For that to happen there has to be idle cars lying around that can be deployed on short notice. There aren't.

To some extent the same thing applies to people. Extra cars often involve extra staff, and they may or may not be available, schedules can only be flexed so much, and if you have to pay OT to man something, it might not be worth it.

 

[Acela150]

It's likely you're seeing "only 2 seats left" which actually means "only 2 seats left at this price".

This is the answer. I'd be stunned if it wasn't.