It's Final - Amtrak Announces the "Federal"

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Amfleet

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"Those who recall the days of the Federal, operated by the New Haven and Pennsylvania Railroads, will welcome the return of the train on its former schedule," said Amtrak President David Gunn.  "Today's version will offer Washington-Boston overnight travelers a much improved schedule from the current Twilight Shoreliner, plus service options that should make it a popular train."
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For full press release click here.
 
More seriously though, will Business Class be in an ex-Metroliner First Class car or has an Amfleet I Coach been refurbished with 2-1 seating. I would also hope the snack bar for the whole train is not in Business Class as it is now.
 
Amfleet said:
More seriously though, will Business Class be in an ex-Metroliner First Class car or has an Amfleet I Coach been refurbished with 2-1 seating. I would also hope the snack bar for the whole train is not in Business Class as it is now.
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My guess is that the BC car will indeed be an ex-Metroliner FC car. There should be enough of them to go around.

I'll let you know for sure on the 29th of this month, right after I take the very first run of the Federal from WAS to BOS. :)
 
AlanB said:
Amfleet said:
More seriously though, will Business Class be in an ex-Metroliner First Class car or has an Amfleet I Coach been refurbished with 2-1 seating. I would also hope the snack bar for the whole train is not in Business Class as it is now.
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My guess is that the BC car will indeed be an ex-Metroliner FC car. There should be enough of them to go around.

I'll let you know for sure on the 29th of this month, right after I take the very first run of the Federal from WAS to BOS. :)
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I wish I could ride it some time. I will however see it when I go to a hotel in Stamford, Ct in about two weeks. Enjoy Your Trip. :)
 
Viewliner said:
I wish I could ride it some time.
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Hey Amtrak doesn't discriminate. They let people who live in NJ ride the trains too. :lol: They'll even let you bring your whole family with you. :lol: :D :p :)

Viewliner said:
I will however see it when I go to a hotel in Stamford, Ct in about two weeks.  Enjoy Your Trip. :)
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Not unless you plan to be awake at 1:40 AM & 4:00 AM when the southbound and northbound trains respectively, pass by Stamford. If you are awake at that hour, I suspect that you'll look a little like this. :blink:
 
I can easily stay up for the 1:40, as on a typical non-school night I usually am awake till 2 a.m. I'm going to bring my camcorder and do some video taping as it has a nice view of the station. We were going to go this weekend, but some things came up...

I'll probably need to wait a year or two is what I meant before I could ride.
 
I can't wait to ride the Federal when I can. I can usually pull all-nighters every Friday or Saturday night anyways so I'll probably be up for the entire ride. A trip back to the Cafe may be needed for some coffee however. B)
 
Amfleet said:
I can't wait to ride the Federal when I can. I can usually pull all-nighters every Friday or Saturday night anyways so I'll probably be up for the entire ride. A trip back to the Cafe may be needed for some coffee however. B)
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Unless you take a room in the Viewliner... Which is the way to go for me. :) B)
 
Amfleet said:
I can't wait to ride the Federal when I can. I can usually pull all-nighters every Friday or Saturday night anyways so I'll probably be up for the entire ride.
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Viewliner said:
I'll probably need to wait a year or two is what I meant before I could ride.
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There isn't a better time to ride it than right now guys. For a limited time only Amtrak is offering 30% off tickets for the Federal. Just click here for the promo.

Amfleet said:
A trip back to the Cafe may be needed for some coffee however. B)
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Just make sure that you buy that cup before midnight, as I think that's when the close the cafe/lounge. :)
 
Makes sense, as there is no dorm. Alan, thanks for the link, maybe if I take two "Regionals" to fill in the NYP-BOS and WAS-NYP Gap, my dad will go for it.
 
I, too, am excited about the grand old "Federal" name and the obvious attempt to offer a really first class operation, to go along with that grand old name. Glad passengers can use the Acela lounge as well....I seem to recall that at various times in the past we could not use the lounges for the night train.

You can bet that one of these days I will ride it. Would not be a bad idea for my upcoming trip except that I am all booked out on Acelas and have no desire to change reservations ...since the Acela operations can be sporadic I booked it each way in case one direction or other something got screwed up with them(Acelas). .....so...maybe the next year or two_Of course what I would really like to do is ride it if they get into that set-out sleeper bit again, one of these days.
 
Man you are really intent on those set-out sleepers aren't you Bill? Well my overnight experiences may take me on the Palmetto this summer. With the new schedule one can ride from SoFla to JAX and back again with a very good connection, a JAX station that's always open, and an oppurtunity to see the switching. One final note on the Palmetto, it is now dropping the second engine at JAX for the next day's 90, similar to what 92-91 are doing (92-91 have suspended the engine switch off temporarily as they are not carrying RoadRailers, they also now have an AEM-7 to Washington where they pick up a P-42).
 
It is true, it is true, the 905 carried the Star into WAS both times, I rode the Star SB last week.
 
battalion51 said:
(92-91 have suspended the engine switch off temporarily as they are not carrying RoadRailers, they also now have an AEM-7 to Washington where they pick up a P-42).
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While I find this to be a rather odd decision on Amtrak's part (I'll explain in a minute), Arrow does appear to confirm this news. While the train still leaves Philly at the same time, along with Wilmington, it's now departing Baltimore ten minutes earlier than it used too. That extra ten minutes added on to the 15 built into the schedule at DC, gives them enough time for the switch, so they can still make the CSX time slot.

Now to the reason that I find it a odd for Amtrak to have made this change, at this time. First the E60 are due to be permanently retired very soon, although I haven't heard an exact date yet. Second with the ongoing Acela Express maintenance problems, Amtrak is currently running a few extra Metroliners. So they really don't have any AEM-7's to spare thanks to those extra Metroliner runs.
 
battalion51 said:
Well my overnight experiences may take me on the Palmetto this summer. With the new schedule one can ride from SoFla to JAX and back again with a very good connection, a JAX station that's always open, and an oppurtunity to see the switching. One final note on the Palmetto, it is now dropping the second engine at JAX for the next day's 90, similar to what 92-91 are doing (92-91 have suspended the engine switch off temporarily as they are not carrying RoadRailers, they also now have an AEM-7 to Washington where they pick up a P-42).
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Now I have to ask. What did any of this have to do with the Federal and setout sleepers? :unsure:

I know that we wander around a lot in our topics, but other than this sentence,

Man you are really intent on those set-out sleepers aren't you Bill?
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the rest really came out of left field. :)
 
Well we were on the topic of overnight trips, and I felt I should be able to get a word in since I'm stuck down here in lowly Florida with my Florida Rail pass (tear). I think I'll go ride a train now :p
 
battalion51 said:
Well we were on the topic of overnight trips, and I felt I should be able to get a word in since I'm stuck down here in lowly Florida with my Florida Raill pass (tear). I think I'll go ride a train now :p
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Ok, no problem. I just couldn't figure out how you got from A to B. :) :D

That Florida Rail pass however, gets you lots of mileage for very little cost. :) Even if it is the same mileage half the time. It costs us a heck of a lot more up here to get that kind of mileage on Amtrak. :(
 
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