That's been the assumption, more or less, especially since the Viewliner trains are frequently more pressed for sleeper space. That the number of bag-dorms lines up with the number of diners hints at this as well. Basically, it'd be baggage cars to the bilevel trains and corridor trains with checked baggage space (and no coach-bag available, as I believe there are a few of in the Midwest), and bag-dorms to single-level sleeper trains.
There are no Midwest corridor trains that use baggage cars. The only train in the Midwest to offer checked baggage is the Hiawatha, and it uses an NPCU/cabbage car. On the west coast, each train that offers checked baggage already has a baggage car (coach/baggage in California, Talgo baggage in the Northwest).
The Carolinian has a baggage car. The Piedmont's offer checked baggage service, but they have the refurbished combined bag/vending/bike rack cars.
An Amfleet, whether I or II, can survive a nuclear attack it seems. Seriously, they have been described as tanks, so I would press Amtrak on Superliner III's, more Viewliner II's, get started on Acela II, and also on diesel locomotives to replace Genesis. If need be, the Amfleet cars can likely serve another generation if not at least a decade. Put them through another overhaul and they will safely carry more passengers. Because to attend to the greatest needs while re-establishing a railcar business, and nurturing it instead of atrophying it the way it happened to Budd and Pullman, Amfleet replacements can and should be on the list, just at the bottom. There are plenty of them and they work. The Nippon bilevels should release enough cars. Maybe a starter order for Viewliner II coaches and lounges.
Yeah, the Cardinal is really the underdog of the LD trains, along with the SL. This train may take a bir circle but it atually has quite a bit of potential in West Virginia and the Ohio River Valley, so it should really get better. In those places there is no parallel Interstate, no parallel bus service, and very poor airline service.
Well, the problem is that the Cardinal is screwed by the map. It's always had a bunch of issues as a train that come from both being once-a-day (at best) and being an unwieldy merger of two pre-existing routes. The travel times aren't great (and are hard to improve).
The former N&W Route from Cincinnati to Norfolk also goes through the New River Gorge and serves Roanoke and Lynchburg. That route has better scenery than the former C&O route. N&W moved former Wabash Dome Coaches from the midwest to that route because of the scenery back in the late 60s immediately before Amtrak.
Oh contrare! On western trains, where Superliners rule, they will simply replace the Heritage baggage cars. A Viewliner is a tad higher than its Heritage counterpart, so the height appearance will actually improve a little. Same for Eastern trains for the same reason, and for one more: instead of three types of railcars there will now be only two: Amfleets and Viewliners.
Actually, Mr. Boardman has made it quite clear that he doesn't intend to do anything more for the long distance trains without a more clear directive from Congress. Frankly I rather doubt he'll ever get such a directive from Congress, seeing as how they're rarely clear about anything.
Keep in mind that working with the Viewliners is a horse of a different color when it comes to things as compared to say the Superliners of other older cars. The Viewliners are modular cars. CAF is really just building the shell of the car largely the same every time, save an extra door or two for baggage cars and such. But after that, the base of the car is the same. They just slide in what ever they need to make the car what Amtrak wants.
This is a misinterpretation of the remarks by the same man who rejected the idea of cancelling the long distance trains, describing them as national treasures like the national parks.
Indeed.
First, Amtrak's fleet strategy is quite clear: the Amfleet IIs get replaced first, because they have more mileage (so the trucks and other mechanical parts are wearing out quicker). Of course, it's perfectly possible that we'll see the Amfleet Is reconfigured for long-distance use and the "Amfleet II replacements" put into corridor use!
No, Mr. Boardman was quite specific when just after placing the order for the Viewliner II's he essentially said that he would not place any more orders for long distance equipment until Congress gives him clear direction. I don't recall the exact words, but again the meaning of his statements were quite clear and not at all ambiguous.
The Amfleet I's rack up nearly the same amount of mileage as an AMF II does. The Palmetto is probably one of the longest runs in one day of any AMF II at 829. Most long distance trains run longer distances, but over the course of two days, so the car isn't getting more miles per day than a car on the Palmetto.
Actually the AMF II's were never supposed to be the "overnight" coaches, they were designed for the Leaf, Adirondack, Pennsy, Carolinian type runs. The money ran out before the overnight coaches got built, so the AMF II's became the overnight coaches by default for lack of anything better.
What does Hurricane Sandy have to do with anything? If anything, it diverted more attention and resources to the NEC to fix the damage. I don't see how you can tie that hurricane to LD fleet renewal.
At least they could upgrade the Buckingham Branch then make the Card daily. If we need more capacity we'll go from there.
