Newest Nightjet sleepers from Siemens

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joelkfla said:
So mobility-impaired are limited to a Couchette. I don't think that would fly with ADA. I know I would not be happy.
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Does the accessible couchette have an ensuite toilet? If so then disabled passengers are basically getting a sleeping compartment for the price of a couchette; just like Amtrak prices the ADA bedrooms as roomettes.
 
Mailliw said:
Does the accessible couchette have an ensuite toilet? If so then disabled passengers are basically getting a sleeping compartment for the price of a couchette; just like Amtrak prices the ADA bedrooms as roomettes.
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I have no idea what an accessible couchette would be. I thought couchettes were bare bones rooms with either 4 or 6 bunks stacked along both walls and nothing else but a small table, usually shared by unrelated parties.
 
I've heard of high-level (level boarding) platforms and low-level platforms that require steps or a portable lift for wheelchairs, but I've never seen a platform at least a foot BELOW the top of the rails before!
 
John Santos said:
I've heard of high-level (level boarding) platforms and low-level platforms that require steps or a portable lift for wheelchairs, but I've never seen a platform at least a foot BELOW the top of the rails before!
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It’s in the shop. They’re a pit running underneath the tracks, the track themselves are elevated so you can work on the trucks (wheels). It’s mainly used for inspecting and repairing equipment under the floor of the rail cars. Mechanic are very flexible, but you want them to get old. So easy access of the underside is helpful.
 
Mailliw said:
Here's another YouTube video tour. Watch carefully, in addition to the seating coach we also get a glimpse of one of the attendant compartments.

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Not a very good video, but thanks for posting it. Glad to see they’re almost done. NightJet has plans to start using the new equipment this year. Expected equipment shuffles to occur on 11 December 2023 with the annual scheduled changes.

https://www.seat61.com/news.htm
 
I think these could work for 10-14 hour strictly overnight trips, but not Portland to Chicago 2-day trips. Or as an option/alternative to trad roomettes and rooms.
 
The 2 smaller options, couchettes and pods, are too small to spend many waking hours in, The bigger rooms would be fine but wouldn't be cheaper or more efficient than Amtrak roomettes and rooms. I'm all in favor of having options between coach and current sleepers, but I was just thinking out loud about where they would be most useful.
 
danasgoodstuff said:
The 2 smaller options, couchettes and pods, are too small to spend many waking hours in, The bigger rooms would be fine but wouldn't be cheaper or more efficient than Amtrak roomettes and rooms. I'm all in favor of having options between coach and current sleepers, but I was just thinking out loud about where they would be most useful.
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Having two adult beds at floor level is a decided advantage. Huge.
 
danasgoodstuff said:
The 2 smaller options, couchettes and pods, are too small to spend many waking hours in, The bigger rooms would be fine but wouldn't be cheaper or more efficient than Amtrak roomettes and rooms. I'm all in favor of having options between coach and current sleepers, but I was just thinking out loud about where they would be most useful.
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They might work for a train that is primarily overnight (as most of the European sleeper trains are), for example the Night Owl/Twilight Shoreliner between Washington and Boston. But I can understand the reluctance to have a bespoke set of sleepers that could only be used on a small set of routes.
 
A couchette-type room with only two lower births could work on a longer trip. If a family wanted to travel together in one room, then the. rooms could be set up with a lower and upper berth on each side thus accommodating 4 passengers. A single passenger would pay the accommodation cost of the entire room just like is done currently.
 
It looks even better than I imagined. I love the couchettes, but they wouldn't translate to North America (except the family couchette). The seats are clearly meant for late night/early night commuter market, not overnight travel.
 
Having enjoyed many trips on the former German overnight trains, "City Night Line", it is good to see some revival of the Night Train concept.
The way most folks travel in America by rail is very different to the European style, as is the Indian style, etc, etc.
I have always been happy to share a couchette compartment with other folk at a cheaper fare overnight, than have to pay a lot more for a solo sleeper room.
At the end of the day, it's a brand new design, something we don't anticipate anytime soon on any Amtrak routes... :cool:
 
caravanman said:
Having enjoyed many trips on the former German overnight trains, "City Night Line", it is good to see some revival of the Night Train concept.
The way most folks travel in America by rail is very different to the European style, as is the Indian style, etc, etc.
I have always been happy to share a couchette compartment with other folk at a cheaper fare overnight, than have to pay a lot more for a solo sleeper room.
At the end of the day, it's a brand new design, something we don't anticipate anytime soon on any Amtrak routes... :cool:
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I've met some really fascinating people and had some wonderful conversations in shared compartments.

Mostly though I do prefer to shell out the extra money and go for a private bedroom.

It all depends on the situation, how tired I am, and how demanding the coming day will be, and how tight my budget is.

In many cases, the higher end rooms tend to book out quite quickly, so maybe OBB need to look at providing more of them.
 
caravanman said:
At the end of the day, it's a brand new design, something we don't anticipate anytime soon on any Amtrak routes... :cool:
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We are at a rare convergence of events in the US where the details of the order for next generation equipment for Long Distance trains including new Sleepers, is being finalized. If things proceed to the planned acquisition then the entire LD fleet will be replaced by about mid-2030s, which is admittedly is a while away. But the relevance of getting a good understanding of what the new Nightjets are like, is useful in the context of what may be ordered with what features.

Incidentally Amtrak's design team for the new LD order did visit and spend time studying the new Nightjet. The President of RPA was also invited to join them and he has a report on his visit to Vienna for a preview of the equipment:

https://www.railpassengers.org/happening-now/news/blog/is-the-new-nightjet-in-amtraks-future/
It is kinda goofy that he calls the Cab Car a "Locomotive Car" (I need to go and pull his leg about it :D ), but other than that it is a pretty good article.
 
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jis said:
We are at a rare convergence of events in the US where the details of the order for next generation equipment for Long Distance trains including new Sleepers, is being finalized. If things proceed to the planned acquisition then the entire LD fleet will be replaced by about mid-2030s, which is admittedly is a while away. But the relevance of getting a good understanding of what the new Nightjets are like, is useful in the context of what may be ordered with what features.

Incidentally Amtrak's design team for the new LD order did visit and spend time studying the new Nightjet. The President of RPA was also invited to join them and he has a report on his visit to Vienna for a preview of the equipment:

https://www.railpassengers.org/happening-now/news/blog/is-the-new-nightjet-in-amtraks-future/
It is kinda goofy that he calls the Cab Car a "Locomotive Car" (I need to go and pull his leg about it :D ), but other than that it is a pretty good article.
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As for the pods, Mr. Mathews neglects to mention that most European night trains depart in the evening and arrive the following morning. OTOH, even eastern one-night Amtrak trains include a full day or more, when a seat would be desirable.
 
joelkfla said:
As for the pods, Mr. Mathews neglects to mention that most European night trains depart in the evening and arrive the following morning. OTOH, even eastern one-night Amtrak trains include a full day or more, when a seat would be desirable.
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Indeed! I wonder why the old tried and tested Slumbercoach design is not being dusted off and considered. I suppose it is impossible to make it ADA compliant any more than those Luxurious Coffins can be.
 
joelkfla said:
As for the pods, Mr. Mathews neglects to mention that most European night trains depart in the evening and arrive the following morning. OTOH, even eastern one-night Amtrak trains include a full day or more, when a seat would be desirable.
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Indeed, this is an important point to take into account before blindly copying European practice because everybody thinks that everything trains is better in Europe.

Indian and Chinese trains should be looked at as well, in terms of how their night trains continue to run on during the day, and how this transition and the associated support, provisioning, staffing, catering etc are accomplished. It should also be acknowledged that in some ways, North America is also pretty unique in having a mature demand for high-end sleepers that is arguably not yet as well developed in India or China and that there are no solutions out there that can simply be copy-pasted.

That said, European systems often have certain complexities not present in North America, India, China etc. A night train in Europe will typically cross one if not several borders and the equipment must deal with different voltages, safety systems, working practices. This adds to the complexity of the design and also costs, maintenance needs etc. I was once on a Hungarian sleeping car in Switzerland in which an annoyingly loud beeper kept going off every few minutes and the Swiss train conductor was trying to fix the problem by finding the right fuse but was unable to make much sense of any of the myriad fuses and buttons in the cabinet which were labelled in Hungarian only. The Hungarian SCA was standing next to him and trying to offer help but appeared not to have been trained on that type of equipment and only spoke limited German. The two seemed to be in disagreement over what the problem was and what needed to be done and appeared to be talking past one another. They had a Hungarian supervisor on the phone who appeared to be more annoyed than helpful and kept calling on them in an impenetrably thick accent to press buttons or reset things that didn't appear to exist. That wouldn't really happen in a country like the USA or India or China where you get the same equipment and same working standards across the entire system and all staff can communicate with one another in the same language.
 
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jis said:
We are at a rare convergence of events in the US where the details of the order for next generation equipment for Long Distance trains including new Sleepers, is being finalized. If things proceed to the planned acquisition then the entire LD fleet will be replaced by about mid-2030s, which is admittedly is a while away. But the relevance of getting a good understanding of what the new Nightjets are like, is useful in the context of what may be ordered with what features.

Incidentally Amtrak's design team for the new LD order did visit and spend time studying the new Nightjet. The President of RPA was also invited to join them and he has a report on his visit to Vienna for a preview of the equipment:

https://www.railpassengers.org/happening-now/news/blog/is-the-new-nightjet-in-amtraks-future/
It is kinda goofy that he calls the Cab Car a "Locomotive Car" (I need to go and pull his leg about it :D ), but other than that it is a pretty good article.
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I just completed New Orlewnscto Los Angeles on the Sunset limited. Train set upgrades will be welcome. What isns’t addressed is upgrading track beds, which is “the elephant in the room”. While there are many places the ride was acceptably smooth, none of it is to a standard where speeds can exceed 80 mph.

High speed as in Europe and Asia will never happen here in my lifetime. Getting track beds smoothed out to support 125 mph it seems would not only benefit LD passenger travel, but also enhance freight movement. Why is this type of “night jet” service seemingly unattainable for both people and things in this country?
 

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