Pacific Surfliner: Two Business Class Cars 10/31-12/04/16

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hmy1

Service Attendant
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Aug 9, 2010
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The Pacific Surfliner's Facebook page and Twitter feed announced a pilot program to have two business class cars on all Surfliner trains effective 10/31 through 12/04/16. The nice Superliner car will be repositioned in the consist and assigned to the second business class car. Too bad as this was the nicest coach car. No additional cars will be added except to meet surge demand as they have recently been doing.

Business class does sell out on the peak and off-peak trains that I take. With only 3.5 cars of coach seating now (no lower level seating in the cafe car), I'm afraid that coach might be packed full even on off-peak trains.
 
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I am not a fan of the Superliner being business class. When riding coach, I always went in there to get the extra legroom and the relative silence (doors to the platform don't open on the Superliner car and other passengers don't know or care about it)

I hope it gets reverted back to coach when the test ends.
 
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Thank the lord they finally came to their senses. Having the Superliner Coach, which is much plusher than actual business class was just odd and quite unfair for people paying for BC.
 
A Surfliner train passed me this morning which already had a Superliner as car #1, between the standard business class car and the locomotive. However, it also had the standard Superliner car next to the baggage car (usually cars #5 and 6). Unfortunately, the train caught me off-guard and passed me too fast to count whether it had 7 cars or the standard 6 cars.
 
Another point here.

The Surfliner sets will now have to be consistent. I have seen one set with only Amfleet and Horizons (with a Cascades engine!) multiple times up and down the route. I don't think a business class car is on that set, because then there's no way to go to/from the business class car (other amenities were probably still provided).

Also, Amfleets are a pain because they had to open the door manually at every station, and I recall that the conductor announced every five minutes on where to get off, because not every door was opened. And the 4 seat configuration was cramped with the people on the other side.

And the fools decided to put the Amfleet set on #1761 and #1790 on the day that I rode it.
 
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As far as I know, the Amfleet/Horizon set will stay until the Talgos go into service. I know that there is a business class on that trainset but am not sure what it's like as I have never ridden it. 761/790 is a regular rotation for this trainset, so you have a 50% chance of getting it if you ride these trains.
 
The superliner car on today's 777 was one of the superliners in the California paint scheme. I haven't seen Cap. Corridor/San Joaquin equipment intermingled with Surfliner equipment before. (Except for when the Surfliner cars were first delivered in 2000). I wonder if it was brought down south specifically for the increased demand in business class/superliner cars...
 
hmy1 said:
As far as I know, the Amfleet/Horizon set will stay until the Talgos go into service. I know that there is a business class on that trainset but am not sure what it's like as I have never ridden it. 761/790 is a regular rotation for this trainset, so you have a 50% chance of getting it if you ride these trains.
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The business class car is half BC coach with leather seats and the other half is a cafe car. Seating was fine although the windows left something to be desired (hazy).
 
I got to ride in BC on that set as well (some time ago), and it's as noted above (2-1 seating, etc.). It was a pleasant surprise to get that on the Surfliner one evening.
 
I was on 579 last Friday and there was no Superliner car. I always sit in the Superliner, so it was disappointing.
 
I was on one of the trains last week, and they refused to let people sit in the Superliner. It was a real inconvenience for people getting on down the line.
 
The coaches have definitely become more crowded on the Surfliner. At least on the ones I ride, the 579 and 562. Guess that's a good thing.
 
I didn't ride the Surfliner this week, but the few trains I saw in passing still have the Superliner as car #2. Are they considering to make this change permanent or are they just slow to return the trains back to the previous configuration?
 
hmy1 said:
I didn't ride the Surfliner this week, but the few trains I saw in passing still have the Superliner as car #2. Are they considering to make this change permanent or are they just slow to return the trains back to the previous configuration?
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I rode the Surfliner from The Diego to SLO on the 8'th, three days ago as I write this. Noticed the consist and asked the conductors about it. They indicated the business class experiment will be held through Christmas, which probably means the new year. They really weren't sure. Coincidentally they didn't know the experiment was to end on the 4'th until I told them.

Will ride from SLO to The Diego on Tuesday and will ask again.

--Bill
 
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