California will be getting more coaches and locomotives (page 106)
On December 10, 2014, the CTC approved allocation of $108 million in Prop 1B funding for additional passenger rail cars and locomotives. This will result in additional new equipment being assigned to the San Joaquin Corridor. The exact breakdown between locomotives and railcars is still under negotiations. The option locomotives will cost about $6.5 million and the option railcars will be approximately $3.2 million each. About 10% of this allocation will be utilized for an “On-board Information System (OBIS)”. The OBIS is an integrated video and audio communications system for on-train travel and service messages as well as potential advertising messages. Please see the attached December 9, 2014 CIPR Leadership Coalition letter of support to the CTC for this allocation.
[SIZE=12pt]In December 2014, the CTC approved allocation of $108 million in Prop 1B funding for additional passenger rail cars and locomotives. This will result in additional new equipment for the California fleet. The exact breakdown between locomotives and railcars is still under negotiations. The option locomotives will cost about $6.5 million and the option railcars will be approximately $3.2 million each. [/SIZE][SIZE=12pt]The State expects to focus on purchasing new locomotives which will mostly be used to replace locomotives being leased from Amtrak. [/SIZE][SIZE=12pt]About 10% of this allocation will be utilized for an “On-board Information System (OBIS)”. The OBIS is an integrated video and audio communications system for on-train travel and service messages as well as potential advertising messages[/SIZE][SIZE=12pt]. [/SIZE]
Man, is this formatting getting messed up. LOL.
Anyway, a slightly different paragraph with slightly different info from page 38 (IIRC, before the misbehaving formatting blew away my feeble mind.)
So I was trying to say, I don't know enuff about how many Amtrak owned locomotives they want to, or could, replace.
But rough number on the $108 million, about 10% for OBIS, leaves roughly $100 million even.
One locomotive call it $7 million, four coaches and one cafe car at $2.3 X 5 = $13 million, so $20 million for each five-passengercar train and new locomotive, gives five additional train sets out of the $100 million.
That would be the top for additional train sets. Probably less, replacing Amtrak's locos, adding more coaches per train set, etc. But $100 million worth of new equipment will make a nice difference here.
The Revised Business Plan that Paulus linked to above (chock full of tidbits) makes clear the top priority is for an additional roundtrip Bakersfield-Oakland, the 8th San Joaquin, as soon as FY 2015-2016 !!! (I don't see how they get equipment in time, but hey, the is a plan by politicians.) And next priority is for a 9th San Joaquin. The goal is 11 frequencies, with some of them starting midway, rather than all being end to end) but somebody will have to pay for a lot more work on the tracks to make those things happen. Work is already underway to allow that 8th frequency, the first added to Oakland-Bakersfield since 1993.
Whatever the number of new bi-levels ordered out of this $108 million, it's got to be good news for the Nippon-Sharyo plant and all its potential and future customers as the busy assembly line stretches deeper into the future.