Siemens Caltrans/IDOT Venture design, engineering, testing and delivery (2012-1Q 2024)

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Another possible indication that it is getting close to the deployment of the Venture Cars in San Joaquin service is that recently SJRRC has announced bidding on the following project:

Vending Machines Provisioning and Service 22-J-45-00

Bidding information is apparently on PlanetBids according to a post in trainorders.

As you may recall the California Venture sets do not have a Cafe but they do have a car with space for vending machines.
 
Video by MidwestRailfan81 taken today in St. Louis shows Amtrak #303 arriving with the first revenue run with Venture coaches.

 
Are new Venture Cafe cars being built and on their way to service?
On edit: Sorry if the answer is somewhere upstream on the thread! I have been looking all over and it looks like the lead problem might have contributed to a late arrival for the Cafe cars. Not sure though.

Crowbar_k said:
That amfleet car in the middle just looks wrong. It would be a little better if it was on the end.
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Ziv said:
Are new Venture Cafe cars being built and on their way to service?
On edit: Sorry if the answer is somewhere upstream on the thread! I have been looking all over and it looks like the lead problem might have contributed to a late arrival for the Cafe cars. Not sure though.
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The design finalization of the Cafe cars happened very recently. The first ones are just in production now as I understand it.

cocojacoby said:
I really want to see how those car profiles match up with the Viewliners. Just curious if Amtrak decides on these for LD Amfleet II replacements.
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They have not yet. At present all that has been decided and ordered are corridor train sets.

But there appears to be a high likelihood that these shells and trucks will form the basis of an Amfleet II replacement order. Time to wait and see what happens.

The roof lines will not match the Viewliners which has a more square profile. The Ventures have a more UIC-like profile at the roof line.
 
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Has the Midwest order changed? I thought the married pairs were going to consist of economy coaches mated to cafe cars and business/ economy coaches mated to economy coaches, but I keep seeing references to business class cafe/coach pairs? Like in this article for example? Is this because of the cafe cars being redesigned? Also the 26" business class seats in a 2:1 configuration seems positively luxurious, and just 36 seats per car! :cool:
 
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What I remember reading was married pairs of coach-coach, coach-cafe, and coach-biz. So it is unlikely the business car would be coupled to the cafe car, or you'd have coach passengers schlepping thru biz car to get to the cafe. IMO, not the smartest configuation, though it resembles NEC Regionals, though they are mostly 8 and 9 cars.
 
cocojacoby said:
Why do you say that? Are you saying Amtrak won't order a LD version of the Venture car to replace Amfleet II LD coach equipment? Seems like a logical solution to most of us.
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No, I'm saying that the paint schemes will never match as lately there's been a different one for each new set of equipment, with no update to the old equipment.
 
Are all Lincoln Service trains offering the new cars or is Amtrak just running 303/306 with the equipment?
 
cocojacoby said:
I really want to see how those car profiles match up with the Viewliners. Just curious if Amtrak decides on these for LD Amfleet II replacements.
Click to expand...

Just for reference these are the AAR plate specs for various car types or freight loading gauge. Plate H is double stack deep well, for reference. As far as passenger car standards around the world I think there is only one place where you find anything bigger than a Superliner. In Finland they have a massive loading gauge as well as a broad track guage which led to some gigantic sleeper cars for a few services.
 

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Ziv said:
Are new Venture Cafe cars being built and on their way to service?
On edit: Sorry if the answer is somewhere upstream on the thread! I have been looking all over and it looks like the lead problem might have contributed to a late arrival for the Cafe cars. Not sure though.
Click to expand...

In this video, around the 25:25 mark, you can see what appears to be an IDOT car with permanent coupling for a married pair. You can also see a cab car under construction

 
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Mailliw said:
Has the Midwest order changed? I thought the married pairs were going to consist of economy coaches mated to cafe cars and business/ economy coaches mated to economy coaches, but I keep seeing references to business class cafe/coach pairs? Like in this article for example? Is this because of the cafe cars being redesigned? Also the 26" business class seats in a 2:1 configuration seems positively luxurious, and just 36 seats per car! :cool:
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No. The order has not changed. People who think there is Cafe and BC pair are confused as they project from the half cafe half BC cars of today. 🤷‍♂️

Interestingly 36 seats is just about double of what we have today in the Cafe/BC Amfleet ex-Metroclub cars.

nti1094 said:
As far as passenger car standards around the world I think there is only one place where you find anything bigger than a Superliner. In Finland they have a massive loading gauge as well as a broad track guage which led to some gigantic sleeper cars for a few services.
Click to expand...
I thought the Princess Cruise Lines Observation Cars on Alaska Railroad and some of the Observation Cars on the Rocky Mountaineer in Canada are taller than Superliners. They are a shade over 18' tall.

https://www.railvolution.net/news/new-carriages-for-rocky-mountaineer-delivered
 
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