Viewliner Order Option

[afigg]

I've said it before and I'll say it again... what is wrong with the Amfleet II's that they need to be replaced? I've ridden on them plenty of times and they seem just fine...

Because the Amfleet II's were delivered in 1981 to 1983 and thus the cars will be 30 years old soon. The Amfleet Is are older, delivered in 1975 to 1978. There is a long lead time to replace the cars, so you have to start the process well before they have to be replaced. Amtrak can't go to the train car dealership and buy coach cars from inventory. The Viewliner 2 order, after, what?, a year or more to go through the RFP, bid review, and contract award negotiation process, was placed last summer with the first cars to be delivered in the fall of 2012. The new Viewliners won't be showing up in the fleet until 2013 until the initial units go through testing and won't all be delivered until 2015 at the earliest.

The Amfleet I and II fleet is in pretty good shape after the recent surge of overhauls and restorations from storage. But if you are the Amtrak fleet manager, you have to look 5, 10, 15 years out at what will need to be replaced by then. Of course, the uncertain funding picture from year to year makes it very difficult to establish a stable budget for fleet replacement. Hopefully, when the first big single level coach order is placed and deliveries start, Amtrak will keep the Amfleet Is and IIs around for a while to expand their capacity to meet what I would expect will be consistent growth in ridership.

 

[Ryan]

Amtrak is aware of that.

From the Fleet Replacement Plan linked above (which should be prequisite reading before posting in this thread):

The second issue to highlight from the data on existing fleet life is the overall age of the fleet. Given that such a large proportion of the fleet is already past its commercial life, there is a substantial acquisition requirement ahead. However, it is not prudent to undertake large fleet acquisitions in a short space of time. To do so would have a number of effects.
-Intensive capital would be required in a short period to fund the acquisitions

-There would be a severe strain on available project resources to deliver and introduce to service many new vehicles

-A surge of demand on the supplier base that would be challenging to meet

-A large fall off in demand upon completion that would adversely affect the supplier base

-A future surge in replacement requirements when the new vehicle ultimately come due for replacement themselves

Instead, Amtrak will plan for a progressive introduction of new equipment slightly above what would be required to not only meet a steady state demand in order to progressively remove the aging fleet but also to meet our goals for development of the domestic supplier base. Therefore, we will have to accept that, during the transition to a steady state replacement model, a significant number of vehicles will be operated beyond their

commercial life. This is an acceptable transitional situation for the following reasons:

-The condition of the fleet is relatively good due to the maintenance efforts in recent years to sustain it

-The maintenance and spares capabilities remain in place to allow ongoing operation

-The most pressing replacement requirements are already being addressed

-A carefully planned and managed progressive replacement program will be beneficial for all of the reasons identified above in section 0.