amtrak is so nice when you look at it for what it is, i took the starlight from LA to San Jose and it was nice to just sit and get some amazing views while relaxing
These paint schemes could be better than that and they need to make a public statement that the government barely gives a shit about Amtrak and also that class 1 railroad corporate money counting idiots are making North American railroading impossible
I don't see why they want desiel power on the NER. It won't ever be used but costs more and wastes what could have been extra seating. Why not just get emu cab cars and call it a day there. Plus low key I hope they leave some of the current sets in service I've been seeing most of the NERs full
Always the case with greater methods of transportation where car-centric politicians will cut funding, the services will decline in quality, and car lobbyists will say "look at how much better cars are."
The US has long since needed overhauls in so many areas of transportation, and hopefully this can be the start of something better arising from the rubble.
I have the same fondness as anyone for the equipment that has always been there, but what's to come sure knows how to look good (after the many problems are fixed, of course).
Genuine question : why does amtrak or maybe the us go for European style like trains with all the problems and not partnership with asian high speed rail nations like Korea or Japan (ik why not China) like Korail or the shinkansen
So hold up… they're only gonna have maximum 8-car trains on the northeast corridor? Cuz they currently run 10 car trains that are always completely sold out
Without trying to get too political, Biden has been easily the most involved president when it comes to Amtrak and I sincerely hope we don’t get a government next year that slashes all this new funding. I don’t think anyone’s running against it, but it does seem like low hanging fruit for anyone wanting a cheap win. But this is so important, im glad Amtrak have bucked the trend of American rail systems buying trains that look and feel 20 years old off the shelf. (Looking at you Chicago L and Boston T)
As of this fall, an Inpector General report confirmed Amtrak has NOT received any Avelia Liberties. Alstom has stored them on Amtrak property and is having probems with certification with FRA. The major one is that Alstom cannot provide computer modeling of the active banking system for each portion of track on the Corridor something which FRA said was a hard requirement before certification. BTW, Avelia Liberty is a hybrid: locomotive from the Avelia Horizon (aka TGV–M) but the coaches are Pendolinos. (and the lower speed model of Pendolino since high speed ones don't have banking). This is why the shape of loco does not match the shape of the coaches. It is somewhat ironic that in 2018, the FRA relented and realized its own rules prevented modern trains and changed it policy to allow importing modern trains, but the "made in America" rules prevent the importation of tested, working trains that can be put in service and instead the desiging of custom trains with USA components requiring full testing/certification regiment since totrally different from original model.
The Viaggios were already heavy steel trains built for cheap in Europe to run on slow lines (only up to 230kmh) and Siemens then had to build a new version of it to meet "made in USA" and FRA rules (since designed in USA prior to 2018, still had the rules that requires everything to be slow and heavy). Siemens has newer Viaggios made of aluminium now but these would cost too much to convert to meet FRA stadards, so Siemens USA continue st offer the old heavy "Venture" cars.
Also note that not only does "made in America" require new untested "made im USA" components, but every order of Charger locos from Amtrak as well as Viaggios has has different configurations and thus model numbers. (you noted this for locos, but this means Amtrak will have many incompatible locos that look the same but are different inside and have different perforance.). The long distance ones not only have different horsepower, but also more powerful HEP generators to power the longer trains with power-hungry Superliners.
Siemens has sold enough of those Venture cars/Charger locos to more than pay for the deisgn of a "made in America" train. But it isn.t about to import and redesign ist newer rolling stock so USA (and Canada) are stuck with whatever Siemens has right now. (and Siemens has a lot of pressure to fix all the bugs in cars and locos). Cars are also different models for each order. Some are AAR coupler at each end. Some are sets of 2 cars with permanent coupling and AAR at end of the 2 car duo, and some are permanent couplings for the whole train, some allow the lococmotive to be changed. And some have AAR coupler at the CaB end so train can be towed by other loco. There are differenr door designs as well. VIA for instance is blocking doors on one end of cars, while other orders have finctioning doors are both ends. The stairs to access low level platforms are different, and of course Brightline has no stairs as all their stations have high level plaforms and instead, they have platform gap fillers that extend out from under door as door opens. So when each order requires customization, it also means lots of testing and teething problems. Now, only to Amtrak cannibalizing Acella steel trains. VIA has done the same iwth its core LRC cards (as well as trabscontiental equipennt which it no longer has enough to run daily trains). Both Amtrak and VIA thought they would be getting the replacemet trains on time and stopped orderig new spare parts for the old trains, but when the new trains turned out to be late, they were stuck with no spare parts and manufacturers no longer making them available. (For Amtrak part of issue was lack of communications internally between the gusy working on new train project and the guys taking care of old steel Acellas).
The new Acellas have fancy tilting system: in the past, active tilting had a probem of delay between entering curve and cars reaching the proper tilting level to cancel the curve and this makes people sick. These new Acellas will use GPS and on-board route database to preduce when they are about to enter a curve and start to bank before the lateral G force is felt so it can be cancelled. (this is one reason FRA is wanting all i dotted on this because brand new and not used before).
Trivia: Adirondack runs on Amfleet II since a "long distance" run, while Ethan Allen and Vermonter are on Amfleet I. Current order for the Ventura cars is to replace Amfleet I. So will be interesting to see if Amtrak downgrades the Adirondack to Venture cars, unless it wll have some configured for Amfleet II comfort (huge amount of legroom, much better seats). Since the Empire corridor will require Venture car with batteries + Charger to get into Penn, I am guessing they will downgrade to Venture commuter cars. (the interio lighting/decor is reminiscent of commuter trains. Personally I don't understand why Amtrak isn't putting overhead catenary from 125th street to Penn station for the whole duration of the Empire access tunnel to Penn. They could then do away with the battery model alltogether, and once at Penn, the train would remain powered instead of needing to be plugged in. (and if batteries are dead, that train will block a platform, unable to make it to sunnyside). And it will have to move the heavy batteries as deadweight for the vast majority of the trip while only using them for the first/last few minutes in/out of Penn.
I hope one day Amtrak and another railroad lines will be electrified nationwide and more double cab trainset, this would solve a lot of problems. But this will never happen. (I do like the design of Airline sets)
I'm an artist, I have God given insights. Even if the whole alien power comes, visible on earth, it shall not prevail the church of God. Amtrak, Septa and almost all motor vehicles facing alien eyes considering as beauty for them.This spiritually blinded generation never grasp it. This is the spirit of antichrist, nothing else.
No matter how much money AMTRAK receives it will never be successful. Mismanagement, unreliable track and power systems. The AMERICAN JOKE, it’s a world wide embarrassment.
but what about electrification?! putting these trainset into operation in the 2030ies still running on Diesel just seems crazy given where we wanna be in 2040 in terms of doing things without burning fossile fuels. Would partial electrification with on board batteries that can be topped of with every stop be an option like they are being introduced on remote non-electrified lines in Germany? As a European I have watched a fair bit of videos getting an idea about the challenges with network ownership and the general gaslighting of voters into thinking that trains sure are nice, but if it does not pay for itself from day one it is all a liberal luxury whereas the direct and external cost of keeping up road infra and urban sprawl is never questioned in the same way. What about spending a lot of money on the federal level getting a national HSR grid which then opens up to private operators to compete. That's how they did it in Spain and much better than this fascination with brightline because it's private and therefore must be better inherently.
The newer Charger locomotives has cabs that sit lower than the Genesis engines. A big plus when it comes to going through the tunnels on the Lakeshore Limited and several other of the routes that runs from Chicago to the northeast portion of the US.
I found this to be quite an informative video! I didn't know about the rumors surrounding the P42DC cab cars, while I learned quite a bit about the rest! I'm looking forward to seeing how Amtrak develops in 2024, and generally, the rest of the 2020s.
I think Amtrak’s biggest issue, like most passenger rail across North America (both US and Canada) happens to be the freight companies getting in the way.
I strongly believe that the best future for train travel here in the US is via private enterprise, and not government funded Amtrak. The Brightline train between Miami and Orlando puts Amtrak to shame! Brightline has done exactly what train travel should be. A fun way to travel!
When I was in the US in 2022, I was riding with an Amtrak train three times (Boston – New York, New York – Philly and Philly Washington) and it was always a pleasure. But yes, the Acela is also the flag ship of Amtrak and thus way better than the average, which is unknown to me.
Japan is the only country which served me a bit better.
But compared to my home country…way better.
And even overall (like I said, I know only the Acela), the US railway system is ranked slightly higher than the one of Germany.
Switzerland and Japan are the two top countries in this regard, but I know only the Japanses railway system. I've never been to Switzerland.
Can anyone tell me why Amtrak is operating in a pull pull config and not a pull push? I know nothing about the efficiency or whether both engines are in use, just from an outsiders ignorance, the push pull config with an engine on each end is much more aesthetically pleasing
I stumbled upon your channel the other night and watched this video as my first of yours. I just wanted to drop in and say to keep it up! I really enjoy the presentation and quality of your work. IMO, you're putting together better pieces than some of the US Train YouTubers who have 6-figure followings. I hope to see your channel grow in the future. Promoted this latest one across all platforms the other day. 🙂
Really sad to see the ACS-64 go before it's time, especially on the Keystone.
Great job presenting such a huge amount of information in such great context. An exciting time, for sure!
Should have ordered new acelas from japan.
the year of the bull
nice to see Amtrak finally get some love again.
amtrak is so nice when you look at it for what it is, i took the starlight from LA to San Jose and it was nice to just sit and get some amazing views while relaxing
I didn’t know that
These paint schemes could be better than that and they need to make a public statement that the government barely gives a shit about Amtrak and also that class 1 railroad corporate money counting idiots are making North American railroading impossible
I don't see why they want desiel power on the NER. It won't ever be used but costs more and wastes what could have been extra seating. Why not just get emu cab cars and call it a day there.
Plus low key I hope they leave some of the current sets in service I've been seeing most of the NERs full
Desperately hope a museum gets a metroliner cab car. Love those things
Always the case with greater methods of transportation where car-centric politicians will cut funding, the services will decline in quality, and car lobbyists will say "look at how much better cars are."
The US has long since needed overhauls in so many areas of transportation, and hopefully this can be the start of something better arising from the rubble.
I have the same fondness as anyone for the equipment that has always been there, but what's to come sure knows how to look good (after the many problems are fixed, of course).
I edited this video on an 11 hour Amtrak ride
Genuine question : why does amtrak or maybe the us go for European style like trains with all the problems and not partnership with asian high speed rail nations like Korea or Japan (ik why not China) like Korail or the shinkansen
So hold up… they're only gonna have maximum 8-car trains on the northeast corridor? Cuz they currently run 10 car trains that are always completely sold out
Without trying to get too political, Biden has been easily the most involved president when it comes to Amtrak and I sincerely hope we don’t get a government next year that slashes all this new funding. I don’t think anyone’s running against it, but it does seem like low hanging fruit for anyone wanting a cheap win. But this is so important, im glad Amtrak have bucked the trend of American rail systems buying trains that look and feel 20 years old off the shelf. (Looking at you Chicago L and Boston T)
As of this fall, an Inpector General report confirmed Amtrak has NOT received any Avelia Liberties. Alstom has stored them on Amtrak property and is having probems with certification with FRA. The major one is that Alstom cannot provide computer modeling of the active banking system for each portion of track on the Corridor something which FRA said was a hard requirement before certification.
BTW, Avelia Liberty is a hybrid: locomotive from the Avelia Horizon (aka TGV–M) but the coaches are Pendolinos. (and the lower speed model of Pendolino since high speed ones don't have banking). This is why the shape of loco does not match the shape of the coaches.
It is somewhat ironic that in 2018, the FRA relented and realized its own rules prevented modern trains and changed it policy to allow importing modern trains, but the "made in America" rules prevent the importation of tested, working trains that can be put in service and instead the desiging of custom trains with USA components requiring full testing/certification regiment since totrally different from original model.
The Viaggios were already heavy steel trains built for cheap in Europe to run on slow lines (only up to 230kmh) and Siemens then had to build a new version of it to meet "made in USA" and FRA rules (since designed in USA prior to 2018, still had the rules that requires everything to be slow and heavy).
Siemens has newer Viaggios made of aluminium now but these would cost too much to convert to meet FRA stadards, so Siemens USA continue st offer the old heavy "Venture" cars.
Also note that not only does "made in America" require new untested "made im USA" components, but every order of Charger locos from Amtrak as well as Viaggios has has different configurations and thus model numbers. (you noted this for locos, but this means Amtrak will have many incompatible locos that look the same but are different inside and have different perforance.). The long distance ones not only have different horsepower, but also more powerful HEP generators to power the longer trains with power-hungry Superliners.
Siemens has sold enough of those Venture cars/Charger locos to more than pay for the deisgn of a "made in America" train. But it isn.t about to import and redesign ist newer rolling stock so USA (and Canada) are stuck with whatever Siemens has right now. (and Siemens has a lot of pressure to fix all the bugs in cars and locos).
Cars are also different models for each order. Some are AAR coupler at each end. Some are sets of 2 cars with permanent coupling and AAR at end of the 2 car duo, and some are permanent couplings for the whole train, some allow the lococmotive to be changed. And some have AAR coupler at the CaB end so train can be towed by other loco. There are differenr door designs as well. VIA for instance is blocking doors on one end of cars, while other orders have finctioning doors are both ends. The stairs to access low level platforms are different, and of course Brightline has no stairs as all their stations have high level plaforms and instead, they have platform gap fillers that extend out from under door as door opens.
So when each order requires customization, it also means lots of testing and teething problems.
Now, only to Amtrak cannibalizing Acella steel trains. VIA has done the same iwth its core LRC cards (as well as trabscontiental equipennt which it no longer has enough to run daily trains). Both Amtrak and VIA thought they would be getting the replacemet trains on time and stopped orderig new spare parts for the old trains, but when the new trains turned out to be late, they were stuck with no spare parts and manufacturers no longer making them available.
(For Amtrak part of issue was lack of communications internally between the gusy working on new train project and the guys taking care of old steel Acellas).
The new Acellas have fancy tilting system: in the past, active tilting had a probem of delay between entering curve and cars reaching the proper tilting level to cancel the curve and this makes people sick. These new Acellas will use GPS and on-board route database to preduce when they are about to enter a curve and start to bank before the lateral G force is felt so it can be cancelled. (this is one reason FRA is wanting all i dotted on this because brand new and not used before).
Trivia: Adirondack runs on Amfleet II since a "long distance" run, while Ethan Allen and Vermonter are on Amfleet I. Current order for the Ventura cars is to replace Amfleet I. So will be interesting to see if Amtrak downgrades the Adirondack to Venture cars, unless it wll have some configured for Amfleet II comfort (huge amount of legroom, much better seats). Since the Empire corridor will require Venture car with batteries + Charger to get into Penn, I am guessing they will downgrade to Venture commuter cars. (the interio lighting/decor is reminiscent of commuter trains. Personally I don't understand why Amtrak isn't putting overhead catenary from 125th street to Penn station for the whole duration of the Empire access tunnel to Penn. They could then do away with the battery model alltogether, and once at Penn, the train would remain powered instead of needing to be plugged in. (and if batteries are dead, that train will block a platform, unable to make it to sunnyside). And it will have to move the heavy batteries as deadweight for the vast majority of the trip while only using them for the first/last few minutes in/out of Penn.
I hope one day Amtrak and another railroad lines will be electrified nationwide and more double cab trainset, this would solve a lot of problems. But this will never happen. (I do like the design of Airline sets)
Nice video. Like me
I'm an artist,
I have God given insights.
Even if the whole alien power comes, visible on earth, it shall not prevail the church of God.
Amtrak, Septa and almost all motor vehicles facing alien eyes considering as beauty for them.This spiritually blinded generation never grasp it.
This is the spirit of antichrist, nothing else.
They’re not doing anything for amtrak’s hartford line?
Watch it get delayed until mid-late 2025
No matter how much money AMTRAK receives it will never be successful.
Mismanagement, unreliable
track and power systems.
The AMERICAN JOKE, it’s a world wide embarrassment.
Yea I don’t really see this as interesting when all the new train is gonna look the same -_-.
As much as how it’s good to have fleet commonality
but what about electrification?! putting these trainset into operation in the 2030ies still running on Diesel just seems crazy given where we wanna be in 2040 in terms of doing things without burning fossile fuels. Would partial electrification with on board batteries that can be topped of with every stop be an option like they are being introduced on remote non-electrified lines in Germany?
As a European I have watched a fair bit of videos getting an idea about the challenges with network ownership and the general gaslighting of voters into thinking that trains sure are nice, but if it does not pay for itself from day one it is all a liberal luxury whereas the direct and external cost of keeping up road infra and urban sprawl is never questioned in the same way.
What about spending a lot of money on the federal level getting a national HSR grid which then opens up to private operators to compete. That's how they did it in Spain and much better than this fascination with brightline because it's private and therefore must be better inherently.
Always know that Jesus Christ is lord ✝️❤️🇮🇱
holy shit this is soooo cool
The newer Charger locomotives has cabs that sit lower than the Genesis engines. A big plus when it comes to going through the tunnels on the Lakeshore Limited and several other of the routes that runs from Chicago to the northeast portion of the US.
gee imagine the government run railroad going overseas to purchase trains instead of using an American manufacturer… Typical government decision
I found this to be quite an informative video! I didn't know about the rumors surrounding the P42DC cab cars, while I learned quite a bit about the rest! I'm looking forward to seeing how Amtrak develops in 2024, and generally, the rest of the 2020s.
Thanks for making this!
When was the avilla at readville
Seems like a lot of new stuff will be happening with Amtrak next year. Amtrak will look so different and modern with their new Trainsets!
This is the copy of the french high speed train in the future !!!
I think once Amtrak's older engines and cars some of them should be preserved at museums to remember their history
Can’t wait to see some changes in NY!!!
I think Amtrak’s biggest issue, like most passenger rail across North America (both US and Canada) happens to be the freight companies getting in the way.
I strongly believe that the best future for train travel here in the US is via private enterprise, and not government funded Amtrak. The Brightline train between Miami and Orlando puts Amtrak to shame! Brightline has done exactly what train travel should be. A fun way to travel!
I appreciate your well sourced, informative, concise video. I’m so excited for this Amtrak future!
When I was in the US in 2022, I was riding with an Amtrak train three times (Boston – New York, New York – Philly and Philly Washington) and it was always a pleasure.
But yes, the Acela is also the flag ship of Amtrak and thus way better than the average, which is unknown to me.
Japan is the only country which served me a bit better.
But compared to my home country…way better.
And even overall (like I said, I know only the Acela), the US railway system is ranked slightly higher than the one of Germany.
Switzerland and Japan are the two top countries in this regard, but I know only the Japanses railway system. I've never been to Switzerland.
Can anyone tell me why Amtrak is operating in a pull pull config and not a pull push? I know nothing about the efficiency or whether both engines are in use, just from an outsiders ignorance, the push pull config with an engine on each end is much more aesthetically pleasing
The United States is a railway JOKE.
I stumbled upon your channel the other night and watched this video as my first of yours. I just wanted to drop in and say to keep it up! I really enjoy the presentation and quality of your work. IMO, you're putting together better pieces than some of the US Train YouTubers who have 6-figure followings. I hope to see your channel grow in the future. Promoted this latest one across all platforms the other day. 🙂
All this money goin overseas they could have ran a track just for Amtrak trains, instead of running on freight tracks