Thank you for clarifying about the Venture seats! After riding on both Brightline and the Midwest Ventures I kept telling people that they're the same seats but the hardcore foamers just didn't want to believe it. The now traditional Amtrak bashing in the railfan community is getting extreme to the point of open delusion about obvious things like this. They're the same seats people! Stop whining about Amtrak! Lol 😁😁😁
One has to believe that the complainers get more attention than the vast majority who are thrilled to have anything new and clean operating on our passenger rail system.
@@LonestarTripsThese cars look great. They remind me of New york Long Island Railroad & NYC subways colors. I want scale models of these no complaints.
Hello from Sacramento! The Siemens Mobility plant is located not far from where I work, which is in the Florin area of Sacramento County. They assemble the SC-44, the SCB-40, the SCV-42 and the ALC-42 locos and Venture trainsets there. Some of the Airo trainsets will likely be assembled here as well. Sacramento seems to have quite the habit of being part of railroad history here in North America, from its infancy as being the westernmost terminus of the Transcontinental Railroad to provider of rollingstock not just to Amtrak, but many other passenger railroads not just here in the States, but Canada as well!
Beautiful train, and the first scenes in-between those tall buildings were eye catching, as they are rare to see in U.S. railway videos, but I enjoy them as much as the most beautiful countryside videos of Europe.
Just took this train yesterday from Richmond to Bakersfield to get back home from college! The ride quality was so much nicer, the overhead bins fit my entire suitcase, the vestibule between the cars isolated any smells from the trash and the super nice bathrooms, and to be honest the seats didn’t bother me that much on my six hour ride. That being said, I do miss the cafe car (thankfully they said they’re building them and they should be on the route eventually). Also, another annoying quirk was that my phone had no GPS reception for the entire trip and worse data, not sure why but it was fixed when i went in the vestibule.
That is quite easy to explain. Modern Trains use a metallic coating for their windows for better heat insulation. The problem with this is that it creates a faraday cage around the train, which means that hardly any GPS or data signal is making it into the car. In the vestibule, they don't have this coating, and that is why your connection is better there. But I am surprised that this is an issue. In europe, modern Siemens trains come with a specific pattern lasered into the metal coating which ensures that all of these signals make it into the trains. I am wondering why they are not doing the same in the US.
I'm probably hella late for this, upon just getting home from a long haul run yesterday, but thanks indeed for yet another awesome one. I most definitely like the look and feel of these new venture coaches as well and can't wait to see if Amtrak will possibly consider them down here for that of their corridor service trains, as well.
@@LonestarTrips It's just a rumor that someone started. If you go on CalTrans' socials they've mentioned adding cafe cars to their fleet later on. I just wonder why they haven't thought of getting them out now unless it's a manufacturing thing.
@@LonestarTrips It must've been a rumor someone started because if you go on the CalTrans' socials they've mentioned to commenters that cafe cars will be added to the fleet later on. Not sure why that isn't now, I can only guess that they just haven't designed it or it's a manufacturing thing.
Super excited for these new cars! The San Joaquins is my most frequented Amtrak route to visit family near Stockton. The views of the bay are just unbeatable. If only there was better connecting service all the way down to San Jose, rather than just Oakland.
@@LonestarTrips Likely because the Airo sets are designed for much longer routes like the Carolinian, which goes for over 13 hours. You need more comfortable seats in that situation.
The color livery on the San Joaquin Siemens Venture cars are silver, indigo, yellow, blue, purple, and dark violet. To me the livery looks very unique with the California brand comparing to other amtrak liveries.
That dreadful announcement system sounds much the same as the one they have on the Siemens Desiro HC trains in parts of Germany. It sounds so robotic and unnatural. Thanks for an interesting video! 😀
Man I love how the California cars match the height of the F59PHI locomotives out in California. Such a clean consist. I really do like the new Siemens Venture coaches too, that livery looks really good
Dreadful looking upright ironing board type seats we infortunately have in the UK - what a shame compared to the comfortable seats of classic US trains. Try sleeping in the new ones without your head falling forward!
the nicest section is between antioch and stockton through the delta of the trip to bfd. I really prefer the old coaches to the venture ones. the reason there is not yet a cafe car is because it is considerably more complicated and thus unfinished
4:04 come on USA, lets elevate our platforms already. Not just for the handicapped/elderly, but since it's just nice to be able to easily roll your suitcase onto a train Love the video, great work!
Unfortunately, so long as freight rail companies own all these lines and run trains through the station, the platforms have to remain ground level. The only station in my state of North Carolina with elevated platforms is Raleigh Union Station, and that's because it's an almost brand-new station built with a siding that allows freight to bypass the station.
it's not just the new coaches to get excited for: SMART (Sonoma Marin Area Rail Transit) are also gonna build a direct connection in Novato with Amtrak's Capitol Corridor.
The California Coach seats DO recline -- it's just a PITA. Reach under the seat and pull n the plastic-coated cable to retract the side pins, then shift your weight forward to move the seat forward and slightly recline the back. Source: me, former Amtrak Oakland Coachyard worker.
Looks like some of the seat pairs don't line up with the windows. I suppose this is to pack in as many as possible, but I wouldn't care to mostly stare at a wall.
Im just glad to have working water fountains and clean bathrooms. Vending machines are a bad move but the cafe car food was not good on San Joaquin anyway so I'm not too sad.
I guess that the locomotives were purchased before Caltrans knew they were going to buy the venture coaches, otherwise I don't understand why the bump at the rear of the locomotive.
They look cool, but disappointing that Amtrak, whose seats were probably the best feature in the older stock, are now on board with the thinnest seats that you can get away with, most of them unidirectional so that they don't all line up with windows club. There looked like some seats there that offer nothing like a large expanse of bodyside for a view. Which is a shame on a line that offers as great views as that
These are attractive looking cars. Some people are complaining about the seats which I’m confused about because they are literally the same as the Brightline car seats and they are nice. Either way I’m excited for amtraks future with this equipment
Not true, seats may look similar but are not the same. Just because they are both Venture cars doesn’t mean they have the same features, they’ve been customized for their buyer.
I love that diagonal stripes have become part of the San Joaquins identity even as part of this new livery (inside the band at the bottom of the cars). Seems like the Comet IB (ex-Arrow I) cars I rode in New Jersey as a kid brought the disco stripes to the west coast and they stuck.
I'm not a fan of the Siemens cars. I use Amtrak in IL frequently. Sometimes I get lucky and get a consist of horizon cars. Those have better leg room and much more comfortable seats. Only good things about the Siemens cars are the announcements are clearer sounding, and the screens that you what the next stop is.
I hope one day you get to try the train from Vienna to Turin Italy the Night Jet. And then when you go around turn on go find the original filming locations of The Italian Job of 1969
If nothing else, hopefully the cafe car situation will be more bearable when San Joaquins gets truncated in Merced in about 5 years after CAHSR replaces the portion south to Bakersfield
Thanks! No video next week. I decided to move to a bi-weekly upload schedule until the end of May to give me more time to focus on finishing up my degree.
@@LonestarTripsMay l curiously ask which college? Back in the day l worked in Southern Pacific's Mechanical and Engineering Departments with an accounting degree. Lol. l always enjoy your entertaining, interesting and informative videos. You have an excellent speaking voice too.
Am I the only one traveling from/to SoCal using these trains? I will use them to get to Merced, or Fresno. No Cafe Car is untenable! The poor hot food (Hot Dogs and Pizza) are the only option you have after Union Station. The bus trip over the grapevine has no services. Frequently there is no time at the Bakersfield station (especially southbound) so the timeline between meal availability gets pretty extended. I connect from Southern Orange County, and after the Train/Bus/Train connection I am ready for a microwave hotdog!
I did not, but the ride is super smooth. I was chatting with a conductor on board, and they mentioned that they preferred the ride of the new coaches to the old ones.
I will never understand how reducing the cars from two levels to one is somehow better. Less capacity per car means more cars in the consist and therefore, more maintenance requirements. They look sharp, don't get me wrong, but I feel, just like with Metra's new Stadler option, Amtrak is being shortsighted with this decision.
The new cars are nice being the North American version of the OBB Siemens Viaggio cars. The problem is they're the wrong type of car for California and the mid-west. Originally Sumitomo of Japan was contracted to build a fleet of bi-level cars for both California and the mid-west. The problem was the first car failed the FRA crush test. This caused the contract to be handed off to Siemens who as far as I know has never built a bi-level car. The result was a single level car that lacks the capacity and low level boarding of the original "California" cars built by Alstom. There are of course no high level outside the NEC and the freight railroads aren't going to allow them. It's a shame the contract wasn't handed off to Alstom for an updated version of the California car.
The original California cars were not built by Alstom. We do have Alstom bilevels on CA commuter services like Caltrain and ACE, but the more intercity trains in the state (San Joaquins, Surfliner, Capitol Corridor) always had the California cars. These cars are variants of the Superliner built by Morrison-Knudsen/Amerail. Either way, why do you think that the Ventures are not a good fit for the San Joaquins? They're good and premium intercity rolling stock.
Agree, Amtrak missed out big time….. Alstom could’ve easily designed California III Car by using the existing design and feedback from the general public and railfans…..
I have one question that didn't seem to have much of an answer. When will the San Joaquin's be receiving Venture Cab Coaches which will be replacing the Cabbage Cars?
Very soon, likely over the summer or in the fall. A cab car is actually going to test on the mainline June 17th if BNSF finally approves the test (BNSF delayed the test twice).
With these new cars in service, Amtrak has been assigning some of the bilevel San Joaquin’s and Capitol Corridor cars to the Surfliner for more capacity. With this move, I wish that California would end the contract it has with Amtrak right now to use a bunch of leased Superliners (18 coaches and 1 lounge) on the Surfliner, so Amtrak can recall those cars to the Long Distance fleet! Not a fan of the absence of a cafe car. But I do like the much larger windows and spacious luggage racks.
Caltrans paid to repair those Superliner Cars which had been in wrecks so it is unlikely Amtrak can recall them. It’s important to recognize that Amtrak has the abilities to run trains along freight railroads that all other contractors do not.
@@erik_griswold I’m aware of that, Amtrak leased those cars to Caltrains at their request, so Amtrak can’t just recall those cars at any time. But most long distance trains are in dire need of more capacity. All of them used to be assigned a 3rd coach during summer. Now most operate with just 2 and run sold out most of the time. But I’m pretty sure that’s not going to sway Caltrains to allow the lease to expire just for the long distance lines. But the year that Amtrak gave those cars to California was the same year that they started dropping a 3rd coach from the Texas Eagle during off peak periods. I remember taking the Eagle about a week before Christmas 2019 and Amtrak did not add any cars to the short 6 car train the Eagle had at the time. It was sold out the entire week of Christmas till after New Years. All trains should be running with at least 3 coaches during those periods because they have demand for them!! But because Amtrak chose to give some of their long distance cars to California for state supported routes, they created a shortage of rolling stock for the long distance network. But this happened when Amtrak was being run by Richard Anderson so I’m not surprised.
@@johnsons74thsquadron74 They didn’t give up any cars. The ones California got were all wrecked and out of service. If not for Caltrans those Superliners would still be in Beech Grove. The national system is a shambles because of the House and Senate and Executive branch, not California.
@@MrMarshmallow26technically a local agency plans the Amtrak trains in California. So it’s people who think like Rep McCarthy planning this service. You know, the people obsessed with the loss ratio on food and not the quality of the service over all. CalTrans doesn’t care about public transit, their primary job is highways.
Good thing this is what the northeast corridor lines will get! The Siemens Airo sets will replace Amtrak’s Amfleet and horizon coaches starting in 2026.
The new coaches were supposed to be bi-levels manufactured by Nippon Sharyo, but the prototype failed the buff-strength test, and thus the contract was cancelled. Siemens was selected as the replacement manufacturer in 2017.
I'm looking forward to trying out the Venture cars on the Missouri River Runner service sometime soon. This is super-nitpicky, but why does the text-to-speech for the automated announcements sound worse than what my Mac was able to do 30 years ago? Speech synthesis shouldn't sound that flat and awkward.
I've never seen cantilevered seats. Given what many people weigh these days, will they stand the test of time? But the extra storage and leg room and cleaner lines are really welcome, although it might encourage and allow the spillage of items stored underneath into the aisle, leading to people tripping, since there's no longer a leg there to prevent it. We'll find out one way or another.
They did a LONG time ago, but not anymore. The current California intercity services use California coaches, comet cars, Pacific Surfliners, the occasional Superliner, and the new Venture cars.
As a kid growing up in the late 90’s/early 2000’s, I remember seeing Amfleet/Horizon Fleet cars on the San Diegans from 1996-2002. I also remember seeing a few San Diegans using Superliners and Cali Cars from 1999-2001. Surfliners took over in late 2000 and have been running ever since, although a set of Horizon Fleet cars may still be used as backup for peak periods.
Have only ridden the Midwest venture cars, but having ridden surf liner trains in the past and Los Angeles Metrolink, I actually find the venture cars are a downgrade for California reason I think they actually lower CD capacity compared to California coaches.
After seeing this, I’m gonna be interested to see who has come out to supply the Superliner replacements Since they put out the request for proposals, not too long ago. Not sure exactly when we’re going to hear on who has bid on it and new designs.
If I’m not mistaken, we should get responses from the RFPs sometime in May. I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw a Siemens variant of the superliner coaches, with a classic European twist thrown in.
What makes you say that? The San Joquins top out at 80 mph (130 km/h) and has an average speed of 53 mph (85 km/h). This is exactly the same top an average speed as intercity services in the Netherlands. And let's not forget that these Siemens Venture trains are exactly the same that OBB uses for their Railjet services. So it's a premium train by European standards. I don't remember premium Railjet rolling stock being used on regular intercity services in the Netherlands. They generally go with more budget train for intercity lines like the San Joaquins.
Remember please that these were not the intended rolling stock for this order. The bi-level cars from Nippon Sharyo failed the crush test and so they had to turn to Siemens for what is effectively a product aimed at Eastern North America where station have platforms or mini-Highs.
If long distance trains could, til the new Viewliners were delivered in the last decade, run heritage diners and baggage cars dating back to the Korean War, the Venture coaches can run with Amfleet Cafe cars dating back to the Ford and Carter presidencies. Heard tell that vending machines have to be bolted through the floor to the car underframe. See if the machines spaces can be taken up by a sandwich and drinks concession.
I believe these are the same cars Amtrak uses on the Illinois routes. Who the hell are the Amtrak officials who never sat in these seats before ordering a fleet of them!!! I can't complete the short 200 mile trip to Chicago without having to walk around. Never had that problem with older cars. NOT BUILT FOR THE BUTT!
All of Europe is fine with these exact same Siemens cars on premium Railjet services. If there is something wrong here it's with your but, not the train. Might want to see a doctor for that.
@@HighHolyOne Go look the reviews of the Railjet services that run nearly identical Siemens trains with narrower isles. Also, go look at the reviews of Brightline which have literally identical seats.
Damn shame that Amtrak is becoming an land airline. Old seats were more comforable, wider, and 50 inch pitch provided a full recline for restful sleep.
These coaches remind me of the old 50s style ones they had a few years ago when they decided to ditch the double deck cars. Wasn't a fan of those when they swapped them out. It had more space per seat, but less seats and less storage space overall.
Live in Vallejo. It is criminal that the capital corridor does not run through Vallejo. We are the largest city in Solano County and the majority of us commute into SF/Oak and Sacramento for work.
At the very least you all need to get a SMART extension and/or that line to the Vallejo ferry terminal that your local transit agency is pushing. Support them! They seem to be pretty damn motivated to get you train service!
The tracks weren't built that way. I do think there should be an Intermodal facility built in Crockett at the base of the Carqiunez bridge, where the Nantucket restaurant used to be, for connections between the SF Bay ferries and Amtrak California trains.
I prefer the double deck "California" cars to this bus on steel wheels. Although Brightline exterior paint job is repulsive at least the interiors and are inviting and the level of service is commendable. San Joaquins - like Auto Train - have been seriously downgraded over the years and that's a damn shame.
The capacity really isn't reduced that much. It's about 17% fewer passengers per car (74 down from 90), and comparing the actual consist capacities, the venture trains actually increase capacity from 376 to 432 passengers per train (Assumes standard 5 car SJ bi-level consist with 1 cafe car, and 7 car venture trainset with 1 food service car and a cab car).
@@LonestarTrips A 5 car SJ with CC Consist can hold 425 people sitting with only 5 more. It would take 2 more ventures to add 10 more people than the CCs. I like the new trains and like to see Amtrak invests in its routes however. Just in a world where ridership is increasing, capacity reductions seem a little short sided.
Hmm, those seats don’t look comfortable. Hope not all the updated trains will be like this. One of Amtrak’s advantages were their seats - wider, more legroom, good recline. I was *very* comfortable on an 11hr coach ride from Ventura to Sacramento, even with the usual hours delay. I didn’t want to pay for a rommette and risk not having the Pacific Ocean view, so an economy seat & the observation car were a good compromise. And it made the California Pass worth it.
@@TohaBgood2 I agree with the overall point, but brightline seats are actually wider and a different model. That's why their cars fit less people in total.
Lol, the Ventures are used on premium Railjet services in Europe. They're faaaaaaaaaaaaaar from being a downgrade! These are some of the best trains in the world right now, dude.
5:37-5:54 I laughed at this because Amtrak did not even try to give the Siemens Venture Coaches for California a different look and feel from the Midwest Venture Coaches, except for the paint jobs.
Sterile coach interior looks like cheap commuter train. No style whatsoever. This is a serious downgrade from California cars and Superliner coaches used on this route.
