I can't lie, I'm envious that the San Joaquins service got shiny new rolling stock before the Pacific Surfliner did. Regardless, I love to see these new cars finally in service for passengers in the Central Valley! I hope that they are able to refurbish the old F40 cabbage cars to match the San Joaquins livery and keep them in service for many years to come. :D
Came here to write the same thing but you already did. Obviously *live* human-read announcements are the best in terms of charm (as well as clarity), but if that's too much to ask, Amtrak California should at least have the recorded announcements done using real human voices.
I think the Acela new trains on the Northeast Corridor is also going to enter service pretty soon. They're modernizing the rolling stocks faster these years.
And the same trains that OBB uses on their premium Railjet services in Europe. Big upgrade for Amtrak. They're basically making all the intercity trains in the US Railjets!
@@YuqiLinux Unfortunately or was due to mere incompetence. The selected project contractor (Sumitomo Corporation, one of five applicants including Siemens btw) was originally hired to source 130 new bi-level cars. However, their subcontractor was late and delivered a prototype that failed the crashworthiness tests. At that point the project was so far behind schedule that Amtrak California was about to lose the federal subsidy that would cover more than half of the costs. So instead of trying to fix the problems, they just decided to join an already existing order for off-the-shelf single-floor cars built by Siemens. In terms of accessibility, the bi-level cars were actually designed for California's (lower) platform heights and allow level boarding, while the Venture cars are standard height, i.e. taller, and require additional contraptions which in reality makes them less accessible. With all this in mind, I find it odd that Sumitomo have the nerve to splash their logo all over the new cars...
Nice cars, but its disappointing that there aren't any US origin manufacturers of rail passenger cars left or for that matter, mass transit cars. All the units made these days in the US are subsiduaries of foriegn companies. The US once led in the development of rail/mass transit cars, witnessed by past companies like Budd, Pullman-Standard, St. Louis Car, and others. Although not a rail car, the PCC mass transit streetcar was such outstanding design (developed in the mid 30's, ) they continued to be built under license in Europe as late as 1978.
@@davidng2336 actually Sumitomo was the original contractor (selected over several real manufacturers like Alstom and, ironically, Siemens) and were hired to source modern bi-level replacements for the current "California Car" bi-level fleet. However, their subcontractor failed to deliver and almost derailed the entire project, with the feds threatening to cancel federal co-financing. So Sumitomo fired their original subcontractor and instead subcontracted Siemens to sell them normal one-level cars (which were not designed with California's lower boarding platform heights in mind and therefore require steps). It was a total disaster and I'm genuinely puzzled as to why they chose to remind people of it. Or perhaps someone at Amtrak California meant it as an ironic joke/cautionary tale?
I don’t think the bi levels are going away just supplemented by the ventures. There was a plan to replace them with new bi-levels but that project fell through because of a failed test
@@darryldworak6356 True, but those new cars did cost money -- could swap out the bogies for powered ones just the same. The San Joaquins are a more Regional route, so DMUs would be a very good fit. CalTrain runs EMUs now, and there are several DMU routes in California (mainly connector/shuttle routes, but Sonoma SMART is looking to extend their route to a more regional scale).
on the North east, they've turn their old electric loco into Cabbage units as well. Amtrak needs to do the same thing with the old GE Genesis instead of scraping them.
Edit: just looked it up and they apparently are the trainsets, just must have installed a coupler at one of the ends and will prob change it out and switch it for the cabcar They’ll prob stick with cabbage for the foreseeable future, so far iirc only NEC and Cascades have been picked for the Airo program, if it works then they might produce a non trainset cabcar (idk if the trainsets are going to use a US standard coupler, by the initial photos they aren’t)
It seems you got stuck with the same uncomfortable, poorly made cars we did in Illinois. Tell me: Do the seat back pouches have bottoms in the or are they just decorative? Do the seat seats recline, or do they just move about an inch? Do the doors open and close by themselves, picking up the movement of the next car and letting in freezing air in the winter? Does the ventilation blow air in your face for your entire trip because you can't turn it off or redirect it?
@@Qazwsxedc165 Nope. Literally identical vinyl covers without the "cloth" inserts. I've sat on both versions and on the original European version on the Railjet. There is no difference. The Brightline fanboys are just coping because Amtrak got the same trains and that makes Brightline "less premium" in their eyes. They want to believe, bless their hearts.
Oh boy, can you believe it? The US is still rocking those dinosaur trains while the rest of the world has moved on to sleek, futuristic transportation. What's up with that? It's like they missed the memo or something. Come on, America, time to catch up!
