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Trains News Wire EXCLUSIVE: A closer look at the new Viewliner II
And they can’t add one of these to the Hiawatha Becauuuuuuuuuse…
Let’s hope these cars are roomier and more user friendly that previous passenger cars. The econo bedrooms on the Superliner are a bit of a doddle especially the upper bunk.
I think the baggage cars from Burlington’s Nebraska Zephyr are still in use by Amtrak. Maybe if Amtrak retires them, one can go to the Illinois Railway Museum to rejoin the rest of the train.
Also, I would like to see new single level lounge cars with wrap around glass like on the Superliner lounges.
Amtrak is getting 130 new low level cars, but management has not determined how to deploy them? Wow! In a competitive, real business, management would have made this determination before it ordered the cars.
The new baggage cars have racks for bicycles, but Amtrak has not developed a policy on how to use them? Another wow!
Toilets at the end of the sleeping car may be a cheaper build, but having to get up in the middle of the night and paddle down the hall to use the toilet is a pain in the backside.
These are just a few of Amtrak’s decisions or lack of them that are poster child arguments for privatizing intercity passenger rail in the United States.
“Bag Dorm”. Wow, what a horrible abbreviation. People will be wondering why bags need their own sleeping car. Why not spell out the whole word? There’s plenty of room.
The bedrooms still have an enclosed toilet. The problem is that there are still only 2 of them plus the accessible bedroom, as on the 50 current Viewliner sleepers and the bedrooms sell out very quickly. Cost, both initial and on-going maintenance, may have played a role in the decision to take toilets out of the rooms, but if two passengers are traveling, one may want to leave the room while the other one uses the toilet and the only alternative is to use the “public” toilets in the coaches. If the 25 sleepers are mixed with the other cars when deployed, then this situation can be partially rectified. I like the 1950s sleepers too, but raising the roomette bed and stepping into the hall in the middle of the night to use the john? Not so much. I’ll take the upper berth of a Viewliner any day for its window-level bed. As for not having an exact deployment plan right now, keep in mind that a number of new service options recommended in the PRIIA section 210 performance improvement plans are now possible with the addition of these sleepers, such as through cars connecting from the Capitol Limited to the Pennsylvanian at Pittsburgh, cut off cars on the Crescent at Atlanta, and a daily Cardinal. Of course, management and the Amtrak Board must forcefully press such efficiency-expanding initiatives with NS and CSX (and Congress), which without the extra Viewliners has given them an excuse not to do. Otherwise, look at all of the single-level trains’ sleeper pricing and sell-out on any given night and take your pick.
Due to the stingy legislators in Washington, Amtrak eliminated private toilets in roomettes. This is a regressive move that makes streamlined Pullman sleepers in the 1950’s more comfortable.
Amtrak would have done well to save money by adopting the blueprints of mid-20th century passenger car bodies with 21st century technology and comfort incorporated. After all, airlines have flown jetliners with the same fuselage designs for over half a century. Application of the tried and proven is often the best course to follow.
DO THE BEDROOMS STILL HAVE AN ENCLOSED TOILET?
Is Amtrak really returning to the striping shown on the bag-dorm?
I really, really disliked the roomette toilets. Who wants to be next to a nasty toilet! I see these new cars a major step forward.
“Bag Dorm” is a great term for a car that’s both a baggage hauler and a crew dorm.
Put it this way folks, the simple fact is that Amtrak is adding new sleepers is at least, a postive thing. yes…people will quibble over in-room/out of room toilet facilities and such, but there still appears to be a demand for a bed to sleep in assuming one takes a long distance train in the first place and wants their creature comforts. While I won;t argue the classic design of a 10-6, these new Viewliners are better than no new Viewliners. Perhaps the only real argument may be price point…inexpensive, they’re not. I suppose it would have been cool to see some form of modernized SlumberCoach. (Anyone remember those on ACL/SCL?)
Poeple may bwe complaining about Amtrak not having a deployment plan for these cars but still, we all know they’ll all be going to long-distance trains that are now single level so that tells us at least a little. I seriously doubt that any of these cars will be going to new services. What I hope to see is a restoration of sleeper service on the former Night Owl/Twilight Shoreliner using the first new sleepers going into service and since the LSL already has the prototype diner it really should get the first revenue diners to be put in service. At the same time, these new cars will probably raise hopes for The Cardinal to be made daily, especially since I understand that there’ve been some track upgrades that have either been done or will be getting done which will eliminate at least some roadblocks to it’s being made daily.
Nice pics, Bob.
Mr. Smith: if passnger rail service were privatized, there wouldn’t BE passenger rail service. A private company might do it more efficiently (a big MIGHT) but after they add their corporate profit to the government subsidy it would probably end up costing the taxpayers more.
Mr. Benson: because the running time of the Hiawatha is under 2 hours and no one would pay for a sleeping space?
The Viewliner rooms do remain superior to Superliner rooms, owing to the former having higher ceilings (adding to sense of space & aiding upper berth patrons) and two rather windows instead of one. Retention of a sink is another difference.
BAG DORM? What was wrong with the word baggage? Also, are we going back to the three equal red, white and blue stripes? It seems we don’t stay with any scheme long enough to field a full train with the same stripe design.
Given that I’ve taken many trips in Viewliner sleepers, and still occasionally do, and given that two friends (at least I hope one of them still is) have responded on this topic, I must throw in my two cents worth.
I don’t agree that the cars need entertainment systems (the LDs ABSOLUTELY need to be WiFi equipped) but the decision to eliminate the toilets in the roomettes is very shortsighted and will come back to haunt the Amtrak decision-makers. Of course, those people don’t ride.
Do not see any safety handholds in the Diner… o/t the overhead storage bin handles… the little red locking tab does not appear strong enough to hold someone…
The bike racks are the wave of the future. With ever more people biking and soon able to take their two-wheelers along on the train, the service will prove very popular. The Capitol Limited is one example, where bikers can pedal from Pittsburgh to Wash, DC on the Great Allegheny Passage (or parts of it) and take the train back. Heck, with that “requisite safe to store firearms” and the bike racks, we could see a new sports hybrid of biathlon-triathlon sponsored by Amtrak 
As someone who’s used the roomettes:
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The lack of a toilet will be a shame for anyone who travels alone, but it’ll now be infinitely more attractive for those who share a roomette. It’s HORRIBLE walking three or four cars down in the middle of the night to get to coach to use the toilet so that you don’t stink up the roomette and/or go to the bathroom in front of your wife/etc.
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That said, it doesn’t sound like they’re addressing the poor space:passenger ratios that roomettes and bedrooms have. So it’ll continue to be ridiculously expensive to travel in a room that you can expect some privacy in (and something resembling however poorly a bed) overnight.
Ultimately current sleeper service is badly done by Amtrak and this isn’t an improvement. What’s needed are route improvements, greater density sleepers, and/or the elimination of overnight travel altogether. This continues Amtrak’s policy of running trains poorly suited for their purpose simply because that’s how it’s always been done, and I don’t think that’s sustainable or worth subsidizing as is.