I have wondered for sometime if the Boardman management was deliberately slow-walking this project. The report clarifies the situation, but gives little hope of any early arrival of new cars–especially the revenue generating sleepers. Another rumor has the long-completed “test” diner, and sleeper (finished as far back as 2014) finally moving from Elmira to MIami in the week of March 18. We’ll see.
Diaphram between cars retracting, Air Conditioning on Diners not performing to specifications, defective bolts on truck shock absorbers, etc.
I would have thought building a rail passenger car not to be rocket science, especially when based on the same template and construction of the Dining and Sleeping Cars was modular.
The January issue of Railway Age contains their annual passenger car review. For 2015, 971 new railcars, from streetcars to intercity, were delivered to North American operators. Discount the baggage cars that’s still 900 cars that went into service for the most part without incident. This is not rocket science but they still find a way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
I found it curious that the Bags had to be transported from NY to Miami to be inspected (and I expect prepaired) prior to being placed in service. The report seems to explain why - inept construction by CAF.
Don’t the RRs and know the airlines take delivery of units then ship them somewhere to set them up. Someone can tell us how long it takes a RR or say BNSF to set up their new locos ?
Know it can take 2 - 4 weeks for a new airplane to be set up.
Works better for receiver of units to do final set up.
Ignorance is not necessarily stupidity. I’d like to see an engineering assessment of the details of these defects, their severity, and what is being done to remediate them and ensure the problems don’t recur on new construction – etc.
Wilful or repeated ignorance… that’s another matter.
Seems to me that the big detail in the OIG story is the establishment of careful design review and oversight going forward. If that is done by even halfway-competent people at Amtrak who understand basic things about engineering (and passenger railroading), it should work nicely
I am rather curious about a couple of things. How many railroads back in the day built some of their own passenger equipment? This second question may sound dumb, but would it be more practical for Amtrak to build some of their own rolling stock, thus have control over quality issues?
In the ‘olden’ days a number of carriers did some of their own passenger car building and rebuilding - the crafts that performed these services had grown up with the equipment over the years.
Amtrak doesn’t have any existing crafts to perform these services in the scale necessary to fulfill their car orders.
History does not repeat itself… but it does rhyme. My real concern is, by the end of the order, we shall see a manufacturer completely geared up and set up to churn out quality stainless steel rail vehicles… and it ends. No exercise of the 70 car option. No Viewliner coaches. No ready supply of spare parts. Nothing. And we are back to Hialeah getting innovative to make basic repairs. I’m afraid that design review and oversight at this point is too little too late.
Ineptitude or inexperience? Does it really matter?
The bottom line is that the cars need to meet certain standards. If they don’t do that, the employees and passengers who will depend on this equipment will not be served, and that’s the only thing that matters in the long run.
If the V2 baggage cars do not meet the specs, why does Amtrak accept them? They should have been returned to the manufacturer to remediate before paying one dime for them. At the very least, the manufacturer should be held acccountable for whatever it costs to repair them.
I think, in part, we’re looking at the same thing Mr. Carleton was hinting at above: if CAF cuts its losses or loses too much, and quits, there goes the whole production with no one else eager or willing to fill in. I am still in shock that the whole Turbotrain stock went for cheap scrap prices as it did. Might be worth more than a little careful ‘aftermarket’ tinkering at Hialeah to fix defined errors would cost to keep the facility going a while longer…
… but I do agree that CAF, or its insurers or bond providers or whatever, should compensate Amtrak for both the expense and the consequences of the delays (to the extent that consequential damages aren’t excluded from the contract terms).
I believe PRR & Milwaukee built cars. Remember the Beaver tail obs and the horizontal ribbed sides on the MLW. And I think the P72 coaches were built in Holidaysburg.
Also, the plant in Rochelle that has the contract for the new Illinois/Michigan/California bilevels is stalled after their first car failed the compression test. Siemans in Sacramento seems to be doing things right with Amtrak’s locomotives and has the contract for the Florida tralns. Perhaps Trains Mag can get us updates on the status of these projects.
Between 1946 and 1949 the PRR built or had built 94 P85br coaches. They were 44 seat cars that were part of the Pennsy’s post WWII upgrade of its passenger train fleet. The initial batch was assigned to the Jeffersonian. Subsequently, they could be found on the General, Spirit of St. Louis, etc.
The cars were designed by ACF, which built 24 of them. The other 70 were built in Altoona from kits.
The Pennsylvania Railroad built more than 1,000 P70 coaches between 1907 and 1929. I believe they many if not all of them were built at the East Altoona car shop(s). I may be wrong, but I don’t believe any passenger cars were built at the Samuel Rae shops in Holisdayburg.
In addition to the need to replace the Amfleet II coaches, what about the obvious need to replace the Amfleet/Horizon “lounge cars” still used? The lounges today are so spartan and geared more to be a cafe; a far cry from what we knew to be the inviting club lounge cars of the past. Today, only VIA Rail understands what a lounge should be, including the appropriate inventory, and attendant as a trained bartender.
Its not that Amtrak Has no clue, their is congressional pressure to eliminate any kind of food service except the barest of essential. You need to write your right leaning congressman and senators to fix your dining and lounge issues. Quality service is not often cheap.
CAF USA has already lost $41 million on this contract per the OIG report. The losses from production are currently taken out of spare parts supply. When the losses exceed the price of the total contract then CAF throws up its hands and walks away, vis-a-vis M-K twenty years ago. Then comes a ‘bailout’ funded by the taxpayers to set up a third party to finish the cars. (Maybe we can call it Amerail II?) The eastern trains continue to be under equipped. The shop in Hialeah continues to be under supplied. And the long distance trains continue to look like a joke. But look at all the money we saved by signing with the low bidder with no experience in stainless steel… again.