Here's a "brief passage" from an article in Today's New York Times describing New Jersey Transits prototype for a new oprder of cars they have placed:
NEWARK, Sept. 14 - New Jersey Transit officials offered commuters a glimpse of their train-riding future here on Wednesday and it was not drab, rigid or strictly horizontal. But what clearly was most appealing to all who beheld it was that it would eliminate the chance of spending more than an hour a day pressed between two strangers.
"The middle seat is gone," cheered Maxine Marshall, who commutes from Plainfield, N.J., to work for a trust company in Jersey City.
Well, it is not gone yet. The gleaming vehicle that had Ms. Marshall grinning was a prototype of New Jersey Transit's first bilevel passenger car, which will not be in service for at least a year. It was unveiled on Wednesday at a ceremony at Newark Penn Station.
But in late 2006, the railroad plans to start running the first batch of 100 cars to ease crowding on its trains into and out of Pennsylvania Station in Manhattan. Those trains are rapidly approaching full capacity during the rush hours, and there is no room in the tunnel or at Penn Station for additional trains.
I can only hope that this BOMB does not become the prototype as well for Amtrak or successor agency's, next generation Standard Class (Regional) NECorridor Coach.
Sure looks to me like commuter rail equipment I recall observing overseas in both France and Germany.
Posted by dk82 (Member # 4086) on :
<<Sure looks to me like commuter rail equipment I recall observing overseas in both France and Germany.>>
Maybe someday when the USA has as much money as New Jersey we can order 100 Superliners.
Posted by Gilbert B Norman (Member # 1541) on :
Intercity service along the Northeast Corridor is here to stay, Mr. TwinStar. The agency operating the service in the future may not be Amtrak, but there will be service.
Amfleets next month will celebrate 30 years of revenue service (my first ride was Oct 25, 1975); while they have proven to be rugged and reliable (probably because they were designed and built by Budd and not some medusa headed committee), 40 years will bs enough.
I predict that within the next five years, an order for standard class Corridor service in the range of 200 cars will be placed. I, for one, only hope Amtrak or successor will find a better way than emulating those NJT cars, even though with much of the "R&D" already paid for, they likely could be had on the cheap.
Posted by 4020North (Member # 4081) on :
<<Maybe someday when the USA has as much money as New Jersey we can order 100 Superliners.>>
It's a shame that we don't isn't it? If we could run more trains, make it convenient for people, I'm pretty sure people would ride them. We may yet start relying more on trains, as it really would seem to be economical.
Posted by TwinStarRocket (Member # 2142) on :
<Intercity service along the Northeast Corridor is here to stay, Mr. TwinStar. The agency operating the service in the future may not be Amtrak, but there will be service.>
Point taken, Mr. Norman. It is my hope that someday we can make the same statement about coast to coast intercity passenger rail. And it is my fear that we may spend way more of our tax dollars bailing out the airlines than we have on national passenger rail, especially if they become our only long distance travel choice.
As the airlines shed their excess capacity and downsize their workforce, many social costs will be incurred. I work in the state agency that provides unemployment insurance and job training. Right now we are very busy getting ready to shovel out money for the Northwest Airlines bankruptcy. And the Feds will cover the pension losses. Between Railroad Retirement and Amtrak, I would guess when the railroads were in a similar situation, the social costs were not as great.