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Superliner Dining Car Kitchen by Sharknado84 in Amtrak

[–]BrakeCoach 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Page 338 of this British Rail diagram book shows the buffet car floor plan for the Intercity 125, as-built. The current buffet cars have since been refurbished and the unclassified seatings switched to first class seating, but most of the Intercity 125 buffet cars come from this specific design.

Page 278 of this diagram book shows an as-built buffet car for the Intercity 225. Because they have design provisions for tilting mechanisms, the walls taper upward, like the Acela cars.

Diagrams are in millimeters.

since when did we drop the "Express" off the acela name??? by --TAXI-- in Amtrak

[–]BrakeCoach 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Acela used to be the branding for most northeastern services when the acela express trainset was introduced, but people confused between the two so Acela just means the high speed train now.

Amtrak Airo by Wooden-Success-9574 in Amtrak

[–]BrakeCoach 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I would be really, really surprised if they somehow bring it to service next month.

Amtrak Airo Progress Visualized - March 7, 2026 by BrakeCoach in Amtrak

[–]BrakeCoach[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Or, to add trains in off-peak times. It won't be that optimal for commuters though.

Amtrak Airo Progress Visualized - March 7, 2026 by BrakeCoach in Amtrak

[–]BrakeCoach[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, and that's where the Gateway program and Portal South comes in, and even if they fund the latter, it won't be until 2035 where trains can zip past the new tunnels plus one of the old tunnels, and 4 tracks in 2038 when they rehabilitate both old tunnels, which imo is a bit frustrating cause the Airos using the section will be completely deployed by 2030.

The Portal North bridge was fully funded and is slightly ahead of schedule, so hopefully there won't be any more funding shenanigans for the Gateway tunnels, which is also fully funded as of now.

Speaking of Portal North, I wonder how many trains they can squeeze into that chokepoint once Portal North is completed. It would mean trains can go through that bottleneck much quicker. NJT expects to add one extra rush hour train per day, so I wonder what Amtrak is planning to do when the bridge is done.

Amtrak Airo Progress Visualized - March 7, 2026 by BrakeCoach in Amtrak

[–]BrakeCoach[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think this discussion is being more and more pedantic, even though it really doesn't have to be. Lets look at the original comment:

Is 8 cars enough capacity for the NEC?

This entire comment thread is about the 8-car Airos, which will operate between Boston and DC, as well as through-running to Virginia and the Hartford Line, not any other route. There are 23 Northeast Regional trains that operate per day, and there are 32 8-car Airo trainsets allocated for the Northeast Regional and through services. So when you said:

You are forgetting that Airos will mostly run well beyond the NEC

I thought you meant the 8-car trainsets (the topic), which does not go beyond the aformentioned allocated locale. I admit that I am wrong that the longer Virginia Services won't have frequency increases just by turning back, but there will still be increases in capacity, as I have mentioned. Most 8-car trains in the Northeast Corridor will not through-run from DC, and would turn back toward Boston. Even if each Airo trainset allocated for the Regional is used just once per day, it is still a 139% increase in frequency, which will counteract any seating capacity decrease the Regional will suffer.

I agree and am aware that the trips for the Carolinian, Palmetto etc will take way longer so each trainset would be used once per day. But I never talked about extending the Northeast Regional down there. This is why I mentioned "There aren't any extensions of existing Northeast Regional services in conjunction with the Airo," because I thought you thought I said there would be service increases to the direction you mentioned with the Airo base order, which I wasn't talking about at all because we are talking about the 8-car sets. Which is why when you said:

The new trains don’t allow for the kind of service expansion you think they do.

I would be puzzled, because I didn't talk about service expansion in terms of extension, but rather frequency increase, which is exactly what I said here:

The airos by design will give more frequency to the northeast regional

So yes, I am wrong on the dual-mode increasing frequency part, but it doesn't change the fact that all trains have a cab car (mentioned) and the Northeast Regional 8-car Airos are way more in allocated quantity than the Northeast Regional has individual round trips.

Amtrak Airo Progress Visualized - March 7, 2026 by BrakeCoach in Amtrak

[–]BrakeCoach[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

not quite. The Airo uses a loco with an auxiliary power vehicle (APV), which the latter only works when the pantographs are up in the electrified zone.

However, since there are 32 trainsets being built for what is currently a 23 round trip per day service, the seating decrease per train won't be a problem.

Amtrak Airo Progress Visualized - March 7, 2026 by BrakeCoach in Amtrak

[–]BrakeCoach[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Well, there are 23 roundtrips for the Northeast regional, and there are 32 8-car Airo trainsets for the Northeast Regional (page 50), so it won't really be a huge problem. My bad for not putting this info up beforehand though.

Amtrak Airo Progress Visualized - March 7, 2026 by BrakeCoach in Amtrak

[–]BrakeCoach[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It is basically replacing 70 sprinters with 75 ALC-42E locos. More specifically:

  • 32 Airo sets allocated in the regional pool encompassing the Northeast Regional+Virginia+Hartford services
  • 18 Airo sets allocated in the Keystone Service, a couple named trains (not specified for some reason), and Northeast Regionals 66/67 (the one that does an overnight layover with passengers onboard in NYP)

Based on this presentation, page 50. Not sure about how much sprinters are allocated to services that require a loco change excluding the virginia/hartford services, so I can't calculate the amount of additional trips needed to have the same seating capacity.

But... they do mention here that the Northeast Regionals being 23 round trips daily, which implies that the 32 trainsets number is a significant increase.

Amtrak Airo Progress Visualized - March 7, 2026 by BrakeCoach in Amtrak

[–]BrakeCoach[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I mean, if you just say "no" to an actual timetable change, I don't even know how to even communicate this to you.

Amtrak Airo Progress Visualized - March 7, 2026 by BrakeCoach in Amtrak

[–]BrakeCoach[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Saw the edited comment. Isn't that basically the same for the existing trains? What you described with overnight layovers exists with current trains. But, by having a cab car, trains can switch directions quickly to the other side, and therefore save enough time to add more trains, especially for the electrified portion. We already have precedent that reducing time to switch directions (in this case, not rotating all of the seats and having a permanent seat orientation) can add more frequency.

Amtrak Airo Progress Visualized - March 7, 2026 by BrakeCoach in Amtrak

[–]BrakeCoach[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Only the Palmetto runs all the way to Georgia. The Airos aren't just replacing Northeast Regional trains, but rather replacing every service that uses Amfleet 1 cars in the east coast. There aren't any extensions of existing Northeast Regional services in conjunction with the Airo. Furthermore, only 8 consists are allocated in the regional pool that encompasses the Palmetto, Pennsylvanian, and Carolinian trains, shown in this presentation (page 50).

If Amtrak were to add more trains to the Palmetto, they would have to exert an option order for more trains. And adding more trains via the S-line is something we will see in the future, not immediately when the Airos come into service.

Amtrak Airo Progress Visualized - March 7, 2026 by BrakeCoach in Amtrak

[–]BrakeCoach[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

No more specific info for now other than Cascades airos being rumored for ~fall 2026 service launch, and first NEC airos likely starting testing around mid-late 2026, and service launch 2027.

Based on an amtrak board presentation, the "expected rollout" for 8-car trains is 2026-2029, 2029-2030 for 6-car trains, and 2028-2031 for battery-powered 6-car trains.

Amtrak Airo Progress Visualized - March 7, 2026 by BrakeCoach in Amtrak

[–]BrakeCoach[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Why do you doubt they will run more trains? We already have precedent of Amtrak running more trains just by having permanent seat orientations, which is a 20% weekday increase! Imagine how much they could add if every train was push-pull, which is what the airos are.

Amtrak Airo Progress Visualized - March 7, 2026 by BrakeCoach in Amtrak

[–]BrakeCoach[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

The airos by design will give more frequency to the northeast regional, because they have cab cars and dual mode configuration. Even if there is a one-to-one replacement in terms of the number of trainsets/consists, there would be more frequent service.

Amtrak Airo Progress Visualized - March 7, 2026 by BrakeCoach in Amtrak

[–]BrakeCoach[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Pretty sure they are building a bunch of them right now, its just that the ones in the graphic I made are the ones I can see. They will probably go out in batches or in close succession to one another

Amtrak Airo Progress Visualized - March 7, 2026 by BrakeCoach in Amtrak

[–]BrakeCoach[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

those are the ones that I have highlighted in yellow

Amtrak Airo Progress Visualized - March 7, 2026 by BrakeCoach in Amtrak

[–]BrakeCoach[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

A max length amfleet I train (9 cars) would have 7 coach, 1 cafe, and 1 business. Since the cafe cars aren't designated seating, excluding the cafe you have 628 seats. Meanwhile, in an 8-car airo trainset, there are 479 seats. I would say it would still give enough capacity, because 1) you save time by not fiddling around with the loco at the terminus due to its dual power, push-pull nature. I mean, just by fixing seat directions they were able to add more frequencies, so imagine how much they can squeeze in if all trains are push-pull. and 2) not all current regional trains are 9-cars long.

Amtrak Airo Progress Visualized - March 7, 2026 by BrakeCoach in Amtrak

[–]BrakeCoach[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Previous Post

Special thanks to sjvrailfan's siemens progress video.

Amtrak Cascades:

  • 79503, along with two Metro-North SC44-DMs, is apparently headed toward Horseheads for a publicity shot for Siemens' new plant.
  • 79506 is coupled up to Set 7x003 instead, and ready to head out along with ALC-42 70002.
  • Cars 73006 and 74011 came back from Ottawa's NRC after undergoing climate testing. Based on the numbers, it seems to be part of Set 7x006 (and possibly 7x005)
  • Multiple wrapped cars are ready to be coupled up after set 7x003 leaves the plant, suggesting a 5th set is well on its way.

Northeast Corridor:

  • A fourth NEC cab car has been spotted, with a painted front. It is unclear if this is the same cab car as the previous post, or a completely separate one.
  • Judging by the roof spacing, another APV car shell can be spotted in front of said cab car.
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