Hello, What would happen to Amtrak's passenger cars and locomotives if they where to shut down? I'm guessing that some of the passenger cars would be scrapped, and may be others stored or sold. Would some of their locomotives be sold to leasing companies, or would they be returned to their lessors (if they have any)? Is it possible that some locomotives could be sold to a commuter rail company, or even VIA Rail (if they need any)? Does anyone might know what they would do?
Barty Posted by notelvis (Member # 3071) on :
If Amtrak is railroaded (well.....bankrupted) I believe whatever equipment is wanted by some other agency will be sold and any funds generated applied towards Amtrak's debts.
I can imagine locomotives and amfleet coaches going to commuter agencies.
I can imagine short-line freight railroads picking up some yard engines.
I can imagine genesis diesels hauling stack trains on BNSF.
Given this......and I suggested this in another thread.....I wouldn't be a bit surprised to see VIA pick up some of the superliners, refurbish them, and put them in service on the 'Canadian'. VIA already has a track record of saving their scarce resources buying unwanted second-hand passenger equipment from other countries. As nice as those stainless steel Budd Cars are, Amtrak's Superliners are 25 years newer.
Posted by Barty (Member # 3746) on :
quote: I can imagine genesis diesels hauling stack trains on BNSF.
What a sight that would be! While I'm thinking of it, what would happen to the Acela train sets? Would they be scrapped, or returned to their builder (can't remember who built them)? Is there a possibly that the Northeast Corridor would remain running, may be under a new operator, because I thought I remember reading somewhere that it had alot of business.
Barty Posted by George Harris (Member # 2077) on :
Sorry, barty, but the Northeast corridor is the biggest sinkhole for money that Amtrak has. It will survive and it will continue to be subsidized heavily, but under some other form of governmental smoke and mirrors act.
Bombardier built them with most of the work being done in Canada. There is a long story on these things with a lot of dissatisfaction on both sides. Gunn basically said no more and never again because of all the problems these things have had.
George
Posted by Barty (Member # 3746) on :
quote: Sorry, barty, but the Northeast corridor is the biggest sinkhole for money that Amtrak has. It will survive and it will continue to be subsidized heavily, but under some other form of governmental smoke and mirrors act.
Wow, I didn't think the Northeast Corridor was in that bad of shape.
quote: There is a long story on these things with a lot of dissatisfaction on both sides. Gunn basically said no more and never again because of all the problems these things have had.
That doesn't suprise me that Amtrak didn't really like them. You would think that there would be alot of problems with a train that goes well over 100 MPH at times, but may be I'm wrong.
Barty Posted by George Harris (Member # 2077) on :
Barty,
I did not say the Norhteast Corridor is in bad shape. It is not. Other than the crying need to replace some of the drawbridges on the north end, preferably with higher level fixed bridges so that service will not be at the mercy of the yachtsmen, the Northeast Corridor is in fairly good shape. It is just that it requires a lot of money to keep it that way. In addition, short haul passenger service is the most expensive of all rail passenger services to operate due to high terminal expenses.
The Acela could have been better. There has been a lot written about its problems, but IMHO a lot of the problems are related to not paying attention to the concept of rugged simplicity, which, whether named that way or not, is the basic concept in most Amreican railroad equipment. Running 100 mph is not the problem, that was consistently done 60 plus years ago with steam on some lines, and done at times, also with steam on a lot of other lines.
Posted by Barty (Member # 3746) on :
quote: I did not say the Norhteast Corridor is in bad shape.
Oh, I must of read your first reply wrong, sorry.
quote: Running 100 mph is not the problem, that was consistently done 60 plus years ago with steam on some lines, and done at times, also with steam on a lot of other lines.
I foreget sometimes that railroads ran steam engines that fast, so running that fast on the Northeast Corridor must not be a problem, like you said. BTW, thank you guys for all your help, this really cleared things up .
Barty Posted by amtraxmaniac (Member # 2251) on :
Do you think the airlines might be interested in buying them up? They'd probably scrap them to ensure that they would not have competition.
Posted by TheBriz09 (Member # 3166) on :
quote:Originally posted by amtraxmaniac: Do you think the airlines might be interested in buying them up? They'd probably scrap them to ensure that they would not have competition.
I doubt it... the airlines have enough cash problems as it is. Anyway, I think the airlines hardly see Amtrak as any sort of competition whatsoever, with the possible exception of Delta and US Air along the Northeast Corridor.
Posted by TBlack (Member # 181) on :
Sort of along the lines of the current thread, suppose AMTRAK did stop running the LD trains, what do you think of the possibilities of a group of railfans/business-types picking up one of the routes, say the LSL or the Coast Starlight, and running it as a private enterprise. Do you think it could be profitable? Would it be any fun?
I'm picking a route that runs just one night to minimize the number of consists, and I believe the traffic on these two trains is pretty heavy.
Posted by dilly (Member # 1427) on :
quote:Originally posted by TBlack: what do you think of the possibilities of a group of railfans/business-types picking up one of the routes, say the LSL or the Coast Starlight, and running it as a private enterprise. Do you think it could be profitable?
Presumably, you're talking about trains for "regular people," not well-heeled retirees. Without Federal and State funding, no private organization would be able to operate such a complicated venture using ticket revenues alone. You'd still have to maintain stations and rolling stock, negotiate with various labor unions, and arm wrestle with the freight railroads that own the tracks and (for the most part) consider passenger rail a major thorn in their side.
In other words, you'd have to deal with all the headaches Amtrak currently deals with, without the benefit of government subsidies and (for what it's worth) Congressional protection.
Posted by Pojon (Member # 3080) on :
How about getting some of that Amtrak equipment out of the hialeah repair yards in Miami to replenish some of the ailing cars that are used on the east coast especially on local runs from New York to Washington, DC?
Posted by pgrail (Member # 3877) on :
If Amtrak does fold up and some of its equipment goes to Via, I could definitely see Via using Superliners on the Canadian. I have never ridden on the Canadian (but I intend to do so soon) and the vintage cars used are a treat to ride on but consider that the Canadian only operates thrice-weekly; plus some of its equipment are 50+ years old. Having Superliners on its route could drastically improve equipment reliability and possibly even shorten the amount of rolling stock used on the line- freeing up equipment for other routes. But Viewliners Could be used as sleepers if Via wants to keep the domes on the route.
Posted by royaltrain (Member # 622) on :
I can't believe that Via would want Amtrak's Superliners. They don't have near the reliablity of the 50 year-old Budd equipment that Via completely re-built in the early 90's. I ride the Canadian and the Ocean several times a year, and almost never have I experienced equipment failure. I wish I could say the same for the Superliners that frequently are plagued with non-working toilets, no hot water, non-working AC etc. These things very rarely occur with the Via equipment. In addition I don't think Via would want to mix single and double deck cars.
Posted by Pojon (Member # 3080) on :
Nothing beats the reliability of the older Budd equipment! Every time I ride on Amtrak, half the toilets are not working or the door locks don't lock or air conditioning is not working or something annoying like that on the superliner cars.
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