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  #1321  
Old Posted Feb 10, 2015, 3:56 AM
untitledreality untitledreality is offline
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Originally Posted by 202_Cyclist View Post
These Ayn Rand-disciples really do love, love, love to cut funding for important infrastructure investments.
Take a second and calm down. Illinois is broke, and since taking office Rauner has froze ALL discretionary spending by the state. Every project is being combed over to see where scarce state dollars would be best utilized.
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  #1322  
Old Posted Feb 10, 2015, 1:48 PM
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Given the evolving landscape of short/medium distance train routes, I'm not sure that Illinois even needs to involve Amtrak in the rockford-chicago route.
This entire project needs to be re-imagined.
The current proposal does not even include a stop at O'Hare or even 'near' O'Hare (Franklin Park). The route may be a better served as a commuter extension of the MD West line with stops in Rkfd, Belvd, Marengo, Huntley, Elgin, Franklin Park (o'hare) and express to CUS. And there is probably more Federal money available under New Starts program.

Then focsus on an express I-90 median tracks rckfd-schbrg-ohare-cus. As envisioned in Cross Rail

Last edited by jpIllInoIs; Feb 10, 2015 at 2:55 PM.
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  #1323  
Old Posted Sep 5, 2015, 7:43 PM
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Delays Ahead For New Midwest/California Bi-Levels?

From the Rockford Register Star. Entire story available at link.

Quote:
Nippon Sharyo puts 100 workers at Rochelle plant on hiatus

By Dorothy Schneider
Rockford Register Star
Posted Sep. 3, 2015 at 3:48 PM
Updated Sep 3, 2015 at 8:50 PM

ROCHELLE — Nippon Sharyo announced 100 temporary layoffs today at its Rochelle fabrication and welding shops.

The reduction in force is a result of complications during the testing phase of one of its prototype cars, which requires the company to undergo a design review by its engineers, according to a statement from the company.

“We do not know how long this reduction of work will be. However, we have implemented a policy regarding the recall of employees. The recalls will occur once everything is resolved and production is back on schedule,” the statement said.

The company is providing a severance package to the affected workers.

image - trn.trains.com
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  #1324  
Old Posted Sep 7, 2015, 11:44 PM
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Seems counterproductive. Why is the design review taking place now, after Nippon Sharyo has already set up a production line and started rolling? Wouldn't it make more sense to test a prototype at an earlier stage?

I'm sure the design review is some cumbersome, antiquated process that requires the railcars to be trucked to Pueblo where they will sit for months until some bureaucrat wakes up from his government-mandated nap...
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  #1325  
Old Posted Sep 8, 2015, 12:27 AM
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Originally Posted by ardecila View Post
Seems counterproductive. Why is the design review taking place now, after Nippon Sharyo has already set up a production line and started rolling? Wouldn't it make more sense to test a prototype at an earlier stage?

I'm sure the design review is some cumbersome, antiquated process that requires the railcars to be trucked to Pueblo where they will sit for months until some bureaucrat wakes up from his government-mandated nap...
From what I've read elsewhere regarding this setback, the prototype bi-level failed an 800,000 lb. crush test. Only conjecture thus far whether it's a manufacturing or design/engineering problem. Or both.
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  #1326  
Old Posted Sep 8, 2015, 2:16 AM
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Sometimes a story comes along where I can't even find the energy to sigh. This is one of them. A bilevel car can't even be built in this country without the rigamarole more closely associated with engineering a Mars lander.

You have that nonsense going on out in LA with the Metrolink bilevel cab cars. Now this.
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  #1327  
Old Posted May 11, 2016, 2:00 PM
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New Amtrak Stations (Illinois)

Alton, IL





Dwight, IL







Pontiac, IL

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  #1328  
Old Posted Jun 26, 2016, 9:35 PM
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New Siemens Chargers Headed For Testing

The first two Siemens Charger locomotives, part of a multi-state procurement headed by IDOT, have left the Siemens factory in Sacramento, California, and are on their way to the AAR's Transportation Technology Center in Pueblo, CO for initial testing.

Here are a couple of shots of the two Chargers sitting at Union Station in Denver, awaiting the move to Pueblo...


Image Source - Amtrak Unlimited Forum Member "chakk"

Here is a rendering I pulled from an IDOT presentation, which shows not only the Charger, but also a possible matching livery for the new Nippon-Sharyo-built bi-levels, provided, of course, they can get their design problems ironed out.


Image Source - IDOT
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  #1329  
Old Posted Jun 26, 2016, 9:47 PM
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Chicago - Quad Cities Service Back On Track

The Quad Cities Times is reporting that the State of Illinois has committed itself to finally re-establish passenger rail service between Chicago and Moline.

Quote:
Illinois commits to Chicago-to-Q-C rail project

June 22, 2016
by Ed Tibbetts

The state of Illinois has told the Federal Railroad Administration that it is moving forward with the Chicago to Quad-Cities passenger rail project, an official said Tuesday.

The decision may well keep in place $177 million in federal funding that was awarded in 2010 for the connection, but that will be up to the Federal Railroad Administration, which had said the grant would expire June 30.

Local officials have been lobbying Gov. Bruce Rauner to ask for an extension.

“The Illinois Department of Transportation has informed the Federal Railroad Administration that it will be proceeding with the proposal to reintroduce passenger rail service between Chicago and Moline," Guy Tridgell, a spokesman for the Illinois DOT wrote in an email Tuesday morning. "As we move forward, we remain strongly committed to looking out for the best interest of all Illinois taxpayers."

The state's initial match for the grant amounts to $45 million, and in the midst of the budget impasse, the governor's office has been willing to say lately only that the project is under review.

----------SNIP--------------

U.S. Rep. Cheri Bustos, D-Ill., who has sought to pressure the Rauner administration into seeking a grant extension, said Tuesday this is a step in the right direction but she also pointedly accused the Republican governor of dragging his feet.

"I am glad that we were able to convince Governor Rauner to stop stalling and move toward accepting this $177 million job-creating federal investment, however, his decision to wait until the last minute means that the Federal Rail Administration must decide whether to allow an extension on this project," Bustos said.

Image Source - Kevin E. Schmidt/Quad Cities Times


The entire article may be found here.

Last edited by Mister Uptempo; Jun 27, 2016 at 1:38 AM. Reason: To add image
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  #1330  
Old Posted Jun 26, 2016, 10:20 PM
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Chicago Union Station Rehab Continues - New Amtrak Metropolitan Lounge Set To Open

Curbed Chicago recently ran a feature about the new Amtrak Metropolitan Lounge set to open at Chicago Union Station.

Here are a couple of shots from the article-


Image Source - Amtrak

The article also touches on efforts to repair the skylight in the Great Hall, as well as the restoration efforts in the former Women's Lounge, to be called the Burlington Room upon completion, which will be available for rent as event space.
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  #1331  
Old Posted Jun 27, 2016, 3:14 AM
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Originally Posted by Mister Uptempo View Post
The Quad Cities Times is reporting that the State of Illinois has committed itself to finally re-establish passenger rail service between Chicago and Moline.
The original proposal for this was Chicago to QC to Iowa City to Des Moines to Omaha. The state of Iowa is pretty strongly against this project under Governor Branstad. Getting just the Chicago to QC portion completed is more feasible than the entire proposed route, but the entire has more significant stops and metro areas. How feasible any of this is, that's probably on the low side right now.
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  #1332  
Old Posted Jun 27, 2016, 3:56 AM
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Originally Posted by Chicago29 View Post
The original proposal for this was Chicago to QC to Iowa City to Des Moines to Omaha. The state of Iowa is pretty strongly against this project under Governor Branstad. Getting just the Chicago to QC portion completed is more feasible than the entire proposed route, but the entire has more significant stops and metro areas. How feasible any of this is, that's probably on the low side right now.
Yes, Branstad left $53 million in federal money on the table because the state refused to put up the matching funds required to run the train 60 miles further west, to Iowa City, the first step across Iowa to Omaha.

But, at least, the train's headed to Moline. Take your victories wherever you can find them, I guess.

Now the question is whether there is any hope for Chicago-Rockford service. Since the state was funding that service without any help from Washington, that route's fate may not be as bright.
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  #1333  
Old Posted Jun 27, 2016, 6:23 AM
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Awesome Curbed article! The restoration of the Burlington Room is very exciting, and I'm very glad to hear that the Great Hall will no longer be shutting down for private events. I always felt a little insulted that my tax dollars were supporting a fancy wedding venue that should rightfully be public space at all times.

The Metropolitan Lounge itself feels like a very banal convention hotel. I had the same feeling about the Legacy Club, where the cheezy nostalgia is turned up to 11. Just not very good interior design here, folks, and at a major gateway to the city too. When compared to the interior renovations at ORD this is a sad sad joke. Plus they turned the old barber shop into a weird rental meeting room, in an era when vintagey artisanal barbershops are all the rage. Talk about a missed opportunity.
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  #1334  
Old Posted Jun 27, 2016, 6:29 AM
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That livery on the Charger... Wow. So bad. I thought the Midwest scheme was supposed to be prominently red? This Amtrak insistence on blue and gray is frustrating, and that halftone pattern is just excessive and busy.

On the plus side, the US flag from the rendering does not appear on the final product, so there's that. I don't find much patriotism in a German locomotive that was reverse-engineered and dumbed-down to meet a bunch of crazy US regulations. It's about as American as a Beck's brewed in St Louis or a Mercedes built in Tuscaloosa.
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  #1335  
Old Posted Jun 27, 2016, 4:20 PM
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^Yep, yep. yep and more yep.

The Charger is obviously a vast improvement but I'd be lying if I said I really loved how they turned out. The front end stayed about 80% accurate to the renderings buy they dropped the ball on the utilitarian headlights and marker lights panel. Imagine what would happen to the styling of a 2017 model car if they grafted the headlights from a 1982 Dodge Diplomat on the front. It would shit it all up right? Well maybe not that bad here, but it is far from sleek.

And maybe its explained somewhere years ago but I really don't understand why Chicago hub regional Amtrak is moving to bilevel coaches. Is there some cost savings here? Is there something to be gained by having shorter rakes? For a designer I can't stand the lack of coordination of roof lines. The Charger hauling the bilevels removes the little bit of line gracefulness that existed in a messy mixed consist Amtrak midwest train. Are they planning to run locos at each end?

Also what's the deal with all the SEPTA Silverliner cars in those station renderings?
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Last edited by Busy Bee; Jun 27, 2016 at 10:36 PM.
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  #1336  
Old Posted Jun 27, 2016, 7:10 PM
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I really don't understand why Chicago hub regional Amtrak is moving to bilevel coaches.
The same reason California did it on their regional services. It maximizes capacity without forcing every station to lengthen platforms, and it allows Amtrak to get the most out of each conductor on the train. Plus the California Car design has lower doors, which speeds up boarding and improves accessibility.

I assume any low bridges that might have existed on the various midwest Amtrak routes have been raised or eliminated by now...

Generally European services deal with increasing demand by increasing service frequency, but in America where there are plenty of freight trains and flat junctions that constrain frequency, adding more trains gets expensive very quickly.
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  #1337  
Old Posted Jun 28, 2016, 1:07 AM
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Originally Posted by ardecila View Post
The same reason California did it on their regional services. It maximizes capacity without forcing every station to lengthen platforms, and it allows Amtrak to get the most out of each conductor on the train. Plus the California Car design has lower doors, which speeds up boarding and improves accessibility.

Generally European services deal with increasing demand by increasing service frequency, but in America where there are plenty of freight trains and flat junctions that constrain frequency, adding more trains gets expensive very quickly.
Europeans have double level trains too, although mostly in regional services and not intercity.

Not only do they make train stations smaller, they make train storage yards smaller too.
There's many ways a double level train saves money.

Even east coast commuter rail operators like to use double level trains where possible; VRE, MARC, NJT, MBTA, SunRail, and TriRail use double level trains.

The only places Amtrak shouldn't prefer double level trains is where they don't fit (tunnels), or for very high speed trains. Although there are double level HSR trains operating in France.

Last edited by electricron; Jun 28, 2016 at 4:23 AM.
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  #1338  
Old Posted Sep 28, 2017, 4:50 PM
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Originally Posted by Busy Bee View Post
And maybe its explained somewhere years ago but I really don't understand why Chicago hub regional Amtrak is moving to bilevel coaches. Is there some cost savings here? Is there something to be gained by having shorter rakes? For a designer I can't stand the lack of coordination of roof lines. The Charger hauling the bilevels removes the little bit of line gracefulness that existed in a messy mixed consist Amtrak midwest train. Are they planning to run locos at each end?
You may get your wish. Nippon Sharyo is now throwing in the towel on the bilevel order and is proposing to substitute single-level cars from Siemens to meet their obligations under the contract.

https://systemicfailure.wordpress.co...lcar-contract/
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  #1339  
Old Posted Nov 10, 2017, 3:39 AM
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Single level cars replacing bilevel order in multi-state contract

It's official. The planned use of bi-level coaches on Amtrak regional trains in multiple trains is out in favor of single level cars built by Siemens after bi-level crash worthiness proves too difficult to accomplish under FAA guidelines:


Thursday, November 09, 2017

Siemens in, Nippon Sharyo out of Caltrans pact

Quote:
Confirming a change by its contract partner, Caltrans amended its $317-million contract for new passenger cars, replacing Nippon Sharyo with Siemens, which will join with Sumitomo Corp. of America to fulfill the delayed multi-state order. Other details of the order were changed as well.

The newly-finalized contract will supply 137 single-level passenger railcars – 49 to Caltrans and 88 to the Illinois Department of Transportation. Under the original terms of the deal, Sumitomo had subcontracted construction of bi-level cars to Nippon Sharyo of Japan. The revised pact substitutes Siemens as a subcontractor, changes specifications to single-level cars, and accelerates delivery from five years to 24-34 months.

The IDOT contract with Nippon Sharyo dates to 2012, and was financed by $551 million in federal funds. But the order was jeopardized in 2015 when a prototype car failed to pass a mandatory crash safety test. In August of this year, IDOT announced that Siemens would replace Nippon Sharyo as subcontractor, and that it was changing specifications from bi-level to single-level cars.

Nippon Sharyo was building the cars in Rochelle, Ill.

The U.S. operations of Sumitomo are a unit of Japan’s Sumitomo Group.

“This contract is moving full-speed ahead and that is good news for Californians, both in terms of job creation and better passenger rail service,” said Caltrans Director Malcolm Dougherty. “Caltrans and IDOT are ready for these new railcars to provide additional seating capacity for our busy trains and support planned improvements to passenger service.”

Rest of story @ Railway Age
I for one am thrilled. Not only do they look better, single-level coaches function better considering bi-level coaches are not needed on longer distance routes with no capacity issues.
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  #1340  
Old Posted Nov 10, 2017, 5:12 AM
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Great. Get on with it!

I wonder if Siemens will just adapt their high-level Brightline/"Viaggio Comfort" design for low platforms, or if they will engineer an FRA-compliant version of the low-floor "Viaggio Light" design used in Israel.

Level boarding would really make the Hiawatha feel more like a commuter train...

Either way, the new Siemens cars will certainly gel with the new Siemens locomotives much better than the bilevels would have. Sleeker is always better.
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