Rethinking Low Speed Rail

[dakotafred]

John WR

I suspect you know, Oltmannd, that for many years trains operated with open sleeping cars where two seats folded down into a bed and an upper berth pulled down from the ceiling.  VIA rail still uses open sleepers.  I would like to see Amtrak return to them.  

 

We still have "open" sleepers on Amtrak. They're called roomettes.

[John WR]

Well yes.  But we were talking about something comparable to the fold down seats you can sleep in on Lufthansa.  

[oltmannd]

Paul Milenkovic

Don, that was my idea.  Sam1 gave use some more background on the concept as sam1 is the only one around here who has travelled business class on trans-Pacific flights and taken a ride on the overnight Australia tilt train.

I get soooo confused.  

Bet you could get at least 40 of them in a coach.  A Viewliner sleeps 30 and  14 section Pullman would only sleep 28, right?

You'd only need a 50% surcharge over coach fare to yield the same revenue as a 60 seat coach.

[blue streak 1]

oltmannd

Paul Milenkovic

Don, that was my idea.  Sam1 gave use some more background on the concept as sam1 is the only one around here who has travelled business class on trans-Pacific flights and taken a ride on the overnight Australia tilt train.

I get soooo confused.  

Bet you could get at least 40 of them in a coach.  A Viewliner sleeps 30 and  14 section Pullman would only sleep 28, right?

You'd only need a 50% surcharge over coach fare to yield the same revenue as a 60 seat coach.

Why not as a test run some business class cars on an overnight train ?  At present we have no overnight business class train cars overnight except NEC 66 & 67. The only long distanc trains that even approach overnight is the northbound Palmetto and the weekend northbound Lynchburg  train to Boston with arrivals scheduled about midnight. The Cardinal might be one such test train ? Either The Star or Meteor might be another possibility?. Or how about Auto train ?

[CSSHEGEWISCH]

Does anybody remember how well Slumbercoaches worked out prior to Amtrak?  If I recall correctly, a passenger was charged coach (not first-class) fare plus a space charge.

[oltmannd]

CSSHEGEWISCH

Does anybody remember how well Slumbercoaches worked out prior to Amtrak?  If I recall correctly, a passenger was charged coach (not first-class) fare plus a space charge.

That was exactly it.  I used them on the Lake Shore from time to time.  The extra charge was pretty low - something like $50 for NY - Chicago.  The singles were rather tolerable spaces - uppers more than the lowers.  The doubles were almost exactly like Viewliner roomettes.

I did have one rather rotten night in one, once  I had the last room on the "blind end" and it was coupled to a shortie baggage car.  Lots of banging and bouncing....

Slumbercoaches had 40 beds, but are rather complicated pieces of equipment, with a sink and toilet in each room.

[oltmannd]

blue streak 1

Why not as a test run some business class cars on an overnight train ?  At present we have no overnight business class train cars overnight except NEC 66 & 67. The only long distanc trains that even approach overnight is the northbound Palmetto and the weekend northbound Lynchburg  train to Boston with arrivals scheduled about midnight. The Cardinal might be one such test train ? Either The Star or Meteor might be another possibility?. Or how about Auto train ?

Better yet, why not take a pair of Amfleet lounge cars and put "sleeper seats" in one end and run them on 66 and 67?  Just buy the things from whoever is selling them to the airlines and bolt them down.