So we're basically getting ÖBB Railjet/Brightline intercity service all round the US! Freaking amazing! Amtrak is doing a ton of things right with this!
@@shrike6259 Depends on where. On the Northeast Corridor, they already have pretty good infrastructure and many high speed sections. And they just got a ton of money to upgrade most of the NEC to modern standards and higher speeds over the next decade - about $40 billion worth of upgrades! Wherever Amtrak runs on freight rail, yes, they are at the mercy of whatever crazy things the freight railroads want to do with their track. And again, yes, most of them are running their networks into the ground. We need to either nationalize these maniacs before they completely destroy the networks that they inherited or pass funding bills in Congress to subsidize infrastructure upgrades. Not much Amtrak can do about that. But even here Amtrak has already started upgrading some of the lines to 110mph in a few select places. And states like California and Virginia are doing their own upgrades and attempting to buy more freight track to upgrade it for passenger use. We still have a long way to go in most places but this is a good start! And there also are a few places where these new trains are the last puzzle piece to get world class rail service! And that is a very good thing indeed!
@@shrike6259 North Carolina just spent a $1 billion+ of improved rail infrastructure and they're hoping for another $2 billion in the next round. Given that city of Raleigh is going to spend $3 billion to double track the AMTRAK route improvements are being made at least.
Doesn't mean shit when Amtrak's maintenance malpractices and shitty Siemens products will see this things ruined and degraded within a few years. Both ACS-64 and SC-44 failure rates are significantly higher than that of the legacy AEM-7s and P42 so far, the ALC-42s are out of service completely due to a class-wide control system failure, and the Venture coaches were sidelined for months with door failures - something they only solved by leaving all the doors open.
Hopefully, this will help expand Amtrak to new routes with the remaining old stock. Amtrak will have enough trains to go to places like Scranton or Columbus/Dayton/Youngstown, Ohio or a Nashville to Memphis route.
You'd think but for some reason Amtrak can't even get that right. They're reducing service in the Midwest due to "equipment shortages" right after the received new Ventures cars. Maybe the old Amfleets and Horizons are being refurbished in Indiana? idk
@@MichaelfromtheGraves the ventures have/had some errors meaning they dont have the required amount. BUT they do have large extension plans, such as trains from NYC to scranton, theyve supported Philly to reading, higher frequencias on the NEC, to Miami, surfliner etc, as well as cascades extensions and the like. Keep in mind they are underfunded like most american transit organizations
Amtrak is really paying serious attention to upgrading most infrastructure and trains, aren't they? Wheelchair lifts and wider doors and windows being on board is such a smart idea
The Airo reminds me of the RailJet. The RailJet has a cab car in the style of the Siemens Taurus, which is used all over Europe. And seeing the cab cars look like the ALC-42(E), kind of reminded me of that.
Yep, the Charger is the American version of the Siemens Vectron locomotive and the Siemens Venture cars are the American version of the Viaggio Comfort coaches that Railjet uses. So yes, in a way we just got nationwide Railjet service! It’s actually pretty incredible. US passengers rail is usually pretty neglected and overlooked. "Railjettin" basically all of intercity Amtrak is definitely not something that I thought I’d see in my lifetime!
The real advantage here is the seamless (well I’d like to see it in action first) transition from pantograph to diesel. Not just for eliminating the time between moving around locomotives, but also for allowing more sporadic development of electrification on a given route. Hopefully this will also mean less time taken up for refueling on long distance routes
Exactly! With the Charger just being an electric Siemens Vectron with a Cummins diesel generator bolted in, I don't think that they are losing too much efficiency here either. Amtrak basically just snuck in a bunch of electric trains into their entire nation-wide network! It's kind of genius! If Congress does decide to pay for some electrification, Amtrak can just stick a pantograph car on their AIRO trains and run under catenary with zero issues! That's actually an enormous future-proofing boon!
@@that1niceguy246 Yep having the battery cars would make this possible. They will still need the diesel for long distance runs but it can run as more of a base load with the batteries smoothing out the peaks and troughs.
Yo, person from Cascadia here The fact that we are the first outside of the Northeast to have these new Airo trains is incredible! I fully approve of this and I can't wait to see what the future holds!
Yeah, those are stupid in general. But in this very niche application and with a very small battery hidden in a regular coach, maybe this is fine. I mean, this is literally to run in a single 3rd rail tunnel. Unlike some of the rabid battery train boosters, Amtrak is not claiming that this setup can do things that it can’t. They’re just going to pull trains slowly through a constrained tunnel. I think this is very close to the ultimate role that batteries will have in rail transportation - limited regen and running without the diesel generator when necessary.
those trains will be diesel hybrids. pure battery power cannot support a locomotive at full throttle. Class 230s of UK are an example of a Diesel hybrid train type.
It's actually an elegant solution to the prohibition on diesel trains in the tunnels under NYC. All it really needs is to get it out of Penn Station into the open air. Diesel electric technology has been around for over a century now.
I really hope Amtrak does infrastructure improvements alongside these new fleet improvements. Yes it’s nice to get new trains, but if the routes they’re running on are slow, then it doesn’t make the service better by any means. Amtrak really needs to strive at getting more consistent 79mph and more preferably 100-125mph to really make Amtrak a great regional service. Really hope to see more improvement projects like the LOSSAN Corridor improvement project on more Amtrak lines across the nation. Amtrak could also get good use out of their ACS64s if they were to electrify some more corridors in the future. Although I’m gonna miss the lovely P42s, Amfleets, and ACS64s, I’m glad to see Amtrak is trying to modernize their fleet. I just hope that they are able to go above and beyond by doing more infrastructure improvements alongside these fleet improvements
And I also think for the overnight Nightowl Amtrak Redeye Trains from Washington DC to Boston might also use the Airo Train, but will have a couple Viewliner Cars at one end of the train, in front of the cab car.
The Night Owl lost its sleeper last year, and Amtrak has announced they’re not bringing it back because they make more money sticking those cars on LD trains.
I rode the similar version of these in Germany last fall. They (DB) had a coach car, half devoted to bicycles with floor/wall-mounted racks, separated by glass walls/door. It was sharp looking. Would really like to see those on the Midwestern routes. One can dream…
@@Emerald-764 In my opinion, the paint scheme itself is a little goofy compared to the more official/business looking blue, black, and red scheme. Anyone in design knows that black around windows signifies in our head “sleekness.” That’s why airlines and even the Amfleets do this but with other colors. Now onto my more pressing issue with the trainsets. The power cars literally don’t match with the rest of the trainsets. It has been bothering me so much lol. It’s like they took the European power car, and just slapped it onto wider passenger cars that fit the American standard (in fact, that’s exactly what they did) Man is it an eyesore. Every time I look at it, I feel like we got cheaper out of the real thing.
Amtrak Midwest (local subsidiary) ordered these Venture cars and slightly different-looking Siemens Charger locomotives a while ago, so they look every so slightly different. But on the bright side they are already entering passenger operations so you get them a few years earlier than the rest of us!
Some of the same trains are already running on Amtrak California, Amtrak Midwest, and Brightline. You just need to make sure that the train consists of Siemens Venture cars before you book the ticket if you book with Amtrak California or Amtrak Midwest. All Brightline trains use the same Siemens rolling stock.
Honestly, I wonder if people will start taking more regional trains in the northeast compared to the Acela with these much more modern looking and (hopefully) reliable trains.
Well, the new TGV-derived Acelas will actually arrive first, before these trains. So I think people will be very distracted by the stellar new Acelas by the time these are starting to enter operations. Plus, Amtrak is planning on upgrading a few more places on the NEC to their top Acela speed. And this will be further bumped up to 160mph instead of 150mph with the new trains. So the new Acelas will also have a bigger and expanding speed advantage over the Northeast Regional trains going forward.
This is really great… but in order for railroads to actually increase in terms of quality and speed, you don’t only need new trains, but also new, State owned tracks. I say that and I’m a right winger.
The American right is insane. They’re completely divorced from the regular libertarian ideas that ate supposed to underpin the actual right. Our right wingers are just religious fanatics that used supposedly economically motivated policy only as cover for their crazy Christian Taliban crap. The actual libertarian right wouldn’t have a problem with a state-owned corporation taking over a network of subsidized railroads. In fact, they wouldn’t even see any difference between government subsidized private companies running freight rail or a government-owned corporation doing the same.
That’s up to us to fund! Amtrak can’t do jack without a ton of funding and more legal power of the freight railroads. It’s literally illegal for Amtrak to do what you want it to do! Write to your Congressperson if you’re actually serious about pushing for this.
@@nolantherailfan5048 agreed. Unless it's built by people who have a good track record with single pantograph trainsets, then stick to 2 pantographs 🤣!! But we'll just have to see.
I like the new trains from Siemens to Amtrak. I have a problem with the battery & diesel combination. MTA Long Island Rail Road did studies with battery powered trains and the results wasn't good both times. The 1st time the LIRR tried with a streetcar and 2nd time with the M7 from Alstom/Bombardier. Amtrak & Siemens should pay attention to the LIRR results. Amtrak and MTA Metro North Rail Road should add AC overhang power & DC 3rd rail & add or reactivate tracks between 34th Penn Station to near by Spuyten Duyvil and other areas that needs electrification here NY.
Batteries just don't have the necessary energy density. This is silly. Everyone said even before the tests that the technology is just not there. I don't understand what they were even testing.
@@alanjensen8243 Only if the station is close enough and at drastically reduced speed. If you put just one battery bank than it will hold insufficient power to do anything useful beyond regen. If you fill half a train with batteries it will be able to do something marginally useful, but this is both insanely expensive and operationally idiotic. Until battery energy densities improve, batteries will stay in light personal cars that idle 95-99% of the time. It's just not physically possible to power a train with something this heavy per kwh.
@@banksrail Well, 125mph sustained on legacy upgraded track is in fact considered HSR by the international standard. If you choose not to consider 125mph on legacy track HSR, then poof goes most of the European HSR network and more than half of the German ICE network. I don't think that we should be building new HSR track at 125mph because that's just money down the drain. But upgrading what is already there at relatively low cost to 125mph sounds infinitely appealing to me. Plus 125mph, is honestly good enough for 70% of all HSR lines in existence. The average speed of the TGV network has now dropped to around 70mph. In 2007 the TGVs averaged 103 km/h or 64 mph! Sure, faster would be better, but I won't knock achievable nation-wide HSR even if it's just 125mph. Heck, I'll take a nation-wide network at 110mph and be happy as a clam! That would still be better than the HSR networks in the Nordic countries!
@@TohaBgood2 "Well, 125mph sustained on legacy upgraded track is in fact considered HSR by the international standard." Not that easy. 155+ mph on upgraded legacy track without level crossings are HSR, but anything with level crossing up to 125 mph will still be higher-speed rail. In Germany as example any line above 100 mph will not have level crossings.
@@jonny2954 There is no grade separation requirement. High speed rail is about speed after all. Different countries have the max speed for grade crossings set at different levels. In Germany, the highest speed for grade crossings is around 110mph.
@@hirampriggott1689 Look closely at the rendering when it’s zoomed out and you’ll see that there isn’t any motive power lol. The train is either a DMU or running on magic. The obvious answer is that, as the other comment said, didn’t finish designing the locomotives.
Nice work on this video... can't wait until the amfleet cars get retired... they've done their work in reviving a dieing passenger rail network, but it's time. I use NE corridor and Empire service ( along with the long distance services as a treat), and think Siemens is a perfect fit.
Oh, I think that this is way bigger than that. We're essentially getting ÖBB Railjet-style intercity services all around the country. I think this will be a pretty incredible stretch for Amtrak! It's a new Amtrak era for sure!
At this point, the Siemens plant in Florin builds trains for most of intercity rail in the US (Federal Amtrak, Amtrak California, Amtrak Midwest, VIA Rail, and Brightline). And they also build most of the new light rail and light metro vehicles for both North and South America. It's actually incredible how productive that one factory is!
@@TohaBgood2 Exactly. I remembered that the same plant produced light stock for Los Angeles Metro when the Green Line (now the C-Line) came about in the mid-90s, the Siemens rail plant is THAT flexible
@@dth2brny121 Yeah, it's kind of crazy how much of our modern passenger rail in the US is built in Florin now. SF Muni, Portland MAX, LA Metro, a ton of light rail services in SoCal, every other light rail operator around the country, Ottawa light rail in Canada, etc. The list just keeps going and going! Really making us local boys proud!
Like the dual-mode ALC-42 more than the battery concept for the Northeast Regional. And I hate the current amfleer service, but I’ll miss seeing the cars.
Love these changes! Great work Amtrak and thank you, democratic policy makers, for getting these necessary infrastructure changes pushed through our government!
Interesting to read the comments. As someone from Europe who's very familiar with Siemens trains and who loves the design of the big traditional Amtrak locomotives........I think these new Siemens trains look rather bland and boring. Sorry!
Exactly! And expanded for basically a he entire country! I’m in awe that Amtrak could pull this off! This is incredible! Still scratching my head about how this just happened on a Friday afternoon! 🎉🎉🎉
This is good but now there are modern trains with outdated rails. Furthermore, Amtrak will never prosper by sharing tracks with freight. Americans need to upscale like China if we want to move into the 21st century.
The pantograph cars seem odd. Over here in the UK we have THREE different class of bimode locos (in service/on order) that can do diesel/OHLE or battery from the Euro Dual family. Surprised Stadler didn't offer a 'Made in America' version with no need for the limited passenger capacity in that pantograph coach.
Those are long distance trains. Unfortunately, these Siemens trains are strictly for intercity/short-haul lines. But the Amtrak San Joaquins is already getting these same cars and locomotives! California actually started upgrading to Siemens Chargers and Venture coaches before everyone else, so there will be a bunch of routes upgrading to these trains or similar in the near future.
These trains look sharp! I'll miss the Amcans but an equipment update is long overdue. I respectfully disagree with your comment a 4:34. I've always felt that the front end nose and headlight style of the earlier Chargers were unattractive. The updated version looks sleeker.
The Chargers were based on the Siemens Vectron. I always hated how those looked, basically like a cheapo Chinese truck front face. The US version (Charger) looked slightly better, but still awful. Glad that they went with a more "Stadler" look. Much, much better!
I am a fan of these train cars and I do think they would be a step up from the venture cars in the Midwest, the issue I have is the speed. These cars are rated up to 125 mph and will be on NE Regionals and a few other services. What Amtrak should do in my opinion is save the money and offer coach seating on the new Acela trains. The new Acela sets can accommodate 3 extra coaches so they can easily rearrange the class seating. Or they can offer a complete coach class Acela train with Northeast Regional type fares like France & Spain's OUIGO service. This would eliminate any NE Regional service between WAS-BOS. I only say this because at the end of the day, why should I be paying less for a slower service? It kills me the Acela is "business" oriented train and not a family affordable train. I know the regional is like 30 minutes slower than the Acela now but with future upgrades its going to be a gamechanger. I believe everyone should be able to enjoy a ride at high speeds. Maybe this would allow Amtrak to electrify to Richmond and Springfield and they can use these Airo cars south of Richmond and other services that could use them in the future. That's just me, what do you think?
Both the Acela and NE regional need to exist separately. Having fast trains is only a part of high speed service. The most important part is having less stops. If you replaced NE regional with high speed sets you would need to eliminate stops or the train would make so many stops that it probably wouldn’t reach full speed. All good train systems have express trains and regional trains.
I really like some of the long haul trains because they have foot rests and the seats recline much more. If the new aero trains go on the long haul routes will they have some of those features that the long haul trains do or will they have the same seats as on the BrightLine?
The Siemens Charger is based on the electric Vectron. Technically, all the Chargers could be converted to catenary power. They're just an electric locomotive with a diesel generator. But only the Northeast Corridor Chargers will come pre-converted to catenary from the factory.
hopefully they one day find a way to electrify more, but outside the NEC they are basically at the whims of whatever a freight railroad considers good infrastructure.
The thing is that railroads aren't really independent companies. Like all transportation infrastructure, they are a government franchise that is very tightly regulated. We, I mean the people and by extension the US government, need to be completely sure that the freight network is there and always available when we need it. We literally pay for and create the conditions for the railroads to make money. They exist at our pleasure! We let them make money in exchange for the security of having them around. We could get our government to instruct all the railways to upgrade infrastructure. We could force them all to electrify tomorrow with an act of Congress. The problem is that they (the Class 1s) will say that they don't have the money to upgrade and we'll have to pay for the upgrades. Do we want to? I do, but I don't really see overly broad support to fund a massive, nation-wide electrification effort.
These look great, but as always, Amtrak will be limited by the track that they run on. That holds true for home tracks like on NEC where they own or control big chunks of it as well as everywhere else where they are on a host railroad's tracks. Until there is more 110mph+ track (FRA class 7 or better) the promise of fast trains will just be a promise. Even just getting longer stretches of class 6 track and more double tracking along certain corridors would be a great boon. In summary, it doesn't matter how great new trains are if they don't have great track to run on.
hope to see a giant improvement for US rail infrastructure . for instance, from DC to Boston, Acela takes 7 hours to finish 457 miles trip, quite hard to image.....🤔
I’ve noticed that some of the renders depict the sets as multiple units, with two cab cars at either end… it makes me think that some of the ALC-42E locos will actually feature seating (similar to the turboliners of the past). It’d make a lot of sense since it would be better to not use long-distance engines for intercity or regional services…
I'll be honest, I'm not too thrilled about these sets. They are modern, and the interiors definitely seem to be a step up from the current Amfleets and Horizons, but there's just a few little things that shift to fundamental problems. I think my biggest problem is their use on the Cascades route. Even with the Point Defiants Bypass, using these large trainsets just feels like a step backwards compared to the previous Talgo sets. Amtrak hasn't announced any plans to upgrade the stations, so boarding the Airos seems like it will take longer. Also, the Talgo's inherently have better speed capabilities, being articulated, passively tilted, and just lower center of gravity The Pantograph and Battery sets seem like a weird choice as well. The Battery ones seem like a new iteration of making sure locomotives don't make pollute in New York City limits. A good idea in concept, but dedicating an entire car for this purpose feels unnecessary, even if the trailer has passenger accomodation. There's already 3rd rail in place to use, and Dual-Mode locomotives. Considering both Metro North and LIRR already talked about wanting dual-mode Chargers, why hasn't Amtrak? As for the Pantograph ones...those don't make sense to me, and the more I think about it, I feel like they chose the opposite solution to this problem. Think about it, the Airos are Regional trainsets. Pretty much every Regional service running on the NEC is running under the wires for most of the trip. Most of them don't leave the wires at all. The Sprinters are _right there_, are nearly twice as powerful as a Charger, and Siemens is still building them. So I propose, instead of a pantograph trailer for the Chargers, why not make a diesel trailer for the Sprinters? They'll run like normal for the regular Noretheast Regional and Keystone trains, and for other trains like the Pennsylvanian, Virginia, and Springfield services, they can use diesel power for the "last mile"
I really hope Amtrak is up on their maintainance game once the new trains go into service. Because the quality is siemens products is poor to say the least. From what i could gather it seems to be based on the Railjet platfrom which gets used here in austria, and as someone who has to endure them daily let me say its not a comfotable ride at all. So lets hope you get an improved ride quality once they are finished. And lets hope they dont break down as often :D
![Natanael Cano - Amor Eterno [Official Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/EO4prCs6WpM/mqdefault.jpg)
So we're basically getting ÖBB Railjet/Brightline intercity service all round the US! Freaking amazing! Amtrak is doing a ton of things right with this!
Nope. New trains does not chance any of the existing issues of track and schedule. The problem is not the actual trains.
@@shrike6259 Depends on where. On the Northeast Corridor, they already have pretty good infrastructure and many high speed sections. And they just got a ton of money to upgrade most of the NEC to modern standards and higher speeds over the next decade - about $40 billion worth of upgrades!
Wherever Amtrak runs on freight rail, yes, they are at the mercy of whatever crazy things the freight railroads want to do with their track. And again, yes, most of them are running their networks into the ground. We need to either nationalize these maniacs before they completely destroy the networks that they inherited or pass funding bills in Congress to subsidize infrastructure upgrades. Not much Amtrak can do about that.
But even here Amtrak has already started upgrading some of the lines to 110mph in a few select places. And states like California and Virginia are doing their own upgrades and attempting to buy more freight track to upgrade it for passenger use.
We still have a long way to go in most places but this is a good start! And there also are a few places where these new trains are the last puzzle piece to get world class rail service! And that is a very good thing indeed!
Imagine they rebuild F59PHIs and use it for superliners
@@shrike6259 North Carolina just spent a $1 billion+ of improved rail infrastructure and they're hoping for another $2 billion in the next round. Given that city of Raleigh is going to spend $3 billion to double track the AMTRAK route improvements are being made at least.
Doesn't mean shit when Amtrak's maintenance malpractices and shitty Siemens products will see this things ruined and degraded within a few years. Both ACS-64 and SC-44 failure rates are significantly higher than that of the legacy AEM-7s and P42 so far, the ALC-42s are out of service completely due to a class-wide control system failure, and the Venture coaches were sidelined for months with door failures - something they only solved by leaving all the doors open.
Hopefully, this will help expand Amtrak to new routes with the remaining old stock. Amtrak will have enough trains to go to places like Scranton or Columbus/Dayton/Youngstown, Ohio or a Nashville to Memphis route.
You'd think but for some reason Amtrak can't even get that right. They're reducing service in the Midwest due to "equipment shortages" right after the received new Ventures cars. Maybe the old Amfleets and Horizons are being refurbished in Indiana? idk
@@MichaelfromtheGraves the ventures have/had some errors meaning they dont have the required amount. BUT they do have large extension plans, such as trains from NYC to scranton, theyve supported Philly to reading, higher frequencias on the NEC, to Miami, surfliner etc, as well as cascades extensions and the like. Keep in mind they are underfunded like most american transit organizations
Not going to happen.
@@mirzaahmed6589 my expectation as well
@@MichaelfromtheGraves this is really a problem of the local governments
Not going to lie. The new Seamen trains. Locomotives, Passenger cars and these new push pulls look great. This is really a big step for Amtrak.
"Seamen". Really?
@@bahnspotterEU Semen
Seamen? Boi it's Siemens to you
Oh I'm sorry I'm not good with German words
@@Trainman3985 oh ok
The built-in wheelchair lifts and wider doors will make these the most accessible Amtrak cars we have yet seen.
Amtrak is really paying serious attention to upgrading most infrastructure and trains, aren't they? Wheelchair lifts and wider doors and windows being on board is such a smart idea
@@adventuresofamtrakcascades301 Well, Siemens has dealt with these things for a few years by now, so the necessary expertise exists.
@@KaiHenningsen indeed
The Airo reminds me of the RailJet. The RailJet has a cab car in the style of the Siemens Taurus, which is used all over Europe. And seeing the cab cars look like the ALC-42(E), kind of reminded me of that.
It is actually based on the railjet, but heavily modified to fit the needs of Amtrak. They are both build by Siemens.
And for the long distance version of the Viaggio Comfort cab car with the Vectron Style
Yep, the Charger is the American version of the Siemens Vectron locomotive and the Siemens Venture cars are the American version of the Viaggio Comfort coaches that Railjet uses.
So yes, in a way we just got nationwide Railjet service! It’s actually pretty incredible. US passengers rail is usually pretty neglected and overlooked. "Railjettin" basically all of intercity Amtrak is definitely not something that I thought I’d see in my lifetime!
@@TohaBgood2 I love that the railjet uses DPUs. Those stuff haul some serious ass!
Yes it's derived from that concept
The real advantage here is the seamless (well I’d like to see it in action first) transition from pantograph to diesel. Not just for eliminating the time between moving around locomotives, but also for allowing more sporadic development of electrification on a given route. Hopefully this will also mean less time taken up for refueling on long distance routes
Exactly! With the Charger just being an electric Siemens Vectron with a Cummins diesel generator bolted in, I don't think that they are losing too much efficiency here either. Amtrak basically just snuck in a bunch of electric trains into their entire nation-wide network! It's kind of genius!
If Congress does decide to pay for some electrification, Amtrak can just stick a pantograph car on their AIRO trains and run under catenary with zero issues! That's actually an enormous future-proofing boon!
Long distance trains will still have to switch to a separate locomotive when entering and leaving electric territory
@@mason7024 Since the locomotive has both diesel and electric power i thought they wouldn't.
@@that1niceguy246 Yep having the battery cars would make this possible. They will still need the diesel for long distance runs but it can run as more of a base load with the batteries smoothing out the peaks and troughs.
Especially the Lines that Owned Amtrak Hopefully that would Soon happen (Even new service NYC to Scranton just at least let it happen!)
It’s changes like this that are so important but also hard to get used to. I’ll miss the old Amtrak trains in a bittersweet way.
Yo, person from Cascadia here
The fact that we are the first outside of the Northeast to have these new Airo trains is incredible!
I fully approve of this and I can't wait to see what the future holds!
Personally I’m a fan of almost every change Amtrak is making, just minus the battery cars
Yeah, those are stupid in general. But in this very niche application and with a very small battery hidden in a regular coach, maybe this is fine.
I mean, this is literally to run in a single 3rd rail tunnel. Unlike some of the rabid battery train boosters, Amtrak is not claiming that this setup can do things that it can’t. They’re just going to pull trains slowly through a constrained tunnel. I think this is very close to the ultimate role that batteries will have in rail transportation - limited regen and running without the diesel generator when necessary.
@@TohaBgood2 I know right
those trains will be diesel hybrids. pure battery power cannot support a locomotive at full throttle. Class 230s of UK are an example of a Diesel hybrid train type.
It's actually an elegant solution to the prohibition on diesel trains in the tunnels under NYC. All it really needs is to get it out of Penn Station into the open air. Diesel electric technology has been around for over a century now.
@@JG-ic3py you do realize that the chargers already have 3rd rail shoes equipped on them
The future of Amtrak is coming! Can’t wait to see these new train sets in service in the future.
This trains look sick🤌🤌
*no*
100% agree, they look awesome
@@NorthernNewEnglandRailfan yes
Don't forget this is only happening because democrats gave amtrak 38 billion to finally upgrade their fleet. The Republicans are useless
@@NorthernNewEnglandRailfan _yes_
I really hope Amtrak does infrastructure improvements alongside these new fleet improvements. Yes it’s nice to get new trains, but if the routes they’re running on are slow, then it doesn’t make the service better by any means. Amtrak really needs to strive at getting more consistent 79mph and more preferably 100-125mph to really make Amtrak a great regional service. Really hope to see more improvement projects like the LOSSAN Corridor improvement project on more Amtrak lines across the nation. Amtrak could also get good use out of their ACS64s if they were to electrify some more corridors in the future. Although I’m gonna miss the lovely P42s, Amfleets, and ACS64s, I’m glad to see Amtrak is trying to modernize their fleet. I just hope that they are able to go above and beyond by doing more infrastructure improvements alongside these fleet improvements
Britain and Spain have diesel locomotives that go over 140 mph. We could have those here in the US!
@@rockyracoon3233honestly, 125 feels enough
Amtrak Cascades omg!!!! 😱
And I also think for the overnight Nightowl Amtrak Redeye Trains from Washington DC to Boston might also use the Airo Train, but will have a couple Viewliner Cars at one end of the train, in front of the cab car.
The Night Owl lost its sleeper last year, and Amtrak has announced they’re not bringing it back because they make more money sticking those cars on LD trains.
I like the subtle amtrak logo stitched into the seats. Very nice modern trains.
I rode the similar version of these in Germany last fall. They (DB) had a coach car, half devoted to bicycles with floor/wall-mounted racks, separated by glass walls/door. It was sharp looking. Would really like to see those on the Midwestern routes. One can dream…
Hope the Heartland Flyer extends service to Wichita/Newton with higher frequency between Oklahoma City and Fort Worth using new equipment like this.
The amtrak cascades livery looks sick dude 😎
I agree!
The Cascades Wrap on the AiroTrain Set just looks awesome, even though I'm from the D.C. area.
1:11 More Like Siemens Venture DMU Btw I Love The Amtrak Airo I Hope the Piedmont get Some Siemens Venture
drum n bass intro is crazy
I won't miss the odd shaped and claustrophobic feeling Amfleet cars.
They look so cool! The colors majority of dark blue and red looks amazing
Awesome video! I can't wait to see these trains in action!
Never going to happen, you're $32 Trillion in the sh....where you going to get money.... keep on dreaming, give all your money to Ukraine.
@@gregrat6192 well this aged poorly
Finally, we'll have coaches that match the engines pulling them
This is just a rendering so keep your fingers crossed.
I still have PTSD from the Avelia Liberty rendering.
@@banksrail well, I've done my best to get those rendering out of my mind
@@Emerald-764 The rendering looked so good, then the train came out and it was ehhh. Lol
@@banksrail I honestly prefer how the real thing looks
@@Emerald-764 In my opinion, the paint scheme itself is a little goofy compared to the more official/business looking blue, black, and red scheme. Anyone in design knows that black around windows signifies in our head “sleekness.” That’s why airlines and even the Amfleets do this but with other colors.
Now onto my more pressing issue with the trainsets. The power cars literally don’t match with the rest of the trainsets. It has been bothering me so much lol. It’s like they took the European power car, and just slapped it onto wider passenger cars that fit the American standard (in fact, that’s exactly what they did) Man is it an eyesore. Every time I look at it, I feel like we got cheaper out of the real thing.
Say what you want about Biden, but the infrastructure bill (which is what’s paying for this) is going to massively improve day to day live in the US
I hopefully that all the old trains will be donated to a museum for all retired locomotives and amfleets
Those are the coolest looking train sets ever, I can't wait to see them in service, Those seats are so amazing
I'm so hyped to ride the Cascades trains as I'm from Vancouver Washington and Amtrak Cascades makes a stop in my hometown
I love the new interior of the passenger cars. Hopefully they make it to the midwest Chicago line.
Amtrak Midwest (local subsidiary) ordered these Venture cars and slightly different-looking Siemens Charger locomotives a while ago, so they look every so slightly different. But on the bright side they are already entering passenger operations so you get them a few years earlier than the rest of us!
I absolutely love the way these new sets look.
Ontario Northland also just ordered 3 Siemens Charger similar to Via Rail for their restarted Northlander service
Interesting that there's another passenger rail line not affiliated with VIA or GO. I never knew such a thing existed.
I like the looks and the construction of the new Siemens Chargers. The Long Distance Charger (ALC-42) is especially useful and a plus to AMTRAK.
Beautiful and want to live to experience this transformation ⭐️
Some of the same trains are already running on Amtrak California, Amtrak Midwest, and Brightline. You just need to make sure that the train consists of Siemens Venture cars before you book the ticket if you book with Amtrak California or Amtrak Midwest. All Brightline trains use the same Siemens rolling stock.
That's nice. Amtrak needs more train cars like these. Cars that also go around its max speed more often too.
Amtrak upgrades to European standard. Great news, it was high time.
Both Atlantic N/E & Pacific N/W corridors are most profits of Amtrak than all of the other US regions.
Honestly, I wonder if people will start taking more regional trains in the northeast compared to the Acela with these much more modern looking and (hopefully) reliable trains.
Well, the new TGV-derived Acelas will actually arrive first, before these trains. So I think people will be very distracted by the stellar new Acelas by the time these are starting to enter operations.
Plus, Amtrak is planning on upgrading a few more places on the NEC to their top Acela speed. And this will be further bumped up to 160mph instead of 150mph with the new trains. So the new Acelas will also have a bigger and expanding speed advantage over the Northeast Regional trains going forward.
@@TohaBgood2 I Agree
This is really great… but in order for railroads to actually increase in terms of quality and speed, you don’t only need new trains, but also new, State owned tracks. I say that and I’m a right winger.
The American right is insane. They’re completely divorced from the regular libertarian ideas that ate supposed to underpin the actual right. Our right wingers are just religious fanatics that used supposedly economically motivated policy only as cover for their crazy Christian Taliban crap.
The actual libertarian right wouldn’t have a problem with a state-owned corporation taking over a network of subsidized railroads. In fact, they wouldn’t even see any difference between government subsidized private companies running freight rail or a government-owned corporation doing the same.
Airlines couldn't compete if they had fly on the freight train networks.
@@jmd1743 lol why did I picture an American Airlines 737 MAX-8 trying negotiate Horseshoe curve.
Looks futuristic and sleek! Love it!
I love the airo sounds clean
I found this to be quite interesting! I'm looking forward to eventually seeing these Airos in service in the mid-2020s! Thanks for the video!
Basically the charger but long
I’m stoked
Great, if only they could reveal new infrastructure improvements, electrification, expanded service, and new routes
That’s up to us to fund! Amtrak can’t do jack without a ton of funding and more legal power of the freight railroads. It’s literally illegal for Amtrak to do what you want it to do!
Write to your Congressperson if you’re actually serious about pushing for this.
Those new Amtrak trains are nice and I do think that Amtrak should improve their services on the East Coast of the USA.
They look fantastic
Wow, technology has came far enough to where the trainset only need a single pantograph 😮💯👏🏿!!
I also hope they aren't plagued with reliability issues
@@nolantherailfan5048 agreed. Unless it's built by people who have a good track record with single pantograph trainsets, then stick to 2 pantographs 🤣!! But we'll just have to see.
I like the new trains from Siemens to Amtrak. I have a problem with the battery & diesel combination. MTA Long Island Rail Road did studies with battery powered trains and the results wasn't good both times. The 1st time the LIRR tried with a streetcar and 2nd time with the M7 from Alstom/Bombardier. Amtrak & Siemens should pay attention to the LIRR results. Amtrak and MTA Metro North Rail Road should add AC overhang power & DC 3rd rail & add or reactivate tracks between 34th Penn Station to near by Spuyten Duyvil and other areas that needs electrification here NY.
Batteries just don't have the necessary energy density. This is silly. Everyone said even before the tests that the technology is just not there. I don't understand what they were even testing.
@@TohaBgood2 you do understand that most freight trains in the US are diesel electric
@@alanjensen8243 Yes. How does that make the energy density of modern batteries useful for rail applications beyond regen capture?
@@TohaBgood2 it could most likely keep the train going til the next station if the engine fails
@@alanjensen8243 Only if the station is close enough and at drastically reduced speed. If you put just one battery bank than it will hold insufficient power to do anything useful beyond regen. If you fill half a train with batteries it will be able to do something marginally useful, but this is both insanely expensive and operationally idiotic.
Until battery energy densities improve, batteries will stay in light personal cars that idle 95-99% of the time. It's just not physically possible to power a train with something this heavy per kwh.
All they have to do is modernize the tracks and they can travel up to 125 mph, thus making it high speed.
“Higher Speed”.
Also Amtrak doesn’t own majority of the tracks these will run on so it probably won’t happen.
Good luck, owing to the freight roads reluctance to even coexist with Amtrak...
@@banksrail Well, 125mph sustained on legacy upgraded track is in fact considered HSR by the international standard. If you choose not to consider 125mph on legacy track HSR, then poof goes most of the European HSR network and more than half of the German ICE network. I don't think that we should be building new HSR track at 125mph because that's just money down the drain. But upgrading what is already there at relatively low cost to 125mph sounds infinitely appealing to me.
Plus 125mph, is honestly good enough for 70% of all HSR lines in existence. The average speed of the TGV network has now dropped to around 70mph. In 2007 the TGVs averaged 103 km/h or 64 mph!
Sure, faster would be better, but I won't knock achievable nation-wide HSR even if it's just 125mph. Heck, I'll take a nation-wide network at 110mph and be happy as a clam! That would still be better than the HSR networks in the Nordic countries!
@@TohaBgood2 "Well, 125mph sustained on legacy upgraded track is in fact considered HSR by the international standard."
Not that easy. 155+ mph on upgraded legacy track without level crossings are HSR, but anything with level crossing up to 125 mph will still be higher-speed rail.
In Germany as example any line above 100 mph will not have level crossings.
@@jonny2954 There is no grade separation requirement. High speed rail is about speed after all. Different countries have the max speed for grade crossings set at different levels.
In Germany, the highest speed for grade crossings is around 110mph.
3:10 lol there's no locomotive in that train consists. Maybe Amtrak hinting at a DMU? lol
Lol I saw that too. I think the animators made a bit of a mistake.
You only see the cab car which is based on the Venture coaches. The motive power is at the other end.
They haven’t finished the design for the locomotive thus why it didn’t appear in the renderings.
@@hirampriggott1689 Look closely at the rendering when it’s zoomed out and you’ll see that there isn’t any motive power lol. The train is either a DMU or running on magic. The obvious answer is that, as the other comment said, didn’t finish designing the locomotives.
Nice work on this video... can't wait until the amfleet cars get retired... they've done their work in reviving a dieing passenger rail network, but it's time. I use NE corridor and Empire service ( along with the long distance services as a treat), and think Siemens is a perfect fit.
Oh, I think that this is way bigger than that. We're essentially getting ÖBB Railjet-style intercity services all around the country. I think this will be a pretty incredible stretch for Amtrak! It's a new Amtrak era for sure!
Would love to see much more service in the Southeast covering some of the smaller cities like Augusta, Savannah and Macon, Georgia.
literally drooling 🤤
Those sets look awesome!
PNW corridor should have electrify locomotives: PTL; SEA; V/C .
hell fucking yes theyre here omg!
Nice to see these new trains will be built in my home state of California. Incredible 😁
At this point, the Siemens plant in Florin builds trains for most of intercity rail in the US (Federal Amtrak, Amtrak California, Amtrak Midwest, VIA Rail, and Brightline). And they also build most of the new light rail and light metro vehicles for both North and South America. It's actually incredible how productive that one factory is!
@@TohaBgood2 Exactly. I remembered that the same plant produced light stock for Los Angeles Metro when the Green Line (now the C-Line) came about in the mid-90s, the Siemens rail plant is THAT flexible
@@dth2brny121 Yeah, it's kind of crazy how much of our modern passenger rail in the US is built in Florin now. SF Muni, Portland MAX, LA Metro, a ton of light rail services in SoCal, every other light rail operator around the country, Ottawa light rail in Canada, etc. The list just keeps going and going! Really making us local boys proud!
@@TohaBgood2 I could say what's good for California, in terms of modern-day U.S. and Canadian rail, is good for both of our countries 👍
You should have placed new Amtrak train images of the Pacific NW leftside and Atlantic NE rightside to represent on its regional coasts.
IM so excited for when they enter service. They are very colorful and look really good. They are beautiful😍
who remembers the F59PHI’s and the AEM7’s bruh.. Not to mention the every other old train that got retired as a wise man said " newer ain’t better "
Cannot wait for this debut
Informative video and the intro track is a bop!
These Sets look really good! Greetings from Austrian the home of the Railjet!
This is very beautiful train👍👍👍👍
Like the dual-mode ALC-42 more than the battery concept for the Northeast Regional. And I hate the current amfleer service, but I’ll miss seeing the cars.
Vidio opens whit breakcore/atmospheric drum and bass
All aboard
I see those new Amtrak trains and Amtrak cars are coming along good
Lesss goooo seimens!!!
Incredible!
Love these changes! Great work Amtrak and thank you, democratic policy makers, for getting these necessary infrastructure changes pushed through our government!
wow it's beautiful amtrak airo
Interesting to read the comments. As someone from Europe who's very familiar with Siemens trains and who loves the design of the big traditional Amtrak locomotives........I think these new Siemens trains look rather bland and boring. Sorry!
Railjet coaches and Vectron locomotives in USA version, the european RailJet/CitiJet in diesel version.
Exactly! And expanded for basically a he entire country! I’m in awe that Amtrak could pull this off!
This is incredible! Still scratching my head about how this just happened on a Friday afternoon! 🎉🎉🎉
Rest in peace (1994-2020) 😢🥺 Talgo 6
Well, I can't wait for the new trains to enter service!
This is good but now there are modern trains with outdated rails. Furthermore, Amtrak will never prosper by sharing tracks with freight. Americans need to upscale like China if we want to move into the 21st century.
Does that mean that they will put down the track able to cope with a higher speed.
Yes, but only on the Amtrak-owned corridors in the Northeast.
The pantograph cars seem odd. Over here in the UK we have THREE different class of bimode locos (in service/on order) that can do diesel/OHLE or battery from the Euro Dual family. Surprised Stadler didn't offer a 'Made in America' version with no need for the limited passenger capacity in that pantograph coach.
VERY, VERY GOOD!!!!!!!
We need those on the South West Chief & Coast Starlight lines in the west coast.
Those are long distance trains. Unfortunately, these Siemens trains are strictly for intercity/short-haul lines. But the Amtrak San Joaquins is already getting these same cars and locomotives! California actually started upgrading to Siemens Chargers and Venture coaches before everyone else, so there will be a bunch of routes upgrading to these trains or similar in the near future.
@@TohaBgood2 and LD Palmetto. At 829 miles that shows Amtrak took the next step and wants Chargers.
These trains look sharp! I'll miss the Amcans but an equipment update is long overdue. I respectfully disagree with your comment a 4:34. I've always felt that the front end nose and headlight style of the earlier Chargers were unattractive. The updated version looks sleeker.
The Chargers were based on the Siemens Vectron. I always hated how those looked, basically like a cheapo Chinese truck front face. The US version (Charger) looked slightly better, but still awful.
Glad that they went with a more "Stadler" look. Much, much better!
I am a fan of these train cars and I do think they would be a step up from the venture cars in the Midwest, the issue I have is the speed. These cars are rated up to 125 mph and will be on NE Regionals and a few other services. What Amtrak should do in my opinion is save the money and offer coach seating on the new Acela trains. The new Acela sets can accommodate 3 extra coaches so they can easily rearrange the class seating. Or they can offer a complete coach class Acela train with Northeast Regional type fares like France & Spain's OUIGO service. This would eliminate any NE Regional service between WAS-BOS. I only say this because at the end of the day, why should I be paying less for a slower service? It kills me the Acela is "business" oriented train and not a family affordable train. I know the regional is like 30 minutes slower than the Acela now but with future upgrades its going to be a gamechanger. I believe everyone should be able to enjoy a ride at high speeds. Maybe this would allow Amtrak to electrify to Richmond and Springfield and they can use these Airo cars south of Richmond and other services that could use them in the future. That's just me, what do you think?
Both the Acela and NE regional need to exist separately. Having fast trains is only a part of high speed service. The most important part is having less stops. If you replaced NE regional with high speed sets you would need to eliminate stops or the train would make so many stops that it probably wouldn’t reach full speed. All good train systems have express trains and regional trains.
The interiors look very similar to Brightline’s interiors.
Well, they’re literally the same Siemens Venture cars hauled by the same Charger locomotives with slightly different aero nose cones.
I really like some of the long haul trains because they have foot rests and the seats recline much more. If the new aero trains go on the long haul routes will they have some of those features that the long haul trains do or will they have the same seats as on the BrightLine?
Will all the variants have catinaries? Even the ones on routes that may never see overhead wires? Hopefully thats a sigh of things to come :)
The Siemens Charger is based on the electric Vectron. Technically, all the Chargers could be converted to catenary power. They're just an electric locomotive with a diesel generator.
But only the Northeast Corridor Chargers will come pre-converted to catenary from the factory.
Brightline should build a cross USA railway
It was about time, to be able to compete with the European trains, good for Amtrak.
Amtrak fleet modernization, CP-KCS merger!
hopefully they one day find a way to electrify more, but outside the NEC they are basically at the whims of whatever a freight railroad considers good infrastructure.
The thing is that railroads aren't really independent companies. Like all transportation infrastructure, they are a government franchise that is very tightly regulated. We, I mean the people and by extension the US government, need to be completely sure that the freight network is there and always available when we need it. We literally pay for and create the conditions for the railroads to make money. They exist at our pleasure!
We let them make money in exchange for the security of having them around. We could get our government to instruct all the railways to upgrade infrastructure. We could force them all to electrify tomorrow with an act of Congress. The problem is that they (the Class 1s) will say that they don't have the money to upgrade and we'll have to pay for the upgrades. Do we want to? I do, but I don't really see overly broad support to fund a massive, nation-wide electrification effort.
that drum and bass intro >
These look great, but as always, Amtrak will be limited by the track that they run on. That holds true for home tracks like on NEC where they own or control big chunks of it as well as everywhere else where they are on a host railroad's tracks. Until there is more 110mph+ track (FRA class 7 or better) the promise of fast trains will just be a promise. Even just getting longer stretches of class 6 track and more double tracking along certain corridors would be a great boon. In summary, it doesn't matter how great new trains are if they don't have great track to run on.
Looks good 😊 somehow it will reduce the need for domestic flights for medium haul travel
hope to see a giant improvement for US rail infrastructure .
for instance, from DC to Boston, Acela takes 7 hours to finish 457 miles trip, quite hard to image.....🤔
that intro sequence was hard
Wow.. Nice! Hope indian railways makes such trains in near future..!
I’ve noticed that some of the renders depict the sets as multiple units, with two cab cars at either end… it makes me think that some of the ALC-42E locos will actually feature seating (similar to the turboliners of the past). It’d make a lot of sense since it would be better to not use long-distance engines for intercity or regional services…
I also noticed that they messed that up in the rendering lol. It would be nice, but sadly not going to happen.
US is so behind Multiple Unit technology in mainline railways ! They need to catch up fast!
Just a mess up in the rendering since they haven’t completed the ALC-42E design
@@AnubhabKundu agreed! Thankfully Caltrain seems to be getting it right…
I normally don't care for modern trains, but I admit, these look pretty slick!
I'll be honest, I'm not too thrilled about these sets. They are modern, and the interiors definitely seem to be a step up from the current Amfleets and Horizons, but there's just a few little things that shift to fundamental problems.
I think my biggest problem is their use on the Cascades route. Even with the Point Defiants Bypass, using these large trainsets just feels like a step backwards compared to the previous Talgo sets. Amtrak hasn't announced any plans to upgrade the stations, so boarding the Airos seems like it will take longer. Also, the Talgo's inherently have better speed capabilities, being articulated, passively tilted, and just lower center of gravity
The Pantograph and Battery sets seem like a weird choice as well. The Battery ones seem like a new iteration of making sure locomotives don't make pollute in New York City limits. A good idea in concept, but dedicating an entire car for this purpose feels unnecessary, even if the trailer has passenger accomodation. There's already 3rd rail in place to use, and Dual-Mode locomotives. Considering both Metro North and LIRR already talked about wanting dual-mode Chargers, why hasn't Amtrak?
As for the Pantograph ones...those don't make sense to me, and the more I think about it, I feel like they chose the opposite solution to this problem. Think about it, the Airos are Regional trainsets. Pretty much every Regional service running on the NEC is running under the wires for most of the trip. Most of them don't leave the wires at all. The Sprinters are _right there_, are nearly twice as powerful as a Charger, and Siemens is still building them. So I propose, instead of a pantograph trailer for the Chargers, why not make a diesel trailer for the Sprinters? They'll run like normal for the regular Noretheast Regional and Keystone trains, and for other trains like the Pennsylvanian, Virginia, and Springfield services, they can use diesel power for the "last mile"
Cap me on this, the Amtrak Golden Age
Yep! This is “holy crap” level news!
Amtrak is putting Railjet/Brightline train all around the country! Wow! 😀
I really hope Amtrak is up on their maintainance game once the new trains go into service. Because the quality is siemens products is poor to say the least.
From what i could gather it seems to be based on the Railjet platfrom which gets used here in austria, and as someone who has to endure them daily let me say its not a comfotable ride at all.
So lets hope you get an improved ride quality once they are finished. And lets hope they dont break down as often :D
Saw one flying through grand bay, Alabama