So Nippon Sharyo is out, Siemens is in. California and Illinois will not be getting bilevel passenger cars, but instead will use the same single-level passenger cars that Siemens is building for Bright Line in Florida.
http://www.railwayage.com/index.php/...rans-cars.html
This is really cool, but how will this work?
1) Will Siemens design a cab-car for these trainsets, or will these states be forced to use two of their charger locomotives per trainset?
Florida's Brightline will use two locomotives, but they have different circumstances, such as aiming for speeds up to 125 mph. Their trains are short now - 4 cars - but will be able to be expanded up to ten cars in the future. Faster acceleration could definitely be achieved with two locomotives, which could help with schedule-keeping and reliability. Also, since these cars will be single-level cars rather than bilevel, there will need to be more cars to handle the same capacity. The Surfliners already run trainsets with more than 6 bilevel cars, so it isn't unreasonable to think that a single-level train of eight to ten cars would be needed to equal or surpass that capacity. And if that is the case, perhaps there will be no choice and two locomotives will be needed.
2) What about stations? These single-level cars will not be so easily accessible for passengers with disabilities. Also the platforms will need to be longer to accommodate the extra train lengths.
Is it possible that long-term the better solution is to build high-level platforms on either a separate track (like Brightline is doing) or to build a gauntlet track to keep freight trains away from the high-level platform (like SMART in Sonoma Calfiornia)? The alternative is to build wheelchair elevators or something similar at every station, and then to increase station dwell times in order to get all the passengers up and down the stairs into the cars.
I could see this working in phases - like move all the bilevel trainsets to the
San Jaquim or
Capitol Corridor routes and focus rebuilding stations to hi-level platforms along the
Surfliner route. I guess this comes with its own problems as well, such as sharing the corridor with the Coaster and Metrolink lines, but that doesn't necessarily mean it can't be done.
It's cool news. These trains will certainly look very slick with both the cars and the locomotives made by the same manufacturer. And even better, the cars will be delivered within 24-34 months, rather than the 5 years everyone was worried it would take for Nippon Sharyo to complete the bilevel order. I'm very excited.