by STrRedWolf
PHLSpecial wrote: ↑Sat Jul 16, 2022 6:42 pm This order while large seems to be short on seats? I'm curious of they will slap on one or two more cars to make it 11 car sets instead of the current 9 car sets for some of the setsThere's a few wrinkles to that, which we can smooth out with bringing in some context. Namely, what the current patterns for the Regional are: NYC-WAS, NYC-Virginia stations, BOS-WAS, BOS-Virginia stations.
NEC Current: 1 ACS64 + 6-11 Amfleets
New order: 1 ALC42E + 7 venture cars + 1 cab venture (9 car set)
Possible add-on: 1 ALC42E + 9 venture cars + 1 cab venture (11 car set)
For context New Acela: 2 power cars + 9 passenger cars (11 car set)
I understand funding is not set for project yet. I'm aware there is addition option for 130 trainsets. It's a bit ambitious but the NEC ridership is going to continue to grow
NYC-WAS and BOS-WAS are all electric, so would continue to use the ACS64 engines and Amfleet cars for a while. The ALC42's with a split electric adapter/business passenger car would serve all trains going into Virginia (as well as any place it's going to go off-caternary like Pittsburgh, Albany, etc). In addition, the cab car doesn't need much for the controls and can be filled with additional seating.
This isn't to say that you can't extend it. There will be extensions, no doubt about it. I think it'll be more "switch to newer sets to eliminate engine swaps" first before the entire Regionals go to ICTs.