Rhinecliff wrote:My experience with DMUs is limited to the shuttle trains that the Metro-North once operated between POU and CRT during off-peak hours. Noise and vibration caused by the engines were a significant impediment to relaxation. In addition, with the engines below the cars and the ac units on top of the cars, there was a general lack of space, and the ac units frequently leaked into the cabins. Now I understand that things have supposedly come a long way, but I cannot imagine that the interior of a DMU will ever be as quiet and vibration free as the interior of a traditional coach -- especially a Bi-Level one. But I could be wrong.I rode aboard the Colorado Railcar DMU when it was being run on NJ Transit's Princeton branch in April. I remember the noise and vibration being very subdued, although I will concede that it's not as quiet as a non-powered coach obviously. But it was certainly quieter than the Rohr/Super Steel Turboliner power car. I was suprised at the amount of noise and vibration under acceleration the first time I rode in business class on one of the rebuilt "RTL 3" turbos. Granted, the Turboliner gets up to 110 mph on the way to Albany, whereas the DMU probably didn't break 60 mph in Princeton shuttle service.
Also, the CRC DMU has plenty of space. The optional 2-2 seating is quite comfortable (the demo unit had samples of the different options for seating throughout the car). One end of the car had table seating and a counter area, so food service is certainly possible.