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  • North Carolina NCDOT-Amtrak Carolinian Service

  • Discussion related to Amtrak also known as the National Railroad Passenger Corp.
Discussion related to Amtrak also known as the National Railroad Passenger Corp.

Moderators: GirlOnTheTrain, mtuandrew, Tadman

 #154982  by hsr_fan
 
What's the lounge like on the Piedmont? Any table seating? What type of food do they sell?

 #154987  by orulz
 
They do have table seating. I don't recall the exact floor plan, but it has several four-person booths and a few two-person tables.

It is my understanding that NC used to contract with a vendor to provide foodservice similar to an Amtrak cafe on the Piedmont, but the contract was not renewed and they replaced the foodservice with complementary snacks and drinks. The snacks are generally Gem doughnuts or Cinnamon buns in the morning, and chips/pretzels/cookies/candy bars/nuts in the evening (basically everything you'd find in a vending machine.) The drinks are coffee, hot chocolate, tea (iced/hot), soda, and juice both morning and evening - exactly what you'd expect. You are limited to one drink and one snack per person, on the honor system.

It's not fancy, but it's free and very popular. The trip is only 3 hours 15 minutes each way, so the snacks are quite satisfactory. I have to wonder whether other short-range corridor trains couldn't be run this way too.

 #154988  by hsr_fan
 
That's not bad...certainly better than what you'll find on the New York to Albany trains! :wink:

 #154994  by orulz
 
NCDOT does a pretty good job with the trains that they do run. They have come up with some fairly creative ways to run trains on a tight budget; now they just need to start running more of them so they can achieve a better economy of scale out of their Capitol Yard operation. Hopefully, the new Amtrak bill in the Senate (the one heavily based on the FY2006 Amtrak Strategic Plan) will help NC to do just that.

The Piedmont equipment is old, but was refurbished 10 years ago. Those 10 years have taken their toll and the cars are starting to show their age. I think NCDOT is planning on cycling some of them through the shop for overhauls fairly soon. I also heard something about suspension upgrades (which some cars definitely need.)

 #154997  by hsr_fan
 
If NCDOT is interested, I hear that New York has some Turboliners available! :wink: That is, if Amtrak is willing to give up possession of the three that it stole! :-D

 #155008  by orulz
 
I've sort of been hoping in the back of my mind that, somehow, those Turboliners will end up in North Carolina ;) I figure the three completed trainsets would be enough to handle the "local" portion of the service between Raleigh and Charlotte on the Southeast HSR line, from Charlotte to Washington DC. Problem is, in order to run 110mph on those tracks, we would need a lot of realignments, or at least equipment that tilts - which the turbos do not.

 #155013  by hsr_fan
 
Yeah, no point in running the Turbos on a line with a lousy 79 mph speed limit. The Empire Corridor is the only non-electrified route with a respectable top speed, at least until/unless Illinois finally starts 110 mph service on its upgraded trackage.

 #155328  by orulz
 
I can't help but be glad that the Carolinian has a baggage car. If that lead car had been carrying people instead of luggage, there may have been some serious injuries or worse.

 #155334  by AmtrakFan
 
I am stunned that I saw this unit 24 Hours to the minute before it got wrecked a priceless memory.
 #364345  by JimB
 
I boarded the northbound Carolinian at Richmond on a Friday a few months ago and we were directed to an empty coach towards the rear of the train. Is it typical for the crew to reserve a coach for Richmond passengers?

 #364363  by RichM
 
Used to be fairly common on all the long distance trains south of DC to load this way, made station stops a lot easier, especially on the longer Silver Service trains.

 #364387  by villager
 
Yes, herding to seats by destination is common.

 #364474  by gprimr1
 
I've heard this technique is used on the Canadian trains, which two coaches being for people remaining inside the US and 2 coaches for people going through to Canada. It allows inspectors to proceede faster. I've also seen this used occasionally on the Vermonter, with one coach kept closed until Springfield.
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