All Aboard With Stephen: Infrastructure and Fleet

[@damianm-nordhorn116]

MARNA! (Make America a Railroad Nation Again)

[@transitcaptain]

It’s great to see that Amtrak has a forward-looking mindset

[@tedk2166]

Sure they do, horrible oversight and endless amounts of taxpayer funding, squandered through poor management and corruption!

[@stopsign997]

Thanks Amtrak for more of these types of videos. Keep it up!

[@delurkor]

For the East Coast: Electrification extension to Richmond Va and Pittsburgh PA. These would be nice. West Coast: California high speed rail(I know that's not Amtrak but state and federal).

[@travisbeagle5691]

They'd have to buy out NS's stake in the Pittsburgh line, but yea, both would be great. Heck at this point they need to just electrify every route they or a state agency own that they use.

[@delurkor]

@@travisbeagle5691 👍

[@JKVisFX]

I am really looking forward to the faster tracks and new train sets. Getting more people out of cars and planes and onto trains is one, very important piece of combating climate change.

[@MrMarshmallow26]

It’ll take more than new train sets to get people out of their cars. We could use some dedicated tracks so that freight traffic doesn’t hold trains up, but that may not happen for a while with the funding Amtrak gets.

[@JKVisFX]

@@MrMarshmallow26 Yeah I know, that is the primary impediment (well, that on money). Faster tracks would be those dedicated high-speed tracks with no grade level crossings and no freight. That is the only way that getting people out of their cars will work.

[@gregtrain1]

I'd love to see more routes available in my home state of Wisconsin. I hope the train returns to my home city of Madison soon.

[@alexbochelmusic]

Yesss crushin it. Can’t wait for the tunnel through Baltimore

[@panamapippi1723]

I can't wait for the new Acela; I want to be the first to ride this train.

[@MrMarshmallow26]

Fingers crossed it doesn’t get pushed back another four years

[@GintaPPE1000]

Amtrak should learn some lessons from Brightline and passenger railroads of decades past: money is not made in moving passengers, but in the real estate and express freight business that comes with having a public image of speed, reliability, and convenience. Don't stop when the infrastructure is up to a state of good repair. Keep those civil engineers and planners employed by developing land around stations. This is a chance to not just make Amtrak better, but to make it sustainable and no longer reliant on federal grants for new projects.

[@counterfit5]

This is how the various JR companies and Hong Kong's MTR work. They make good money off having retail and office space right at their stations

[@bkkid75]

thatis something i plan on working on - Transit Oriented Development.

[@lh457725]

Wow, you can tell she is motivated and loves this work. Thank you Laura Mason!

[@chasebeautytoo51]

This was very insightful.

[@coleallen3895]

I hope they make a decision about the new long distance fleet soon!

[@MrMarshmallow26]

Stay tuned for May 17th. That’s when bids are due for manufactures to turn in long distance fleet proposals, however they may have requested an extension according to sources.

[@peterdowden7694]

Nice effort from an exemplar company as far as pr goes... I have a fleet question: wouldn't the North East Corridor work better if all the long distance was done with New Acelas, not a mixture of them and Airos? Is it just the capital cost that precludes this?

[@MrMarshmallow26]

No, it wouldn’t. Acelas are their own service with less stations and Airos cover regional service (more stations). Additionally, some Northeast Regional routes are part electrified part non-electrified (routes that run into Virginia). The Airo train sets are hybrid train sets that will run continuously between diesel and electricity so that the locomotive doesn’t need to be switched out in DC.

[@transitcaptain]

Amtrak doesn’t contract out and does its own construction? Amazing!

[@joshkarpoff3341]

It does a bunch of construction projects in-house, but it does outsource a lot of other construction work.

[@jonw3738]

I would like to see the future proposed routes opened up / opened back up. I would also like to see the Cardinal have a couple more days a week added. I doubt 7 days a week is possible for it, but only 3 per week is a bit too restrictive.

[@StefanWithTrains]

They will go daily at some point.

[@MrMarshmallow26]

Same here on the future routes. I’m looking forward to the Commonwealth Corridor so that east/west service through Virginia is finally available. This corridor is almost guaranteed given that the state has bought segments of track from NS that the corridor will run along, but it could still take years. Who knows?

[@BuilderJay]

Love travleing on Amtrak! But you need to do something for Chicago! They are LACKING on washing the Superliner cars. I've seen sooo many post that the train are dirty! WIndows are dirty that passengers are washing them when they can!! (Lower levels). Been told the wash system not working anymore??

[@natejackson8213]

💙💙💙💙

[@grommit700]

I live in Connecticut and have used Amtrak and CT Rail more times that I can recall... 1) There are old (and vacant) properties immediately next to or just within eyesight of the Waterbury station and in the south end of Hartford. These would be great for a New England version of the Auto Train. The recent tanker fire in Norwalk, CT demonstrates the need to reduce vehicle congestion on all roadways. Why not create new Auto Train hub in Connecticut for all of New England and the rest of the nation? If tunnels and bridges have height restrictions, just use single level auto carriers. 2) Hartford Union Station is long overdue for the installation of a second track. It currently serves 5 trains (Vermonter, NE Regional, Valley Flyer, Hartford Line, and CT Rail Hartford Line). Remove some of the overhead steel structure section by section to replace all the steel beams with new ones. This can be achieved in less than a decade without creating a Connecticut version of the Big Dig if I-84 and I-91 is slated to be underground. There are also too many buildings and property owners in the way of a realignment to the west. 3) Connecticut also has quite a few old rail lines that are not utilized for passenger service anymore. Freight and occasional excursion trains use are the primary users. These lines go North/South and East/West. Two of these even go into Massachusetts where they connect with their East/West mainline to Boston and Albany. Just saying that the general land is there and should be used instead of putting more money into already dangerous roadways for cars. 4) Springfield Union Station (in Massachusetts) is quite large and has the capacity to expand to 3 or more island platforms if additional service in New England is carried out. I support passenger train service by Amtrak, CT Rail, and any other company wanting to provide this mode of transportation for the public. It is much more relaxing and relives the stresses and hazards inherent to vehicles and trucks. Use the rail lines where track already is instead of expanding roadways. Work smarter not harder.

[@marysmolarz3741]

Add the possibility of passenger train rides through the Upper Peninsula of Michigan!

[@willgibson9718]

Can you please make a video about Connecticut river railroad bridge project

[@Буква_А]

Я из России, занесло мне сюда кончено. Удивлён, что тут мало людей ругают Amtrack в комментариях, у нас и в соседнем Казахстане почти все это делают в комментариях

[@cedw80]

Please make the Texas Eagle a regular length train again.

[@ojsimpson1234]

Go expanding bit by bit out from your nodes along the northeast and southwest, ex. SW Chief and NE Regional

[@longislandsound]

Get airo on the NEC first, where it will actually make money for the rest of the system

[@MrMarshmallow26]

Amtrak Cascades is receiving them first because their Airo sets are full diesel. They are only Venture cars and cab cars that will be lead by their existing SC-44 fleet.

[@quadcorelatte8217]

💙Amtrak🚆

[@willmills1388]

Distances are greater in the west. But you're only interested in NE commuters.

[@PrasannaArunasalam]

Amtrak can we have the F59PHI trains back and the F40PH back please

[@america7082]

i hate biden but one thing i like is that government agencies post more on social media

[@Aroncsik]

The capitol corridor needs attention, its an embarrassingly dorky service

[@MrMarshmallow26]

Since that’s a state owned service, that’s more on the part of the state DOT that runs the service. What’s wrong with it btw? I only ask because I’m from Virginia and would like to see what people along certain routes/corridors think of them.

[@Ferreira0504]

How so? I think it’s pretty decent

[@willmills1388]

You esateners constantly ignore the West!!!