Equipment
Trains are usually 6 to 10 cars long, with one or two locomotives pulling at the head end. Today, the passenger cars are the rebuilt Amfleet I series passenger cars built by the Budd Company in the mid to late 1970s. Prior to March 2008, when Amtrak changed its format for the new Northeast Regional service, the first car was Business Class (formerly the last car), and the second car was the operational Café Car (formerly the second-to-last car). Today, all regional trains have the cafe in the middle of the train, but the business-class car is still on the front. If a second Café Car is present, it is only used for passenger seating. Some trains offer a limited number business-class seating at the front of the Café Car, instead of having a dedicated Business Class car. The Coach Class car adjacent to business class usually is designated the quiet car, where passengers are asked to refrain from loud talking and mobile phone conversations. In extremely rare occasions, an ex-Metroliner cab car used for the Keystone Service and the New Haven–Springfield Shuttle will be included at the front (after the locomotive) or end of the train. This is usually a deadheaded car, and the locomotive will be leading anyway as all Amtrak trains on the Northeast Corridor with the exclusion of the Keystone will have the locomotive leading, regardless of the direction.
Between Boston and Washington, the service has overhead electric wires and largely travels over Amtrak owned-and-operated tracks. This segment reaches speeds of 125 mph (201 km/h) and uses electric locomotives, including the AEM-7 class, built 1978–1987 for the now retired Metroliner service with 5800 horsepower (4.3 MW), the rebuilt AEM-7AC with 7000 horsepower (5.2 MW), and the Bombardier/Alstom HHP-8 built 1999–2002 with 8000 horsepower (6 MW). The 8000-horsepower locomotives are not as commonly used on NE Regional trains, since they are standard power for the long-distance trains that use the Northeast Corridor (the Cardinal, the Carolinian, the Crescent, the Palmetto, the Silver Meteor and the Silver Star).
Northeast Regional trains in Virginia and along the route between Springfield, MA and New Haven, CT, use GE P42DC diesel locomotives and have generally lower peak train speeds. Because the Virginia segments are using freight railroad tracks, these trains also are more likely to suffer unexpected delays due to congested tracks.
Read more about this topic: Northeast Regional
Famous quotes containing the word equipment:
“Dr. Scofield’s equipment, which you have just seen, radiated waves direct to Professor Houghland’s laboratory. When these waves came in contact with those the professor’s equipment was radiating, they created the interstellar frequency, which is the death ray.”
—Joseph O’Donnell, and Clifford Sanforth. Arthur Perry (Bela Lugosi)
“Why not draft executive and management brains to prepare and produce the equipment the $21-a-month draftee must use and forget this dollar-a-year tommyrot? Would we send an army into the field under a dollar-a-year General who had to be home Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays?”
—Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908–1973)
“At the heart of the educational process lies the child. No advances in policy, no acquisition of new equipment have their desired effect unless they are in harmony with the child, unless they are fundamentally acceptable to him.”
—Central Advisory Council for Education. Children and Their Primary Schools (Plowden Report)