New Siemens Chargers and N-S Bilevels Poll

Bluewater

Member
So with the announcement of the purchase of 130 bilevel cars and 35 Siemens Charger locomotive for midwest services, I thought maybe we should take a fun little poll of what horn we think would be on the Chargers (and the Cab Cars!) as well as the paint scheme, since rumors are circulating that the Director of Equipment at Amtrak wants to go back to Phase III...

If it's not on the list, post it below!

--Bluewater

HORNS:
K5LA
K5LLA
Other

PAINT:
Phase III
Phase IV
Phase V
Other
 
We're getting Chargers and new bi-levels here in California, too. Those will be in either Amtrak California or Pacific Surfliner colors. Probably both. We certainly do need to return the Superliners tacked in the consists to long distance trains.

For the Midwest services, I'm thinking Amtrak might put together some new paint scheme for the Chargers and the new bi-levels. If the bi-levels were intended to be the next Superliners, then they'd more likely be in phase Vb. But they're meant for intercity service, so a new scheme might show up.

Since the K5LA is Amtrak's standard horn, I have doubts they'd stray from that unless they needed to.
 
For the horn on the cab car at least, I'm guessing it'll be a KS-1. ;) (not really) On the Chargers, I don't really know. I'd speculate one of the two you posted already, but it could be a K5HL, a Nathan three-chime (though that's very unlikely in my opinion), some sort of weird European thing--which I doubt, or, if all of my hopes and dreams come true, a Leslie. :udrool:

And paint scheme I'm guessing either Phase V or some new thing specifically for that service, like Amtrak Cascades or, as hauntedclipp mentioned, Amtrak California and Surfliner for the cars, and Phase V for the Chargers, maybe a modified scheme that's more like the ACs-64s. Amtrak doesn't exactly have the budget for innovation, or so I've heard.

Is Siemens manufacturing the bi-levels as well?
 
Is Siemens manufacturing the bi-levels as well?

No. The 'N-S' in the title of this thread does not stand for Norfolk Southern, but the Japanese company Nippon-Sharyo. They made bi-level gallery cars for Caltrain, Metra and VRE (Virginia Railway Express). They've also made other pieces of rolling stock for other commuter railroads across the country.
 
No. The 'N-S' in the title of this thread does not stand for Norfolk Southern, but the Japanese company Nippon-Sharyo. They made bi-level gallery cars for Caltrain, Metra and VRE (Virginia Railway Express). They've also made other pieces of rolling stock for other commuter railroads across the country.

That is correct.

Here are photos of the Charger and the Nippon-Sharyo cars. The latter is only an artist's render, as no official photos have been released by Nippon-Sharyo.

Siemens_Charger_Profile_Bottom_Left.jpg


images.jpg
 
I've seen different renderings of the third generation intercity cars.
Nippon_Sharyo_Bi-Level_intercity_car_rendering.jpg

That wedge shape of the cab car end has crash energy management technology in it, or so I've read.
Honestly, why don't they just give the cab cars a full cab end? Like the Hyundai-Rotems or the new Bombardier bi-level cab cars GO Transit is getting? I've never seen a Surfliner using a cab car midway within the consist. Only on the ends.

Even if they needed extra capacity for the trains, they always pop in a Superliner.
 
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