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Long-distance Amtrak Routes
The Long Distance Service Line is the division of Amtrak responsible for operating all intercity passenger train services in the United States longer than . There are fourteen such routes , serving over 300 stations in 39 states. Amtrak's long-distance routes form the backbone of the US national rail network, providing an alternative to intercity drives or flights. They are also noted for their scenery, and are popular as vacations and experiential travel. A few routes provide direct service to List of national parks of the United States, National Parks, with Amtrak Thruway buses reaching many more. The rider experience of Amtrak's long-distance trains is distinct from its Northeast Corridor and state-supported services. All trains except the involve at least one night of travel, and so are outfitted with sleeping cars, sleeping and dining cars. Routes depart once daily in each direction, at most, so some stops are served only at night. Delays are commonplace on long-distance tr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Contiguous United States
The contiguous United States, also known as the U.S. mainland, officially referred to as the conterminous United States, consists of the 48 adjoining U.S. states and the District of Columbia of the United States in central North America. The term excludes the only two non- contiguous states and the last two to be admitted to the Union, which are Alaska and Hawaii, and all other offshore insular areas, such as the U.S. territories of American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The colloquial term ''Lower48'' is also used, especially in relation to Alaska. The term The Mainland is used in Hawaii. The related but distinct term ''continental United States'' includes Alaska, which is also on North America, but separated from the 48 states by British Columbia in Canada, but excludes Hawaii and all the insular areas in the Caribbean and the Pacific. The greatest distance on a great-circle route entirely within the contiguous U.S. i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Viewliner
The Viewliner is a single-level railroad car type operated by Amtrak on most long-distance routes operating east of Chicago. The first production cars, consisting of an order of 50 sleeping cars, entered service in 1994. From 2015–2016, 70 Viewliner II baggage cars entered service. The new baggage cars are used on all Amtrak trains with full baggage cars, both single-level and bi-level, and replaced all of the Heritage Fleet baggage cars that Amtrak inherited from the freight railroads when it was established in 1971. From 2016–2019, 25 Viewliner II dining cars entered service, which replaced all of the Heritage Fleet dining cars. In 2019, 10 Viewliner II baggage-dormitory cars entered service. The last cars to enter service were 25 Viewliner II sleeping cars in 2021. Early design In the 1980s, Amtrak was looking to replace its Heritage Fleet railcars, which had been in service as far back as the 1940s. While new Superliner cars were built starting in 1979, those cars wer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dining Car
A dining car (American English) or a restaurant car (British English), also a diner, is a passenger railroad car that serves meals in the manner of a full-service, sit-down restaurant. These cars provide the highest level of service of any railroad food service car, typically employing multiple servers and kitchen staff members. Consequently, they are the most expensive to operate. It is distinct from other railroad food service cars that do not duplicate the full-service restaurant experience, such as buffet cars, cars in which one purchases food from a walk-up counter to be consumed either within the car or elsewhere in the train. Grill cars, in which customers sit on stools at a counter and purchase and consume food cooked on a grill behind the counter are generally considered to be an "intermediate" type of dining car. History United States Before dining cars in passenger trains were common in the United States, a rail passenger's option for meal service in transit was t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amtrak Signature Railroad French Toast And Orange Juice - 2021-11-15 - Sarah Stierch 01
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak (; ), is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates intercity rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. states and three Canadian provinces. ''Amtrak'' is a portmanteau of the words ''America'' and ''track.'' Founded in 1971 as a quasi-public corporation to operate many U.S. passenger rail routes, Amtrak receives a combination of state and federal subsidies but is managed as a for-profit organization. The company's headquarters is located one block west of Union Station in Washington, D.C. Amtrak is headed by a Board of Directors, two of whom are the secretary of transportation and chief executive officer (CEO) of Amtrak, while the other eight members are nominated to serve a term of five years. Amtrak's network includes over 500 stations along of track. It directly owns approximately of this track and operates an additional of track; the remaining mileage is over rai ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
South Station
South Station, officially The Governor Michael S. Dukakis Transportation Center at South Station, is the largest railroad station and intercity bus terminal in Greater Boston and New England's second-largest transportation center after Logan International Airport. Located at the intersection of Atlantic Avenue and Summer Street in Dewey Square, Boston, Massachusetts, the historic station building was constructed in 1899 to replace the downtown terminals of several railroads. Today, it serves as a major intermodal domestic transportation hub, with service to the Greater Boston region and the Northeastern and Midwestern United States. It is used by thousands of commuter rail and intercity rail passengers daily. Connections to the rapid transit Red Line and bus rapid transit Silver Line are made through the adjacent subway station. The station was renamed for former Massachusetts governor Michael S. Dukakis in November 2014, though maps and station signs continue to use th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dividing Train
A dividing train is a passenger train that separates into two trains partway along its route, so as to serve two destinations. Inversely, two trains from different origins may be coupled together mid-route to reach a common endpoint. Trains on complex routes may divide or couple multiple times. The general term for coupling two or more trains along their shared route sections is portion working. For example, the westbound ''Empire Builder'' travels from Chicago Union Station to , Washington, where its cars are divided into two trains: one continues to Portland Union Station and one to King Street Station, Seattle. On the eastbound trip, trains from Portland and Seattle are coupled at Spokane before traveling as one train to Chicago. Dividing trains are useful where line capacity is limited, allowing multiple trains to use the same path over a congested part of a network. The common sections will often be the busiest parts of the routes. Operation On the initial leg of its jo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chicago
Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of United States cities by population, third-most populous city in the United States after New York City and Los Angeles. As the county seat, seat of Cook County, Illinois, Cook County, the List of the most populous counties in the United States, second-most populous county in the U.S., Chicago is the center of the Chicago metropolitan area, often colloquially called "Chicagoland" and home to 9.6 million residents. Located on the shore of Lake Michigan, Chicago was incorporated as a city in 1837 near a Chicago Portage, portage between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River, Mississippi River watershed. It grew rapidly in the mid-19th century. In 1871, the Great Chicago Fire destroyed several square miles and left more than 100,000 homeless, but ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dwell Time (transportation)
In transportation, dwell time or terminal dwell time refers to the time a vehicle such as a public transit bus or train spends at a scheduled stop without moving. Typically, this time is spent boarding or deboarding passengers and baggage, but it may also be spent waiting for traffic ahead to clear, trying to merge into parallel traffic, or idling time in order to get back on schedule. Dwell time is one common measure of efficiency in public transport, with shorter dwell times being universally desirable. Rail systems Dwell times are particularly important for a rail system. Rail headways increase where the dwell times are high. Dwell times are an important focus for rail systems; a reduction in a dwell time can often result in a reduced headway. Passengers who want to board and alight from a train need time to do so. Almost always passengers disembark first, and then passengers waiting on a platform board. A variety of different factors determine how long this takes, including t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Siemens Charger
The Siemens Charger is a family of diesel-electric/ dual-mode passenger locomotives designed and manufactured by Siemens Mobility for the North American market. There are five variants of the Charger, tailored for different operators and types of service: ALC-42 for Amtrak long-distance service, ALC-42E dual mode for Amtrak inter-city and long-distance routes that serve the Northeast Corridor, SC-44 for Amtrak state-supported inter-city service or commuter rail operators, SCB-40 for Brightline inter-city service and SCV-42 for VIA Rail inter-city service in Canada. The first production Charger, an SC-44, was unveiled on March 26, 2016, and entered revenue service on August 24, 2017. It was followed by the SCB-40, which inaugurated Brightline service on January 13, 2018. The first ALC-42 was delivered to Amtrak on June 17, 2021, and entered revenue service on February 8, 2022, on the ''Empire Builder''. The Charger is often paired with Venture passenger cars, also built by S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Washington Union Station
Washington Union Station, known locally as Union Station, is a major train station, transportation hub, and leisure destination in Washington, D.C. Designed by Daniel Burnham and opened in 1907, it is Amtrak's second-busiest station and North America's 10th-busiest railroad station. The station is the southern terminus of the Northeast Corridor, an electrified rail line extending north through major cities including Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York City, and Boston, and the busiest passenger rail line in the nation. In 2015, it served just under five million passengers. An intermodal facility, Union Station also serves MARC and VRE commuter rail services, the Washington Metro, the DC Streetcar, intercity bus lines, and local Metrobus buses. It carries the IATA airport code of ZWU. At the height of its traffic, during World War II, as many as 200,000 passengers passed through the station in a single day. In 1988, a headhouse wing was added and the original station r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Siemens ACS-64
The Siemens ACS-64, or Amtrak Cities Sprinter, is an electric locomotive designed by Siemens Mobility for use on the Northeast Corridor (NEC) and the Keystone Corridor in the northeastern United States. The design was based on locomotives Siemens created for use in Europe and Asia, but with changes to comply with American standards. The ACS-64 is built at the Siemens factory in Florin, California, located outside of Sacramento. The first 70 locomotives were built for Amtrak to replace the railroad's fleet of aging AEM-7 and unreliable HHP-8 locomotives. The first ACS-64 entered service in February 2014 and deliveries continued until August 2016. The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA), in Southeastern Pennsylvania, operates a fleet of 15 ACS-64s since August 2018, on the agency's Regional Rail Lines. Design The design is based on the EuroSprinter and the Vectron platforms, which Siemens sells in Europe and Asia. Significant structural changes to t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
GE Genesis
The GE Genesis (officially trademarked GENESIS) is a series of passenger diesel locomotives built by GE Transportation for Amtrak, Metro-North, and Via Rail between 1992 and 2001. A total of 321 units were produced. Designed to meet Amtrak's specifications, the Genesis series is tall. This allows for easier travel through low-clearance tunnels in the Northeast Corridor, especially compared to the earlier EMD F40PH which was taller. Technical design The GE Genesis series stands out for its unique, lightweight monocoque carbody design, styled by industrial designer Cesar Vergara. This innovative approach translates to improved aerodynamics and fuel efficiency compared to its predecessors. However, the complexity of the monocoque design results in slightly higher maintenance and repair costs. Notably, Amtrak equips its Genesis locomotives with bolt-on nose cones to facilitate rapid repairs in the event of a grade crossing collision. The Genesis represents a significant lea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
