The Venture cars are coming with cab cars, so the F40s are on borrowed time unless they get sent to other lines or kept as backup.

@davidng2336 Good to know. I hadn't seen the Venture cab cars yet. I guess that's what progress looks like, though.

@@SoCalHighIron for reference, here’s what a completed cab car will look like: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/hrhnnpChrp-Zmas.html

@davidng2336 Huh. Almost like they just added on a Charger head onto it.

@@SoCalHighIronpretty much like the Via Rail trainsets, makes them look like multiple units

It's AI reading the announcements. Kind of awful. Record real announcements!

Came here to write the same thing but you already did. Obviously *live* human-read announcements are the best in terms of charm (as well as clarity), but if that's too much to ask, Amtrak California should at least have the recorded announcements done using real human voices.

Also the pauses between lines are uncomfortably long

And no HOT/Microwave food or drinks

This is literally the standard Siemens voice used on their trains all over the world.

I think the Acela new trains on the Northeast Corridor is also going to enter service pretty soon. They're modernizing the rolling stocks faster these years.

With the current seating, these are basically upgraded commuter cars.

And the same trains that OBB uses on their premium Railjet services in Europe. Big upgrade for Amtrak. They're basically making all the intercity trains in the US Railjets!

I thought they’re moving away from bi-level for accessibility concerns?

​@@YuqiLinux Unfortunately or was due to mere incompetence. The selected project contractor (Sumitomo Corporation, one of five applicants including Siemens btw) was originally hired to source 130 new bi-level cars. However, their subcontractor was late and delivered a prototype that failed the crashworthiness tests. At that point the project was so far behind schedule that Amtrak California was about to lose the federal subsidy that would cover more than half of the costs. So instead of trying to fix the problems, they just decided to join an already existing order for off-the-shelf single-floor cars built by Siemens. In terms of accessibility, the bi-level cars were actually designed for California's (lower) platform heights and allow level boarding, while the Venture cars are standard height, i.e. taller, and require additional contraptions which in reality makes them less accessible. With all this in mind, I find it odd that Sumitomo have the nerve to splash their logo all over the new cars...

@@V45194 Well, this is appalling!

I didn't hear bells when the doors were open.

Door open/close? They usually have both hand-level and foot-level buttons.

There will be new cab cars. Siemens built this; Sumitomo is a subcontractor.

Sumitomo fucked up the original order so badly that they essentially were forced to give up and the contract to Siemens instead.

@@davidng2336 actually Sumitomo was the original contractor (selected over several real manufacturers like Alstom and, ironically, Siemens) and were hired to source modern bi-level replacements for the current "California Car" bi-level fleet. However, their subcontractor failed to deliver and almost derailed the entire project, with the feds threatening to cancel federal co-financing. So Sumitomo fired their original subcontractor and instead subcontracted Siemens to sell them normal one-level cars (which were not designed with California's lower boarding platform heights in mind and therefore require steps). It was a total disaster and I'm genuinely puzzled as to why they chose to remind people of it. Or perhaps someone at Amtrak California meant it as an ironic joke/cautionary tale?

@@V45194 more like it’s the power of Amtrak's Siemens partnership.

Makes sense after most of the bi-level cars are retired.

But I noticed the rear headlights are built into the spoilers.

I don’t think the bi levels are going away just supplemented by the ventures. There was a plan to replace them with new bi-levels but that project fell through because of a failed test

That would be nice just cost being too high holding that idea back

@@darryldworak6356 True, but those new cars did cost money -- could swap out the bogies for powered ones just the same. The San Joaquins are a more Regional route, so DMUs would be a very good fit. CalTrain runs EMUs now, and there are several DMU routes in California (mainly connector/shuttle routes, but Sonoma SMART is looking to extend their route to a more regional scale).

Wikipedia says they should have cab cars. It’ll be a sleek looking train set.

@@jeesmith99It’s possible that they’re still under production.. same as the cafe car. Looks like it’s just a temporary consist.

on the North east, they've turn their old electric loco into Cabbage units as well. Amtrak needs to do the same thing with the old GE Genesis instead of scraping them.

Edit: just looked it up and they apparently are the trainsets, just must have installed a coupler at one of the ends and will prob change it out and switch it for the cabcar They’ll prob stick with cabbage for the foreseeable future, so far iirc only NEC and Cascades have been picked for the Airo program, if it works then they might produce a non trainset cabcar (idk if the trainsets are going to use a US standard coupler, by the initial photos they aren’t)

The first cabcar is nearly finished or finished. It won't take long until it is in service.

They are. That’s about it

You might want to email or call Amtrak directly. They don’t review the comments under my channel.

Water leaking? That's nuts..

@@YuqiLinux yeah it was the first train to Bakersfield out of Jack London. Heavy rain all night in the Bay Area. My only thought is poor sealing.

And Brightline has the exact same seats. But no one is complaining about them on Brightline or VIA. Why do you think that is?

​@@TohaBgood2 Brightline has better quality seating material that's more comfortable.

@@TohaBgood2 I remember seeing comments on the hard seats on Brightline. People sure have complained.

@@qazisnotapeopleperson7167 Nope. Literally identical vinyl covers without the "cloth" inserts. I've sat on both versions and on the original European version on the Railjet. There is no difference. The Brightline fanboys are just coping because Amtrak got the same trains and that makes Brightline "less premium" in their eyes. They want to believe, bless their hearts.

The first one is done soon. Be patient.

Yes, those announcements are uncomfortably loud and unnecessarily long to me.