Superliner (railcar)
The Superliner is a largely disabled-accessible double decker passenger car used by Amtrak, mainly on its western routes. They come in coach, baggage coach, diner, lounge, coach cafe, sleeper, and transition car/dorm configurations. Trains using Superliners include the Capitol Limited, Auto Train, Sunset Limited, Texas Eagle, California Zephyr, City of New Orleans, Southwest Chief, Empire Builder, Heartland Flyer and Coast Starlight. On the west Coast, Caltrans' Amtrak-operated Pacific Surfliner, San Joaquin and Capitol Corridor trains use a similar type of car called the California Car.
Design
The Superliner I fleet was built in 1979 by Pullman Standard. The last car of the order, a sleeper, was also the last car ever built by Pullman and was named in honor of the Company's founder, George Mortimer Pullman. The Superliner II fleet was built in 1994 by Bombardier Transportation. The Superliner I and Superliner II differ somewhat in interior fittings, primarily in color- the newer cars tend toward gray, aquamarine, and salmon rather than the shades of brown and orange favored on earlier cars. Externally, the two classes differ in a number of subtle respects, but they are readily distinguished by the type of truck (bogie) used to support the car- Superliner I cars use a German design originally fitted with an air bag suspension (but soon retrofitted with springs), while the Superliner II uses a General Steel Castings truck of the same type used under Horizon, Viewliner, and the original self-propelled Metroliner cars. See photo at right for a comparison of the two types.
Amtrak's Superliners were based on the famous Budd built Hi-Levels operated by the Santa Fe railroad, for their El Capitan all-coach train. After the Santa Fe ceased passenger train operations in 1971, Amtrak purchased the entire Hi-Level fleet. When the Superliners began to arrive in the late 1970s, many Hi-Level coaches were converted into Coach-Dorms for crew use on Superliner trains. These were replaced in the 1990s by new Superliner II Transition Sleepers (see below). In recent years, five El Capitan lounge cars were refurbished as the Coast Starlight's "Pacific Parlour" first-class lounge cars. These cars have a service bar, booths, and chairs on the upper level, and were recently upgraded to have a theatre on the lower level. A small fleet of Hi-Level coaches were refurbished for use on the Heartland Flyer.
Sleeping car
Two configurations exist for Superliner sleeping cars. Of the 125 sleeping cars, 119 are configured as below, and the remaining 6 cars are configured with all Bedrooms on the upper level.
- Upper level:
- 5 Bedrooms (formerly known as "Deluxe Bedrooms")
- 10 Roomettes (formerly known as "Superliner Standard Bedrooms" and "Economy Bedrooms")
- 1 shared toilet for Roomette passengers
- Car-to-car passage
- Lower level:
- 1 Family Bedroom (entire width of the car)
- 1 Accessible Bedroom (entire width of the car)
- 4 Roomettes
- 3 shared toilets for Roomette passengers
- 1 shared shower
- luggage racks
- vestibule (unlike single-level passenger cars with a vestibule at each end of the car, a Superliner's single lower-level vestibule is in the center of the car)
Dining car
Superliner dining cars have almost the entire upper level available for seating, while the kitchen fills the entire lower level. Amtrak owns 69 Superliner dining cars.
Lounge
When originally delivered in the 1970s, Superliner I lounges were referred to as "Lounge Café" cars. These were fitted with enormous windows that wrapped upward into the ceiling, providing views of scenery along the train's route. With the arrival of Superliner II cars in the 1990s, the nomenclature for all Superliner lounges with large windows became "Sightseer Lounge." Superliner lounge cars once had an operating wet-bar on the upper level. This function has been consolidated with that of the snack bar on the lower level, but the abandoned upper-level bars have not yet been removed. Recently, this space has been reactivated during peak periods on the Empire Builder route, but only to serve light snacks like pretzels and soda. On other routes, the bar may be used as a speaking podium for volunteer National Park Service rangers from the Trails and Rails program, and at least one dining car steward has been observed using the bar as a desk for making dinner reservations for coach passengers. The rest of the upper level is filled with a mixture of swivelling chairs and love seats facing the windows. In addition to the 55 Sightseer Lounges, five lounge cars were converted from Superliner I dining cars for Auto Train service; these cars, which are only found in that train, lack the larger windows of the Sightseer Lounge cars.
Coach
102 Superliner I coaches were built, and 48 Superliner I coach-baggage combination cars with a secure baggage hold instead of lower-level seating. 38 Superliner II coaches were added to the roster. 30 of the coach-baggage combinations were later converted into "smoking coaches" with a smoking lounge replacing the baggage area and the outside baggage door in the side of the car sealed shut. Since all Amtrak trains are now non-smoking throughout (with the exception of Auto Train) it is possible that the combination cars will be resuscitated and put into service in place of the ancient baggage cars currently in use. At least one train, the Texas Eagle, already uses a coach-bag in lieu of a stand-alone baggage car. Another train, the Coast Starlight, uses a converted coach-baggage as a special "children's car", with the baggage space converted into a playroom for small children. The 15 or so remaining functional coach-bag cars are not enough to equip all of Amtrak's long-distance Superliner trainsets (some 28 or 30 in all). Of the 188 coaches of various types originally delivered, 159 are "in service" [late 2006], the remainder either wrecked and scrapped or wreck-damaged and awaiting either repairs or scrapping.
The "normal" Superliner coaches have 6 seats downstairs in addition to the 62 seats upstairs. The lower level coach seating is handicapped accessible (with actual space for a wheelchair or two) and is a special reservations category (with no additional charge). The coach-bag combination coaches naturally have only upstairs seating. On the lower level in all coaches there are large luggage racks and, typically, four unisex toilets (one with a changing room), an accessible toilet, and a dedicated women's restroom.
Superliner coach seating is highly unlike airplane coach-class seating. Superliner coaches have wide two-and-two reclining seats, with foot-rests and retractable leg-rests. The 50-inch "pitch" (distance from one seat-back to the next) of the seats makes for very comfortable and commodious seating, but puts the foot-rests out of reach of many passengers. There are overhead open luggage racks but they are not suitable for bulky objects.
Transition Sleeper
A number of "transition sleeper" cars were built for use on Superliner-equipped trains. These cars, feature roomette accommodations for members of the train crew (although occasionally used for passengers) on the upper level, and a handicapped bedroom and crew lounge on the lower level. Sanitary facilities (toilets and showers) are on the upper and lower levels, along with the standard center vestibule. The "transition" in the name refers to the fact that these cars have a high-level end door and diaphragm only at one end; the other end has a short staircase from the upper level leading to an end door at the height of standard single-deck railcar end doors. Theoretically, this could be used to allow passengers passage from single-level to Superliner cars in a single train; in practice, it is only used to allow the crew on-the-road access to the older, single-level baggage cars used on many Superliner trains. Transition cars have been used in the past to connect single level cars with superliner or high level cars on rare occasions. Highlevel Coach-Dorms were the predecessors to the current superliner transition dorms and had a coach section.
References
Weight and dimensions: RAILWAY INVESTIGATION REPORT, R99S0100, CROSSING COLLISION/DERAILMENT, VIA RAIL CANADA INC., PASSENGER TRAIN NO. 85, MILE 33.54, GODERICH-EXETER RAILWAY, (GEXR) GUELPH SUBDIVISION, LIMEHOUSE, ONTARIO, 09 NOVEMBER 1999, Transportation Safety Board of Canada. Coach diagrams can also be found here.