Amtrak and Washington State DoT have put new tilting trains into service in the US Pacific Northwest, where traffic has doubled in the last five years.
Image of a Talgo 200 in his way by the spanish port of Despeñaperros
Three stylish new Talgo Pendular 200 trainsets began running in the
Pacific Northwest of the United States last month, giving passengers a
taste of swift, European-style rail travel. Two trains entered service
in the Seattle - Portland - Eugene corridor on January 11 and the third
was due to take over the Seattle - Vancouver, BC, run on January 25.
Branded as Amtrak Cascades, the Talgos are the latest element in a long
range plan that could see up to eight daily return trips between Seattle
and Portland at up to 200 km/h. The first set was unveiled at Seattle's
King Street station on November 9. Following three days of successful
high-speed tests at Pueblo, an inaugural run with local and national
VIPs was held on November 30. However, supply problems
delayed the start-up originally planned for December 1.
Three compositions of Talgo pendular 200, similars to the picture, drive the North-West Pacific coast of America.
According to Jean-Pierre Ruiz, CEO of Talgo Inc, the seating supplier
Coach & Car Equipment Corp failed to produce sufficient seats to equip
all three trains by December 1, despite repeated promises to do so. In
addition, the manufacturer of the battery chargers, AGC of Quebec,
failed to meet its delivery schedule. For now Kawasaki rectifier battery
chargers that meet Amtrak specifications have been installed, but Ruiz
still wants the AGC units because they have extra features.
The new Talgos replace a set of conventional Amtrak stock and two leased
Talgo Pendular 200 sets. 'They are very much custom built for the
Northwest,' said Stan Suchan from the Washington State Department of
Transportation. 'We have completely redesigned the seats. We lightened
the tint on the windows so you can see both in and out of the trains ...
on our (dark) winter days. It's little things like that.' One set is
assigned to Seattle - Vancouver and the other two shuttle between
Seattle and Portland, with one trip extended to Eugene, Oregon. The
three sets are named Mount Hood, Mount Baker and Mount Rainier. Amtrak
has assigned some of its latest General Motors F59PHI diesel locos to
the service. These have been painted in the Talgos' dramatic livery of
cappuccino, Castilian copper and evergreen. The end coaches of the
low-profile trains have been fitted with 2,100 mm high tail fins which
provide a sweeping transition to the taller locos, reminiscent of the
styling of American cars in the 1950s.
The deepest velocity of Talgos in the curves have provoked a reduction of 25 minutes in the travell time.
Early reaction to the trains has been extremely positive, further
vindicating WSDoT's aggressive pro-passenger rail policy. The new stock
forms part of a $200m programme to improve services and upgrade the 750
km Cascade corridor, most of which falls within the state. Some funding
has come from Oregon, the US federal government, and British Columbia.
Allowing the tilting Talgos to run at higher speeds through curves has
already cut 25min off the 3h 55min schedule for conventional Amtrak
rolling stock.
Annual ridership in the corridor has jumped from just over 226 000 in
1993, the year before the first of two leased Talgos were placed in
service, to 550 000 in 1998, an increase of 137%.
Amtrak planns the inauguration of the second diary train to Seattle-Vancouver for the Summer time.
Local manufacture
In 1996 WSDoT issued a tender for two tilting trainsets and selected
Talgo Inc, the train building subsidiary of Renfe Talgo of America,
which is wholly owned by Renfe and Talgo. Contract price was
approximately $10m per train. Amtrak subsequently agreed to buy a third
set.
To achieve some economy of scale and provide demonstration sets, Talgo
decided to build five trains. The fourth has already been painted in
Cascades colours and is expected to be bought by Amtrak, which plans to
inaugurate a second daily Seattle - Vancouver run next summer. The fifth
is destined for a Los Angeles - Las Vegas service, heavily subsidised by
some of the Nevada city's casino operators. However, the start-up for
this has been delayed from early spring to autumn because Union Pacific
is claiming lack of capacity on the route once used by Amtrak's LA -
Chicago Desert Wind.
Talgo was required to assemble the aluminum-bodied trains in Seattle
because of a 25% 'Buy Washington' requirement attached to the WSDoT
contract. The 50% 'Buy America' mandate for the other three was waived,
although total US content is equivalent to about one-third of the
package value.
A fifth Talgo will make in Autumn the service Los Angeles-Las Vegas, greatly subsidied by the operators of the casinos of the Nevada city.
The Talgos operate in push-pull mode with a so-called cabbage
(cab-baggage) car at one end. These are life-expired F40 locos with the
diesel engine removed and the engine compartment converted into baggage
storage space. The cab and controls are retained to work with the F59.
Each 12-car set has a capacity of 243 passengers and meets all
requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act, including a
built-in wheelchair lift. There are six coach-class vehicles, an
extra-fare Custom Class car, a bistro, and a lounge-diner. One end
vehicle is a baggage car with racks for skis and bicycles, and the other
provides hotel power.
The on-board entertainment system includes four audio channels plus
television monitors suspended from the ceiling that show videos and
displays from a GPS location system. 'The Cascades offer a superior mode
of travel that is safe, comfortable and convenient,' said Kurt Laird,
General Manager of Amtrak's Pacific Northwest corridor.
The northamerican Talgos have six different types of waggons
* Pictures of the Pendular Talgos 200 that drive the Spanish line AVE that
links Madrid and Andalucía.
