The California Car is the first generation of intercity railcars owned by the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) and operated by Amtrak under the Amtrak California brand on intercity corridor routes in Northern and Central California. The cars were built in the mid-1990s for the Caltrans Division of Rail by Morrison-Knudsen. The cars are similar to Amtrak's Superliner, but original in design to provide rolling stock suitable for California intercity services up to six hours, with more frequent stops than most other Amtrak routes. All cars were overhauled by Alstom at its Mare Island facility between 2009 and 2012.
History
In 1990, California residents passed Propositions 108, 111 and 116. Combined, the three measures authorized the sale of nearly $3 billion in bonds for the creation of rail services across the state including commuter rail and intercity rail. With this new source of money, the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) set out to specify a standardized railcar that would be suitable for rail operations across the state. The result of this effort were original designs for both intercity and commuter rail cars, optimized for California service within the volume defined by the Amtrak Superliner. While the commuter rail version was never built, the intercity version has become very successful.
The California Car incorporated numerous innovative features specified for California intercity services. These include two large entry vestibules for high-volume passenger loading and unloading, two automatically controlled door pairs per side, an on-board wheelchair lift, two straight staircases, bicycle storage, large workstation tables, a multi-modal food service car with an elevator to support carted service on the upper level, center aisles of width compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, and control cab cars to allow for push-pull operation. The first generation of these Bi-Level intercity cars were dubbed the "California Cars".
When delivered these cars were plagued with problems and Caltrans actually refused the first attempted delivery due to cracks in the frame. That forced Morrison-Knudsen to ship the cars back to the manufacturing plant for repair. After Caltrans accepted delivery, these trains were first put in service on the San Diegan line (the predecessor to the Pacific Surfliner) and crews immediately encountered automatic doors that failed to function properly, causing delays in service. Attempted repairs failed to fix the problematic doors and failures continued for years with doors between train cars later failing to operate properly as well.
Around 2000 the California Cars were removed from the frequent, congested and heavily used San Diegan route and reassigned to the less demanding Capitol Corridor and San Joaquin routes. Around the same time the upper-level floor of the California Cars began to sag which required costly repair. All 66 California Cars were overhauled by Alstom, the builder of the second generation "Surfliner" California Cars, at its Mare Island facility between 2009 and 2012 to extend their service life.
Reliability has significantly improved on these cars in recent years, which still see heavy use on the Capitol Corridor and San Joaquin routes.
After the success of these cars, Amtrak and Caltrans ordered 62 second generation Surfliner cars from Alstom in 1998 and 1999, which were delivered between 2000 and 2002.
Description
66 California Cars were built (all numbered in the 8000 series) in four different types.
Coach cars
32 coach cars were built for Amtrak California and all are named after rivers. The coach cars have 76 seats on the upper level, 13 seats on the lower level and one wheelchair position on the lower level. There are 6 workstation tables on the upper level allowing groups of 4 to meet around a table with each other. There also 2 sets of club seating areas without tables where groups of 4 can sit facing each other. At the far ends of each coach car there are single seats on each side of the end door (that allows passengers to pass into another car) with a glass partition (to block noise from the end door). The lower level has two restrooms (one is wheelchair accessible) and a large luggage rack. On Capitol Corridor trains the shelves on the luggage rack are stowed, revealing securements for 3 bikes.
Coach/baggage cars
6 coach/baggage cars were built for Amtrak California and all are named after bays. The layout of upper level of the coach/baggage cars is identical to the coach cars with 76 seats, 6 tables and 2 club seating areas. The lower level has 7 seats, one wheelchair position, one restroom and a locked compartment used to store checked baggage. There is a staircase leading from the upper level down into this compartment which has a locked door at the top of the stairs. The coach/baggage cars were originally assigned exclusively to the San Joaquin.
Cab/coach cars
14 cab/coach cars were built for Amtrak California and all are named after mountains. As delivered, the cab/coach cars had a very similar layout to the coach cars except with 68 seats on the upper level. Recently some of the 13 seats on the lower level have been removed and a partition has been installed to create a baggage/bicycle compartment. On the San Joaquin trains this compartment is locked and used for storage of checked baggage, on Capitol Corridor trains the door to the compartment is left open and up to 13 bikes may be stored on racks.
Café cars
14 café cars were built for Amtrak California and all are named after valleys. The upper level of the café car is divided into three areas: a lounge seating area with small tables that face the windows, a table seating area with booths for 2, 3 and 4 people and a large galley where an attendant sells and prepares food. Passengers order from a walk up counter at the galley area and may take their items to a seat in the café car or back to their seat in a coach car.
The lower level of the café car has a restroom, a storage area for additional food/drink carts and additional table seating. This additional seating was originally designed to accommodate passengers with disabilities and serve as overflow seating but is now used as an office area for conductors and other Amtrak crew members and a door has been placed in front of the stairs down to this area.
Originally, the car offered full-service dining in the table seating area. An attendant would seat diners, take orders, prepare food in the galley and deliver it to passengers. Walk up service, like what is offered today, was offered by a second attendant in the lounge seating area. Even on the San Joaquin with its 6+ hour end to end travel time, the full-service dining option proved to be unpopular. The service and the second attendant position was eliminated. Passengers are now free to sit in any seat in the car.
See also
- Surfliner (railcar) - The second generation intercity railcar, based on the California Car.
- Next Generation Bi-Level Passenger Rail Car - Proposed third generation design
References
External links
Media related to California Cars at Wikimedia Commons
