Originally Posted by
the_traveler
Originally Posted by
TRSTACIE
On another note, I am about to book a reward trip from Den to SAC, but was wondering if the equipment on the CZ has been refurbished or is up to par with say the EB? The family and I took a trip in OCT 06 and the sleeper car we were in was old and dilapitated. I would like to ride on a up to date train. The train for some reason was dirty. We sat in the observation car for awhile but the widows were dirty along with the car itself. Is there no one to clean these at service stops? I need to burn some miles so was looking for advice for trips from Denver. I have about 60,000 miles to use.
Since the Superliner cars are about 30 years old
, you may encounter an old car!
Many have been refurbished, but some have not been for years. I too have bee on some dirty trains, but (luckily) most are not!
About half the fleet of Superliners, commonly called Superliner I's, are about 28 years old having been built in 1979. The other half, Superliner II, was built in 1995. When it comes to the sleepers, I believe that about 42 or 43 of the 59 still in service, have been rebuilt. However first priority for those cars is the Empire Builder. Once it's needs have been met, the other cars can end up on any route, so that odds of your seeing one are probably at best fair. Especially with 46 Superliner II sleepers also plying the rails.
Originally Posted by
the_traveler
The cars may get some minor cosmetic cleaning at stops, but with most extended stops of only 15-30 minutes, not much can be done in that time. Plus Amtrak does not have the manpower to station someone in a place like Denver to clean the whole train for the 30 minutes or an hour that the 1 train a day is there.
Even if they did have the money for the man-power, it's not exactly easy to clean the windows on a car that is twice the height of a man, especially when the windows curve into the roof. It can be done, but it's not easy, especially as you noted when most station stops don't last for more than 5 minutes.
Yet another problem is that at many station stops, only one side of the train is on a platform. On the other side there may well be an active track with freight trains rolling by. Trying to clean that side could easily jeopardize the worker's life.
Regarding TRSTACIE's complaint about being dirty inside that could be that the train didn't get properly cleaned at the end point, or it could be that the crew isn't doing their job, or it could be that the passengers have been exceptionally messy. For example, the onboard crew does not have access to a vacuum cleaner should someone decide to throw peanuts on the floor. So picking up 100 peanuts would be no easy task on a moving train.