Re: QR new tilt train, eat your heart out interstate!

["David Bennetts" <davibenn@pcug.org.au>]

> 
> The only possible problem is platforms. Talgos sit lower, and will tilt
> through a curved platform.
> 
> Amtrak is going into Talgos in a big way with several more sets on order
> for new services from Los Angeles to Las Vegas and Phoenix. The Oregon
> Talgo services have been an amazing success with ridership going through
> the roof. The best thing was no new locos were required.
> 
> Cheers
> David

Talgos are not my favourite train to ride in.  I rode Amtrak's Talgo from
Seattle to Vancouver last year.  With a lot of track joints and pointwork
on this line, they give a rather bumpy ride.  With their mono-axle
wheelsets shared between cars, and the mostly substandard tracks we have in
Australia, I feel they would be entirely unsuitable for our conditions. 
About their only saving grace was that they had decent loos, against the
cramped aircraft style ones of Amtrak's superliners.

I think their main reason for success in the west was that they introduced
new rail services rather than replacing any existing services.

David Bennetts  
Canberra