First of two parts
CHICAGO — After being delayed for several years due to production delays and acceptance issues, the first of 17 state-owned Siemens Venture Business-class cars is now carrying passengers on Midwest Amtrak lines.
They are not advertised, however, and you only need a regular coach ticket to ride the cars. They have three wider seats in a two-by-one configuration in each row, instead of the four two-by-two seats in a standard coach. Premium fares are not currently required because the Venture café cars, which are intended to provide business class beverage amenities, will not be available for some time. And so, instead of being semi-permanently attached to cafe cars or Venture '1B' buses, as they eventually will be, they are currently only mated to coaches. Keeping these cars together, with a standard coupler on one and the semi-permanent coupler on the other, ensures seamless passage through the Ventures' wide vestibules.
Not knowing that premium fares are not required for new cars, trains News Wire was dismayed earlier this week when the lone conductor of Amtrak train No. 381, the Carl Sandburg for Quincy, Ill., offered business class seats at the Horizon cafe. No thanks.
“No problem,” he said, “just sit where you want.”
Wider seats are appreciated
The Venture cars made their initial runs more than a year ago [see “First look: Siemens Venture coaches debut …,” News Wire, Feb. 2, 2022]. After being withdrawn intermittently to correct post-production ailments, they have commissioned work alongside Horizons and Amfleet I coaches and cafeterias on most Midwest routes.
Previous experience with the firm and cramped seats of Venture buses compared to the older equipment prompted many passengers, including Pat Young and Jenny Arbin, to go through the first empty car, “to see if there was anything more comfortable up front.” as Arbin puts it.
Settling into a single business class seat, Young, a professor at Macomb's Western Illinois University, appreciates the extra cushion width and legroom, but thinks the seat feels “hard and restful and doesn't recline that much. It feels like a commuter car and doesn't feel luxurious to me. I expect comfort if I travel a longer distance,” he adds. Finding the 110-volt outlet for her laptop tucked out of reach under the armrest of the single seater, Young soon moves to a table in the coach seating section of the car for the rest of the trip.
Arbin, who is traveling with her boyfriend to visit family in Princeton, has the same initial impression that the business class seats “are not as soft as the ones in the car we moved into when we took the train to New Buffalo (Mich. .) .'' But when asked later in the trip, after looking out the big windows, grabbing snacks from the cafe and relaxing in the wide seats, he admits: “This train is growing on me. We love taking Amtrak.”
Luisa Andrade, returning from Plano, Ill., to Quincy University with fellow student Isaac Bourge, thinks the dual armrests of business class cars are a plus. “I don't like sharing an armrest with someone I don't know,” he says, having experienced this on previous Venture trips. Both Andrade and Bourge are able to find comfortable positions in their wide seats and soon fall asleep.
Other impressions
One feature that delayed the Venture's use on certain routes was a malfunctioning information display system, which displays route and “next stop” messages while providing pre-recorded destination advice over the public address system. During this trip to Carl Sandburg in Galesburg, Ill., performed brilliantly. the conductor was also able to make clear announcements about waiting delays for other trains, a welcome change from the inferior scratchy sound on older equipment.
The only downside is that the arrival time for the next station, when displayed, is so small that it is extremely difficult for many passengers to read. It also confusingly lists the departure station long after the train has departed. arrival times are not announced.
Like regular coaches, Venture business class/coach is relatively quiet and smooth through crossover track and has excellent ventilation, good lighting and large windows that make every journey more enjoyable. The extra-wide aisle to accommodate disabled passengers adds to the spacious feel of this car, even if it contributes to the narrowness of the coach seats.
Although patronage was light leaving Chicago Monday morning, the short train was virtually packed at the next two stations, LaGrange Road and Naperville. Commuters cited comfort, convenience, lack of alternatives and journey times “more than an hour faster than driving” as reasons for taking the train.
— Updated at 3:20 p.m. CDT to clarify that business cars will be semi-permanently attached to coaches, not just cafeterias.
Next Friday: Part 2, Venture car development update
