Comet | |
---|---|
Manufacturer | |
Constructed | 1970–2005 |
Entered service | 1970 |
Capacity | 102–130 |
Operators | |
Specifications | |
Maximum speed | 120 mph (190 km/h) |
Track gauge | 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge |
The Comet railcar is a class of locomotive-hauled railcars that was first designed in the late 1960s by Pullman-Standard as a modern commuter car for North American rail lines. Later, the Comet moniker was adopted by NJ Transit for all of its non-powered single level commuter coaches. Additional series of cars bearing the Comet name, based on the original design, have since been built by Bombardier Transportation and Alstom. The successful design was adopted by numerous commuter agencies.
These cars were the first of the Comet series, built by Pullman Standard in 1970–73 for the New Jersey Department of Transportation and used the Erie-Lackawanna Railroad's diesel-hauled commuter services. These railcars were named after the Jersey Central train Blue Comet. These were considered state of the art at the time, due to their all-aluminum body shell construction as well as their use of head-end power (HEP). Their automated entrance doors, designed for use with low platforms only, earned them the nickname "Sliders". 155 cars were built, with 35 cab cars, 110 trailer coaches and 10 bar cars.
In 1987, the fleet was rebuilt by Bombardier at Barre, Vermont, with all 35 cab cars and a number of trailer cars receiving high doors, for ADA access and future compatibility with high platforms. They were given NJ Transit logos adjacent to the entrance doors at this time, as NJ Transit had taken over EL commuter service. The bar cars were converted to standard coaches.
The low door cars were retired from service in 2005. 25 of the cars were sold to Utah Transit Authority (UTA) for the FrontRunner service, and 20 were leased to Metrolink in 2008 to help with an acute car shortage there. In March 2011, Metrolink returned the cars to FrontRunner upon the expiration of the lease. Metrolink also leased 15 cars directly from New Jersey Transit in 2009. These cars have not been used since 2011. The Comet I cars have become popular with western commuter lines as the low door setup is compatible with the low-platform stations in use. Eight Comet Is were sold to SEPTA, but are now out of service and put into storage, except for one cab car now used in work service.
NJ Transit retired the last of its Comet Is in March 2009. The Comets that were not sold to SEPTA, Metrolink, UTA or to private railroads and museum fleets were scrapped by 2010. FrontRunner retired their Comet I cars on April 18, 2022, citing increased maintenance costs and low ridership; [1] they were put up for auction in October 2022, lasting until November 2022. [2] In May 2023, the railcars previously taken out of service by UTA were painted with HRMX railcar markings and numbering onto the sides of them while inside of UTA's FrontRunner train yard. They were transported to Abilene and Smoky Valley Railroad in September 2023.
Preserved examples are located at several museums, including the Whippany Railway Museum in Whippany, New Jersey [3] and the Southern California Railway Museum in Perris, California. [4]
The Comet II cars were built by Bombardier Transportation, which acquired the rights to the railcar's design from Pullman. The first order of cars was built for NJ Transit between 1982 and 1983 and consisted of 142 trailer coaches and 19 cab cars. [5] A second order, the Comet IIB, was purchased in 1988. These cars feature long end-doors with trapdoors over the stairs for use at both low-platform and high-platform stations. The cars are similar to the MBTA's BTC-1 and CTC-1 cars, built in 1978 by Pullman Standard. [6] These cars were intended for use on lines formerly operated by the Central Railroad of New Jersey, operator of the Blue Comet train to Atlantic City. This led to the NJ Transit series of single-level cars becoming known as Comets. These cars have been overhauled by AAI Corporation and Alstom between 1999 and 2003 to make them aesthetically and technologically similar to the Comet IV series and are now compatible with later equipment.
Shoreliner I and II coaches, purchased by Metro-North and the Connecticut Department of Transportation for use on non-electrified territories east of the Hudson River, are variations without long doors. Amtrak's Horizon coaches are also a variation without long, automatic doors. Metro-North also purchased Comet II coaches for use on the Port Jervis Line, where they ran until replaced by the Comet V. They have since been transferred to the East-of-Hudson pool, where they remain in service. SEPTA Regional Rail and AMT also purchased cars based on this class.
The Comet III cars, ordered by NJ Transit in 1990, feature center doors and long end-doors, permitting end doors to open and close with traps open. The Metro-North Shoreliner III fleet is a variation without long doors. The Comet III fleet was removed from revenue service between 2009-2010 and remained in storage until 2022, when it was decided to dispose of the cars as scrap. [7] 48 of the 49 remaining cars were scrapped in June/July 2022 in Neptune Yard near the Bradley Beach station, with one car remaining in NJ Transit's Meadowlands Maintenance Complex. [8]
Metro-North also owns two Comet III cab cars, which were originally numbered 5179 and 5180. [9] These cars were sold to NJT in 1998 and renumbered to 5009 and 5010, [10] [11] but were later sold back to Metro-North in 2008. In 2022, car 5010 was converted to a rail adhesion car; it was retrofitted with high-powered lasers to incinerate leaf residue. [12]
The Comet IV cars, delivered in 1996 and purchased for NJ Transit's new Midtown Direct service, are similar to the Comet III cars, except they have no door by the engineer's cab, have thicker black stripes along the window, exterior and interior LCD panels providing destination and station information, a new interior color scheme, and power operated saloon doors. The Metro-North Shoreliner IV fleet is a variation without long doors.
With the completion of the Comet V order, Comet IV cab cars are no longer allowed to trail or lead a train; their cab controllers were deactivated in 2013. Since then, they are now used exclusively as blind coaches, in which they are inserted into a train consist and act as regular trailer cars.
These cars were ordered in 1999 by NJ Transit and Metro-North Railroad and delivered between 2002 and 2004. Unlike previous series which were built by Bombardier, the Comet Vs were built by Alstom. The major external differences are a stainless-steel exterior, larger windows, and visible, roof-mounted air conditioning units.
The "Comet" name was also applied to two distinct orders of coaches used on NJ Transit lines. As both orders had connections to the Arrow series of electric multiple unit (EMU) cars, they have become known as "Comaros", a portmanteau of "Comet" and "Arrow", and a play on the Chevrolet Camaro.
Ten Comet IA cars (two cabs and eight trailers) were built in 1978 by General Electric for the MTA from surplus shells from Avco and Canadian Vickers remaining from the "Arrow III" EMU fleet built for NJDOT. They saw use primarily on the Port Jervis Line. These cars were retired in 2004 and scrapped by 2006.
The Comet IB cars were rebuilt from 30 former Penn Central Arrow I EMU cars originally built by the St. Louis Car Company between 1968 and 1969. The Arrow I cars suffered from chronic mechanical problems and were out of service by 1980. The cars sat unused for several years, but realizing that the car bodies still had many decades of service left on them, NJ Transit made the decision to have them rebuilt into un-powered coaches. In 1987 and 1988 the cars were converted into cab control cars and trailer coaches by Morrison-Knudsen for use on non-electrified lines. After two decades of service the Comet IB cars were retired by NJ Transit in late 2008, with some surplus cars temporarily leased to Exo's predecessor agency, the Agence métropolitaine de transport (AMT).
In 2008 the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) purchased 14 Comet IB coaches from NJ Transit for $75,000 per car to relieve overcrowding on the popular San Joaquin route. The Comet IB coaches were refurbished at Amtrak's Beech Grove shops to make them more suitable for inter-city rail service including adding reclining seats with tray tables (with only four seats in a row), more luggage racks, a restroom, Wi-Fi and 6 workstation tables in the center of the car. [13] 12 of the cars California purchased from NJ Transit were cab cars and were reconfigured into trailer cars by removing the train controls and plating over the cab windows. [14] Instead they are used with Non-Powered Control Units that have cab controls and space to store checked baggage. [13]
Caltrans had planned to use the "Comet car" trainsets on trains starting in July 2013, but the refurbishing process took longer than expected. The first of the Caltrans Comet IB coaches, 5008 (ex-NJT 5165) was completed in March 2013. The first "Comet car" trainset was put into regular service on October 21, 2013, [15] and the second trainset was put into regular service on April 15, 2014. [16] The Comet cars will eventually be replaced by new Siemens Venture trainsets, after which there are plans to move them to Southern California for use on other routes. [17]
On the night of June 27, 2024, six Comet railcars as well as two EMD F40PH NPCU cab cars were delivered to Los Angeles after being attached in Oakland to the Coast Starlight. The Comet railcars and NPCUs will be used when the Pacific Surfliner adds extra roundtrips, particularly on the weekends starting in July 2024.
A diesel multiple unit or DMU is a multiple-unit train powered by on-board diesel engines. A DMU requires no separate locomotive, as the engines are incorporated into one or more of the carriages. Diesel-powered single-unit railcars are also generally classed as DMUs. Diesel-powered units may be further classified by their transmission type: diesel–mechanical DMMU, diesel–hydraulic DHMU, or diesel–electric DEMU.
A multiple-unit train or simply multiple unit (MU) is a self-propelled train composed of one or more carriages joined, which when coupled to another multiple unit can be controlled by a single driver, with multiple-unit train control.
A bilevel car or double-decker coach is a type of rail car that has two levels of passenger accommodation as opposed to one, increasing passenger capacity.
Metrolink is a commuter rail system in Southern California, serving Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, and Ventura counties, as well as to Oceanside in San Diego County. The system consists of eight lines and 69 stations operating on 545.6 miles (878.1 km) of track. This includes Arrow, which Metrolink operates under a contract with the San Bernardino County Transportation Authority (SBCTA).
The San Joaquins is a passenger train service operated by Amtrak in California's San Joaquin Valley. Six daily round trips run between its southern terminus at Bakersfield and Stockton, with onward service to Sacramento and Oakland.
The North Jersey Coast Line is a commuter rail line running from Rahway to Bay Head, New Jersey, traversing through the Jersey Shore region. Operated by New Jersey Transit, the line is electrified as far south as Long Branch. On rail system maps it is colored light blue, and its symbol is a sailboat. The line runs along the former New York & Long Branch Railroad, which was co-owned by the Central Railroad of New Jersey and the Pennsylvania Railroad.
Amtrak California is a brand name used by the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) Division of Rail for three state-supported Amtrak regional rail routes in California – the Capitol Corridor, the Pacific Surfliner, and the San Joaquins – and their associated connecting network of Amtrak Thruway transportation services.
The Atlantic City Line (ACL) is a commuter rail line operated by NJ Transit (NJT) in the United States between Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Atlantic City, New Jersey, operating along the corridor of the White Horse Pike. It runs over trackage that was controlled by both the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) and the Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines. It shares trackage with SEPTA and Amtrak on the Northeast Corridor (NEC) until it crosses the Delaware River on Conrail's Delair Bridge into New Jersey.
The Waterbury Branch is a branch of the Metro-North Railroad's New Haven Line, running north from a junction in the Devon section of Milford to Waterbury, Connecticut. Originally built as the Naugatuck Railroad, it once continued north to Winsted. The part north of Waterbury is now leased from CTDOT by the Railroad Museum of New England, which operates excursion trains from Thomaston station through their operating subsidiary Naugatuck Railroad ; this name was chosen in homage of the original railroad. The trackage ends in Torrington, but Metro-North service on the branch ends at Waterbury. There are conceptual plans to extend service from its current terminus in Waterbury to Hartford via Bristol and New Britain. Currently, riders that want to continue to New Britain and Hartford have to transfer to an express bus operated by CTtransit at Waterbury. All trains on this branch operate as shuttles between Waterbury and Bridgeport.
Push–pull is a configuration for locomotive-hauled trains, allowing them to be driven from either end of the train, whether having a locomotive at each end or not.
A control car, cab car, control trailer, or driving trailer is a non-powered rail vehicle from which a train can be operated. As dedicated vehicles or regular passenger cars, they have one or two driver compartments with all the controls and gauges required to remotely operate the locomotive, including exterior locomotive equipment such as horns, bells, ploughs, and lights. They also have communications and safety systems such as GSM-R or European Train Control System (ETCS). Control cars enable push-pull operation when located on the end of a train opposite its locomotive by allowing the train to reverse direction at a terminus without moving the locomotive or turning the train around.
The Comet V railcar is the fifth generation of the Comet railcar series. Produced by the manufacturer Alstom, the Comet V is a rather different car compared to previous models in the series. The Comet V has been in use by New York metropolitan area commuter rail operators New Jersey Transit and Metro-North since April 2002.
Shoreliners are a class of locomotive-hauled rail car used by the Metro-North Railroad. They are similar to the Comet coaches used by New Jersey Transit. Ownership of the fleet is split between the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) and the Connecticut Department of Transportation, as part of the latter's operating agreement with the MTA. MTA coaches have blue window bands, while CTDOT coaches have red ones. Many of the Shoreliner cars are named in honor of people and places significant to their service area, such as The Connecticut Yankee and Washington Irving.
The Horizon is a type of single-level intercity railroad passenger car used by Amtrak, the national rail passenger carrier in the United States. Amtrak ordered the cars to supplement their existing fleet of Amfleet I single-level cars used on shorter distance corridor trains. The design was based on the Comet railcar used for commuter railroads, but with modifications to make them more suitable for intercity service. Bombardier Transportation built 104 cars from 1988 to 1990 in two basic types: coaches and food service (café) cars.
The MultiLevel Coach is a bi-level passenger rail car for use on commuter rail lines. Originally built by Bombardier Transportation beginning in 2006, they are now built by Alstom since 2021, who markets the coaches as part of their Adessia Coach series.
The Jersey Arrow is a type of electric multiple unit (EMU) railcar developed for the Pennsylvania Railroad, and used through successive commuter operators in New Jersey, through to NJ Transit. Three models were built, but only the third model is in use today. The series is similar to SEPTA's Silverliner series, but include center doors among other differences in details.
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 and the American Passenger Rail Car Company (Amerail). The cars are similar in exterior dimensions 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.
Metrolink, the commuter rail system serving Southern California, operates a fleet of passenger train rolling stock consisting of 60 locomotives, 137 active Bombardier BiLevel Coaches, and 137 Rotem Commuter Cars. Operation of the weekday train schedule requires 36 locomotives to be operational.
Siemens Venture is a type of locomotive-hauled passenger railroad car built by Siemens Mobility for the North American market. The cars are derived from the Siemens Viaggio Comfort cars used in Europe, with adaptations for North American operations. The cars entered service with Brightline in 2018 and with Amtrak Midwest in 2022. They have also been ordered by Amtrak for national and other state-supported routes, Via Rail, and Ontario Northland. The Venture cars will also be used on Amtrak’s Airo trainsets.